VI 
EN 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). "There was tremendous grief, nightmares, sleepless nights, guilt about wondering if I should have, could have done something to stop it -- all of which I now look back on with gratitude -- and then there was me using people and narcotics to numb the feelings that I couldn't hold." He was a genius, and he was unique. And I've come to believe in a God, creator of all things, all powerful, all knowing, incredibly loving, but it's a God far beyond any religion I've ever encountered. They were at a basketball tournament five years ago, in November 1978 when the congressman and the reporters came to Jonestown. His wife has learned at those moments to let him be. He has been married to Kristi Jones since 1991. [November 2008]. Stephan Jones was born on 1 June 1959 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Over four decades, as they have built new lives, they have struggled with grief and the feeling that they were pariahs. Eventually he married and had three children (IMDb), and as of 2022 he continues to be active in education around Jonestown, writing articles and contributing to multiple documentaries. Stephan is the only living son of Jim Jones and his late wife. During a White Night in Spring 1978, he urged his father to stop, whispering, Youre putting people through unnecessary pain (Reiterman 391). He laughed. ", 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. Stephan Gandhi Jones (by reference) James Warren Jones, Jr. (adopted child of Jim Jones) (by reference) Lew Eric Jones (adopted child of Jim Jones) (by reference) Marceline LeTourneau . Of course, even if he wanted to forget Jonestown, his name was an ever-present reminder. By September 8, Stephan was questioning the validity of the crisis, and made a game out of surprising people on the Temple trucks. . White devil.' Retrieved December 10, 2022, from https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=17058. Peoples Temple lost the game, but only by 10 points, which seemed worth celebrating. "He always gave us a hug and a kiss, but it became more mechanical as time went by." Eine Gralsspur. You know what would happen if you killed Jim Jones now?Some of the seniors think hes God and hes their only hope. Not so many people died. He has nine siblings, the most of them have passed away. With their lives, the story of Jonestown continues, even now. Stephan, like his father, is looking for forgiveness. "I don't know. Today, Mr. Jones seems the very model of caring California calm. Jim Jones, called "Father" by some of his followers in the Peoples Temple and "Dad" by Stephan Jones. Top right: Young Jimmy and Stephan. 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. Jim Jones radioed his son with orders to return to Jonestown, Stephan Jones refused to cut short the trip. There, as part of Jones personal security detail, Cobb saw the once captivating minister strung out on drugs, afraid to venture anywhere for fear of his legal problems. Thats the only way youre gonna do it. By the fall of that year, almost 1,000 Temple members emigrated to Jonestown, but for Stephan Jones, the pleasure crumbled when his father arrived. Now, Stephan is a father of three daughters, ages 16 . Stephan was 19 years old at the time of the Jonestown massacre. Let me tell you something. OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) Jonestown was the highlight of Mike Touchettes life for a time. 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). Charles Luther Manson's whereabouts are unknown. Forgiveness for the Jonestown Massacre is sought by Stephan Jones. At 64 years old, Stephan Jones height not available right now. The murders and suicides were unfolding, 150 miles away. Retrieved December 10, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/11/07/jonestowns-haunted-son/f9369588-008b-497a-9ad3-b303dc01a8df/, IMDb. Jim Jr. would lose 15 immediate relatives in Jonestown, including his pregnant wife, Yvette Muldrow. I would argue that the means justify the end, but not the other way around. ", Today, Mr. Jones realizes "I couldn't have done it any differently. When asked what Stephan wished people would take away from the Jonestown tragedy, he stated: Be aware of this message that was prevalent in the temple: The end justifies the means. And I see that throughout society. Jim Jones and his late wife Marceline Jones have only one live son, Stephan. And how do you adapt to seeing the outside world for the first time in decades? Stephan understood the White Nights to be tools of manipulation, and found them incredibly unpleasant (Reiterman 390). By the end of 1977, Stephan was getting more fed-up with his father. He did., Tim Reiterman, AP environment team editor, covered Jonestown for the San Francisco Examiner and was wounded when temple members fired on Rep. Leo Ryans party in 1978. To cope, he says he abused drugs and exercised obsessively. Jones often tried to involve Stephan in his various deceptions, including one in which Stephan would pretend to be shot while going to greet a lawyer from the U.S. (Reiterman 375), and one in which Stephan would pretend to kidnap John Stoen in a bag and then pretend to rescue him from his assailant (Reiterman 398). 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. Early Life Stephan Gandhi Jones was born on June 1, 1959 to parents Jim and Marceline Jones in Indiana. In an hour, that promise was broken.. When he arrived back to the Lamaha Gardens house, he found that one of Jones dedicated followers, Sharon Amos, had killed her children and committed suicide (Reiterman 545). He is an actor, known for Written in Blood (2018), The People's. Stephan missed his mother, but was happier than hed ever been. 1956). And I say, 'My name is Jones.' ", Mr. Jones says he hasn't "mourned [his]father's death, but I've certainly come to understand, forgive and to love him. "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. With those people surrounding him, constantly doing the right thing, and doing what he says, and you're surrounded by a combination of them and those people who don't neccessarily agree, but are acting like they agree . The only surviving child of Jim Jones, Stephan was born on June 1, 1959, in Indiana, USA. Stephan Jones, Jim Jones 59-year-old son, has been through a lot since his father, Late Jim Jones, conducted a horrific massacre in Jonestown on Nov. 18, 1978. Hes 61 now. Here's how some of the kids of famous cult leaders moved on with their lives. What used to be the pavilion where Jim Jones harangued his malnourished, sleep-deprived, overworked followers with stories of impending doom, nuclear holocaust and Armageddon --and later commanded them to die -- is now occupied by "this incredibly blooming maroon-purple bougainvillea, fed by their dead bodies and, of course, their spirits. Jim Jones and his people. Unsurprisingly, that "free love" attitude means there are lots of kids of cult leaders. . What we were calling the cause really was Jim, she said. But the boy was still a child of the Temple. Family (3) Trivia (4) Only natural son of Rev. The temple really became my family, she said. In a 2019 interview, Stephan stated, I just wish people could understand what was attractive about him. These people have given their lives, for whatever reason . A vegetarian with an apparent fondness for corduroys and earth-toned jackets, the devoted father of three daughters and the manager of a commercial office-furniture business in Marin County, he peppers his conversation with words like "healing" and "selflessness" and "service. Cobb lost 11 relatives that day, including his mother, youngest brother and four sisters. 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. People do things for him. 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]). no one could ever relate to it unless they were in the same situation, or they were in the atmosphere my father created . I mean, one thing's for sure: it happened, and there's no taking it back, so, my God, let's make the best of it. Jim was the Rev. Jim Jones (1931-1978) and Marceline Jones (1927-1978). Stephan Jones made two suicide attempts as a high schooler. He was in Georgetown, Guyana on November 18, 1978 with the Jonestown Basketball Team. "I would have been a traitor to the greatest cause there ever was . Top left: Marceline and baby Stephan. Thats what triggered it.. And Smiths wife, son and mother died. 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. Meet Stephan Gandhi Jones - Late Jim Jones' Son and Wife Marceline Jones. He was 19 years old at the time. . 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. Bio, Age, Net Worth, Relationship, Height, Ethnicity, Who Is Arsne Wenger? Rebelling, they refused Jones order to come back. He was in Georgetown, Guyana on November 18, 1978 with the Jonestown Basketball Team. . 1931 Only natural son of Rev. Jones berated three other new arrivals for misbehavior on the trip; they were beaten and forced to work 24 hours straight. "I still get very angry," Stephan Jones says. He imagines the guards with guns, and the sky clouding over, and the air suddenly wild with fear, and the sight of the children. He is the author with the late John Jacobs of Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. . This is really crazy, he recalls thinking. Public figures/National and international names: President John Kennedy Dr. Karl Irvin, Disciples of Christ No one now living saw Jim Jones die, so there is some dispute about whether he also performed what he had taught his followers to call "revolutionary suicide." Retrieved December 10, 2022, from https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2861599/, Reflections and articles by Stephan Jones. At first it was spanking of children. That was not always possible, however, and Stephan was eventually given the duty of carrying the microphone around during services and holding it for people making a testimonial or asking questions(Reiterman 106). I believe 100 percent that not everyone would have been dead, he said. Since 1991, he has been married to Kristi Jones. He thinks now that it is probably stupid to believe that. Celebs Wiki Stephan Jones fans also viewed: Paul Reed (actor) that one last act would be admitting he was a coward, and about nothing. As of December 2022, Stephan Jones is 63 years old. But the entertainers stayed in Jonestown to entertain Ryan. When he was ordered to Georgetown to help with supply shipments, Smith said he concocted an escape plan: Ollie and other temple singers and dancers, he believed, would soon be sent to Georgetown to perform, and the family would flee to the U.S. Embassy. "It's not--such a bad experience," he says. ", 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. They don't normally believe it at first. ", Stephan Jones' lips draw back when he talks about his father; he looks for an instant like a cornered dog. The 21-year-old Indiana native felt pride pioneering in the distant jungle of Guyana, South America. Im sorry. "My experience in Jonestown was this: when I first got there I was happy and I was really enjoying myself. target_type: 'mix' As of December 2022, Stephan Jones is 63 years old. Then, after a 1977 New West magazine expose of temple disciplinary beatings and other abuses, she was sent to Jonestown. Stephan soon found himself loving Jonestown, benefitting from the hard physical labor and intense comradery amongst early settlers (Reiterman 312). Even though he attended public schools, Stephan Jones had never really learned to live in the outside world. Stephan fought him, swore at him, obeyed him, contemplated killing him, argued with his mother about how to bring Jim Jones under control. . He is talking, in the first of two evenings' long conversations, between spoonfuls of almond chicken at a Chinese restaurant. On the morning on November 18, 1978, Stephan awoke in good spirits, with an optimistic outlook on the future. 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). He dreams he sees the men and women he knew, older now, changed by the years. Suddenly there was no money to buy lumber or supplies--"he was such a tightwad," Stephan Jones says--and the homesteading fervor gave way to the minister's incessant meetings and group lectures and warnings about "enemies.". Now, Stephan Jones is father of three daughters, ages 16, 25 and 29, and works in the office furniture installation business. . are james acaster and rose matafeo still friends; denver flight 9 crash 99 dead; san luis obispo murders 2020; catriona pendrigh found dead Then he decides it is time, and he falters, and he tells them they may not believe what he is about to say. Jim Jones (top middle) with the early Jonestown settlers in 1974. Sharir, M. (2019, January 22). More than 900 individuals died during that time, including Stephans mother and some of his siblings. 17. He built a long career in health care, while weathering his own serious health problems. Stephan was extremely passionate about athletics, participating in track, football, and baseball (Reiterman 181), with his true passion being for basketball, to Jones chagrin (Reiterman 308). His father spoke so ardently about his own self-sacrifice; Stephan Jones saw the specially prepared steaks and the color television, and in the temple apartment where they lived, he grew accustomed to glimpses of his father having sex with temple members--sometimes women, sometimes men. . On June 1, 1959, Stephan Gandhi Jones, Jim and Marceline's only biological child, was born. FILE - This Jan. 1976 photo shows the Rev. But he said his discontent festered. Stephan was around 17 years old when he moved to Jonestown in February 1977 to help build the compound. Mr. Jones first travelled to Jonestown in early 1977 and worked on clearing land for the settlement and building housing for the devotees of the Peoples Temple. I've certainly seen some wonderful things come out of religion, not least from my mother's parents and her sister. So, how much is Stephan Jones worth at the age of 64 years old? Basement Rejects is the source of this image. It would have been like I was a counter-revolutionary, in some sense.". What they said. "There's just nothing like it," he says. In 1961, the Joneses made history by becoming the first white couple in Indiana to adopt a black child. Children of cult leaders often struggle with that notoriety throughout their life. We will update Stephan Jones's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible. Of course, it's entirely understandable why Mr. Jones doesn't regularly mull over the fate of his notorious father or that of his beloved mother, Marceline, who swallowed the fateful poison-laced fruit punch that day in Jonestown. Reporters were hearing. 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. Aside from his forefathers horrific tragedy, Stephan Jones has built a reputation for himself in the Hollywood industry as an actor. The type of unchecked power that comes with starting a cultoften seems to translate to sexual relationships as well. Though Stephan was public about his sorrow toward the movement and his anger toward his father, he used his platform to constantly reemphasize the humanity and sanity of the members of Peoples Temple. . As a San Francisco high school student, he was dispatched to help build Jonestown. You don't tell God, "You're not going out of the house. Home > About Jonestown > Jonestown Research > Jonestown Censuses > The Families of Jonestown > In California, he was steeped in temple life. Alternative Considerations of Jonestown Peoples Temple. " Pause for effect. " Relation: Name: Birth: Father: Jim Jones: May 13 1931: Mother: Marceline Jones: Spotted an error? It's like my hurt for them, or my missing them, is the only thing I have left of them." 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 airstrip on Nov. 18, 1978, then with the mass murders and suicides of hundreds, a horror that remains nearly unimaginable 40 years later. Until, that is, I have to do something like this.". And youre gonna go up there and kill Jim Jones? View popular celebrities life details, birth signs and real ages. There are moments when he glimpses the edges of power and understands precisely how it might be used. By early 1978, Marceline was traveling back and forth between San Francisco and Jonestown, where she lived in her own private cottage near the center of the compound. From Charles Manson to Jim Jones, plenty of notorious figureheads had children who were born into a cult. Those raised in the temple or who joined as teens lost the only life they knew. Top left: Stephan with his father, Jim Jones. 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. For many years, Jones struggled with the guilt of survival, his fathers grim legacy, and his own subsequent substanceabuse. Stephan Jones and some other team members believe they might have changed history if they were there. 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. "I remember being afraid when he started talking about it, and getting butterflies," he says. September 5, 1977, Stephan learned there were guns in Jonestown when Jones used a .357 magnum revolver to fire a few shots at a banana leaf. Photos courtesy of Stephan Jones, acquired from Reiterman 134. 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