As outlined in the above video, he was featured in the History Channel's 2007 documentary Jonestown: Paradise Lost and has written for the website Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple, which is run by San Diego State University. Even though he attended public schools, Stephan Jones had never really learned to live in the outside world. His body was found with a gunshot wound in the head. And now some wanted to depart. Play it now! He is able to weep, but worries about letting himself begin; he says it feels a little like pulling his finger from a crack in the dam. He was in Georgetown, Guyana on November 18, 1978 with the Jonestown Basketball Team. Cobb lost 11 relatives that day, including his mother, youngest brother and four sisters. He was 18 and running a temple construction crew when the church sanctioned his marriage to a talented 16-year-old singer, Ollie Wideman. Jim Jones had adopted other children, gathering around him what he liked to call his "rainbow family"--Stephan's brothers and sisters were black and Korean--but Stephan remembers days spent mostly by himself: there was a cleared-out place in the underbrush where he could crouch and become Hercules, or a soldier of war. Jim Jones. 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. He imagines the guards with guns, and the sky clouding over, and the air suddenly wild with fear, and the sight of the children. Stephan Jones' mother was one of those found dead from cyanide poisoning. People were forced. 29. ", Stephan Jones spent three months in a Guyana jail after the November deaths, imprisoned there while Guyanese authorities tried to determine who had killed the devoted Peoples Temple aide Sharon Amos and her three children, all of whom were found with their throats slashed in the Georgetown Temple headquarters on the day of the suicides. Though he waved and smiled at Peoples Temple services, seemingly enraptured like the rest, Stephan Gandhi Jones says he always had his doubts. Within minutes, the aide and her three children lay dead in a bloody bathroom, their throats slit. Stephan is the only living son of Jim Jones and his late wife Marceline Jones. "Because then it would have been like, 'I'm running out on these people. the whole thing he drove into people's minds for so long--I certainly don't mean to say that what happened was a sane act or that it was a good act, but--", Jones hesitates. Jim Jones had years earlier conceived his South American settlement as a distant haven where Peoples Temple members could live in communal isolation, protected from unfriendly reporters and all the other enemies Jones denounced through his congregation. 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.. My best guess is that Jones felt the press people weren't fooled by the staged setup at the mission. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. He was ill from when he was very young and was using fear to control me when I was barely more than a toddler. Three Half-Siblings Glen has three half-siblings named Jim Jon Prokes, Jim W. Jones Jr., and Suzanne O. Jones. The reunion with Jones was not as joyous. Anthony Katsaris, brother of Jim Jones aide Maria Katsaris, was wounded in the chest. I make a point of avoiding pointing fingers and giving specific names. Then they could identify and allow themselves to step into the story and understand how such a thing could happen. Stephan Jones was 6 years old, the only biological child of James and Marceline Baldwin Jones, when his father moved from Indiana to northern California with his family and 140 of the. The first attacks on the town, I thought they were real. A few of us jumped from the truck and ran over there. And I say, 'My name is Jones.' 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. 'I focused my rage on Dad and his circle, rather than deal with me,' he said. And the temple was his life - first in Indiana, later in California. Where they were lying. For 19 of his 24 years, they were all he knew. For years, Vilchez was ashamed of the part he played in an idealistic group that imploded so terribly. We were trying to build a new world, a progressive socialist organization.. The temple was the only life he knew but says he always had his doubts. Greg's body was near the boarding steps with his camera bag and cameras scattered around him. We'd also just seen the warm, cheerful embraces between some of those leaving and some who were staying. Jim Jones (1931-1978) and Marceline Jones (1927-1978). 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4. Jim Jones charismatic, volatile and ultimately evil. ': Golf glamor girl Paige Spiranac defends 'FUNNY' Woods tampon prank after 15-time major winner was forced to apologize, He's still got it! mode: 'thumbnails-rr', Jim Jones of the Peoples Temple, poses for a portrait near San Rafael, California, November 13, 2008. It was just more controlled. And the temple was his life first in Indiana, later in California. 'Being in Jonestown before Jim got there was the best thing in my life.'. There was a gaping wound in his shoulder and possibly his ribs. He is still elated by it. 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. Stephans address on November 18, 2018 at the 40th Anniversary Memorial Service at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, California is here. "The minute I stepped out on the street, I felt so uncomfortable," he says. He says his daughters have seen him gnash his teeth when he. Then he waits a while, until they have come to know him--the very tall young man with the kind voice and the black mustache. Over four decades, as they have built new lives, they have struggled with grief and the feeling that they were pariahs. His biggest regrets revolve around the team's refusal to return to Jonestown. Stephan Jones tells Haaretz about the man who would convince his followers to drink the Kool-Aid. "The media has done a poor job; theyve demonized him. He is married to his wifeKristi Jones since 1991. He cries out, "My God, you're not dead!" Five were dead, five seriously wounded, five suffered relatively minor wounds, nine were unhurt, and six were believed lost or hiding in the dense underbrush along the Kaituma River. Stephan may be reached at moreheart1@comcast.net. Alongside it was a red tractor and trailer seen earlier at the mission. I want out of this.' Stephan Jones is a Jonestown survivor. Marceline and Jim had one biological child together, and Stephan Jones appears in Jonestown: The Women Behind The Massacre. target_type: 'mix' 'Baby killer. someone hollered as we scrambled over the gravel to the far side of the plane. She gave her house to the Peoples Temple and they moved to San Francisco, where Eugene ran a temple construction crew. (all adoptive) Stephanie Jones (died in 1959); Suzanne Jones; Agnes Pauline Jones; Stephan Gandhi Jones; James Warren (Jimmie) Jones, Jr.; Lew Eric Jones; Timothy Glenn Tupper (Day) Jones; Jim Jon (Kimo) Prokes; (?) It would become a little town where people of all ages and colors raised food and children. 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 fought him, swore at him, obeyed him, contemplated killing him, argued with his mother about how to bring Jim Jones under control. The temple was the only life he knew but says he always had his doubts. 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. Dozens of members in Guyana slipped out of Jonestown or happened to be away that day. 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"By that time, I know, he was way off into drugs, and his perspective was so warped," Stephan Jones says. He was right, of course. After the temple exodus to Guyana, he was given a public relations post in Georgetown - and was part of the basketball team. But Stephan was the biological son of Jim and Marceline Jones. 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'. It would become a little town where people of all ages and colours raised food and children. ", Stephan Jones used to say he could have stopped the slaughter if he had been there. The shooting triggered the mass murders and suicides in Jonestown of more than 900 people orchestrated by the Rev. Im not saying he didnt cause it, create it. They have three children. They have three children. [November 2008], View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro, Kristi Jones His LinkedIn profile indicates that he still has the position of vice president of operations at MB Contract Furniture. Gandhi is an Indian word meaning Pharmacist. 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. Instead, The Washington Post reported that Stephan escaped death with the Jonestown basketball team. Maybe they just thought, 'God, leave me alone. He asked me to make one last mission with him to Jonestown. Stephan is among one of the Late Jim Jones sons survivors and he is still disturbed by those past events. It won't work.' Garry (2007) and The Real Story (2002). 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. At the far end of the strip sat a yellow government plane. I think that Ill pick two. A bullet ripped through my left forearm. Instead of finishing high school, Vilchez moved to San Francisco, where she lived in the church. Did you ever consider the ultimate rebellious act: to defect from the temple? "When it really came down to it, I thought there wasn't any need, because I thought he'd be dead in a couple months anyway," he says. Save this record and choose the information you want to add to your family tree. Stephan Gandhi Jones is the son of the notorious religious cult leader Jim Jones. This June 2016 photo provided by Jim Jones Jr. shows, from left, Ross Jones, 21, Erin Fowler-Jones, Robert Jones, 27, and Ryan Jones, 25, and Jim Jones Jr., in Pacifica, Calif. As a San Francisco high school student, he was dispatched to help build Jonestown. But it was too late. He said: "So much was attractive and unique that we turned a blind eye . When the prodigals visited, the Cobbs kept it secret from Jones. Hes an executive at the office furniture company where he began working immediately after Jonestown. 'The reality was we were folks who could be counted on to stand up,' he said. The reunion with Jones was not as joyous. present) (3 children). Stephan believed he was too cowardly to follow through with the oft-threatened revolutionary suicide.. Toward Nov. 18 they crowd up faster and closer, but even in the spring and summer, when the anniversary is tucked safely off on the other side of the year, even then he cannot keep the dreams away. He will read it when he is ready, he says. This return to the cult of Jim Jones is part of a re-examination of dangerous cults and movements in Americas past, like the Osho cult, which had a similar murderous potential. 'In an hour, that promise was broken.'. I did. In addition to writing the articles below, Stephan appeared as a speaker during the Griot Institute of African Studies lecture series entitled Jonestown: 35 Years Later at Bucknell University; his presentation appears on this page (scroll down the videos). Only two days later did the picture became clear. In code, his father told him everyone was going to die in 'revolutionary suicide. After the massacre, Layton strolled back to the area. Among the hundreds of corpses, only one was different; he had died from a bullet to the head. Meanwhile, the tractor, with several men in the trailer, rolled toward the terminal shack and halted a short distance away. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Stephan Gandhi Jonesis the son of the notorious religious cult leaderJim Jones. After the slaughter, Stephan Jones was arrested on suspicion of abetting the mass murder and spent three months in a Guyanese prison. Where the machine shop once stood, there was only rusty equipment. Jim Jones himself did not drink the poison. ", 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. There, as part of Jones' personal security detail, Cobb saw the once captivating minister strung out on drugs. The shots still were popping at an amazing clip. A few minutes later a pale-looking Leo Ryan slogged through the mud with his briefcase, his powder blue shirt and pants stained with his assailant's blood. Dozens of Peoples Temple members in Guyana survived the mass suicides and murders of more than 900 because they had slipped out of Jonestown or happened to be away that day, The bodies of five people, including Rep. Leo J. Ryan, D-Calif., are shown above on the airstrip at Port Kaittuma, Guyana, after an ambush by members of the Peoples Temple cult on November 18, 1978, John Cobb looks at names of family members on the Jonestown Memorial in Oakland, California. However, they have moved on with their life. NBC sound man Steve Sung had chunks of one arm blown away. From hair trends to relationship advice, our daily newsletter has everything you need to sound like a person whos on TikTok, even if you arent. Five others were wounded seriously. 'We were trying to build a new world, a progressive socialist organization.'. ", 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. The only surviving child of Jim Jones, Stephan was born on June 1, 1959, in Indiana, USA. In Biographical Summaries of Notable People . "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 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. But he also tapped into something very real and showed something very real and was very loving, especially during the early period.. Hes never remarried, and Martin Luther Smith was his only child. 'They're in deep trouble now,' observed one of the relatives who had accompanied us. 'There were often thoughts of taking him out but I know I wasnt capable of that kind of thing. But he said his discontent festered. You're not taking any more drugs." 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. The temple really became my family, she said. In the aftermath, he built a new life. Jim Jones radioed his son with orders to return to Jonestown, Stephan Jones refused to cut short the trip. Jordan Vilchez's parents were Berkeley progressives in the 1960s - her father African-American, her mother Scotch-Irish. We used curtains for bandages. Yeah often people do. 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"I mellowed out. "He always gave us a hug and a kiss, but it became more mechanical as time went by." And there was more social rhetoric and action in my life and a lot more fear. Don't take my baby!'. His biggest regrets revolve around the teams refusal to return to Jonestown. Jim Jones set off one of these panics every few weeks, sometimes keeping people awake all night as he shouted his warnings. "My experience in Jonestown was this: when I first got there I was happy and I was really enjoying myself. But after temple gunmen killed the congressman, three newsmen and a church defector on the Port Kaituma airstrip, Jones ordered a poisoned grape-flavored drink administered to children first. Vilchez was dispatched to the Guyanese capital of Georgetown to raise money. How could that be suicide? 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. Jordan Vilchezs parents were Berkeley progressives in the 1960s her father African-American, her mother Scotch-Irish. To access these PDF files you must have the free Adobe Reader installed. . As the visitors prepared to return to the U.S., Peoples Temple gunmen ambushed them on a remote jungle airstrip killing the congressman, Leo Ryan; three newsmen; and a church defector. All had been captivated by his promises of a model socialist society based on equality and love under his leadership. This is really crazy, he recalls thinking. no one could ever relate to it unless they were in the same situation, or they were in the atmosphere my father created . Some of them had started out with him in the earliest days in Indiana and moved with him to California. File photo: Bodies of Peoples Temple mass suicide victims led by Jim Jones in Jonestown, Guyana, November 1978. Ryan clearly was in good spirits. Those who broke rules were disciplined. That's what triggered it.'. 'I believe 100 percent that not everyone would have been dead,' he said. For moreEntertainment,Celebrity BabiesfolloweCelebrityMirror. . And in his growing community near the town of Ukiah, Jim Jones preached to the faithful about communalism, racial equality, "apostolic social justice" and the power of belief. What Does Lindsey Horans Boyfriend Tyler Heaps Do For a Living? Little Jimmy became part of their Rainbow Family of white, black, Korean-American and Native American children. ( 2007 ) and Marceline Jones. ' was we were folks who could counted! Of a model socialist society based on equality and love under his.! For years, Vilchez moved to San Francisco, where Eugene ran a temple construction crew when the prodigals,... 'We were trying to build a new world, a progressive socialist.... The shooting triggered the mass murders and suicides in Jonestown of more than 900 people by. 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