By Nicole Hamilton
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LEBANON - When Vicky Jones' father, Thomas, taught her to draw a straight line, he told her to put a pencil flat on the paper and to keep her eyes focused - not on the length of the pencil - but on the tip where she wanted her straight line to end.

"I think of that lesson, and how it meant so much more," said Jones, of Madison, Wis. "It was really the way he wanted us to approach life - to keep your head up and look towards your goal."

Thomas "Tim" Jones, a University of Cincinnati professor emeritus and former Covedale resident, died Monday at Middletown Hospital after he suffered a stroke. The ceramics professor was 82.

"For an artist who worked with his hands, he had enormous respect for language, he took pride in education and wanted people to use their brains," his daughter said.

Raised in Columbus, Mr. Jones earned a bachelor of arts in fine arts from Ohio State University 1945 and a master of art in 1951.

As a student, he was a distance runner with the track team and an equipment manager for the Buckeye football team under coach Paul Brown.

After graduating, he stayed in Columbus and worked in the art school before accepting a position as a ceramics professor in the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning in 1954.

"He continued (to produce) his own work, but he was such an exceptional teacher, that was his priority" said his wife, Pat Jones of Lebanon.

Mr. Jones won acclaim and awards in local, statewide and international exhibitions.

A past president of the Ceramics Guild of Greater Cincinnati, he illustrated local historian Charles Fryer's pocket guide, The Queen City Introduces Herself.

He also was a member of the MacDowell Society and appeared regularly on educational television in Cincinnati, in programs such as The University of Cincinnati in the Home, UC Horizons and The Potter's Wheel.

Mr. Jones retired from teaching in 1983 and worked in his home studio, occasionally exhibiting in shows and retrospectives.

Besides his wife and daughter, survivors include two other daughters, Elizabeth Jones of Glendale and Kathleen Jennifer Jones of Westwood; a son, Thomas of Covedale; a twin brother, John of Columbus; and four grandchildren.

Visitation will be 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Otterbein-Lebanon Chapel, Otterbein Retirement Community, 585 N. Ohio 741, Lebanon. A memorial service will follow.

The body will be cremated.

Memorials can be made to the Otterbein Benevolent Fund, 585 N. Ohio 741, Lebanon, 45036; or to the Ohio State University Development Fund, Room 709, Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Rd., Columbus, 43210.

E-mail nhamilton@enquirer.com