Latest / Legacy Stories / Daddy's Girl: Sherri Jones Honors Her Father, Earl Jones

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Daddy's Girl: Sherri Jones Honors Her Father, Earl Jones · Legacy Stories

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  Coming up on legacy stories. He was never able to get off the
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  Walker after that, but I watched my daddy go out to the tractor
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  with the Walker and climb onto the tractor.
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  Wow, that's inspiring. And drive it down the road and
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  put a Bale of hay out in the field.
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  OK, you know, I, I, I don't mean this in a, in a bad way, but
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  your dad was what I would call good stubborn.
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  Yes. Welcome to Legacy Stories.
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  I'm Steve Young. Each week I sit down with a
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  guest who shares the story of someone special in their family
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  and the legacy they carry forward.
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  My guest this week is Sherri Jones.
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  I've known Sherri for many years through our mutual friendship
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  with Carol Warren and Dale Whitehead, who you may recall
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  were featured previously on Legacy Stories.
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  Sherri has a rich Appalachian heritage and a deep commitment
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  to family. I have to tell you, if you're a
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  daddy's girl, this episode is for you.
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  Sherri, welcome to Legacy Stories.
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  Thank you for having me. I'm so glad to have you with me
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  today, Sherry. Why don't you tell our listeners
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  a little bit about yourself? Certainly, I am Sherry Jones.
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  Currently, I am a faculty member at a small Community College in
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  Northeast Tennessee called Northeast State.
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  I worked for 16 years and as an athletic trainer before I went
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  back to Graduate School. Actually, I kind of laughed.
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  I've now been teaching as long as I was active in the athletic
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  training world. So it's been kind of, you know,
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  double career because I've been now at Northeast State almost 14
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  years. Home is for me.
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  Is this Northeast Tennessee area still?
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  Our family has a family farm. It's roughly around 60 acres.
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  My mom is still living on the farm.
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  I have three sisters, so I'm the youngest of four girls and we
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  all live in the area and are able to still help mom.
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  I am related to some foundations of country music.
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  Tennessee Ernie Ford is a distant cousin and the corridors
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  are distant cousins. Wow.
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  If you understand old Appalachian music, that's a
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  common name around here. That's royalty.
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  It's royalty in this area. That is, that is great.
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  Yeah. Well, Sherry, who did you come
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  to honor today? I came to honor his full name is
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  Robert Earl Jones, but he was never known by Robert.
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  He was always Earl and he was my dad, called him daddy most of
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  the time. No, tell.
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  Tell us a little bit about Earl's childhood and upbringing,
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  what you know of it. So daddy again was born in this
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  area. His father, Owen Jones, was from
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  the Bristol area. So again, we we grew up in place
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  called Blountville. Not a little.
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  People know where Bluntville is, but it's in the middle between
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  Bristol and Kingsport, Johnson City, and that's the family farm
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  that we live on, was part of my grandmother's farm.
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  So there is an old cabin on the farm that actually is now mine.
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  I asked Daddy for it. It's going to need a lot of work
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  on it. So it's well over 100 years old.
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  But Dad worked that land and was a farmer.
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  A lot of hard work. I've always laughed and said,
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  you know, my dad had four daughters, no sons, but we did
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  the work on the farm. Like everybody.
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  I, I laughingly tell the story that once I remember I was
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  probably put behind the steering wheel of a tractor.
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  I was young. And he said don't turn the
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  wheel. And then he jumped off the
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  tractor to go take something off the trailer, and then he jumped
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  back on. And and your heart rate didn't
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  accelerate at all, no. No, I loved it.
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  That's that's awesome. But then it was like, don't tell
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  mom. Well, tell us what a typical day
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  was like for you as a little girl growing up around your
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  daddy. Depends on on the day certainly.
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  He worked shift work early on so you know.
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  I've also laughed and said when he was on graveyard we had to be
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  very quiet most of the day till he woke up.
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  But if it was farming he was probably out on the tractor
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  somewhere. If there were things to be done
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  we went with him. I will freely admit I'm I'm the
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  youngest and I loved hanging out with daddy so I was often out
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  with him. Favorite place to be was on the
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  wheel wheel of a tractor. Would you say that you were a
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  daddy's girl? Absolutely no question.
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  I look like him, I act like him. My mom, I took her recently on a
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  trip and we got about halfway there and she said you drive
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  like your daddy and I kind of laughed cause dad had a LED foot
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  and so do I. So I said oh 'cause I drive
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  fast. She said no it's everything.
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  She said. It's how you hold the wheel.
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  It's your mannerisms, so. Something tells me, Sherry, that
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  if someone says that you're a mini me of your dad, that would
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  be all right with you. I was called Little Earl often
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  as a child. Yes, I was.
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  I was the tomboy, so kept short hair and I looked like a little
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  boy when I was, you know, again. So if I was hanging out with
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  Daddy, it was not unusual for somebody to call me Little Earl.
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  Absolutely. That is so cute.
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  Would you describe your dad's personality for all of us?
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  You know, at different times in his life, you know, you watch it
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  change as he got got older. But especially in those times
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  when we were younger, Daddy was very mischievous.
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  Really. Yes, I'll tell you and and mom.
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  She shakes her head when I say this.
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  We raised Cocker spaniels when we were younger.
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  OK. And so we would often have
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  puppies and, you know, with Cocker spaniels, they dock the
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  tails, right? I don't think they do it quite
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  as often, but they did then. We didn't have a vet did that,
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  Daddy did it. And you do it very quickly after
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  they're born. So there's no pain.
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  You know, they kind of squeal and then they're fine.
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  But he put them in a box once and brought them up to mom and
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  the. Tails.
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  Yes, like it was a gift. She's like, I had to marry a
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  Trister, I tell. You he and it made me think
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  there was a Christmas one year that for whatever reason, you
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  know, again, busy with four kids and doing the farm and the
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  housework and all that kind of stuff, Mom had forgotten to buy
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  toilet paper a couple of times. And so for Christmas, Dad got me
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  and one of my other sisters to help him and he filled like a a
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  dryer box full of toilet paper and we helped him wrap it up and
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  he gave it to mom for Christmas. Of course she opens it up and
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  you know, her face was like, oh ho funny right?
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  And then he had my sister Robin to go get the very nice leather
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  coat out of the closet that was for her.
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  Oh, that's great, man. A practical joke on Christmas
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  morning. Yes, that's awesome.
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  That's a great story. Well, describe the the smells of
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  your childhood. What what brings you joy when
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  you think about growing up in certain smells that that trigger
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  memories for you? Sherry.
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  I am very much a farm kid. I loved growing up on the farm.
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  We did the whole 4H thing. We showed dairy cattle, so we
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  showed Guernsey's. Guernsey's look very much like
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  Holsteins, but they're brown and white so they're a big tall cow,
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  and one of the categories is even if they're feminine
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  looking. Seriously.
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  Yes, because the dairy cattle you show the girls and so
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  they're supposed to be pretty. I'm just laughing that they had
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  beauty contests in 4H for the cows.
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  Yes, and you judge their utters and how they stood and how they
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  walked and all that kind of thing.
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  So yes, those are the smells I have.
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  I bet you do. I bet you do.
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  When you were, when you were a little girl growing up on the
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  farm. What food do you remember best
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  from your growing up years? Yeah, my favorite, I'll tell
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  you, 'cause we always got to choose what we wanted to eat on
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  our birthdays. So my birthday is chicken and
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  dumplings and butterscotch pie. Oh man, I bet that was a meal
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  for kings and Queens, what are you talking about?
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  I didn't want a birthday cake. I wanted butterscotch pie.
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  Yes, and they were homemade, you know.
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  Well, if you wouldn't mind, on our show notes for this episode
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  I am going to put your family butterscotch pie recipe.
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  OK. I think people would love to
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  have a chance to try their, in some cases, first piece ever.
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  First piece. Ever a butterscotch?
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  Pie. Butterscotch pie, yes.
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  Then we get, well, what values do you think Earl, your dad
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  imparted to you when you reflect on him?
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  I think our the biggest thing is the work ethic.
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  Dad worked hard and he provided for us.
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  We had cattle, but we also raised tobacco.
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  And at times the largest I remember one year was like 7 or
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  8 acres. That's a lot of tobacco.
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  That's a lot. Yeah.
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  But it, that was our money that paid for, like, Christmas and
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  vacations, and that was the extra money.
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  Yeah. And so, you know, like I said,
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  Dad worked all day and then he came home and he farmed.
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  We raised our garden. I remember projects for kids.
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  One year we raised a bunch of pumpkins and sold them in the,
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  you know, the corner of the yard kind of thing.
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  We'd get to keep part of the money because we'd sit out there
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  and sell them and that kind of stuff.
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  Again, that work ethic where you work hard and you provide for
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  your family. Family's very big deal.
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  That's great. Tell me a little bit about your
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  dad's journey through faith. Was he a person of faith?
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  He absolutely was a person of faith, you know, grew up in the
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  church. I still actually go to the
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  little church that he grew up in.
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  Tell us about it. Yeah, it's Emory, United
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  Methodist. And it, like most small
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  Methodist churches, is, is declining.
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  You know, most of the people there are older, the way the
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  Methodist Church, if you have a smaller church, you're on a
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  charge. So we're on a charge with a
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  larger church would share a pastor.
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  That was my dad's upbringing as well.
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  They attended a little Methodist Church in North Mississippi that
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  was on a charge. Yes, and very common.
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  There is a cemetery next to it that is a community cemetery.
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  It's called Emory. The the church land and the
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  church cemetery land was donated by a person whose name was Emery
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  Moody. OK.
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  So it is where Dad is, is buried and where Mom will be and, and
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  probably me too one of these days.
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  But it's again home. It's a little small church,
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  beautiful little white with the steeple on the top and sits up
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  on a hill. So yes, it's again, it's a place
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  where my roots are. Can you share your reflections
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  on a time that your dad faced adversity and how he dealt with
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  adversity because we all have that in line.
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  We all do. And the the biggest one was
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  certainly his, his bout with cancer.
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  So when he was 71, he was very active.
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  He had retired early that had had a hiatal hernia.
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  If you know what a hiatal hernia is.
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  Yeah. And so every once in a while
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  when that flares up, like the first time that he had a flare
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  up with it, they really thought he was having a heart attack
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  because he had that kind of pain, that pressure in his
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  chest. So he and mom had been to
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  Florida on a trip and while they were in Florida, he'd had a
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  flare up of it and and had chest pain.
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  And so they did all the tests and and of course the doctor was
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  looking at his heart. They did a chest X-ray.
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  They did a whole bunch of other things.
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  And of course they said your heart is fine, go home, enjoy
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  yourself. So his, his primary care
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  physician called him and he said we got the reports.
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  He said, I I need to talk to you.
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  So it was one of those it's not a great.
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  There was a mass in his right lower lobe of his lung.
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  Again, Dad had never smoked, but we did raise tobacco.
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  So they went in and they did all the tests and determined that it
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  was localized to that right lower lobe.
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  So their intent was to go in and remove the right lower lobe of
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  his lung. But when they went in to do the
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  surgery, we had already metastasized to the lining of
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  the lung. OK.
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  The doctor at the time, of course, he was like, we're going
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  to do all we can to fight it. But you could tell that that
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  metastasis was a big deal. Oh my goodness.
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  Well, how did your dad handle that?
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  At the time I remember especially when they did the
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  surgery and they, they didn't take it out.
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  He he said to me one day that, well, they opened me up and they
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  couldn't do anything, so they just closed it.
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  That's got to be hard to remember.
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  Do you remember? Was he upset when he told you
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  that or was he more matter of fact about it?
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  No. And, and Dad, I didn't see him
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  cry often as a, you know, as a child when he did, it was
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  impactful for just that reason. Yeah, Yeah.
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  That's a tough memory because it's a time that you saw your
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  dad vulnerable. Yeah.
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  Yeah, but again, he's a man of faith.
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  He met it that way, had lots of prayers, lots of people praying
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  for him and joyfully that he went through a lot of chemo,
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  radiation, but it went into full remission.
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  He lived 18 years past that. Really.
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  Yes. Wow, that's quite, quite an
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  accomplishment. Quite amazing.
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  I mean, I knew the statistics of it being in healthcare.
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  Sure. That type of lung cancer had a
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  15% survival rate for five years.
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  Sometimes it's not the best thing to be in Healthcare, is
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  it? Sometimes it is not, you know,
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  way too much. You know, way too much, right?
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  But but he obviously beat some significant odds there.
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  Some significant odds and he never failed to remember that
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  and to comment on it and to tell other people that was his, that
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  was his witness when he would meet people.
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  Yeah, I can understand that. That 18 years, to him, would
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  have felt like a gift. Yeah, it ended up coming back.
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  The cancer had returned in it. It was in his spine.
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  So he had a 10 hour surgery where they replaced 4 vertebra
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  with cadaver. Bone.
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  My goodness, Yeah. And again, he braved through all
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  of it. Again, that took a lot out of
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  him. He was then he was never able to
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  get off the Walker after that. But I watched my daddy go out to
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  the tractor with the Walker and climb onto the tractor.
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  Wow, that's inspiring. And drive it down the road and
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  put a Bale of hay out in the field.
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  OK, you know, I, I don't mean this in a in a bad way, but your
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  dad was what I would call good stubborn.
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  Yes and yes. My mother has often looked at me
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  and said you are as stubborn as your daddy.
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  And I looked back at her at one point and I said, mom, the
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  problem is I got some from dad and I got some from you.
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  OK, Mom. So this is a joint venture?
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  Well, that's wonderful. Well, listen, I love this
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  Sherry. It was so much fun to learn
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  about your daddy. And I just want to close by
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  asking you one last question, if I may.
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  Yes, Sir. If you had one more day that you
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  could spend with your dad, yeah. What do you think he would do?
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  I'd do what he loved doing. We'd be out on the farm
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  somewhere, yeah. And what do you think that would
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  look like it to you in your mind?
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  If I could go back and sit on the wheel well yet, it would be
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  great. Oh yeah, that would be special.
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  The little girl on the wheel well at the tractor.
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  Yep. Well, thank you so much for
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  being part of Legacy Stories. Thank you for having me.
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  Oh, it's been a joy. Oh, I'm so glad we got to talk
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  about your dad and remember him in this way.
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  Yeah. All right, take care.
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  You too. Bye bye.
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  Thank you for listening. To see photos and other
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  information, go to Legacy Stories dot US, where we have
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  also posted the butterscotch pie recipe of the Jones family.
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  And now here's another story about Sherry's dad, Earl, called
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  Earl goes to the Vent. So one of our favorite stories.
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  And dad was well into his late 70s.
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  He could have possibly even been eighty.
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  I'm not positive, but we had cattle our whole lives.
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  And you know anybody that's had cattle, sometimes you got good
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  cows, sometimes you got bad cows.
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  You know that personalities are different.
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  So we had a particular bull that was very aggressive and Dad
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  didn't feel safe with him on the farm anymore.
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  He was busting fence. He was, you know, I was getting
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  and he was, he would confront dad sometimes.
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  So dad decided he's going to get him in the trailer taking the
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  stockyard. So he did.
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  He got him in the trailer, got him up there.
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  Dad says he warned everybody around.
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  Don't make any sudden movements. Don't yell, don't wave your
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  arms. This bull is aggressive and we
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  need to get him into the ring. So he backed the trailer up.
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  And there must have been that said it wasn't more than a foot
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  space between the trailer and the the fence that the bull
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  should not have been able to get in.
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  But he said about the time he let him out of the trailer, open
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  the trailer up, this young man decided he needed to wave his
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  hand in the air to wave the bull away.
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  And the bull then immediately turned towards that open space
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  and headed out. And the bull headed straight for
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  him. So.
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  Dad kind of dove in at his 80 year old age between the truck
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  and trailer and ended up hitting his head on the trailer pitch.
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  Oh. The bull then proceeded to hit
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  the open door of Dad's Dodge Dually truck and bend it
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  backwards. Wow.
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  So he comes back home. They did finally get the bowl,
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  get him back in, got him sold. I'm sure he ended up on
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  someone's plate somewhere sometime.
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  Dad comes home, the door of the truck is now bungee corded shut
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  'cause it wouldn't latch anymore.
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  And Dad's head is bandaged up. And I was already an athlete
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  trainer. I already, you know, had
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  medical, so I had medical supplies to the house.
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  I said, Dad, what did you do to your head, to your head?
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  And he starts telling us and I don't think he probably would
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  have told us the horse whole story if he hadn't had the wound
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  because he didn't want to worry mom.
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  So I took the bandage off and cleaned it up and, you know,
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  checked it and made sure everything was OK.
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  And I said, well, Dad, who bandaged you?
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  And I said you go to the doctor because no, the vet up at the at
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  the stockyard dad vet. OK, I guess she had bandages for
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  the cats. So you can say that your dad was
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  treated by a veterinarian successfully.
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  That is a great story and a great farm story I have to tell
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  you.