"This is really crazy," he recalls thinking. The Joneses adopted a black baby in Indiana in 1960, and Jim gave the 10-week-old infant his own name. The temple really became my family, she said. Three Half-Siblings Glen has three half-siblings named Jim Jon Prokes, Jim W. Jones Jr., and Suzanne O. Jones. All these lives were wasted and I don't know why. He lives just outside San Francisco and works as an office systems installer, arranging furniture and office interiors. When he was 10 years old he listened as Jim Jones had sex with a mistress in the next room. Within minutes, the aide and her three children lay dead in a bloody bathroom, their throats slit. 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. That way no one else would want to live. He cries out, "My God, you're not dead!" That he was just this crazy zealot this entire time". These people have given their lives, for whatever reason . His unplanned departure left them alone. He did.'. For years, Vilchez was ashamed of the part he played in an idealistic group that imploded so terribly. John was attending a San Francisco high school when he was allowed to join his best friends in Jonestown. . He dreams he is arguing with his father, arguing passionately, and although he knows his arguments are better, his father always wins. They have altogether three daughters. Trailers, a few clearings and some wood or pole-and-canvas buildings were all that marked the Jonestown settlement when Stephan Jones arrived. Like why would they follow such a madman and to such a crazy final act, and we probably know by now that it wasnt a mass suicide, but thats how it has been portrayed.. It would have been like I was a counter-revolutionary, in some sense.". I think most people would have welcomed some kind of action that took Dad out of the picture but I didnt feel like we had enough people to back us up, or I didnt know those people.. He rode bulldozers, dodged falling trees, killed snakes, lit brush fires and rode the slow boats upriver with loads of cut wood for flooring and walls. I dropped to my belly. His LinkedIn profile indicates that he still has the position of. ", 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. I try not to speak in terms of what I couldve done because I see no value in that.. 'He started firing at the front and missed the pilot,' said Dale Parks, who left the temple Saturday. Then it was boxing matches for adults. Because people were disenchanted with him by that time? When Jim Sr., a local Democratic Party darling, met with future first lady Rosalyn Carter, Jim Jr. proudly went along. Plunged into a new world, those raised in the temple or who joined as teens lost the only life they knew: church, jobs, housing - and most of all, family and friends. The murders and suicides were unfolding, 150 miles away. Meanwhile, the tractor, with several men in the trailer, rolled toward the terminal shack and halted a short distance away. For 19 of his 24 years, they were all he knew. And he would have arrived too late, anyway. Among the hundreds of corpses, only one was different; he had died from a bullet to the head. Did you ever consider the ultimate rebellious act: to defect from the temple? target_type: 'mix' And I dont know if it was paranoia. Recent interviews with Stephan include: "Son of Anarchist: My Father, Jim Jones, and What the . For years it was largely forgotten along with a number of other insanities in the United States in the 1970s. "And it could happen to anybody.". We were turned back by Johnny Jones, Jim Jones' stern-faced adopted black son. She was the adoptive daughter of Rev. "I knew I didn't want to, but I didn't know quite how to confront him or present my case . Stephan helped erect a basketball court and form a team. Toward the end, as he watched the array of barbiturates, amphetamines and tranquilizers that now slurred his father's speech and sometimes left him physically unable to leave the Jonestown house, Stephan Jones says murder seemed almost redundant. They are Agnes Pauline Jones, Timothy Glen Jones, Jim Jon Prokes, Jim W. Jones Jr, Lew Eric Jones, John Moss Jones, Suzanne O. Jones, and Stephanie Jones. To cope, he says he abused drugs and exercised obsessively. Yet he submitted to a new search, then returned to his seat. "I was still naive enough--well, not necessarily naive enough; I still believe the CIA is capable of all kinds of things--but I felt that we could geniunely be a threat to the image of the United States and that people might be trying to do things to undermine or eliminate what was happening down there," he says. The reason I ended up in Jonestown is that I left. This is really crazy, he recalls thinking. mode: 'thumbnails-a', It was he who dreamed up Jonestown, he who willed it into being, and he who brought it down: first, with the assassination of U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan and four others by temple members on a nearby airstrip on Nov. 18, 1978, then with the mass murders and suicides of hundreds, a horror that remains nearly unimaginable 40 years later. . He played at school. It was he who dreamed up Jonestown, he who willed it into being, and he who brought it down: First, with the assassination of U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan and four others by temple members on a nearby airstrip on November 18, 1978, then with the mass murders and suicides of hundreds, a horror that remains nearly unimaginable 40 years later. 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. I think there are people who are interested in it because of whats going on in the world. After the temple exodus to Guyana, he was given a public relations post in Georgetown - and was part of the basketball team. They have three children. 'So much was attractive and unique that we turned a blind eye on what was wrong,' he said, including his father's sexual excesses, drug abuse and rants. Play it now! We'd also just seen the warm, cheerful embraces between some of those leaving and some who were staying. . He has been married to Kristi Jones since 1991. More than 300 Jonestown victims were children. Jim was the Rev. They moved forward slowly until one soldier bumped into an object on the ground. He is married to his wife Kristi Jones since 1991. He was the son of Jim Jones, who established Jonestown. I make a point of avoiding pointing fingers and giving specific names. "He used to say we were the only two people of our kind in the universe," Jones says, clasping his hands behind his head and gazing out his apartment window. At the temple-exit guard post, the truck was halted. PORT KAITUMA, Guyana - 'I feel sorry that we are being destroyed from within,' the Rev. After the slaughter, Stephan Jones was arrested on suspicion of abetting the mass murder and spent three months in a Guyanese prison. Vilchez was dispatched to the Guyanan capital of Georgetown to raise money. The closest thing to a law enforcement official - a pleasant young policeman with a pink shirt and a 16-gauge shotgun - was disarmed by temple members. I did. I crawled until I came to taller bushes and brambles, clawing my way into a pocket in the brush. His biggest regrets revolve around the teams refusal to return to Jonestown. But the entertainers stayed in Jonestown to entertain Ryan. He has learned to train a particular kind of eye on himself, on his own imposing presence, the handsome face, the instinct for gently taking hold of a conversation and pulling it where he wants it to go. The reunion with Jones was not as joyous. On Nov. 18 she was at the temple house when a fanatical Jones aide received a dire radio message from Jonestown. "I got sick of the same speeches, the insisting people stay awake, the constantly testing people." 'We were trying to build a new world, a progressive socialist organization.'. Little Jimmy became part of their Rainbow Family of white, black, Korean-American and Native American children. The dreams have never left him. 1998-11-08 04:00:00 PDT JONESTOWN, GUYANA-- "My father was a fraud."- Stephan Gandhi Jones, son of Jim Jones A lone palm tree stands where Jim Jones exhorted his followers to die for him, but the . Did You Know Soccer Player Crystal Dunns Husband Pierre Soubrier Is A Football Specialist? It marched for four jailed Fresno newsmen. . 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. Published: 01:29 EST, 14 November 2018 | Updated: 12:15 EST, 14 November 2018. In a recent interview, he revealed that he was sober. 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. And Smiths wife, son and mother died. There, as part of Jones' personal security detail, Cobb saw the once captivating minister strung out on drugs, afraid to venture anywhere for fear of his legal problems. Now, Stephan Jones is the father of three daughters, ages 16, 25 and 29, and works in the office furniture installation business. They have three children. Collector shatters $42,000 Jeff Koons dog sculpture at Miami art fair after she tapped it to see if it was a BALLOON and knocked it off stand, Stella Stevens dead at 84: Hollywood bombshell - who starred in The Poseidon Adventure and The Nutty Professor - was battling Alzheimer's disease, 'That COULD be our balloon': Member of Bottlecap Balloon Brigade hobby says government officials have contacted them about $13 weather balloon that last pinged near the Yukon - hours before F-22 brought down UFO in SAME area, Average 401(k) balances dropped 20% in 2022 - despite 39% of Americans increasing their contributions - after stocks suffered one of the worst years EVER, Communication expert reveals the four most 'unintentionally offensive' phrases we ALL use - and details what you SHOULD say instead, Oakland's woke new DA outrages judge by offering triple murderer plea deal which saw him jailed for just 15 YEARS instead of 75-to-life term he was facing, Archaeologist who led the discovery of lost palace in ancient Iraq city said he was accused by peers of 'making it up' and wasting funding, 'If anyone tries to cancel Tiger over this, we riot! That he was just this crazy zealot this entire time. Oh yeah, I think you can see that from my writing. Stephan Jones and some other team members believe they might have changed history if they were there. Vilchez worked as office manager at a private crime lab for 20 years and now, at 61, sells her artwork. Jim Jones. Seating assignments were chosen after Ryan briefed the press on the knife attack and credited Mark Lane with saving his life. He was cleared of any complicity--another Peoples Temple member served a prison sentence for his role in the deaths--but Stephan Jones has come to believe that surviving Guyanese prison somehow braced him for his own re-entry to the world. " "They say, 'Yeah.' And it was necessary in my own healing for me to find acceptance for him, understanding of him. An emotional tug-of-war ensued between a mother who wanted to stay and the father who wanted to go. 29. He made a promise once we get to Jonestown there is no corporal punishment, Smith said. It was all about survival in his domain. He promised that he wouldnt. Though he waved and smiled at Peoples Temple services, seemingly enraptured like the rest, Stephan Gandhi Jones says he always had his doubts. File photo: Bodies of Peoples Temple mass suicide victims led by Jim Jones in Jonestown, Guyana, November 1978. Jones, who asked his followers to call him 'Dad,' did not like to lose any of his 'children.' It was easy to see and feel what was attractive about my father. My mother, trying to appease him, made him promise that he wouldnt leave me down there. However, they have moved on with their life. But she wasn't in the truck and the men left. 'The temple really became my family,' she said. Hes an executive at the office furniture company where he began working immediately after Jonestown. After more than 22 years at Californias transportation department, Smith retired in 2015. Partner of Terry Carter Jones, aka Mary Theresa Carter, Mary Theresa Jones, Terry Carter Jones (died November 18 . Jim Jones set off one of these panics every few weeks, sometimes keeping people awake all night as he shouted his warnings. When a friend invited her family to Peoples Temple's wine country church, they were impressed by the integrated community. She gave her house to the Peoples Temple and they moved to San Francisco, where Eugene ran a temple construction crew. 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. There was something there. "He used to say that I would acquire his gift in my late years. Jim Jones of the Peoples Temple, poses for a portrait near San Rafael, Calif. Though he waved and smiled at Peoples Temple services, seemingly enraptured like the rest, Stephan Gandhi Jones says he always had his doubts. 29. As for those people in his life, NBC reported in a 2008 article that Stephan has three daughters and there's a photo of Stephan presumably with one of his daughters on the Alternative Considerations website. "I think I knew it was just a bunch of junk and that it was really about nothing," Stephan Jones said. I had been up all night unloading boats and I had to be at work in a couple of hours so I lay down for two hours of sleep after backbreaking and dangerous work, and Dad comes on the speaker in the wee hours of the morning. Im not trying to defend him. He remarried three decades ago, and he and his wife, Erin, raised three sons. That way no one else would want to live. Each day's news bulletins compounded the already unimaginable: There were 400 bodies; there were 900 bodies; there were, in the precise wording of the American military men sent to investigate, "smaller bodies under larger bodies and children under those." [November 2008], View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro, Kristi Jones He is married to his wifeKristi Jones since 1991. container: 'taboola-below-article-thumbnails-2nd', His mother is fine, they say. Stephan Gandhi Jones is 6-foot-5, lean, broad at the shoulder, olive-eyed, black-haired, handsome as a billboard model. "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. He was just 14, Stephan Jones and some other team members believe they might have changed history if they were there. White devil.' A second plane, a Guyana Airways 24-seater, was coming in for a landing. NBC reporter Don Harris said coolly: 'I think we're in for some trouble.'. I could still hear the groaning and crying of the targets. They have a total of three daughters. . Marceline and Jim had one biological child together, and Stephan Jones appears in Jonestown: The Women Behind The Massacre. My best guess is that Jones felt the press people weren't fooled by the staged setup at the mission. He converted to Catholicism and registered Republican. Stephans address on November 18, 2018 at the 40th Anniversary Memorial Service at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, California is here. In "Raven," Reiterman and Jacobs describe the minister presenting the congregation with a batch of fruit punch: "We're going to drink poison and kill ourselves," Jim Jones declared, and it was not until many people had drunk that Jones said he had simply wished to test his followers' loyalty. Though I couldn't see over the tall brush, I could hear the shots become less frequent. But the boy was still a child of the Temple. He will read it when he is ready, he says. Relatives & Associates. . 1978. Some had the distinct impression that the two were close to opening fire on the truck. Mud made the truck bed slick, so everyone clung to the sideboards. Read more about cookies here. When people ask about his past, he says he was "overseas," or "in volunteer service." I would have been doing more than just leaving a family. Jones wasn't the same man. Springing to my feet, I ran 40 yards across the runway. And I think he genuinely cared about those things, but my understanding of my father just from my own experience and stories is that unconsciously he was always primarily managing other peoples perception of him. 'Watch him,' those around him were told. Hes 61 now. "There's just nothing like it," he says. 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. 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. During the long night, the temple defectors told us that all the horror stories about Jim Jones and the church were true. And I dont know that he could actually have done that. For years, Vilchez was ashamed of the part she played in an idealistic group that imploded so terribly. When the rains approached, he would stand and watch the water come, pushing solid and steady toward him like some enormous stage set being wheeled across the hills. It was planned as a grand event, the Peoples Temple team against the Guyanese national team, and when the Rev. This November 1978 file photo shows the bodies of Peoples Temple mass suicide victims led by Jim Jones in Jonestown, Guyana. He saw that the jungle would make him a man. Now 58, he owns a modular office furniture business in the East Bay and is married with a daughter. 'I focused my rage on Dad and his circle, rather than deal with me,' he said. He sought treatment, and eventually, the father of three settled into a quiet life in California. Within minutes, the aide and her three children lay dead in a bloody bathroom, their throats slit. One of the female subjects of the documentary is Marceline Jones, who was Jim's wife. 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. He is charming. Thats what triggered it.. "They just needed this messiah, this purpose. (Actually, the deadly beverage that day might have been based on a cheaper imitation, Flavor Aid. It would become a little town where people of all ages and colours raised food and children. 'People ask, 'How can you ever be proud of your father?'' There, as part of Jones personal security detail, Cobb saw the once captivating minister strung out on drugs, afraid to venture anywhere for fear of his legal problems. He was ill from when he was very young and was using fear to control me when I was barely more than a toddler. His biggest regrets revolve around the team's refusal to return to Jonestown. Publicity Listings We were trying to build a new world, a progressive socialist organization.. 2010-10-03 19:23:36. In California, he was steeped in temple life. Ryan had planned to remain behind at the mission with several members who wished to return to the United States but couldn't get seating on the planes. Manipulative tendencies. Jonestown: It was the bodies that photographers favored most. The bodies of followers that drank the poison are strewn around the commune, The Peoples Temple compound, led by Jim Jones, is shown above in November 1978 after the dead bodies were removed. _taboola.push({ When John Cobb was born in 1960 in a black section of Indianapolis, his mother and older siblings already were temple members. placement: 'Right Rail Thumbnails', Four granite slabs are etched with names of the 918 people who died in Guyana including James Warren Jones, which deeply offends some whose relatives perished. He says his daughters have seen him gnash his teeth when he talks. After that I didnt sleep well last night., I wouldnt say therapeutic. Sadly we were finally at a point where I felt I had enough support and we decided that we were going to take action'. Some of them had started out with him in the earliest days in Indiana and moved with him to California. 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. I would either have had to fight, or I would have taken it. Which probably wasnt true. None of it makes sense. Haaretz Daily Newspaper Ltd. All Rights Reserved. ': Golf glamor girl Paige Spiranac defends 'FUNNY' Woods tampon prank after 15-time major winner was forced to apologize, He's still got it! They have altogether three daughters. And then he went to my mother. A bit later the number was revised upward to 408. The church provided free drug rehabilitation, medical care, food. Hundreds of corpses were lying on the ground in front of them. I guess I wanted to believe that, as a child.". To cope, he says he abused drugs and exercised obsessively. I would argue that the means justify the end, but not the other way around.. He is married to his wife Kristi Jones since 1991. I wouldnt say that I dont have problems saying no, and I do quite a bit, so Im feeling it now because I traveled to New York and had a long interview yesterday [with CNN]. I would argue that even a lot of the good works that he wanted to do early on were an attempt to impress my mother and her family. 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. But it was too late. Jones had suffered a setback. Then, with heart-stopping suddenness, the first shot was fired. His wife has learned at those moments to let him be. He also made sure that the other disciples who were in the capital would do nothing hasty. They could leave any time they want.'. Some have come to acknowledge that they helped enable Jim Jones to seize control over people drawn to his interracial church, socialist preaching and religious hucksterism. In this Nov. 5, 2018 photo, John Cobb poses for a portrait at the the Jonestown Memorial at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, Calif. His body was found with a gunshot wound in the head. Like everyone else, he died there, his son said. I dont know about the inner circle but many of us, and even my brother Tim, when he turned to my side, he wanted to kill my father, he was so angry. 'I'm real happy to be getting out,' Layton volunteered, then lapsed into a stare. I see it in politics, I see it in advertising, I see it in a variety of places, and I feel theres no more pernicious or toxic belief than that. . They divorced when Jordan was 6. Jim Jones. I just have to love him and forgive him.. He converted to Catholicism and registered Republican.
Little Debbie Distributor Routes, Mark Thompson Obituary, Antioch District 34 Superintendent, How To Hide Your Upper Lip Hair With Makeup, Articles S