DAVID L. JAMESON was born June 3, 1927 in
Ranger, TX. He attended Ranger High School in the
Class of 1943. David served in WWII in the U.S.
Navy & used the GI Bill to complete undergraduate
work in Biology & in 1952 he earned his doctorate
in Zoology, Genetics and Paleontology under the
emerging paradigms of the Modern Synthesis and
was the first doctoral student of W. Frank Blair.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Dr. Dave (as he was known
to us) developed an extensive research program on
the evolutionary biology of the Pacific Tree Toad,
Hyliola regilla, while teaching at Pacific University,
the University of Oregon, & San Diego State University
(SDSU). While at the University of Oregon, he set up
a joint program in herpetology with Oregon State
University and was a co-founder of the Oregon
Herpetological Society. In 1967, he moved to the
University of Houston as Dean of the Graduate School.
He was married to Marianne Mayo Jameson who passed
away in 2020.
WIFE: MARIANNE MAYO JAMESON, resident of
Danville, CA, passed away on Oct. 11, 2020 at her
home at age 92 after a brief illness from pneumonia
and lung cancer.
Marianne was born in Dallas, TX on Oct. 27, 1927. She
was raised in Dallas and attended the University of
Texas at Austin where she received a B.A. in Liberal
Arts, Plan II, in 1949. She met her husband of 66
years, David Jameson, in Austin. She earned her M.A.
in Political Science at San Diego State in 1967 and
her Ph.D. at the University of Houston in 1974 while
raising four children. Marianne taught as a Professor
of Political Science at Texas Southern University for
20 years until 1988.
After retiring to Danville with David, Marianne was
a part-time Instructor at Diablo Valley College from
1990-2008. She was involved in community activities
by serving on the Contra Costa Grand Jury for three
years (Fore Person in 1990-91). She was active in
the Contra Costa County and California Grand Jurors
Associations. Marianne also was on the Elections
Advisory Panel, Contra Costa County Charter Commission,
Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), Juvenile
Justice & Delinquency Prevention Commission and
Juvenile Systems Planning Advisory Committee.
Marianne grew prize-winning roses in her large garden
and was active in the Mount Diablo Rose Society from
1988-2020, and President from 2007-2009. Marianne
traveled worldwide to Japan, Bulgaria, Russia, Western
and Eastern Europe, Canada, and Mexico, where she
visited the erupting Paricutin volcano in the 1940s.
Most important to Marianne was her husband & family. She
is survived by her children, Roy Jameson of Blacksburg,
VA, David Laurence Jameson of Austin, TX, Robert Jameson
of Danville, CA, and Carol Kuykendall of Atascocita,
TX. She has six grandchildren, Brian Jameson, Megan
Jameson, Kristen Foley, Hilton Kuykendall, Michael
Kuykendall, Marissa Straps & four great-grandchildren,
Mack Jones, David Straps, Brianna Kuykendall & Bradley
Kuykendall.