Some of the best people I've ever met were in Jonestown and some of the worst. "My experience in Jonestown was this: when I first got there I was happy and I was really enjoying myself. He is from USA. "I would have been a traitor to the greatest cause there ever was . Mr. Jones -- his first name is pronounced Stephen; Marceline Jones spelled it Stephan to honour the memory of an adopted daughter, Stephanie, who died in a car accident -- claims to be. Jones declined to answer questions until he had the opportunity to speak to an attorney. He would rise before dawn, pick his way into the bush, and sit without moving as the quiet around him split slowly into bird cries and insect buzzing and the scuffling and calling of creatures he could not see. Stephan grew up in a high-stress environment as the Peoples Temple grew and gained media attention (Reiterman 72). He remarried three decades ago, and he and his wife, Erin, raised three sons. They have three children. Jim Jones had wanted his son and friends to cut short their stay and return to Jonestown where a group headed by California Congressman Leo Ryan was starting an investigation into reports of abuse there. At 17 he was a defection risk, so his father Jim Jones sent him to work on the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project in Guyana, which Stephan loved in its early days (Reiterman 311). 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). When John Cobb was born in 1960 in a black section of Indianapolis, his mother and older siblings already were temple members. The reports were wrong, they say. Forrest Ray Jones . . He is charming. Since 1991, he has been married to Kristi Jones. Prior to Stephan's birth, Jim and Marceline had adopted two children from Korea: a four-year-old named Stephanie and a two-year-old renamed Lew Eric. . So, how much is Stephan Jones worth at the age of 64 years old? Everybody did the best with what they had, even my poor, sick, monstrous fraud of a father. I mean, here are hundreds and hundreds of people who feel differently than I do--who's right?". He converted to Catholicism and registered Republican. "I think he would be admitting in his own warped mind that he was not this great revolutionary he had tried to build himself up to be . "I just say something like, 'You remember Jonestown?' And youre gonna go up there and kill Jim Jones? He dreams he is arguing with his father, arguing passionately, and although he knows his arguments are better, his father always wins. "I would have had to, especially if I saw other people doing it, and I right off the bat wasn't on top of things, and somehow wasn't right there starting some kind of--it's so hard--", Stephan Jones covers his face for a moment, fingers kneading his forehead. The years are slowly weaning Stephan Jones from Jonestown; he reads, goes to movies, wants now to have a child of his own. He was the son of Jim Jones, who established Jonestown. 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. On July 31, 1980, United States Attorney, San Francisco, submitted request for authorization of immunity to the Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for [2 names deleted], Stephan Gandhi Jones, and [name deleted]. Dozens of members in Guyana slipped out of Jonestown or happened to be away that day. He has learned, he says, to understand his own resources and the depths of his emotions. Within minutes, the aide and her three children lay dead in a bloody bathroom, their throats slit. In 1961, Jones earned a degree in secondary education from Butler University in Indianapolis. Over four decades, as they have built new lives, they have struggled with grief and the feeling that they were pariahs. "He always gave us a hug and a kiss, but it became more mechanical as time went by." "I think I have a lot of the same tendencies he had. "He was a gentle man in a lot of ways," Jones says, stretched now over the sofa in his small apartment. Stephan Jones was a nearly full-grown teen-ager when his father sent him to the Peoples Temple agricultural mission in the small South American coastal country of Guyana. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. "And it could happen to anybody.". This past year, she returned to long-overgrown Jonestown. But even Stephan Jones never imagined that death would come the way it did, so redolent of madness and evil, so savage that a kind of panic still crawls into his voice when he talks about it. After the Jonestown massacre, Stephan spent three months in a Guyanese jail as authorities tried to confirm the cause of death for Sharon Amos and her family. This time in Stephans life was marked with pride, enthusiasm, and community. He is married to his wifeKristi Jones since 1991. He thinks now that it is probably stupid to believe that. They might be expected to take a leadership role in the organization after their parents step down, or maybe they opt to cut those ties completely. "This" happens to be . Most read in News BEHIND BARS Of course, even if he wanted to forget Jonestown, his name was an ever-present reminder. He says the congregation was full of elderly people, many of them hard-working black men and women who had given this minister everything they possessed. In a 2019 interview, Stephan stated, I just wish people could understand what was attractive about him. Stephan Gandhi Jones, DOB: 6/1/59 arrived JFKIA this date, aboard Pan Am flight 228 from Georgetown, Guyana. I would either have had to fight, or I would have taken it. His biggest regrets revolve around the teams refusal to return to Jonestown. Stephan Jones was born on 06/01/1959 and is 63 years old.Stephan Jones currently lives in Petaluma, CA; in the past Stephan has also lived in San Rafael CA and Novato CA.In the past, Stephan has also been known as Stephan Gandhi Jones and Stephan G Jones. Those raised in the temple or who joined as teens lost the only life they knew. On the other hand, Stephan was sometimes hurt by his father not making time for his family (Reiterman 120), and felt his mothers betrayal when he first learned of Jones extramarital affairs (Reiterman 121). Stephan Gandhi Jones is the son of Jim and Marceline Jones. He apparently lives as an anonymous citizen. I guess I wanted to believe that, as a child.". This led to disillusionment and hostility toward his father, and a strong bond with his mother Marceline (Reiterman 124). (2003). Biography, Gossips, News, Health, Sports & Much More. He claimed the media had done the late members of Peoples Temple a disservice by portraying Jones in such an overwhelmingly negative light, which made the members of Peoples Temple seem illogical for following him. "I don't know. Jim Jones' 19-year-old son Stephen was charged with murder today in the throat-slashings of four Peoples Temple members hours after the mass suicide-murder at Jonestown. Stephan Gandhi Jones was born on June 1, 1959 to parents Jim and Marceline Jones, the only natural-born son in the otherwise adopted family (Reiterman 63). This article was published more than 16 years ago. Let me tell you something. He was in Georgetown, Guyana on November 18, 1978 with the Jonestown Basketball Team. Thats the only way youre gonna do it. However, approximately a month before Stephans birth, Stephanie passed away in a car accident. 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. When Smith reunited with his mother and wife in Jonestown, Ollie was 8 months pregnant. The name Stephan is derived from the Greek word stephanos, which means crown and garland. Gandhi is a phrase from India that means pharmacist., Also Read Leila Arcieri, Angel Adoree, Brendon Burchard, Jozadak. But in 1973, Johns oldest brother and a sister, along with six other California college students, quit the church and became its enemies. Jim Jones himself did not drink the poison. Youve known about it for a month and youre going nuts. Stephan always argued against these plans. Stephan Jones' mother was one of those found dead from cyanide poisoning. 1959 Stephan Jones was born on June 1, 1959 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA as Stephan Gandhi Jones. You don't tell God he needs help. That wont work. He plays forward. Since his father, Late Jim Jones, carried out a horrendous massacre in Jonestown on Nov. 18, 1978, Stephan Jones, Jim Jones 59-year-old son, has been through a lot. The team decided to go to the Pegasus hotel where the Concerned Relatives were staying and get more information from them, defying Jones orders (Reiterman 523). He lives just outside San Francisco and works as an office systems installer, arranging furniture and office interiors. Stephan Jones was a nearly full-grown teen-ager when his father sent him to the Peoples Temple agricultural mission in the small South American coastal country of Guyana. Stephan was sentenced to three months in prison as a result of the incident, which led to his drug addiction. He has nine siblings, the most of them have passed away. It's like my hurt for them, or my missing them, is the only thing I have left of them." placement: 'Right Rail Thumbnails', By the time Stephan Jones was 16, his father had moved the family to the big temple building in a black neighborhood of San Francisco, where politicians and black leaders had begun paying considerable attention to Jim Jones' racially mixed congregation and fervently preached exhortations to adjust society under a socialist god. When I left at 21, I left a part of myself there, she said. In his spare time he swims, or rides his bicycle, or lifts weights, or plays basketball. He is still elated by it. He has read most of "Raven," which he believes to be the best of the books about his father, but he has never been able to bring himself to read the chapter about the suicides and murders. Stephan Jones Seeks Forgiveness For Jonestown Massacre, Late Jim Jones Son Stephan Jones Is An Actor, Who is Brandon T. Jackson? November 29, 2022 by cyfrows. The 21-year-old Indiana native felt pride pioneering in the distant jungle of Guyana, South America. "I think I'd probably be pretty messed up if I hadn't lost everybody I had and hadn't gone through the prison experience," Stephan Jones says. In fact, he feels "obligated to do something well with the fact that I survived and I hope that I do. They were at a basketball tournament five years ago, in November 1978 when the congressman and the reporters came to Jonestown. As Stephan Jones and a few others were walking away, they heard a gunshot and raced back to Jones hut, where they found him on the floor in shock, but unharmed. Stephan Jones says he can still remember his own terror the first time his father set off a Jonestown White Night. And she could only sense the site of the pavilion, the once-vibrant center of Jonestown life where so many died including her two sisters and two nephews. . It would have been like I was a counter-revolutionary, in some sense.". The atmosphere was described as secure and homey, with family meals and plenty of time outside swimming, picnicking, and playing football with other Temple kids (despite Jim Jones anti-sport rhetoric [Reiterman 102]). Here's how some of the kids of famous cult leaders moved on with their lives. You May Also Like To Read: Patrick Bet-David Considers Herseld Lucky As She Considers Him The Best Husband in Every Aspect! Also learn how He earned most of networth at the age of 62 years old? Desperate to find out more information, Stephan rode in a car with Mike Touchette and Mark Cordell to the Pegasus hotel, where the Concerned Relatives had been staying (Reiterman 543). Wiki, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Ethnicity, Career, Renee Raducanu- All About The Mother Of Emma Raducanu, Denny Siregar- Wiki, Age, Girlfriend, Net Worth, Height, Career, How much is Tom Austen Net Worth 2023? Where the machine shop once stood, there was only rusty equipment. Stephan spent many hours visiting with her whenever he got the chance (Reiterman 400). 'Liquidator,' " Stephan Jones remembers being called, as he lay on his prison cot and listened to the mosquitoes swarm. " Home > About Jonestown > Jonestown Research > Jonestown Censuses > The Families of Jonestown > Jim Jones and his late wife Marceline Jones have only one live son, Stephan. STEPHAN Gandhi Jones is - in the eyes of the world - the son of a mass murderer. He was 18 and running a temple construction crew when the church sanctioned his marriage to a talented 16-year-old singer, Ollie Wideman. Jones later told Tim and Johnny to put Stephan under armed surveillance, which they laughed with Stephan about. "This is really crazy," he recalls thinking. Although Laotian refugees briefly lived there in the early 1980s, nothing of the original settlement remains. "I always explain to them that it's not what people think--it wasn't a bunch of starry-eyed people in line waiting to take the potion . After being released from his three-month stay in a Guyanese prison, he moved back to San Francisco, where he stayed in close contact with other temple members (Gorney). He hasthree possible sons. He dreams he sees the men and women he knew, older now, changed by the years. For the young Caucasian, there was more: "The white man was so preached against by my father as a way of winning black people, and here I am a white man, feeling like everybody resents me and I have something to apologize for," he says. Jim Jones and His People.. He was a genius, and he was unique. Now, Stephan Jones is father of three daughters, ages 16, 25 and 29, and works in the office furniture installation business. Since murderous mastermindCharles Manson hada tendency to say things like "Youre all my children," its been difficult to prove the paternity of several kids he may have fathered. "It's not--such a bad experience," he says. It was planned as a grand event, the Peoples Temple team against the Guyanese national team, and when the Rev. "I knew I didn't want to, but I didn't know quite how to confront him or present my case . Reiterman, T., & Jacobs, J. 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 . He laughed. Stephan believed that that time in prison helped prepare him for re-entry into the world, and helped him to mellow out (Gorney). The Joneses adopted a black baby in Indiana in 1960, and Jim gave the 10-week-old infant his own name. (2008). There were many photographs of the bodies, taken from various angles, in color and black and white, and in each photograph, as though defying the viewer even to believe the report of the camera, row upon row of clothed human backs lay swelling in the jungle damp. After the Jonestown massacre, Stephan moved back to San Francisco, where he stayed in close contact with other survivors of Peoples Temple, including the members of the basketball team. They have altogether three daughters. Stephan is one of the surviving sons of Jim Jones, and he is extremely affected by the horrors of his fathers past. Suggest an alternative. However, it is known that his brother, Stephan Gandhi Jones, has a daughter named JimJones III. (AP Photo/File), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news, assassination of U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan and four others. Gebunden. Stephan and Marceline both argued against it, but eventually both gave in and Stephan went at his mothers request, agreeing to go for only a week, though as soon as he arrived in Jonestown he was informed that his position would be permanent (Reiterman 310). Hes never remarried, and Martin Luther Smith was his only child. Little Jimmy became part of their Rainbow Family of white, black, Korean-American and Native American children. If you're the child of cult leaders, the biggest challenge of all is often confronting your own past. Jim W. Jones Jr. attended school in Brazil before returning to the United States to attend the University of California, Berkeley. At another White Night in spring or summer 1978, Stephan wanted to see if his father would call of the event on his own, so he told his mother of his plan for both of them to stand back and watch (Reiterman 425). 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