stephan gandhi jones
Son of anarchist: My father, Jim Jones, and what the world can still learn from him. She gave her house to the Peoples Temple and they moved to San Francisco. 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. Now, Stephan Jones is father of three daughters, ages 16, 25 and 29, and works in the office furniture installation business. The list of defectors rapidly grew to at least 16. A number of Jonestown survivors have spoken out about the mass suicides and murders that killed the only life they ever knew and how they have managed to build new ones in the four decades since the tragedy. James Warren Jones, Sr. Jim Jones himself did not drink the poison. He says his daughters have seen him gnash his teeth when he talks about his father, but they also have heard him speak lovingly of the man who taught him compassion and other virtues. "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. ". It was just more controlled. Retrieved December 10, 2022, from https://www.haaretz.com/life/2019-01-22/ty-article-magazine/.premium/four-decades-on-jim-jones-son-tells-how-it-was-at-jonestown/0000017f-e640-d62c-a1ff-fe7b2ea00000, A collaborative project of Cowles Library at Drake University and the Special Collections Department of Library and Information Access at San Diego State University, Chronological List of Annotated Documents, Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/11/07/jonestowns-haunted-son/f9369588-008b-497a-9ad3-b303dc01a8df/, https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=17058, https://www.haaretz.com/life/2019-01-22/ty-article-magazine/.premium/four-decades-on-jim-jones-son-tells-how-it-was-at-jonestown/0000017f-e640-d62c-a1ff-fe7b2ea00000. The first attacks on the town, I thought they were real. 'I believe that it was always a personal agenda for my father, and yes, there was a gradual shift in the balance. "It's like you went to a vacation in Europe and found out the United States had sunk," he says. Though Stephan was public about his sorrow toward the movement and his anger toward his father, he used his platform to constantly reemphasize the humanity and sanity of the members of Peoples Temple. Stephan always argued against these plans. The tournament was in Georgetown, the Guyanese capital, 150 miles away. He has been married to Kristi Jones since 1991. But some lived.Dozens of members in Guyana slipped out of Jonestown or happened to be away that day. Hes an executive at the office furniture company where he began working immediately after Jonestown. They have three children. All the people who lay there around him had followed him. Photos courtesy of Stephan Jones, acquired from Reiterman 134. At one point, Stephan was alerted that someone may have tried to shoot Jones again, though when he investigated Stephan suspected the shots had come from someone standing within Jonestown, not in the jungle (Reiterman 364). Stephan was proud when Jones caught one boy, shook him furiously, and lectured him (Reiterman 103). That he was just this crazy zealot this entire time. Published: 01:29 EDT, 14 November 2018 | Updated: 12:15 EDT, 14 November 2018. Eventually, when it came close to poison being rolled out, Stephan muttered, Oh fuck, and Jones jumped on the opportunity, claiming Stephan was too afraid to die, and using that as the redirection to call off the White Night (Reiterman 426). 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. Some had the distinct impression that the two were close to opening fire on the truck. 'Destroyed,' he said, 'from within '. WebStephan Jones (Stephan Gandhi Jones) was born on 1 June, 1959 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, is an Actor. It marched for four jailed Fresno newsmen. And Stephan Jones sometimes thinks that he might have taken the poison, too. You used the word forgiveness, but I find love and compassion for him. "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. The reason that I have agreed to talk to as many people as I have is because of that. He has been married to Kristi Jones since 1991. Haaretz.com, the online English edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, gives you breaking news, analyses and opinions about Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World. ), 'It was necessary in my own healing for me to find acceptance for him, understanding of him. Then they could identify and allow themselves to step into the story and understand how such a thing could happen (Sharir). He built a long career in health care, while weathering his own serious health problems. Thats the only way youre gonna do it. Stephan Gandhi Jones is the son of Jim Jones, the controversial religious cult leader. 
"I knew I didn't want to, but I didn't know quite how to confront him or present my case . that one last act would be admitting he was a coward, and about nothing. A second plane, a Guyana Airways 24-seater, was coming in for a landing. Jones often tried to involve Stephan in his various deceptions, including one in which Stephan would pretend to be shot while going to greet a lawyer from the U.S. (Reiterman 375), and one in which Stephan would pretend to kidnap John Stoen in a bag and then pretend to rescue him from his assailant (Reiterman 398). Then, with heart-stopping suddenness, the first shot was fired. The people are elderly and he knows he must stop it, but he cannot make contact with them; they look at him as though from great distances. 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.. 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. 1960), becoming the first white couple in Indiana to adopt a black child. So in my view, even the good works and things he championed were in some way not as pure as folks want to think. Or lost touch with reality? And there was more social rhetoric and action in my life and a lot more fear. . 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. When Congressman Ryan and his party came to Jonestown, Stephan and the rest of the basketball team was away in Georgetown competing against the local team. Family (3) Trivia (4) Only natural son of Rev. . The young men on the basketball team took strength in seeing someone stand up to Jones, and Stephan appreciated no longer being isolated in his hatred of his father. The temple was the only life he knew but says he always had his doubts. 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. Photographer Greg Robinson (right)was one of the five people killed. WebShanti Gandhi (born 10 February 1940) is an India-born American cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon and was a Republican member of the Kansas House of Representatives, representing the 52nd District from 2013 to 2015.He won a contested party primary and won again in the 2012 general election.. WebShe lived in San Francisco, California before she moved to Jonestown, Guyana where she lived in Dorm 1. But a lot of the rage that I kept for years was keeping me from looking at my part and seeing what I hope I would do differently if in similar circumstances. Ollie worked in the nursery, and Eugene felled trees. His biggest regrets revolve around the team's refusal to return to Jonestown. He's too close to Jim Jones to leave.'. Let me tell you something. No one now living saw Jim Jones die, so there is some dispute about whether he also performed what he had taught his followers to call "revolutionary suicide." That was not always possible, however, and Stephan was eventually given the duty of carrying the microphone around during services and holding it for people making a testimonial or asking questions(Reiterman 106). None of it makes sense. They have a total of three daughters. What is Cleopatra Coleman Net Worth 2022? White devil.' He was taking pain pills, and he said he was dying. There was a gaping wound in his shoulder and possibly his ribs. " Pause for effect. " 'I just have to love him and forgive him.'. During the long night, the temple defectors told us that all the horror stories about Jim Jones and the church were true. Rebelling, they refused Jones' order to come back. Among the films in which he appeared were Written in Blood (2018), The Peoples Advocate: The Life and Times of Charles R. Gary (2007), and The True Story of Charles R. Gary (2007). Some of the defectors told me later that the men in the trailer were members of Peoples Temple. WebMini Bio (1) Stephan Jones was born on June 1, 1959 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. ", Stephan Jones' lips draw back when he talks about his father; he looks for an instant like a cornered dog. There, as part of Jones' personal security detail, Cobb saw the once captivating minister strung out on drugs. During that time, almost 900 people died, including Stephans mother and some of his siblings. 
I stopped and listened. It was Stephan Jones who managed security--who carried a gun, watched over temple members and planned group escape routes--when Jim Jones began summoning his community into a frenzied series of meetings to prepare for imminent attacks from outside. He was just 14, Stephan Jones and some other team members believe they might have changed history if they were there. Then they could identify and allow themselves to step into the story and understand how such a thing could happen. It was the first significant moment of disillusionment for many of Stephans brothers, and led to Tim approaching Stephan with talks of killing Jones. He does not know. They have three children. 'Baby killer. (1991 - The expression was born of the perception that Jim Jones disciples were gullible people who gladly drank the poison because their leader told them it would do them good. Going by the first body count, the media reported 383 dead. And he faked getting shot in Redwood Valley [California] when I was still pretty young, and we felt like we were in danger much of the time. . He is a businessman in Northern California, married, with three daughters. Stephan Gandhi Jones is the son of Jim Jones, the controversial religious cult leader. someone hollered as we scrambled over the gravel to the far side of the plane. I believe that it was always a personal agenda for my father, and yes, there was a gradual shift in the balance. Jim Jones (1931-1978) and Marceline Jones (1927-1978). The Jones rainbow family acted as a symbol of racial integration within the temple community (Reiterman 63). Now, Stephan Jones is father of three daughters, ages 16, 25 and 29, and works in the office furniture installation business. Then, after a 1977 New West magazine expose of temple disciplinary beatings and other abuses, she was sent to Jonestown. In October 1978, Jones began sleeping with nineteen-year-old Shanda James (Reiterman 455), though when she wrote him a note saying she wanted to be with someone else, Jones had her put in the ECU and drugged, to the great displeasure of many of the younger men. They had nothing to go back to." After the slaughter, Stephan Jones was arrested on suspicion of abetting the mass murder and spent three months in a Guyanese prison. 1959: The Joneses adopted Suzanne (b. Its not that I had better sight than others; I had a better view of it and it really broke for me when he was unfaithful to my mother and told her about it in detail.. Top right: Young Jimmy and Stephan. Stephan Jones was born on 1 June 1959 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. I just wish people could understand what was attractive about him. That he was just this crazy zealot this entire time". All these lives were wasted and I don't know why. "Because then it would have been like, 'I'm running out on these people. Vilchez was dispatched to the Guyanan capital of Georgetown to raise money. I also didnt really know what Id be dealing with if I did, but sadly we were finally at a point where I felt I had enough support and we decided that we were going to take action. "I usually try to tell people when we're in a good time to talk about it, because my God, it takes two hours just to scratch the surface," Stephan Jones says. "But there's a sadness . Stephan was extremely passionate about athletics, participating in track, football, and baseball (Reiterman 181), with his true passion being for basketball, to Jones chagrin (Reiterman 308). "I just felt like this was all they had," he says. "He always gave us a hug and a kiss, but it became more mechanical as time went by." And I just flew out of bed, grabbed my ax, walked out to the post that was supporting the speaker and raised the ax like I was going to cut it down. You're not taking any more drugs." Stephan Jones, Jim Joness sole surviving child, was born in Indiana, United States, on June 1, 1959. 'Let's go!' ", Stephan Jones used to say he could have stopped the slaughter if he had been there. For many years, Jones struggled with the guilt of survival, his fathers grim legacy, and his own subsequent substance abuse. "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.". It began with a note smuggled to us from two members. "I remember being afraid when he started talking about it, and getting butterflies," he says. Stephan Gandhi Jones was the biological son of Jim and Marceline Jones. 
He's never remarried, and Martin Luther Smith was his only child., A vat that contained a drink laced with deadly cyanide sits on a sidewalk at Peoples Temple in Jonestown, Guyana in November 1978. And then he went to my mother. He was summoned to the temple radio room. Stephan believed, for a time, that his father was a great man, and that they were so similar they may have had a telepathic connection (Reiterman 120). Rebelling, they refused Jones order to come back. 'In an hour, that promise was broken.'. Gorney, C. (1983, November 7). Of course, even if he wanted to forget Jonestown, his name was an ever-present reminder. Its been almost ten years that Ive been putting up with this shit. Haaretz.com. They have three children. He has been married to Kristi Jones since 1991. My companion, Examiner photographer Greg Robinson, would be murdered in an ambush. Eugene Smith recalls how his mother, a churchgoing African-American, bought into Jim Jones' dream after they attended a service in Fresno. Jones urged Marceline to ask Stephan to come home early, but he and the rest of the team stayed, enjoying their time (Reiterman 474). It won't work.' Photos courtesy of Stephan Jones, acquired via Reiterman 134. Some of his siblings were adopted, so they arent well-known. 1953), also from Korea. And I had good reason to be enraged with him'. Stephan Jones' mother was one of those found dead from cyanide poisoning. He is married to his wife Kristi Jones since Jim Jones was cultivating his growing celebrity--elected officials visited the San Francisco temple, Mayor George Moscone had used temple members as campaign workers, and much was made of the 1976 photo that showed Jim Jones and Rosalynn Carter together during the Democratic Central Committee meeting in San Francisco. He was in Georgetown, Guyana on November 18, 1978 with the Jonestown Basketball Team. He grew, and discovered basketball. I keep remembering what Jones had said in the pavilion. Everyone was waiting for him to take himself out. Altogether, 909 people died at Jonestown on November 18, 1978, by swallowing a grape-flavored beverage mixed with potassium cyanide, or from injections of poison. After the move to the idyllic Redwood Valley, California, things may have relaxed for a while. 'What we were calling the cause really was Jim,' she said. He dreams he is in a crowd, and his father is talking about suicide. Stephan Gandhi Jones was the biological son of Jim and Marceline Jones. He asked me to make one last mission with him to Jonestown. Stephan Jones. Retrieved December 10, 2022, from https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=17058. Then-San Francisco Examiner reporter Tim Reiterman was wounded in the airstrip shooting and flown to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, where he wrote the following eyewitness account. I dropped to my belly. One day, at Stephans preferred Lake Mendocino, the Jones family took chase after some teenagers that had been stoning waterfowl. For a long time I thought they felt the convulsions before they died, until somebody assured me that you pass out before you feel the convulsions. We're talking 30 people, but that's a lot of people to be looking over your shoulder.". 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 . He climbed aboard the truck and we took off. The sessions were short-lived, especially since Stephan was not allowed to speak about his father during them (Reiterman 310). 'Little Jimmy' became part of their 'Rainbow Family' of white, black, Korean-American and Native American children. After years of struggles that included drug addiction, Jones says hes now living a pleasant life in the United States with his wife and three daughters. And all of the children died first. 
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