Preston Jones, born and raised in Albuquerque, graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1960. Two years later he joined the Dallas Theater Center, where he became actively involved with the professional company as an actor, a director, and finally as a playwright.

When A Texas Trilogy was first produced by the Dallas Theater Center under Paul Baker’s direction, the three plays broke all attendance records and received standing ovations. The first play in the trilogy, The Last Meeting of the Knights of the White Magnolia, was chosen by the American Playwrights Theatre as its 1975–76 offering, and the play was produced by numerous regional, university, and professional theater companies.

In the spring of 1976, the John F. Kennedy Center presented A Texas Trilogy (The Last Meeting, Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander, and The Oldest Living Graduate) in repertory. The plays ran for a ten-week season starting on April 20, under the direction of Alan Schneider. On August 5 the trilogy was brought back to the Kennedy Center for a five-week run prior to its New York opening at the Broadhurst Theatre on September 21.

Richard L. Coe, the drama critic for the Washington Post, wrote: “Not since the Philadelphia premiere of Death of a Salesman have I been so profoundly satisfied . . . . The audience stood and cheered and I crouched in my seat fingering the tears from my eyes.”

Not long after the success of The Texas Trilogy in New York, I received news that Preston had died. He was in his early thirties. It was a sad day. He had a great future that we shall never see or know.