January 12, 1949 — June 29, 2019
Antiwar activist, foundation director, health systems designer and administrator, and documentary film producer Christopher Colorado Jones died June 29 in San Francisco of injuries suffered in a fall. He was 70.
Christopher was a proud fifth-generation Californian, the oldest of four, his mother a nurse, and his dad a contractor.
He decided on his own at 17 to refuse to register for the draft as the law required, to protest the Vietnam War. In the antiwar resistance groups he later worked with, which included folksinger and activist Joan Baez and her husband, resistance leader David Harris, Christopher was often the youngest in the room.
He was tried three times, finally convicted, and served nine months in a minimum-security prison in Arizona in 1971 at age 22. After his discharge, he spent seven years as the director of the Agape Foundation, got a double master's degree in social work and public health at UC Berkeley, and moved to Seattle 1987 to work in HIV/AIDS. He was particularly proud of being part of the (Washington) Governor's Task Force on HIV/AIDS, which designed Washington's first large-scale HIV treatment programs.
In Seattle he met the love of his life, Bill Prince. Partners for 20 years, they moved together to San Francisco in 2012 and married in 2014. Christopher organized the reunion of 70 draft resisters — Baez and Harris were among those who attended — that was the beginning of the film "The Boys Who Said NO!" He served six years as its producer, but did not live to see its release, expected within six to eight months.
Christopher was a visionary who loved projects large and small, particularly home remodeling or garden design. He had a great zest for life and exquisite taste, was a great cook, loved disco dancing, and adored playing with little children.
He had a fierce dedication to social justice and our film is his legacy. To learn more, go to www.boyswhosaidno.com. A memorial service is planned for later this month.