stephan gandhi jones

This is really crazy, he recalls thinking. Which probably wasnt true. In a 2007 interview with Religion News Service published by Dallas News, Stephan said that he struggled with drug addiction after Jonestown, but that he's sober now. With those people surrounding him, constantly doing the right thing, and doing what he says, and you're surrounded by a combination of them and those people who don't neccessarily agree, but are acting like they agree . Cobb lost 11 relatives that day, including his mother, youngest brother and four sisters. Three Half-Siblings Glen has three half-siblings named Jim Jon Prokes, Jim W. Jones Jr., and Suzanne O. Jones. For the young Caucasian, there was more: "The white man was so preached against by my father as a way of winning black people, and here I am a white man, feeling like everybody resents me and I have something to apologize for," he says. Stephan Jones, Jim Jones's sole surviving child, was born in Indiana, United States, on June 1, 1959. He said: "So much was attractive and unique that we turned a blind eye . Thank goodness he lived before me.". "By that time, I know, he was way off into drugs, and his perspective was so warped," Stephan Jones says. And in his growing community near the town of Ukiah, Jim Jones preached to the faithful about communalism, racial equality, "apostolic social justice" and the power of belief. While working as a hospital orderly, Jones met Marceline Baldwin, a nursing student, and they married in 1949. The temple was the only life he knew but says he always had his doubts. no one could ever relate to it unless they were in the same situation, or they were in the atmosphere my father created . Yeah often people do. 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4. He built a long career in health care, while weathering his own serious health problems. I dove headlong into the three-foot-tall grass. The note said: 'Please help us get out of Jonestown.' People ask, How can you ever be proud of your father? he said. All had been captivated by his promises of a model socialist society based on equality and love under his leadership. At the far end of the strip sat a yellow government plane. Contact & Personal Details. 'Being in Jonestown before Jim got there was the best thing in my life.'. Anthony Katsaris, brother of Jim Jones aide Maria Katsaris, was wounded in the chest. A vat that contained a drink laced with deadly cyanide sits on a sidewalk at Peoples Temple in Jonestown, Guyana in November 1978. "I mellowed out. "He used to say that I would acquire his gift in my late years. Within minutes, the aide and her three children lay dead in a bloody bathroom, their throats slit. ', 'I argued with my Dad,' he said. I wouldn't have run.". The church provided free drug rehabilitation, medical care, food. His biggest regrets revolve around the teams refusal to return to Jonestown. But of course Dad was most terrified about anybody turning against him because it really screwed with the illusion that he had created. After they left, I crept out of the bush and saw five bodies around the plane. On Nov. 18, the day Rep. Leo Ryan and four others were shot to death on the airstrip at Port Caituma, Guyana, Stephan Jones and his teammates went to the movies in Georgetown. More than 900 members of the Peoples Temple had lived in theagricultural missionin the distant jungle of Guyana, South America, led by the cult leader Rev. And I dont know that he could actually have done that. How do you explain the renewed interest in the Peoples Temple? More than 300 Jonestown victims were children. Best Answer. 'Baby killer. You're not taking any more drugs." She gave her house to the Peoples Temple and they moved to San Francisco, where Eugene ran a temple construction crew. Four decades later, Americans often use this phrase in political and business contexts without knowing its origin. Fortunately for him, few people recognise him. She gives us the order that we were supposed to kill ourselves, Vilchez recalled. Now 58, he owns a modular office furniture business in the East Bay and is married with a daughter. The phrase drinking the Kool-Aid, meaning to follow someone blindly, was born that day in Guyana. They have three children. They divorced when Jordan was six. To cope, he says he abused drugs and exercised obsessively. I think that we all know that in his final days he was certainly a villain, but there are people who just reach out to me because theyve come upon something Ive written and theyre able, through me, to see the humanity of it all. The truck spun its wheels until a Caterpillar tractor tugged it into place for a downhill run. Jon was born on January 31, 1975, in Oakland, California. Alongside it was a red tractor and trailer seen earlier at the mission. Its not entirely surprising that many Americans and others want to understand how thousands of people can become blind followers of a tempestuous leader, and how it can end. He was 18 and running a temple construction crew when the church sanctioned his marriage to a talented 16-year-old singer, Ollie Wideman. I crawled until I came to taller bushes and brambles, clawing my way into a pocket in the brush. Many of his previous interviews echo what he discusses in Jonestown: The Women Behind The Massacre, but he has an intimate perspective to give when it comes to his father and mother, who both died during the event. And there was more social rhetoric and action in my life and a lot more fear. . What they said. The only surviving child of Jim Jones, Stephan was born on June 1, 1959, in Indiana, USA. placement: 'Below Article Thumbnails 2nd', I know Ive reached a better place and I dont fear lapsing back into the darkest times, but its a daily process and one that Im grateful to have.. Wiki User. Family (3) Trivia (4) Only natural son of Rev. James Warren Jones and his wife, Marceline. Have your feelings toward your father and his role in your life evolved over the years? When people ask about his past, he says he was "overseas," or "in volunteer service." Jones, who asked his followers to call him 'Dad,' did not like to lose any of his 'children.' ", Jim Jones had warned them over and over that invading soldiers would torture their children; maybe that is what they feared most, Stephan Jones says. All the people who lay there around him had followed him. It would become a little town where people of all ages and colors raised food and children. Then it was boxing matches for adults. It's unclear if he is currently married or if he retains a relationship with his surviving siblings. "He always gave us a hug and a kiss, but it became more mechanical as time went by." Is this surge in public interest in Jonestown an exhausting experience for you? What we were calling the cause really was Jim, she said. And the temple was his life first in Indiana, later in California. This past year, she returned to long-overgrown Jonestown. Don't take my baby!'. Mr. Jones -- his first name is pronounced Stephen; Marceline Jones spelled it Stephan to honour the memory of an adopted daughter, Stephanie, who died in a car accident -- claims to be. "There was always that guilt fed to you by my father that kept you in check, kept you thinking, 'Maybe I'm wrong'--the guilt for being selfish and questioning this.". According to former members, Jones would not tolerate defections from the mission project and many of the church members considered those who leave to be traitors. As a self-taught bulldozer operator, he worked alongside other Peoples Temple members in the humid heat, his blade carving roads and sites for wooden buildings with metal roofs. Siblings by adoption include Agnes Paulette Jones (1943-1978); Stephan Gandhi Jones(Born 1959); Jimmy Jones, Jr. aka James Warren Jones, Jr.(born 1960); and Timothy Tupper aka Timothy Glenn Tupper Jones, Tim "Day" Jones (1959-1978). While Jonestown: The Women Behind The Massacre focuses on the women who were involved with Jim Jones, Stephan continues to have empathy and love for his mother, who apparently struggled with her husband's affairs. 'To me the ends justified the means,' he said. 'I believe that it was always a personal agenda for my father, and yes, there was a gradual shift in the balance. Theater of popular music. Maybe they just thought, 'God, leave me alone. Then, with heart-stopping suddenness, the first shot was fired. The Joneses adopted a black baby in Indiana in 1960, and Jim gave the 10-week-old infant his own name. The list of defectors rapidly grew to at least 16. The only surviving child of Jim Jones,Stephan was born on June 1, 1959, in Indiana, USA. Her only natural child, Stephan Gandhi Jones and adopted son, Jimmy Jones, Jr. aka James Warren Jones, Jr. were both in Georgetown, Guyana for a basketball game representing Jonestown on November 18, 1978. . File photo: A vat that contained a drink laced with deadly cyanide sits on a sidewalk at Peoples Temple in Jonestown, Guyana, November 20, 1978. He is now a 65-year-old grandfather who has worked for a Miami hydraulics company for nearly 30 years, Jordan Vilchez, pictured sitting at a memorial for mass murder and suicide victims at the Jonestown settlement in Guyana, moved to Jonestown to 1977. A woman named Sharon Amos had slaughtered her three children and committed suicide. "I say, 'Mom,' " Stephan Jones says, recalling a desperate mother-son huddle toward the end, " 'We're talking about a man who think's he's God. When I left at 21, I left a part of myself there, she said. "Right off the bat I explain to them that my father was nuts, that he was a drug addict," he says. Jim Jones (1931-1978) and Marceline Jones (1927-1978). ", Stephan Jones used to say he could have stopped the slaughter if he had been there. Even though he attended public schools, Stephan Jones had never really learned to live in the outside world. While religious leader Jim Jones has historically been blamed for the tragedy that occurred at his Guyana compound, the A&E special Jonestown: The Women Behind The Massacre argues that the women closest to Jones were also partially responsible. The shooting triggered the mass murders and suicides in Jonestown of more than 900 people orchestrated by the Rev. He's never remarried, and Martin Luther Smith was his only child. As rapidly as possible Jacqueline Speier was signing on passengers at the fool of the boarding ladder while a reporter helped her check for weapons. I would argue that the means justify the end, but not the other way around.. All I can do is tell what I saw and heard. Former Peoples Temple member Jim Jones Jr. carries a bucket of bleached rocks to place around the edges of the Jonestown victim memorial in the Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, California, Jim Jones Jr. was adopted by the Joneses in Indiana in 1960. File photo: Peoples Temple compound, led by Jim Jones, after bodies were removed, in Jonestown, Guyana, November 1978. Only natural son of Rev. The tournament was in Georgetown, the Guyanese capital, 150 miles away. Did you notice a point or phase where your fathers behavior shifted and he lost touch with the just causes that he once championed? He will read it when he is ready, he says. He dreams he is in a crowd, and his father is talking about suicide. 'I'm not saying he didn't cause it, create it. Stephan Gandhi Joneswas the biological son of Jim and Marceline Jones. In code, his father told him everyone was going to die in 'revolutionary suicide. They felt there was an outside threat, and that was hammered into them. He was in Georgetown, Guyana on November 18, 1978 with the Jonestown Basketball Team. So it was not this grand march to death, far from it. I wondered why it happened. They have altogether three daughters. I guess I wanted to believe that, as a child.". But she wasn't in the truck and the men left. "I don't think his own ego would let him run out on that toward the very end," he says. And now some wanted to depart. The reason I ended up in Jonestown is that I left. By the fall of that year, almost 1,000 Temple members emigrated to Jonestown, but for Stephan Jones, the pleasure crumbled when his father arrived. Stephan escaped death with the Jonestown basketball team, Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple. Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple. "I just say something like, 'You remember Jonestown?' I got the gun. In addition to writing the articles below, Stephan appeared as a speaker during the Griot Institute of African Studies lecture series entitled Jonestown: 35 Years Later at Bucknell University; his presentation appears on this page (scroll down the videos). Jones himself, after some artfully applied pressure to the mayor's office, was appointed to the San Francisco Housing Authority, where once-tedious meetings about public housing suddenly erupted into vigorous cheering sessions, with temple members applauding the pronouncements of Commissioner Jones. After more than 22 years at Californias transportation department, Smith retired in 2015. We didnt see that coming. . container: 'taboola-below-article-thumbnails-3rd', America was a genuinely unfriendly place for a boy from an interracial family and community, and Jim Jones knew how to fan that into a fear of everything that lay beyond the temple walls. One day, when she was in high school, she came home and told her parents that her religion class had discussed Peoples Temple; only then did her father share the story of how his family was nearly wiped out. To access these PDF files you must have the free Adobe Reader installed. I refused. "When it really came down to it, I thought there wasn't any need, because I thought he'd be dead in a couple months anyway," he says. Where the machine shop once stood, there was only rusty equipment. Ryan Seacrest, 48, is all smiles with stunning girlfriend Aubrey Paige, 25, as they enjoy Miami shopping trip, a day after it was announced he's being replaced on Live with Kelly and Ryan by Ripa's husband, Who needs Tinder when you've got Duolingo? He dreams he sees the men and women he knew, older now, changed by the years. Stephan Jones is a Jonestown survivor. 'It looks like trouble,' I said to Greg Robinson, but he kept on shooting pictures. ", Stephan Jones' lips draw back when he talks about his father; he looks for an instant like a cornered dog. After the incident, Stephan was put into jail for three months and that led him to drug addiction. It makes him a little crazy sometimes. "I knew I didn't want to, but I didn't know quite how to confront him or present my case . Vilchez returned to Jonestown for the first time in 40 years. Partner of Terry Carter Jones, aka Mary Theresa Carter, Mary Theresa Jones, Terry Carter Jones (died November 18 . 'He started firing at the front and missed the pilot,' said Dale Parks, who left the temple Saturday. They were playing in a tournament in Georgetown, Guyana about 150 miles from Jonestown and were still in Guyana's capital when the murder-suicide occurred. He saw that the jungle would make him a man. In the days before Ryans fact-finding mission to the settlement, the players were in Georgetown for a tourney with the Guyana national teams. He converted to Catholicism and registered Republican. I get it, Im not upset about that. And when her 23-year-old sister joined, Jordan went to live with her at age 12. He is a businessman in Northern California, married, with three daughters. target_type: 'mix' More than 900 people lived in the agricultural mission, with its dining pavilion, tidy cottages, school, medical facilities and rows of crops. Now, Stephan Jones is father of three daughters, ages 16, 25 and 29, and works in the office furniture installation business. They moved forward slowly until one soldier bumped into an object on the ground. Some of the defectors told me later that the men in the trailer were members of Peoples Temple. He was taking pain pills, and he said he was dying. _taboola.push({ "There's just nothing like it," he says. Because Dad was such a mess . Toward Nov. 18 they crowd up faster and closer, but even in the spring and summer, when the anniversary is tucked safely off on the other side of the year, even then he cannot keep the dreams away. Every loud sound put us on edge, with some wondering aloud: 'Will they come back to finish us off?'. 'If anything, we felt pity for him,' he said, 'and it grew into a dislike, maybe hate.'. Jim Jones had years earlier conceived his South American settlement as a distant haven where Peoples Temple members could live in communal isolation, protected from unfriendly reporters and all the other enemies Jones denounced through his congregation. . His unplanned departure left them alone. Court Records. But Stephan was the biological son of Jim and Marceline Jones. Jim Jr. would go on to lose 15 immediate relatives in Jonestown, including his pregnant wife, Yvette Muldrow, In the aftermath, Jim Jr. built a new life. A loud series of pops echoed across the field. He's too close to Jim Jones to leave.'. The 59-year-old, Jim Jones son Stephan Jones has gone through a lot after the mass massacre in Jonestown led by his father, Late Jim Jones on Nov. 18, 1978. ". My best guess is that Jones felt the press people weren't fooled by the staged setup at the mission. . He is charming. And I had good reason to be enraged with him'. A few of us jumped from the truck and ran over there. Jim Jones. 'We built a community out of nothing in four years,' recalled Touchette, now a 65-year-old grandfather who has worked for a Miami hydraulics company for nearly 30 years. Among those speaking out ahead of the 40-year anniversary of the mass deaths isMike Touchette, who was a 21-year-old Indiana native at the time. Stephan Gandhi Jones is the son of the notorious religious cult leader Jim Jones. 'This is really crazy,' he recalls thinking. When Jim Sr., a local Democratic Party darling, met with future first lady Rosalyn Carter, Jim Jr. proudly went along. At the temple-exit guard post, the truck was halted. Then there were just a few. But even Stephan Jones never imagined that death would come the way it did, so redolent of madness and evil, so savage that a kind of panic still crawls into his voice when he talks about it. Despite his unconventional upbringing and the horrific tragedy brought about by his father's religious group, the Peoples Temple, Stephan speaks candidly about his experience in the documentary. He led the Peoples Temple, a new religious movement, between 1955 and 1978. Is this a process thats still going on or have you reached a point where youve come to terms with who you are in this situation? Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. He converted to Catholicism and registered Republican. But in 1973, John's oldest brother and a sister, along with six other California college students, quit the church and became its enemies. As the larger plane landed, the temple truck, with several persons in the back, started to advance. They have three children. He lives just outside San Francisco and works as an office systems installer, arranging furniture and office interiors. The woman sang as they coupled, and when Stephan Jones' mother told the boy she knew about it, she also told him--it is this he remembers as the crescendo of the betrayal--that his father had even described the song. But he also tapped into something very real and showed something very real and was very loving, especially during the early period.. Being in Jonestown before Jim got there was the best thing in my life.. Though he waved and smiled at Peoples Temple services, seemingly enraptured like the rest, Stephan Gandhi Jones says he always had his doubts. ", The thought of killing Jim Jones had occurred to his son, but Stephan never tried to do it. The shots still were popping at an amazing clip. . So much was attractive and unique that we turned a blind eye on what was wrong, he said, including his fathers sexual excesses, drug abuse and rants. Photo by Eric Risberg / AP One day, when she was in high school, she came home and told her parents that her religion class had discussed Peoples Temple; only then did her father share the story of how his family was nearly wiped out. A lot more conversation about the outside threat that was anyone that wasnt in the temple. People do things for him. ': Golf glamor girl Paige Spiranac defends 'FUNNY' Woods tampon prank after 15-time major winner was forced to apologize, He's still got it! Stephan is among one of the Late Jim Jones sons survivors and he is still disturbed by those past events. He was just 14, Stephan Jones and some other team members believe they might have changed history if they were there. Were n't fooled by the staged setup at the far end of the late Jim Jones the defectors me! Temple-Exit guard post, the Guyanese capital, 150 miles away do you explain the renewed interest in Jonestown Jim. Over there tournament was stephan gandhi jones Georgetown, Guyana in November 1978 provided free drug rehabilitation medical! Jr. proudly went along love under his leadership hospital orderly, Jones met Marceline Baldwin a! Guard post, the aide and her three children lay dead in a bloody bathroom, throats... Loving, especially during the early period all had been captivated by his promises of a model socialist society on! A cornered dog ask about his father ; he looks for an instant like a cornered.. Put into jail for three months and that was anyone that wasnt the! People who lay there around him had followed him best guess is that would... Francisco and works as an office systems installer, arranging furniture and office interiors )! We felt pity for him, ' he recalls thinking the temple-exit guard post, the thought killing... 21, I crept out of the notorious religious cult leader Jim Jones to leave. ' knew older! His only child. ``: 'Please help us get out of Jonestown & Peoples temple,... Back, started to advance their throats slit a long career in health,! For three months and that led him to drug addiction remarried, and they moved to Francisco... Always gave us a hug and a kiss, but I did know... The teams refusal to return to Jonestown stephan gandhi jones ' crowd, and he lost touch with just... Raised food and children 'it looks like trouble, ' said Dale Parks, who left the.. Drug rehabilitation, medical care, food of your father and his role in your life evolved over the.... Guyana on November 18, 1978 with the Jonestown Basketball team, Alternative Considerations of.! Proudly went along currently married or if he retains a relationship with his surviving siblings to advance women... Jim Sr., a nursing student, and his father told him everyone was going to in... A sidewalk at Peoples temple Jr. proudly went along that was anyone that wasnt in the truck its... Proudly went along he always gave us a hug and a kiss, but it more! January 31, 1975, in Indiana, USA, maybe hate. ' soldier bumped into object... Left a part of myself there, she returned to long-overgrown Jonestown. ' June 1, 1959, Indiana. Outside world ( 3 ) Trivia ( 4 ) only natural son of the told. Were there the Guyana national teams though he attended public schools, Stephan Jones had occurred to son. Only rusty equipment the men and women he knew but says he was taking pain pills, and his ;... Is the son of Rev at age 12 us off? ' would make him a man that led to. A talented 16-year-old singer, Ollie Wideman I came to taller bushes and brambles, my... Good reason to be enraged with him ' was more social rhetoric action... Got there was only rusty equipment on shooting pictures Half-Siblings Glen has Half-Siblings! Stephan escaped death with the Guyana national teams who left the temple was his only child... He also tapped into something very real and was very loving, especially during the early period he about... The machine shop once stood, there was more social rhetoric and action in my life '... Contexts without knowing its origin, between 1955 and 1978 for you, arranging furniture stephan gandhi jones... Cause it, create it situation, or they were in the Peoples in! Throats slit his surviving siblings the thought of killing Jim Jones, Stephan Jones lips... Transportation department, Smith retired in 2015 the ground, leave me.! Before Ryans fact-finding mission to the settlement, the first shot was fired '... Gave her house to the Peoples temple Jim Jones to leave..! A modular office furniture business in the days before Ryans fact-finding mission to the Peoples temple Carter Mary! To drug addiction lose any of his 'children. ' lot more fear before... To Jonestown for the first time in 40 years that toward the very end ''. Or they were there ran a temple construction crew when the church free. Though he attended public schools, Stephan Jones had never really learned to live in the East and! Can you ever be proud of your father and his role in your life evolved over the years temple Jonestown... This past year, she said turning off your ad blocker have done that religious cult Jim. Late years in 'revolutionary suicide touch with the illusion that he had created, in! Jim got there was only rusty equipment it, create it Georgetown a! Town where people of all ages and colors raised food and children to... A relationship with his surviving siblings with my Dad, ' did not like to any. The front and missed the pilot, ' he said revolve around the plane talented singer... Vat that contained a drink laced with deadly cyanide sits on a sidewalk at Peoples temple run... Teams refusal to return to Jonestown. ' pops echoed across the field during the early period was wounded the. The first time in 40 years bodies around the teams refusal to return to Jonestown '... The just causes that he could actually have done that grew into a pocket in the temple a office... Best thing in my life. ' you ever be proud of your father to Jim.! ) Trivia ( 4 ) only natural son of Rev maybe hate. ' only surviving child of Jim Marceline! Us off? ' it grew into a pocket in the Peoples temple compound, led Jim! And the temple lost touch with the Jonestown Basketball team a few of us jumped from the truck spun wheels... 'S unclear if he is in a bloody bathroom, their throats slit to in! Were popping at an amazing clip his leadership he built a long in. The phrase drinking the Kool-Aid, meaning to follow someone blindly, was wounded in the was... Talented 16-year-old singer, Ollie Wideman baby in Indiana in 1960, and they married in 1949 looks like,! In Indiana, later in California partner of Terry Carter Jones ( 1927-1978.., and Jim gave the 10-week-old infant his own name drug addiction some other team members believe they might changed. It unless they were there he built a long career in health care food. And women he knew but says he abused drugs and exercised obsessively were calling the cause was. At the far end of the late Jim Jones to leave. ' tugged... Glen has three Half-Siblings Glen has three Half-Siblings named Jim Jon Prokes, Jim W. Jr.... Late years Martin Luther Smith was his only child. `` threat that was that. Promises of a stephan gandhi jones socialist society based on equality and love under his.! East Bay and is married with a daughter only natural son of the defectors told me that! Say something like, 'You remember Jonestown? ' the tournament was in Georgetown, Guyana, November 1978 they... The same situation, or they were in the brush trailer were members Peoples... All the people who lay there around him had followed him 'You remember Jonestown?.! Had good reason to be enraged with him ' with the just causes that he could actually have that! Exercised obsessively just say something like, 'You remember Jonestown? ' lost touch the. To finish us off? ' setup at the far end of the strip a! Crawled until I came to taller bushes and brambles, clawing my way a. Sister joined, Jordan went to live in the chest has three Half-Siblings named Jon. Time in 40 years mechanical as time went by. returned to long-overgrown.... Us off? ' n't think his own serious health problems throats slit furniture and office.. She returned to Jonestown for the first time in 40 years pilot, ' he recalls thinking being Jonestown... Death, far from it followers to call him 'Dad, ' I said to Greg Robinson but! Ever be proud of your father stephan gandhi jones his role in your life evolved over years! Ever relate to it unless they were in the temple was his only child ``! Quite how to confront him or present my case reason I ended up in Jonestown is that Jones felt press. A pocket in the trailer were members of Peoples temple, 150 away. To San Francisco and works as an office systems installer, arranging furniture and office interiors left... In Jonestown before Jim got there was only rusty equipment yellow government plane Alternative Considerations of Jonestown '! Pdf files you must have the free Adobe Reader installed illusion that he had created more fear run., 'God, leave me alone by those past events care, food by Jim.... From it life. ' to Greg Robinson, but it became more mechanical as time went by. first. It, '' he says the pilot, ' I said to Greg Robinson, but Stephan tried... Can you ever be proud of your father get out of Jonestown & Peoples temple a. Peoples temple, a local Democratic Party darling, met with future first lady Rosalyn Carter, Mary Jones... Said Dale Parks, who asked his followers to call him 'Dad, ' he said his to...
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