CHAPTER SUMMARIES
110 YEARS
POSITIVELY ON MY OWN
TABLE OF CONTENTS
28 CHAPTERS
CHAPTER 1
FORMATIVE YEARS
1872 - 1884
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Beginning with descriptions of his origins, Jones introduces himself to us with colorful anecdotes of childhood life in rural Georgia during the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. He reveals he was the oldest of twelve kids, existing on a 35-acre tenant farm, ruled sternly by an iron-fisted father. Farm chores are itemized with a nifty recollection of turning sugar cane into syrup. Later, he discusses how neighborly his childhood world seemed, and by contrast, how different the folks in 1981 had become.
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Jones tells about Cross, his “best pal,” during formative years. Instances of canine rescues strengthen the bond between a boy and his dog.
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The chapter concludes with confessions of mischievous acts centered around the theft of cigars from a general store. “The trouble is, a parent will have certain ideas about things, and they just want the kid to grow up and have them same ideas, but kids are naturally rebellious.”
CHAPTER 2
ADOLESCENCE & ABUSE
1884 - 1892
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Fond memories of adolescence prevail. He talks about girls: “I was awful bashful with ‘em;” his father’s workshop: “It was a wonderful place. I spent many, many hours in there, workin’ by my dad’s side;” and the pride he had taken in constructing a wooden bicycle at age 11.
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Jones examines incidents from childhood involving his father’s violent abuse when enraged, and reviews how such incidents influenced his personality.
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Next, his harrowing recount of the final whipping that triggered his rebellious departure at age fifteen: “It kept comin’ down on me, harder and harder. One time my legs, another time, my side. He was beatin’ me, the way I’d seen mother beat the dust out of the rugs.”
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Poignant first-hand descriptions depict the runaway lad’s life on the run in 1887 Georgia. He’s fifteen, looks much younger, and can’t read or write, yet he somehow must forge ahead and make a life for himself. Jones’ reflections detail his several encounters as a “hired hand” for assorted farmers. “Lookin’ back, I think some of my happiest days, was when I was farmin’. I enjoyed it all, especially plowin’.”
CHAPTER 3
HOBO ASSIMILATION
1892 - 1900
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About the age of twenty, Jones gravitates to sawmills to earn his living: “It was handlin’ slabs. A man-killin’ job!”
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He fondly remembers the mentoring from boarding house roommates that spawned his literacy: “I was apt enough to watch a man do somethin’ and I could pick up his tools and repeat it. It was the same with learnin’ to read and write.”
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The topic shifts to sexual practices of the era. Jones provides vivid details about sporting houses. “The women were there for rent. When you went into the parlor, you had to act like a gentleman.”
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The old fellow describes his first visit home after seven years living on the road. “He needed help, bad. But I was happy with how I was livin’ my life. In fact, I got downright itchy to get movin’ after only a couple of days there.”
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This chapter concludes with descriptions of a series of laboring jobs that aided the young hobo’s survival, including: building county roads, cooking meals for a tugboat crew, and laying telegraph wires for Western Union.
CHAPTER 4
SKILLS EXPANSION
1900 - 1908
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Jones remembers being angry a lot during the turn of the century, even carrying a concealed revolver. “Shootin’ at somebody just because they make you mad is about as crazy as it gets.”
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He recalls handling mules for a phone company crew replacing downed poles from a hurricane. “Most mule skinners tend to do a lot of cursin’. You know, I didn’t even pack a whip.”
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Next, he became a News Butch on a passenger train. “It’s bein’ a guy that sells merchandise on the moving train to the folks who are ridin’.”
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Jones’ young life detours into skullduggery, when an influential mentor teaches him shortchanging. “He converted me over to his philosophy, and showed me all the ropes. It’s actually sleight of hand.”
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During this dark period of corruption, 36-year-old Jones also dabbled in peddling illegal whiskey to train passengers. “I’d hide it behind the stool in the toilet, and then tip ‘em off about where to go back and take a look. That way, they didn’t see me deliver it.”
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This chapter concludes with his serious reflection and lament.
CHAPTER 5
FIRST TRIP WESTWARD
1908 - 1909
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The wily centenarian comments about being constantly on the move during this era. He sells portrait blow-ups door-to-door, honing important skills that will fortify his survival strategies for the rest of his life. Against all odds, he moves on to snag his dream-job, as a locomotive engineer. Although it was short duration, his recall triggers deep satisfaction. “I opened the throttle half way and rocked her back and forth, tryin’ to splash some extra water through. I stood there and rocked that over and over, until I finally got some water flowin’.”
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The remainder of this chapter deals with revelations about Jones’ wild adventures during a 1909 cross-country journey. “I wasn’t a bum or a tramp. I always earned my livin’ workin’. I saw a lot of country.”
Jones warmly relives the colorful partnership that helped define his life-philosophy. New Bedford Shorty was an itinerant entrepreneurial genius who temporarily teamed up with super-salesman Jones. They blanketed the territory with money-making schemes.
CHAPTER 6
HARD LABOR, EASY LOVE
1909 – 1913
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A tale of armed robbery accusations opens the chapter. “The sheriff put the handcuffs on him and led him out. He passed right by me. I got a good look, and I swear; it was like lookin’ in a mirror, practically a spittin’ image.”
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Next, Jones itemizes his 1910 through 1913 movements, including carnival barker: “I used ballyhoo, the gift of gab. Talkin’, yellin’, lettin’ the people out yonder know you’re there.” Also, harvest worker, skidder fireman, and locomotive fireman: “I’d just stand at the door, chain in one hand and the scoop in the other, and every so often, I’d throw in some coal. My subconscious mind would take over."
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The chapter’s final segment focuses on a pivotal turning point for 40-year-old Jones when he falls in love, fills his life with courtship, finally schedules a wedding, then suffers the humiliation of rejection when she cancels. “I loved her, and I still love her, as far as that goes. It’s been seventy years and I still think about her, wonderin’ how my life would have been lived, had we hitched up then.”
CHAPTER 7
SERVICING THE FOLKS
1913 - 1917
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Swearing off further female contact while he healed from the failed romance with Annie, Jones becomes determined to master complete self-sufficiency. His next few years were spent “providing services.” He gathered clients by brazenly knocking on their front doors, then pitched them. He sharpened dull scissors on the porch, sold razors and needle books, repaired sewing machines, and even barbered on Saturdays. “I could go to almost any neighborhood and find someone needin’ somethin’ I could do.”
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Between 1913 and 1917 Jones hoboed through Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, and parts of Florida. He describes his most exciting product. “These were lamp chimneys. You have a light that you light up with a match, and you put your chimney over it. They looked like any other lamp chimney, but they was unbreakable. My demonstration is what sold ‘em. I’d knock on the door, and when the lady said she might be interested, I’d take and throw ‘em up agin’ the ceilin’ of the porch and let it tumble onto the floor, and it didn’t break. I sold hundreds of ‘em.”
CHAPTER 8
NORTHERN EXPOSURE
1917 - 1920
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Walter Casey Jones reaches age 45. He becomes a tire broker until competitors run him off. He travels with a carnival, hosting an “honest” game, and goes broke. He is recruited to serve the east-coast labor shortages. Accepting free train fare, Jones winds up in Pittsburgh, where he becomes a millwright in a steel mill. “The superintendent come in and he says, ‘Fix it!’ I come to a quick conclusion. The valves weren’t settin’ on one side. I figured the valves were just sticky. So, I shut her down, took off the cover, put some water on the valve stems, put her back together and she went to workin’ just fine.”
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Seduced by tales of unbelievably high wages in the logging industries of the Pacific Northwest, Jones travels to Oregon and lands a logging-camp job that captivates his soul, running a steam donkey. “I really felt by gettin’ to be a donkey engineer, I finally found the one job I had really been meant to do.”
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The chapter concludes with Jones’ comical revelations about his first experiences with cars, including working at an auto junk yard.
CHAPTER 9
TWISTED WIRE BRUSHES
1920 - 1922
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Jones' Fuller Brush career began after a logging camp layoff. “I says, ‘Missus, I’m not necessarily here to sell you. I’m here to demonstrate, to show you what we’ve got and what you can do with the brushes we make. I won’t even ask you to buy.’”
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Vivid details pour forth about a meeting with the founder, Alfred C. Fuller. “He was a young man, younger than I expected. He wore a plain, gray, ordinary suit of clothes.”
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48-year-old Jones enthusiastically hits the ground running. “The next day I made ten calls and ten sales. Think on that! That’s ten out of ten!”
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Chapter 9 concludes with anecdotes from the centenarian about his acquisition of a 1915 Polk motorcycle with a sidecar attached. “It was one cylinder, three and a half horse power. Put her on the stand, crank her up. Get the motor warmed up. Shut the motor off. Knock her off the stand and start to runnin' with it. When she started runnin’, started hittin’, you’d jump on her and bounce her like a bronco.”
CHAPTER 10
MID-LIFE CRISIS
1922 - 1923
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50-year-old Jones becomes a Sunday School teacher. “My thinkin’ was, a teacher’s business should not be so much showin’ off what they know, but to know what the student knows. There’s only one way I know to find out what somebody knows, by askin’ questions.”
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Next, he describes his unusual courtship-by-mail that provided a 34-year-old wife, Ella. “I reminded her about my proposal. I says, ‘I still want to marry you, if you’ll have me.’”
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Ella objects to the side-car, so he swaps it for a Ford. Married life, it seemed, influenced his productivity. He soon began breaking company sales records. Other brush salesmen solicited his advice.
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Jones is promoted to manager of the eastern territory, which begins his downfall. “Things went from bad to worse. I just couldn’t get him to understand that the main points to worry about, is selling the brushes and get ‘em delivered to the customer. Every once in a while, you run into a fella like him, too concerned with the rules and procedures and to heck with the goals.”
CHAPTER 11
ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT
1923 – 1926
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Jones outlines his brief career in the hose business. “I’d tell ‘em I was with the Realsilk Company, with indestructible hose. Then, I’d take my knife blade and put it into the hose and it didn’t hurt at all. That usually would convince ‘em of the quality. And the price did the rest.”
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During the first few years of marriage, Ella suffered several miscarriages, triggering depression. “She started screamin’ and cryin’ and she was makin’ no sense at all. So, I pushed her in the chair and I says, ‘You want to leave? That’s your decision, Ella. But damn! You think that over for ten minutes. And if you want to go after ten minutes, you can go. But if you do leave, I’ll get in that car and head off down that road. If you ever see me agin’, it will be by accident.’”
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At the conclusion of this chapter, Jones expresses positive memories. Finally, at age 54, with 38-year-old Ella pregnant for the fourth time, he had settled into a stable situation and crafted a formula for success. “I called it a repair shop. But I used the word bicycle in my sign. And, as I got started, I’d take on any old jobs that would come along.
CHAPTER 12
TANGLED MISFORTUNES
1926 - 1931
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The 1926 birth of a son is discussed. “I come so damn close to losin’ her when he was born, I didn’t want to take any more chances. We never tried to have any more.”
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Jones relates uplifting anecdotes involving kids flocking around his bike shop. Later he laments involvement with a crooked sign company that fleeced him with a court judgment. “They intended on attaching everything. They made that damn clear. But I fixed ‘em. We come to the conclusion that we’d have to take off. By the time they took everything we owned, we’d be left in a bad way.”
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On the run, the Jones family briefly settles in Los Angeles, but finds it unsuitable. “We never liked the town. It was so big; too many cars, too many streets, too many people.”
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At 56, Jones re-enters the logging industry in Washington state. He’s forced to quit three years later. “I was becomin’ a nervous wreck, and I was gettin’ anemic. Maybe my age was startin’ to work agin’ me. I was 59 and I had a five-year-old boy and a 43-year-old wife dependin’ on me to support ‘em.”
CHAPTER 13
MAGAZINE TRAJECTORY
1931 - 1932
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Jones reflects. “Times was tough and getting’ tougher by the months. Then, I found an ad that looked interestin’. It said, ‘Wanted, experienced salesmen to sell McCall’s Magazine.’”
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After stellar success, the company elevates Jones into management with a formidable primary mission: hire and train men to traipse door-to-door selling McCall’s subscriptions. “I’d wander through the hirin’ halls and have some general conversations. Every once in a while, I’d run into a fella I figured had what it took.”
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Jones relates several incidents involving his challenges, including recruiting and training out-of-work older men, desperate to earn money. But challenges remained. “Many dogs think they’re just guardin’ their territory. They smell a human they don’t recognize, they let him know. But you gotta remember, these old fellas I had on my crew had never been real house-to-house guys. I was moldin’ ‘em into house-to-house men. So, they had to learn a lot of that stuff brand new, stuff about how to handle dogs and so forth.”
CHAPTER 14
AUTONOMOUS OPERATOR
1932 - 1933
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Jones describes managing his magazine crew to invade neighborhoods for doors to knock on. “Ella was happy. I was earnin’ enough to keep food in the house and the bills paid.”
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Unfortunately, the territory for McCalls subscriptions dries up, forcing 60-year-old Jones to shift strategies. He gets licensed as an independent broker, which provided multiple titles to hawk.
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He could now knock on any doors in any American town representing just about any magazine published. Yet, he found himself having to travel farther and farther from Seattle to find fresh territory. “About the longest I can remember in ’33, was a trip in August. I went clear back to Montana. I slept in the car every night. I spent forty days and I worked as hard as I’d ever worked. One house after another, one town after another, tryin’ to make my livin’. I come back to Seattle with 41 bucks and a knock in the engine.”
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Chapter 14 concludes with an anecdote about acquiring a better car. “I come across an old Dodge settin’ by an apartment house, same year as mine, a 1917, with a “For Sale” on the window.”
CHAPTER 15
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
1933 - 1934
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Ella receives word her mother in Nebraska is ailing. She pleads with Jones for a final visitation. Jones builds a livable camp-trailer that he can tow. “It ended up bein’ fourteen feet long, and six feet wide; 84 square feet. I covered the whole works with canvas.”
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Jones describes events associated with traveling eastward, pulling the home-made RV with his four-cylinder Dodge and selling subscriptions on the road to finance the trip. They finally get to the Plattsmouth rest home. “That day, we went in there, the three of us. It was quite a shock for Ella. She had a picture of her mother from her memory of many years back. And that moment when she saw her layin’ there, all raw-boney and wrinkled, well, it just made her feel awful.”
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The Jones family heads toward Texas. “We were rollin’ along, doin’ maybe forty miles an hour. All of a sudden there was a log layin’ across the road. I tried to swerve, but I guess I hit a little snag about as big as your finger. A sharp point went straight through the tire. That high pressure comin’ out like that ripped it wide open, three inches each direction. Spun the car and trailer all over the road. Ella screamed.”
CHAPTER 16
STUCK IN DALLAS
1934
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The centenarian remembers turning 62, while his family contended with life in a Dallas homeless camp. Camp life is discussed. He focuses on the hopelessness he observed, emanating from desperate, desolate folks. This assemblage of the downtrodden has seared vivid memories into the old man’s brain. Tragedy strikes often. “I believe the little girl died the next day from her burns. Ella cried her eyes out, real worried. The little girl was seven, the same age as our boy. She says, ‘We got to get out of this place before somethin’ bad happens to us, too.’”
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Next, Jones recollects his money-making schemes to finance escape from Dallas, including recycling old magazines. "There was a lot of the more popular ones, I could get a nickel for, if they was recent.”
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They finally depart Dallas, coming across a mob surrounding the funeral home where Bonnie Parker’s corpse was displayed. “We went on into California and followed the coast all the way to Seattle. And hell! We both felt so much peace. It was like we was really home again, although we didn’t have no home in Seattle, or anywhere’s else, for that matter. Just the trailer.”
CHAPTER 17
ESTABLISHING ROOTS
1934 - 1940
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Jones parks his trailer in a Bremerton city park, irritating townspeople, who pressure the campers to move on. “I fought ‘em quite a while. Ella got real upset about it. I says, ‘I’m not a-gonna let ‘em run us off!’”
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The standoff ends peacefully after Jones purchases an acre. The townspeople eventually embrace the family and even build them a cabin. The next several years slip by with Jones continuing his magazine career and attempting to mentor his adolescent son. “One time I was out workin’ on my 31 Chev, tryin’ to fix somethin’ on it, and I told my son to come out and learn about it. I started explainin’ what I was a-doin’ and when I looked over to him, he’d be watchin’ a bird up in the tree. I yelled for him to pay attention. A few minutes later he was playin’ with a stick. And all his life, he never changed from that.”
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Jones relates experiences he endured running a dog pound for the county, including his vigorous enforcement of animal-cruelty ordinances. “I was an officer, the Humane Officer. I was like a cop. My job was enforcin’ animal laws. I wrote citations when I found things that weren’t being handled properly.”
CHAPTER 18
ANIMALS RULE
1940 - 1944
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Jones describes encountering angry animals during his Bremerton dog pound era. Then, in 1942, at age 70, a possibly cancerous stomach tumor is diagnosed. Regrets surfaced. “So, I made up my mind if I got through this alive, I’d change my way of thinkin’.”
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The county contract expires in 1944 forcing the 72-year-old to seek a new situation. He wins an appointment to run the Tacoma Humane Society, moves his family to the provided house, then, visits his new boss for orientation. “She didn’t know straight up from straight yonder. Right off, she had me come into her office for a meetin’. She had a big list of items she wanted took care of. She told me how to do this, how to do that and so forth. I listened politely, but right away; I knew she didn’t know what she was talkin’ about. I knew my ideas was better.”
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The chapter concludes with accounts of cruelty patrols, and conducting heart-wrenching dog executions. He’s finally terminated. “She had invited me to the meetin’ to make a speech, and instead, she canned me in front of all of ‘em.”
CHAPTER 19
FRESH START & GROWTH
1944 – 1952
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After being fired by the Humane Society, Jones purchases a run-down, 15-acre Tacoma farm for $1650 cash. “There was already a five-room house there with a basement. It had been vacant for many years.”
Later he discusses his huge garden, a tremendous source of pride. “We grew most of our own food there. Green beans, peas, blackberries. I had peaches and apples. Carrots one year grew as big around as my wrist.” These are happy memories.
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To earn a living, Jones builds up an inventory of gift items, then, he knocks on neighborhood doors to drum up business. His quick success prompts his construction of a country store. “I worked on buildin’ it for months. I’d get up early every day and work, then go out and make my calls, and then come back and work some more on it. Ella used to get so mad. ‘Come in and rest, you’ll kill yourself, workin’ so hard.’”
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At age 78 Jones campaigns to become elected the County Constable. “Before I left their porch, I’d give ‘em a flyer about me runnin’ for constable. I won. So, I was now constable of Pierce Country, duly elected. I carried a badge, and had full police powers.”
CHAPTER 20
MERCANTILE PROSPERITY
1952 – 1959
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His store is central to his life. “You know, nine out of ten people who walked into my store, bought somethin’.” Later, the centenarian tells several tales about his door-to-door encounters. “I was workin’ the town of Fir Crest Washington one day. I got stopped there for violatin’ their Green River Law. But they had a different deal. I could pay a special fee of five dollars a day to ‘em and they’d forget the law. I says to ‘em, ‘I wouldn’t give you a dime.’ It was a damn rake-off.”
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Next, he discusses greeting cards. “The biggest year I had with ‘em was when a church group wanted to sell cards to raise money to build an addition. I worked ‘em a good wholesale price. I even offered to train the folks on the best ways of makin’ sales presentations. They moved thousands of boxes, enough to completely pay for the addition.”
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Christmas morning, 1959: A heart attack nearly kills the 87-year-old. “For a couple of weeks, I just laid there, flat on my back, with Ella sittin’ there, whinin’ at me. ‘I told you this would happen, if you didn’t slow down. I told you you’d kill yourself. Maybe now, you’ll learn.’”
CHAPTER 21
AD-MAN PURSUITS
1960 – 1962
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After several months recuperating, Jones closes his beloved store and enters a new profession, specialty advertising. “Sometimes I’d catch ‘em by surprise when I walked in. I says, ‘I’m Walter Jones, and I’m in the advertisin’ business. You know, you’ve got to advertise to stay in business. To help you get your name out where it will always be visible 365 days a year, I’ve got a wonderful buy on some beautiful calendars, here.’”
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Next, Jones reveals episodes involving sales endeavors, including visiting a trade convention at the age of 89. “I went in to look at everything but before I passed the front door, a bunch of fellas stopped me because I didn’t have some card. The fellas guardin’ the door wanted, I think it was fifty bucks, somethin’ like that, just to get in. I weren’t-a-gonna pay it.”
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The old fellow’s amazing career ended in 1979 at age 106, when his sample case got too heavy to tote around and when he began making errors. “I’ve had several errors. I made one error one time on an order, got the name spell’t wrong. It cost me $130 to correct that order. But I give a man what he paid for.”
CHAPTER 22
REMINISCENCE
1962 - 1974
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Becoming a full-fledged Mason at 91 was transformational for Walter Casey Jones. He had reached a pinnacle for a man of his humble origin. Their embracement bestowed a social status. Henceforth, he would always be Brother Jones. “You gotta put a petition in. Then, they investigate you pretty close. If they think you’re a gentleman, and honest, and all right, why, they take you.”
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This chapter also contains cherished memories about his tiny family: one wife, one son. “She was mainly a wife and mother. She took care of the house, fixed the grub, did the laundry, and so forth. And after the boy was born, she spent a lot of time takin’ care of him. She tended to him, clear up to the day she died. She was a good woman, but she was a damn worrywart. When I was workin’, if I’d be late gettin’ home, she’d call the cops to see if I had a wreck.”
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Jones assesses the character of his only boy. “My son moved back to Tacoma, where he still lives now. He gets about three hundred dollars a month from that pension. But he spent two hundred a month for several years for whisky, and drank it all himself."
CHAPTER 23
CENTENARIAN STATUS
1974 - 1975
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Jones reflects on the notoriety that descended when he turned 100. Then, at 102 he loses Ella. “Nobody was with her. I was out lookin’ for advertisin’ business. They couldn’t reach me. But damn! I went by every afternoon to see her. And I went by this day, like I’d been doin’ every day for a few weeks, but she was already dead. I got there about three o’clock. The nurse said she died about one. I’d called that mornin’. She was supposed to be okay. If I knew she was that bad, I’d have been down there.” The death of his mom prompts Jones’ son to quit drinking. Jones reveals a transformational transaction. “In 1971, I made a deal with Doug Yost, a property developer for my fifteen acres. He says, ‘We’ll give you lifetime tenancy.’ He figured with me bein’ 99 and the wife bein’ 85, it wouldn’t take too long for us to kick off.”
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Jones decides to purchase a motor home and then take off, traveling the USA by himself. “It was about three thousand less than any others that I’d looked at, in comparison. It was on a Saturday. I gave ‘em fifty dollars to hold it, and told ‘em I’d be back with the rest of it Monday or Tuesday.”
CHAPTER 24
ON THE ROAD, YET AGAIN
1975
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Jones comments about preparing for his motor home trip. He even sets up an ingenious mail-forwarding system via General Delivery. Finally, in July of 1975, at age 103 he departs, accompanied by a freshly recruited 20-year-old who was going to serve as a companion. “I had figured all the way back, when he kept screamin’ at my drivin’, that it just weren’t gonna work out, travelin’ with a kid like that. When I wouldn’t agree for him to do all the drivin’, he quit me then and there. I’ve been alone ever since.”
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Travel anecdotes surface, including ill-fated incidents. “She was comin’ down the street hell bent for election and bounced off my front end.”
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The chapter concludes with tales of mechanical problems that frequently plagued the old fellow’s journey. “Everything seemed okay. I was cruisin’ along for an hour or more with no more over-heatin’ problems. Then, as I was drivin’ through Ogden, all of a sudden, I heard a big CLUNK! Steam and water poured everywhere. The damn fan come off the spindle and went into the radiator like a knife into a loaf of bread. Just spoiled the radiator all to hell.”
CHAPTER 25
PILING ON THE MILES
1975 - 1976
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Jones describes his solo RV country-wide selling excursion. After presenting his prospects for a specialty advertising spiel, he’d casually highlight his centenarian status, then, pitch a self-published pamphlet for cash. “I wanted to make a booklet done by me with somethin’ they could get a lot of good out of. Somethin’ they wouldn’t mind spendin’ a dollar for. But, since most folks was just naturally takin’ interest in me bein' over a hundred, I’d just build on that some. And that’s what I did.”
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“I’d say, ‘I’m that hundred and three-year-old guy you probably heard about, wanderin’ the country in a motor home. I’ve got a little souvenir that I put together. Look it over and read it some. You’ll probably want to trade me a dollar for one of 'em.’”
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Jones had transformed into a passionate promoter for longevity awareness. “I’m tryin’ to be a voice for all the things people need to do to live longer, like me.”
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The chapter ends with his memories of driving to Florida to visit legendary super-centenarian, Charlie Smith. “I just wanted to meet the man who was 135. He was supposed to be the oldest man still livin’.
I wanted to see and hear him, with my own eyes and ears, and I did.”
CHAPTER 26
OVERCOMING OBSTACLES
1976 - 1980
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After the Charlie Smith encounter, Jones and his motor home roam about. In June, he drifts through his boyhood hometown, Ailey Georgia. In August he attends a specialty advertising convention in Boston.
The centenarian discusses his long trek westward through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, continuing to sell souvenirs along the way. He then describes his February, 1977 participation with a network TV quiz show. He wins a new car for his trouble. “On Hollywood Squares, there’s a lot of movie stars up in the box there to answer the questions they asked me.”
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Jones remembers arriving in Tacoma in June, after two years gone. He settles down. A year later he breaks his hip. “I had a good doctor. He put a stainless-steel pipe down through there to hold it together, and even though I was about 106 at the time, it finally healed up okay.”
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September, 1979: the 107-year-old takes a second RV journey, this time, to California. “I started out along the north coast. By November I’d made it to Crescent City. Then, I worked my way south: Santa Rosa, Nampa, Vallejo, San Jose, Salinas. I just kept a-movin’.”
CHAPTER 27
CENTENARIAN WANDERLUST
1980
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Jones returns to Tacoma in April of 1980, shortly before his 108th birthday and immediately hatches plans for another cross-country motor home adventure. “I decided to head south, all the way back to Florida for the winter. I figured I’d just chance it on what might go haywire with the motor home. There’s always places that can fix ‘em. I had money.” He departs in August with high hopes.
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The topic shifts to what’s life like for an elderly man living in a small motor home. “The bed’s all right. I got boxes on both sides, even at night, even when I’m sleepin’; I’ve got ‘em on each side of me. And I have the whole bed plumb covered with boxes when I’m travelin’. It usually takes me sometimes a half-hour just to get ‘em all moved around.”
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Even though his RV galley is tiny, the old fellow proudly describes a culinary accomplishment. “Chicken and rice are my favorites. To bake chicken, I smear Shake and Bake all over it, then I cook it slow, 250 degrees for three hours.”
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The chapter ends with candid reflections about retaining fresh memories and mobility issues.
CHAPTER 28
FINAL SUMMATION
1980 – 1981
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Jones comments on:
Current pop music: “There’s a song they’re singin’ a lot, I’ve heard it a dozen times on my radio. ‘Another one bites the dust; another one bites the dust.’ It’s foolish. That doggone stuff isn’t music at all, it’s just a nuisance. But you’ve got to listen, if you want to hear what song’s comin’ next.”
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Daily motor home routines: “I don’t usually wake up ‘til seven or seven-thirty in the mornin’. Then I fix breakfast, oatmeal and egg, and my hot chocolate. After that, I move all the stuff back on the bed so I can travel. I warm up the engine, run her down off the blocks and put the blocks in the storage area. Then, I drive off and look for some business.”
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Performance ambitions: “I’d really like to get to where I can do a little show of some kind; maybe a little talkin’ to uplift the folks a bit.”
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His legacy: “I would like to be remembered as a man who was sociable, a hard worker all his life, a good provider for his family, a good salesman, and a man who, very late in life tried to lead other people down the path of a decent and respectable life. That’s about the best way I could put it.”