Otto Jones

Otto Frank Jones passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, on July 27, 2023 after a lengthy health struggle. He lived a very full life, and he leaves an extremely large hole in the lives of his family and friends.

Otto was born on March 9, 1940 in Twin Falls, Idaho. His family was living in Jarbidge, Nevada at the time, but his mother wanted her children to be born in a hospital, so they made the rough, 90 mile dirt-road journey. The family spent the next 14 years moving around the west, following mine strikes, eventually settling in Lincoln County, Nevada, where Otto was a standout football, basketball and track athlete at Lincoln County High school in Panaca, Nevada.

Otto graduated high school early because he had skipped a grade, and turned down a basketball scholarship to join the United States Marine Corps when he was 17, where he was 37-0 as a light-heavyweight boxer. After he was discharged from the service, he played football at what was then Dixie State College in St. George, Utah, where he was inducted as an inaugural member of the Utah Technical College Hall of Fame in 1998. At Dixie, he met Amy Lu Savage.

After Otto served an LDS mission in Germany, they married in 1966, eventually settling in South Jordan Utah, where they raised their family. He earned a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Utah, and started his career as a social worker in 1969. As a young couple, Otto and Amy ran “Camp Roughout,” a youth summer camp in southern Utah. Otto then worked at Kennecott Copper Corporation as a social worker, where he started the Insight program, which was a pioneer in providing employee assistance programs and mental health services in corporate America.

But Otto was always an entrepreneur at heart. As a boy, he would get off the school bus to chase down runaway sheep, which he returned to sheepherders, for a fee. In college, he picked fruit in southern Utah and then sold it in Las Vegas. So, in 1973, he left Kennecott to form Human Affairs International, Inc., a company that provided mental health services for corporations around the world, including US Steel, IBM and Exxon. He grew it into a major international business. He loved to make business proposals to rooms full of executives in suits while wearing jeans, cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat. He was a member of both the Social Work and the Entrepreneur halls of fame.

He was a music lover, a great fan of Merle Haggard and John Prine. In his later years, he loved to share his favorite songs with visitors. He also enthusiastically supported the musical talents of his children and grandchildren. He loved to hear members of his family play and sing.
Otto had a lifelong love of animals. He had many horses that he loved, notably his buckskin stallion, Troy. But Otto will be remembered for his buffalo, American Bison, which he raised for nearly half a century. He started with one buffalo, purchased from the Hogle Zoo, and at one point had more than 1,000 head at his ranch in Colorado and Wyoming. He and his family also raised many other animals, including elk, reindeer, musk oxen, ostriches, alpacas, and guanacos.

Sports were a major part of his life. He was an outstanding athlete and a fierce competitor. He played college football at Dixie and at Utah State and on an LDS missionary basketball team that played against European Olympic teams. In addition to football and basketball, he held the Nevada state record in the pole vault for many years when pole vaulters used solid aluminum poles and landed in a pit of sawdust and sand. He played in a competitive flag football league into his early forties, mostly against players decades younger than he was. He coached many youth sports teams over the years, sharing his competitive spirit, work ethic and toughness with hundreds of young people. The referees and umpires at his children’s and grandchildren’s sports games never had to guess about how well he thought they were doing. In recent years, he never missed a Utah Jazz, Utah Tech women’s basketball (where his son-in-law is the coach) or BYU football game.

Otto will be remembered for his leadership, his bravery, and his generosity. He loved to help people, family and friends and strangers alike. He was a true original, and will be dearly missed by those who love him. He is survived by his wife Amy, and by his many beloved children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Otto did not want a formal funeral, so there will be an open house in Otto’s honor from 5:00-8:00 pm on Thursday, August 3rd at the Jenkins-Soffe Mortuary, 1007 W. South Jordan Parkway in South Jordan, Utah. He will be laid to rest in southern Utah in a private family service.

In lieu of flowers please consider donating to one of the causes found below in memory of Otto.