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Ray Jones |
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Ray Jones |
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Ray Jones
Born -
Died - Sunday, April 6, 1969
Ray Jones was listed on the 1967 Fall Semester Club Membership Roster for the University of Texas Underwater Society. I believe he was a mathematics/physics major and possibly in graduate school? Ray became club Equipment Officer in the Spring semester of 1968 and served until his accidental death on Sunday, April 6, 1969 at Hamilton Pool (24300 Hamilton Pool Road.; Dripping Springs, Texas 78620).(1)
Ray's scuba diving accident was a result of a double drowning between himself and his buddy diver, Elton Smith of Buda, Texas.
This is what I remember about the events surrounding Ray's accident. I remember being told of the accident but cannot remember who told me. Therefore, some details may not be accurate. Ray and his buddy were finishing up a dive at Hamilton pool. Ray's buddy got in trouble on the water surface and Ray went to help him. Both ended up drowning and sinking to the bottom. Both were wearing weight belts and not wearing any type of air vest. Today that would be referred to as a buoyancy compensator.(2)
Don Brod, dive shop owner in Austin, Texas, did the diver recovery at Hamilton Pool.
As a result of Ray's accident, The "Revised Constitution By-Laws" were added late 1968 or early 1969. The By-Law provision that all divers wear "life vests" was added as a results of his drowning. Neither diver was wearing an air vest. At that time, bouyancy compensators or the "B.C." did not exist as we know them today. The air vest was just coming into being at this time. Air vests were thought of as an inflatible life preserver versus bouyancy compensator.
The "Revised Constitution By-Laws" added late 1968 or early 1969:
In the Fall semester of 1968, I became Assistant Equipment Officer for Ray. Ray was a very nice person and I thought him to be very smart at having a major of mathematics and physics. I remember helping him arrange club gear in the club's equipment trailer located at 910 Baylor in Austin, Texas. Ray taught me how to use a cascade air station lying in the floor of the trailer for filling the club's scuba tanks for pool sessions held at the YWCA at 405 W. 18th Street; Austin, Texas.
I also remember hearing about Ray's accident and how stunned all the club members felt to lose someone we all knew. Upon reading about Ray in a local newspaper, it was hard to accept the fact that one day he was with us and the next he was gone. I also thought about all the academic work Ray had accomplished.
Anyone with any more information on Ray or the events presented above, contact me and I will update this article.
(1) "Hamilton Pool Preserve is a historic swimming hole which was designated a preserve by the Travis County Commissioner's Court in 1990. Located 3/4 mile upstream from its confluence with the Pedernales River, Hamilton Creek spills out over limestone outcroppings to create a 50 foot waterfall as it plunges into the head of a steep box canyon. The waterfall never completely dries up, but in dry times it does slow to a trickle. However, the pool's water level stays pretty constant, even during periods of drought." - Source.
(2) [During the early mid sixties, scuba diving formal training was in its infancy. The horse-collar air vest was discused in my basic diving course taken in the mid sixties. The horse-collar style air vest could be inflated by mouth or a cord could be pulled and a carbon dioxide cartride would be fired thus inflating the vest in an emergency. I was told the air vest was a nice thing to wear but not essential because one could drop his weight belt in an emergency for extra bouyancy, provided you had a quick release buckle on your weight belt or you had threaded the nylon strap through D-rings in a certain way to allow the weight belt to be dropped quickly. Later, when I was a member of the club, I mail order an air vest through New England Divers. The very first time I wore it at a club bottle derby at LCRA Mansfield Dam Park at Lake Travis, Texas, it saved my life. I had gotten separated from my buddy Robert Woodring and ended up in the middle of the lake in rough water.
© Copyright - 2016 - Paul Johnston
