E. Fay Jones

His Thorncrown Chapel was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000, 20 years after it was built, in recognition of its architectural significance.

E. Fay Jones, (first name Euine, which is pronounced U-wan and is an old Welsh form of John), was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, on January 31, 1921.

In 1938, after being inspired by a short film[4] about the Johnson Wax Headquarters, designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, Jones decided to pursue a career in architecture.

[3]: p2-3  Jones hoped to earn an appointment to the United States Naval Academy and took civil engineering classes at the University of Arkansas to improve his chances.

[3]: p8 At the outbreak of World War II, Jones joined the United States Navy and served in the Pacific theater of operations for fifteen months as a naval aviator piloting torpedo and dive bombers, though not in combat.

While in Houston, at the prompting of Williams, Jones attended the 1949 American Institute of Architects conference in hopes of catching a glimpse of Wright, who was receiving that year’s Gold Medal.

Later, Wright invited Jones' entire family to his home and design institute, Taliesin, in Spring Green, Wisconsin.

He ignored architectural trends and developed his own organic aesthetic with materials found in The Ozarks and familiar traditional forms from his home region.

Clinton had lived in Fayetteville in the 1970s while teaching at the University of Arkansas law school, and moved into a Jones home near the campus.

Clinton called it a “perfect place to live, a beautiful little house.”[10] Jones used Frank Lloyd Wright's principles, but made unique buildings.

On August 31, 2004, Jones died at his home in Fayetteville, Arkansas at the age of 83 from heart and lung failure, complicated by Parkinson's disease.