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Ann Stewart Jones was born in Arno, Virginia to Clyde and Thelma Stewart. Like Loretta Lynn, Ann was a coal miner’s daughter. “But,” she says, “Loretta got a lot more mileage and money out of her story!” Ann is the youngest of four children, and the only girl. Her brothers, Clyde and Joe, are several years older than Ann. Her third brother, John, is only 13 months older. “We were more like twins,” says Ann.
When Ann was about six years old, her father had the opportunity to leave coal mining and open a grocery store in their little town. Life was still tough but Ann remembers that her dad always had enough to give his children money to go to the movies. Each child also received a little brown paper sack with candy to eat while they watched the movie. Ann and Johnny, who were ages 7 and 8 at the time, were delighted that the family store was so well stocked with candy. One day they decided that since it was OK for their dad to take candy off the shelf, then it must be OK if they did it too. They each got one of the paper sacks and proceeded to stuff them with candy, then went home and hid their sacks until it was bedtime. Thinking it would now be safe, they hid under the tent they made with their bed sheets and happily inspected their purloined loot. All at once, their dad pulled back the sheets to reveal the little culprits eating the evidence of their crime. Ann remembers that being the youngest, and the only girl, did not protect her from a paddling. She also remembers growing up with only her brothers as playmates. Instead of playing with dolls, she learned such things as how to shoot marbles. She was well into grade school before she had another girl as a playmate. “The girl was my cousin,” said Ann. “My brother Johnny and I went to live with my wonderful, sweet Aunt Roselle Shepherd for awhile. Dad’s store failed because everyone in our little town was poor. It was a mining town and the people would get their groceries on credit. They meant to pay, but just didn’t have the money – and Dad knew they really couldn’t pay. He tried to help them, but it came down to there just wasn’t enough money to take care of our family, so he had to close the store. He and our mother left our little town to find better work. My two oldest brothers were already grown, so while our parents looked for work, Johnny and I lived with Aunt Roselle and her children.” Ann says that was back in the days when families took care of each other. She says her dad did his best to help out family members who were having troubles. Aunt Roselle and her kids hit hard times and needed a place to stay. Ann’s dad had rented a house for them to live in, so it was only natural that Aunt Roselle would take Ann and Johnny in until their parents could get settled and sent for them. And, after awhile they did.
The couple found stable jobs and rented an apartment in Walnut Hills, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, so they got the family back together. Ann remembers she was about 10 years old and Johnny was 11. “Our folks both had to work evenings, and we were told to stay in the apartment with the door locked. Dad would call several times during the evening just to make sure we were OK. One night, Dad called and we didn’t answer. He rushed home to find that we were across the street at the neighborhood hardware store watching the TV that was on display in the show window. We got another paddling, but the next day, Dad brought home our family’s first television – and it kept us in the house,” Ann laughed.
Ann’s junior high and high school days were spent in Withrow High School. The school was huge with a campus as beautiful as a college. “There were 500 in my graduating class,” Ann stated. Talk about culture shock – she had come from a tiny country town to the BIG CITY.
Ann graduated from high school in June of 1960 and married Jerry Adkins the very next month. The family moved to a new state every two or three years. Ann had two children, a daughter, Marcy, and a son, Joel. They have each given Ann three grandchildren. Marcy has 2 boys, Rudy, 5 and Calvin, 3 and a girl, April, 8. Joel has two girls, Shelby, 13 and Kasey, 6 and a boy, Blake, 18 who graduated in May with his grandmother, Ann, in attendance.
In 1985, Ann’s family moved to Memphis. In 1988, Jerry came home for lunch one day, which was unusual for him. On that day, after 28 years of marriage, he told Ann that he didn’t want to be married any longer. So, two years later, after many attempts to reconcile, Ann found herself a single person.
Her Christian faith, and the love and support of family and friends, helped her through the experience. Ann was a member of a volunteer puppeteer team at the Lichterman Nature Center. The other 5 members of the team were a strong support group for her. Only one of the group members appeared to know the LORD. As time went on, they marveled at Ann’s strength, but when she said her strength came from the LORD, they would argue with her and say NO – your strength comes from within you. Today when the group meets for lunch, they fully expect prayer before the meal and no longer argue the point.
Ann’s Christian support group was her friends at East Win Christian Church where she was a member for 16 years. One dear friend who helped so much, walked daily with Ann, and when the walks were over, they read and studied the Bible together.
Ann remembers attending church with her parents during her childhood. The family attended small country Southern Baptist churches and revivals. When the family moved to Ohio, Ann began to attend Walnut Hills Baptist Church when she was in junior high. She went at first so she could attend youth events. She stayed and as a young teenager, she asked Jesus to be her Savior, was baptized, and joined the church. Ann made sure to take her children to church as they were growing up, and is happy to say that they are Christians today.
Bob Jones was born in Provo, Arkansas on Christmas Day in 1934. He was raised in Dierks, Arkansas (a sawmill town of about a thousand) as an only child. Bob graduated from Dierks High School when he was 17 and within a few weeks, began the long academic journey necessary to become a college professor.
He started college at Southern State College in Magnolia, Arkansas then, two years later, he transferred to the University of Arkansas where he received a B.S. degree with a double major in Entomology and Poultry Science.
As a student at The University of Arkansas, Bob also received something even better than a degree. At the end of his junior year, thanks to his three college roommates, he received Jesus Christ as his Savior. His roommates began to have a vesper service every evening before they went to the dining hall for dinner, and since Bob was already there, he attended. Thanks to the gentle prodding of his friends, Bob went forward at the Baptist church he was attending and settled his future with the LORD.
Bob was a member of the University of Arkansas poultry judging team in 1955. The team won the national trophy edging out such prestigious schools as Cornell (second place) and Texas A & M (third place). The team victory resulted in articles in many newspapers, which resulted in Bob receiving a scholarship for graduate studies at the University of Missouri. He accepted that offer and completed his education in Columbia, Missouri.
While in graduate school, Bob met and married Virginia Randall. As he was finishing his PhD, Bob received two unusual opportunities The first was an offer from the University of Missouri to teach Genetics to high school teachers who were attending summer school to complete their Masters in Science Teaching degrees. This gave Bob the advantage of developing and presenting a class while he was still a graduate student himself.
The second opportunity was the offer of a job at a school he had never heard of, in a place he didn’t want to go. Bob says, “In 1968, I was a graduate teaching assistant for Dr. Robert Brooks, the Bacteriologist in the Botany Department at the University of Missouri. Dr. Brooks became ill and died about 3 weeks into the semester. I was asked to assume full responsibility for the course for that semester while the department searched for a replacement. I was hired as a full faculty member with the rank of Instructor – just for the semester.
Then, Dr. Art Harrison was hired to replace Dr. Brooks and I was asked to, once again, assume the role of laboratory assistant in Bacteriology. One afternoon Dr. Harrison and I were preparing lab for the coming week and he asked me how the job search was going. I told him that I had interviewed at a few schools and had been offered jobs at two or three of them. Then I said (more to make conversation than anything) that a few days ago, I had seen a job offer for a small school, that I had never heard of before, in Memphis, Tennessee – and I went on to say that I did not plan to apply.
He asked me the name of the school and why I was not going to apply. I responded that the school was Southwestern At Memphis, and that Dr. Martin Luther King had been killed there a couple of months earlier, and I was not sure it was a safe place to live. Dr. Harrison looked at me, pointed a finger at me and told me that I DID want that job, that it was a fine school. He said that he was sending them a recommendation, and if I didn’t apply, it would embarrass him, and that I DID NOT want to work for him the rest of the semester with him embarrassed. Still pointing at me, but now smiling, Dr. Harrison said, ‘I taught at Vanderbilt and I know that school.’ So, I applied, got the job, kept the job, and retired 33 years later as Full Professor of Biology from that school I had never heard of before. Memphis knows that school now as Rhodes College after the name was changed in the early 1980’s.”
The first of January, 1992, Bob’s wife Ginny became ill and was admitted to St. Francis Hospital. Seven months later, Ginny died from heart failure. Bob and Ginny were members of East Win Christian Church. Other members of the church frequently visited Ginny during her illness. One of her faithful visitors was her friend, Ann.
After Ginny passed on, Ann’s mother, who lived with her, would call Bob and invite him over for Saturday morning breakfast. One Saturday morning, Bob got up enough courage to call Ann and ask her to go out for breakfast. She accepted and the couple enjoyed a fine breakfast at Shoney’s. After the meal, Bob asked Ann if she would like to ride with him to Rhodes College so he could feed his research animals and Ann said, “Sure, I would love to,” and off they went. Bob waited until he reached the college parking lot to confess that the sweet little lab animals she was probably expecting were actually German Cockroaches. Ann walked in with him but refused to view the research “animals.” Realizing that cockroaches were not appreciated by everyone, Bob made future dates more romantic.
While still at East Win Church, Bob was a member of the Fellowship Team. His best friend, Bill Frasure, was also a team member. Their job was to prepare church dinners for 4 major holidays during the year. In 1998, while they were preparing the Valentine dinner, Bill asked a question that indicated he had been doing a lot of thinking about Bob’s life. He wanted to know when Bob and Ann were married, if he (Bill) could buy Bob’s house. Bob said he would love for Bill to have the house. With that encouragement, Bill went on to ask if they could get married before September 1, because he needed to be out of his current home by then. This was a very interesting conversation, especially when you take into consideration that Bob had not even popped the question to Ann yet!
Not one to waste an opportunity, Bob repeated the conversation to Ann – and a June wedding date was set. Not exactly a romantic proposal, Bob, but you had surely come a loooong way from that first date at the lab. They were married on June 20, 1998 in a small ceremony in Ann’s back yard. So, congratulations to you as you celebrate your 10th anniversary this month.
We have gently teased Bob about not exactly being romantic, but his wife states that he has much more to offer than mere romance. Though she was in church most of her life, Ann says she didn’t really grow very much in her faith until she married Bob. With his encouragement, and the example he set of commitment to Bible study and application to life, Ann says her own Christian life has grown exponentially. She says with much appreciation, “He has changed my life.” High praise indeed!
After many years at East Win Church, the need for additional spiritual growth found Bob and Ann looking for another church. They have a dear friend, Dave McGraw, who is a member of Central Church but, had not been attending for awhile. They told him if he would consider returning to Central, they would go with him and visit. He agreed and they attended for the first time in October 2005. They heard our Pastor, Ernie Frey, preach and saw that Central offered the challenge for spiritual growth that they were searching for. They immediately joined a Small Group, Men’s Ministry, Women’s Ministry, and a Connecting Point. They also take advantage of our exercise room and the walking track. Bob also volunteers with PRIME TIME mailouts and has been given the honorary title of shop steward for our Friday morning bulletin stuffers.
Both Bob and Ann love people and it shows in their many areas of ministry. One highlight of Bob’s life is the time he spends with Dana Daniels who is the father of Central missionary, Matt Daniels. Bob picks Dana up on Tuesdays and they have coffee and lunch together. Bob says of Dana, “In spite of his many health issues, he is one of the most positive people you’ll find.” A highlight of Ann’s life is her weekly meeting with 5 godly women who have all been friends for several years. They spend the day together solving all the world’s problems and call it their weekly therapy group.
Of Central Church, they say, “We have been welcomed and loved and fed the WORD. Thank you Central for it all.” And in turn, Bob and Ann, we thank GOD for you, your giftings, and your willing service to His purposes. We are glad that HE led you to join the family here at Central Church.
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