He is talking, in the first of two evenings' long conversations, between spoonfuls of almond chicken at a Chinese restaurant. They have three children. And I had good reason to be enraged with him I was enraged long before he died, and openly so. 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. My arm was gushing blood so I stripped off my belt and pinched down the biggest wounds. Stephan Gandhi Jones, age 60s, lives in Petaluma, CA. Jonestown was the highlight of his life for a time and he recalls feeling pride pioneering in the distant jungle of Guyana. 'I believe that it was always a personal agenda for my father, and yes, there was a gradual shift in the balance. he said. Court Records. "I think I knew it was just a bunch of junk and that it was really about nothing," Stephan Jones said. "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. They have altogether three daughters. So much was attractive and unique that we turned a blind eye on what was wrong, he said, including his fathers sexual excesses, drug abuse and rants. 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. Stephan escaped death with the Jonestown basketball team, Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple. And the temple was his life first in Indiana, later in California. But we never felt he would go through with it because we saw him as such a coward.. He built a long career in health care, while weathering his own serious health problems. Ryan clearly was in good spirits. File photo: Stephan Jones, son of Rev. "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. Life became more tolerable after the couple's baby, Martin Luther Smith, was born. Sadly we were finally at a point where I felt I had enough support and we decided that we were going to take action'. Is this a process thats still going on or have you reached a point where youve come to terms with who you are in this situation? " Pause for effect. " That's what triggered it.'. Vilchez was dispatched to the Guyanan capital of Georgetown to raise money. Stephan Gandhi Jones is 6-foot-5, lean, broad at the shoulder, olive-eyed, black-haired, handsome as a billboard model. The therapy that has been helpful to me hasnt been by talking with strangers about it. 'Liquidator,' " Stephan Jones remembers being called, as he lay on his prison cot and listened to the mosquitoes swarm. " But in 1973, Johns oldest brother and a sister, along with six other California college students, quit the church and became its enemies. People were completely fatigued, exhausted. Stephan is the only living son of Jim Jones and his late wife Marceline Jones. His unplanned departure left them alone. James Warren Jones and his wife, Marceline. If you or someone you know are experiencing suicidal thoughts, call 911, or call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255. 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.. The reason that I have agreed to talk to as many people as I have is because of that. container: 'taboola-below-article-thumbnails-2nd', We'd also just seen the warm, cheerful embraces between some of those leaving and some who were staying. But of course Dad was most terrified about anybody turning against him because it really screwed with the illusion that he had created. On Nov. 18 she was at the temple house when a fanatical Jones aide received a dire radio message from Jonestown. He also made sure that the other disciples who were in the capital would do nothing hasty. Life became more tolerable after the couples baby, Martin Luther Smith, was born. He was ill from when he was very young and was using fear to control me when I was barely more than a toddler. It marched for four jailed Fresno newsmen. 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. Read more about cookies here. The list of defectors rapidly grew to at least 16. Then it was boxing matches for adults. He limps this month, still recovering from a broken ankle bone that went undetected for a while, but when he is well he picks up a regular game in San Francisco, sometimes with the young men he played with before--the basketball team from the Peoples Temple settlement at Jonestown, Guyana. In the past, Stephan has also been known as Stephan Gandhi Jones and Stephan G Jones. He was in Georgetown, Guyana on November 18, 1978 with the Jonestown Basketball Team. Those who broke rules were disciplined. Grueling field work was not to her liking. The media has done a poor job; theyve demonized him. Hes an executive at the office furniture company where he began working immediately after Jonestown. In the days before Ryan's fact-finding mission to the settlement, the players were in Georgetown for a tourney with the Guyana national teams. 'What we were calling the cause really was Jim,' she said. The bottom layer consisted of about 300 babies and small children whose bodies had been ravished by the humidity and jungle insects. In a 2007 interview with Religion News Service published by Dallas News, Stephan said that he struggled with drug addiction after Jonestown, but that he's sober now. }); window._taboola = window._taboola || []; ", He does not think he loved his father even a little by then, but blood tied them in some way he did not entirely understand, and leaving was unimaginable. And his sense of self resided in his perception of other peoples perception of him. 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Stephan Gandhi Jones is the son of the notorious religious cult leader Jim Jones. NBC reported that Stephan Jones was the vice president for an office installation company in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2008. 'We built a community out of nothing in four years,' recalled Touchette, now a 65-year-old grandfather who has worked for a Miami hydraulics company for nearly 30 years. The woman sang as they coupled, and when Stephan Jones' mother told the boy she knew about it, she also told him--it is this he remembers as the crescendo of the betrayal--that his father had even described the song. Do you think people can ever see your father not just as a villain but as a complex figure? Heres How To Watch The Alex Murdaugh Trial Live, Morgan Doughty Filed A Lawsuit Against The Murdaugh Family, Sophie Turners Joan Charts The Rise Of A Famous British Jewel Thief, Alex Murdaugh Faces Life In Prison For Allegedly Killing His Wife & Son, Get Even More From Bustle Sign Up For The Newsletter. Yet he submitted to a new search, then returned to his seat. Stephan Jones Seeks Forgiveness For Jonestown Massacre, Late Jim Jones Son Stephan Jones Is An Actor. Stephan Gandhi Jones was the biological son of Jim and Marceline Jones. After the temple exodus to Guyana, he was given a public relations post in Georgetown - and was part of the basketball team. In Indianapolis, he served as a student pastor in the Methodist Church in 1952 but. He was just 14, Stephan Jones and some other team members believe they might have changed history if they were there. "My experience in Jonestown was this: when I first got there I was happy and I was really enjoying myself. 'He made a promise - once we get to Jonestown there is no corporal punishment,' Smith said. . The slaughter at Jonestown was the worst civilian tragedy in U.S. history before September 11, 2001. Rebelling, they refused Jones order to come back. Jim Jones. Some had the distinct impression that the two were close to opening fire on the truck. Jim Jones (1931-1978) and Marceline Jones (1927-1978). But she wasn't in the truck and the men left. So yes there were often thoughts of taking him out but I know I wasnt capable of that kind of thing. An In-Depth Look at Naomi Girmas Salary in Professional Soccer. They have three children. But he also tapped into something very real and showed something very real and was very loving, especially during the early period.. "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.". I appreciate that question. He remarried three decades ago, and he and his wife, Erin, raised three sons. She was the adoptive daughter of Rev. They moved forward slowly until one soldier bumped into an object on the ground. Stephans address on November 18, 2018 at the 40th Anniversary Memorial Service at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, California is here. . 1978. When a friend invited her family to Peoples Temples wine country church, they were impressed by the integrated community. He is married to his wife Kristi Jones since 1991. STEPHAN Gandhi Jones is - in the eyes of the world - the son of a mass murderer. placement: 'Below Article Thumbnails 3rd', Springing to my feet, I ran 40 yards across the runway. 'I was his son.' 'Let's go!' He converted to Catholicism and registered Republican. As a self-taught bulldozer operator, he worked alongside other Peoples Temple cult members in the humid heat with his blade carving roads and sites for wooden buildings with metal roofs. For 19 of his 24 years, they were all he knew. ". What Are Essential Oils and Do They Work. He sought treatment, and eventually, the father of three settled into a quiet life in California. The mass murders and suicides of hundreds ofPeoples Temple membersin the distant jungle of Guyana, South Americaon November 18, 1978 is a horror that remains nearly unimaginable 40 years later. When that was pointed out to Ryan, Layton contended he already had been frisked. View their profile including current address, phone number 415-785-XXXX, background check reports, and property record on Whitepages, the most trusted online directory. His biggest regrets revolve around the team's refusal to return to Jonestown. Stephan Gandhi Jones. She gives us the order that we were supposed to kill ourselves, Vilchez recalled. 2023 Canoe.com, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings. 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. , MoKal . At 16, she was put on the Planning Commission where the meetings were a strange mix of church business, sex talk - and adulation for Jones. 'Watch him,' those around him were told. He lives just outside San Francisco and works as an office systems installer, arranging furniture and office interiors. And when her 23-year-old sister joined, Jordan went to live with her at age 12. Did you ever consider the ultimate rebellious act: to defect from the temple? Do not sell or share my personal information. He loved it. He pushes through the crowd, but he cannot get to his father. "I was building me a place, too," he says. Five others were wounded seriously. When he was 10 years old he listened as Jim Jones had sex with a mistress in the next room. In the aftermath, he built a new life. More than 300 Jonestown victims were children. Though he waved and smiled at Peoples Temple services, seemingly enraptured like the rest, Stephan Gandhi Jones says he always had his doubts. In California, he was steeped in temple life. stephan gandhi jones. "There's just nothing like it," he says. "I knew I didn't want to, but I didn't know quite how to confront him or present my case . I think that Ill pick two. He grew, and discovered basketball. A bit later the number was revised upward to 408. Thats what triggered it.. 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. 2010-10-03 19:23:36. "Because then it would have been like, 'I'm running out on these people. The bodies surrounded a podium from which Jim Jones, aided by armed men to hold down the unwilling, had cried out in encouragement while men, women, and children drank red Flavor-Aid mixed with potassium cyanide. And then he went to my mother. He used this kind of threat to control his people. He built a long career in health care, while weathering his own serious health problems. Cobb lost 11 relatives that day, including his mother, youngest brother and four sisters. When the truck was allowed to pass, we all breathed easier. Of those 25 percent that drank the poison, most of those people were just defeated and didnt know where else to turn and didnt want to run out on the others. White devil.' In minutes, the back of the truck was piled high with crates, suitcases, backpacks and people. They had nothing to go back to." Stephan Jones was born on 06/01/1959 and is 63 years old. Some of them had started out with him in the earliest days in Indiana and moved with him to California. It makes him a little crazy sometimes. container: 'taboola-below-article-thumbnails-3rd', Some of those leaving the temple eyed the vehicles with suspicion. I got the gun. Forty years ago this week, a California congressman and a group of journalists traveled to Guyana, South America, to see Jonestown, a remote settlement created by an American church, and investigate reports of abuses of members. (Actually, the deadly beverage that day might have been based on a cheaper imitation, Flavor Aid. While working as a hospital orderly, Jones met Marceline Baldwin, a nursing student, and they married in 1949. In fact, he thought he was the only one who could save the situation. 'I believe 100 percent that not everyone would have been dead,' he said. He dreams he is in a crowd, and his father is talking about suicide. When I left at 21, I left a part of myself there, she said. Neither were the White Nights where everyone stayed up, armed with machetes to fight enemies who never arrived. It won't work.' 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. Jordan Vilchezs parents were Berkeley progressives in the 1960s her father African-American, her mother Scotch-Irish. The temple was the only life he knew but says he always had his doubts. They are amused; they embrace him. After more than 22 years at Californias transportation department, Smith retired in 2015. I focused my rage on Dad and his circle, rather than deal with me, he said. 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. But in 1973, John's oldest brother and a sister, along with six other California college students, quit the church and became its enemies. More than 900 members of the Peoples Temple had lived in theagricultural missionin the distant jungle of Guyana, South America, led by the cult leader Rev. "I'm blessed to have hit enough of a bottom and to have been surrounded by amazing, wonderful, honest, compassionate and challenging people to see me through that," Stephan said. They have altogether three daughters. There are no many details about his siblings and some had been adopted. How do you explain the renewed interest in the Peoples Temple? At first it was spanking of children. She gave her house to the Peoples Temple and they moved to San Francisco. His LinkedIn profile indicates that he still has the position of vice president of operations at MB Contract Furniture. 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. 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. I was going back to retrieve that young person and also to say goodbye.. A lot more conversation about the outside threat that was anyone that wasnt in the temple. 'I said there must be another way.'. They were under siege, Jim Jones would cry; the snipers were after him; the Guyanese army was about to descend; the children would be taken away and probably tortured. You used the word forgiveness, but I find love and compassion for him. They were forced. By nightfall, the seriously wounded, some of them on litters provided by the community, were sheltered in army soldiers' tents. Jim Jones, pictured in 1976,dreamed up Jonestown. He cries out, "My God, you're not dead!" Stephan Jones did not drink. And the temple was his life first in Indiana, later in California. But Stephan was the biological son of Jim and Marceline Jones. People raced over to the outdoor pavilion. What would you say is the biggest misconception people have about the Peoples Temple or your father? 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