ast week, we lost the patriarch of the Jones clan (& the original Mike Jones), my grandfather Torrence Vernon Jones. He went by “Mike” after meeting a horse with the same name, cause that’s the kinda guy he was. It’s always very hard to lose someone very close, but he had lived a very long, full life, and he was ready. He died on Friday, at the age of 96, although I think we ought to go ahead and round-up to 97 because poignantly enough, his obituary is running today, his birthday. Over the last few days we have been pouring through old photographs for his memorial service, most of which I had never seen. It is so easy to forget, as a grandchild, that despite my belief that the world did not begin until I arrived, in fact it did, and the majority of my grandfather’s life had been spent without me. My grandfather was a very humble man, despite his service in multiple wars, his plethora of army commendations & medals, & his success as a businessman following his retirement from the military. I was lucky enough to have a grandfather that could remember every moment of his life, & on multiple occasions, shared his life stories with me. I am very thankful that he lived long enough, in body & mind, to share them. We are nothing without stories, & he was nothing short of an immaculate storyteller.
There is a reason why Tom Brokaw has deemed my grandfather’s generation as “the greatest.” They have seen things evolve, triumph, and start all over again to a degree that no other generation will experience. This rings incredibly true through the photos that I’ve seen of him recently, particularly with regards to fashion & photography. Everything old is new again, the same being true for my grandfather, as his old soul is now headed towards a new journey, high in the sky.
Some of my favorite photos are below.
athousandficklefaces 