background
Gil is a native Texan who grew up in the West Texas cattle, oil and cotton town of Big Spring where he learned early-on about hard work and self-sufficiency. He's been around the court system all his life due to his father having been the District Attorney. His folks, Guilford, Jr. (a/k/a "Big Gil" as opposed to Gil's continuing hometown nickname of "Little Gil") and Bette, reared him and his sister Jan (who lives in Marble Falls) in Big Spring where he graduated high school.
After trying hard to do "his own independent thing" he found his roots in the law in his second career after one in public accounting as a Certified Public Accountant in the Houston office of an international accounting firm. That career was partially interrupted by a stint in the Navy during Vietnam after which he returned to public accounting before later attending law school.
Judge Jones earned both of his degrees from the University of Texas, a BBA in Accounting (1966) and his Doctor of Jurisprudence (1973). He initially practiced law in Austin with the firm of Hilgers, Daugherty, Fielder, Golden and Kupperman and later with the Law Office of Bill Hilgers which eventually became Hilgers and Watkins in Austin. In 1975 he reluctantly left the Hilgers firm to return to his hometown and practice law with his father both in private practice and for a private oil and gas producer.
His private law practice, which ended in 1996 when he was first elected to the 33rd District Court bench, utilized his combined licensure as both attorney and CPA in the areas of taxation, estate planning, business planning and business litigation among all of the varied other areas in which small-town lawyers typically practice such as divorce and custody matters, consumer protection, collections. He once tallied up well over 100 substantive areas of the law in which he had been involved in litigation and had practiced in both state and federal courts.
Moving to Marble Falls in 1984 was the beginning of the eventual trek to the bench. At first intending to live in the Hill Country and maintain his primary practice in Big Spring, Gil quickly became too busy in the Hill Country to continue the practice in Big Spring and the 250 mile commute it entailed. He's often been heard when people "back home" asked "how could you just shut down your fine law practice in Big Spring to go down there?" to quip "if you have to ask the question, you just won't understand the answer."
The Marble Falls area is like home to Gil from his having spent many boyhood summers in Marble Falls with his grandparents, G.L. and Jeannette Jones. They were long time residents of Marble Falls having moved there in 1921. G.L. had once been the mayor of Marble Falls and Jeannette had taught school there for many years and taught several generations of Marble Fallsians, many of whom are still around.