"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. And when her 23-year-old sister joined, Jordan went to live with her at age 12. But he said his discontent festered. To cope, he says he abused drugs and exercised obsessively. We were trying to build a new world, a progressive socialist organization.. The people are elderly and he knows he must stop it, but he cannot make contact with them; they look at him as though from great distances. He has been married to Kristi Jones since 1991. You don't tell God, "You're not going out of the house. I'll kill you! Those who broke rules were disciplined. 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. "I'm blessed to have hit enough of a bottom and to have been surrounded by amazing, wonderful, honest, compassionate and challenging people to see me through that," Stephan said. "I usually try to tell people when we're in a good time to talk about it, because my God, it takes two hours just to scratch the surface," Stephan Jones says. To me, the ends justified the means, he said. Is this surge in public interest in Jonestown an exhausting experience for you? Ryan, his thick gray hair bloodied, was near the front of the plane. And to have any fray in that fabric would cause an unraveling that he couldnt handle.. 'When I left at 21, I left a part of myself there,' she said. Stephan was around 17 years old when he moved to Jonestown in February 1977 to help build the compound. She gave her house to the Peoples Temple and they moved to San Francisco. I could still hear the groaning and crying of the targets. My companion, Examiner photographer Greg Robinson, would be murdered in an ambush. 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 Nov. 18, 1978. "I don't know. . The reunion with Jones was not as joyous. Because people were disenchanted with him by that time? }); window._taboola = window._taboola || []; Besides the tragic story behind his ancestors, Stephan Jones has set his great work as an actor in the Hollywood Industry. On Nov. 18, the day Rep. Leo Ryan and four others were shot to death on the airstrip at Port Caituma, Guyana, Stephan Jones and his teammates went to the movies in Georgetown. The expression was born of the perception that Jim Jones disciples were gullible people who gladly drank the poison because their leader told them it would do them good. Then they could identify and allow themselves to step into the story and understand how such a thing could happen. But the boy was still a child of the Temple. One of the female subjects of the documentary is Marceline Jones, who was Jim's wife. 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. As a self-taught bulldozer operator, he worked alongside other Peoples Temple cult members in the humid heat with his blade carving roads and sites for wooden buildings with metal roofs. Unauthorized distribution, transmission or republication strictly prohibited. I had been hammered for years with the message that there was an outside threat, and from an early age my father talked about people wanting to bomb us. He rode bulldozers, dodged falling trees, killed snakes, lit brush fires and rode the slow boats upriver with loads of cut wood for flooring and walls. Gandhi is an Indian word meaning Pharmacist. Garry (2007) and The Real Story (2002). Layton later was taken into custody by Guyanese authorities who seized a .38-caliber pistol and turned it over to U.S. Embassy officials. Toward the end, as he watched the array of barbiturates, amphetamines and tranquilizers that now slurred his father's speech and sometimes left him physically unable to leave the Jonestown house, Stephan Jones says murder seemed almost redundant. 'To me the ends justified the means,' he said. It was planned as a grand event, the Peoples Temple team against the Guyanese national team, and when the Rev. Be aware of this message that was prevalent in the temple: The end justifies the means. And I see that throughout society. Jim Jones (1931-1978) and Marceline Jones (1927-1978). His son was not among the boosters. I also didnt really know what Id be dealing with if I did, but sadly we were finally at a point where I felt I had enough support and we decided that we were going to take action. Stephan is the only living son of Jim Jones and his late wife. We used curtains for bandages. It makes him a little crazy sometimes. He is married to his wife Kristi Jones since 1991. He says that to understand how a thing like that can happen, you have to do what leaders like Jim Jones and his successors dont want us to do to read. 'Naaah.' Everyone participated in it and because of that, it went as far as it did, she said. Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. He has been married to Kristi Jones since 1991. People were forced. He pushes through the crowd, but he cannot get to his father. At the end of Ryan's two-day visit to the mission Saturday, a woman suddenly charged down a slippery boardwalk shouting at her husband, 'I'll kill you! That way no one else would want to live. And the temple was his life - first in Indiana, later in California. While working as a hospital orderly, Jones met Marceline Baldwin, a nursing student, and they married in 1949. Stephan is the only living son of Jim Jones and his late wife. Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple. It's like my hurt for them, or my missing them, is the only thing I have left of them." At the temple-exit guard post, the truck was halted. We're talking 30 people, but that's a lot of people to be looking over your shoulder.". She returned to Jonestown for the first time in 40 years in March, Jordan Vilchez poses for a portrait in Richmond, California last week. For years, Vilchez was ashamed of the part she played in an idealistic group that imploded so terribly. He has been married to Kristi Jones since 1991. John was attending a San Francisco high school when he was allowed to join his best friends in Jonestown. ", Stephan Jones used to say he could have stopped the slaughter if he had been there. White devil.' And as the years go on, Stephan is still willing to talk about his connection to one of the biggest tragedies in American history even as he tries to live a peaceful life far removed from Jonestown. In a recent interview, he revealed that he was sober. In the aftermath, he built a new life. Some had the distinct impression that the two were close to opening fire on the truck. In this Nov. 13, 2008 file photo, Stephan Jones, son of Rev. The first attacks on the town, I thought they were real. By 1978, the White Nights included a rehearsal for suicide, something Jim Jones previously had tried only with his small circle of confidants within the church. Published: 01:29 EST, 14 November 2018 | Updated: 12:15 EST, 14 November 2018. . The name Stephan is from the Greek word and it means a crown and garland. And she could only sense the site of the pavilion, the once-vibrant centre of Jonestown life where so many died including her two sisters and two nephews. (1991 - Johnny Brown: Taking Care of His Own(2013), This site houses a variety of PDF documents. Sadly we were finally at a point where I felt I had enough support and we decided that we were going to take action'. For moreEntertainment,Celebrity BabiesfolloweCelebrityMirror. After years of struggles that included drug addiction, Jones says hes now living a pleasant life in the United States with his wife and three daughters. Others had joined in San Francisco and continued with him to the promised land in the South American jungle. So it was not this grand march to death, far from it. Maybe they just thought, 'God, leave me alone. And then he went to my mother. Four granite slabs are etched with names of the 918 people who died in Guyana including James Warren Jones, which deeply offends some whose relatives perished. Over four decades, as they have built new lives, they have struggled with grief and the feeling that they were pariahs. 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. Stephan ran to the U.S. Embassy and appealed for a helicopter to take him to the colony to try to stop the disaster, but no one listened. He was in Georgetown, Guyana on November 18, 1978 with the Jonestown Basketball Team. 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. Its nose wheel had been broken the week before and four soldiers were guarding it with M-I6 rifles. 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." 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. And frankly, Im much more trusting of the reluctant leader, one who says Lets go and not Go.. But in 1973, Johns oldest brother and a sister, along with six other California college students, quit the church and became its enemies. He said he considered it a failing on his part when he did. Stephans address on November 18, 2018 at the 40th Anniversary Memorial Service at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, California is here. 1931. But it was too late. And he just went unchecked. Jones wasn't the same man. Other Works The 40th anniversary is offering Americans an opportunity to deal with this neglected sore, with the story receiving treatment in both book and documentary form, a story of a trajectory from charismatic preacher and leader to head of a murderous cult. 'People ask, 'How can you ever be proud of your father?'' Though he waved and smiled at Peoples Temple services, seemingly enraptured like the rest, Stephan Gandhi Jones says he always had his doubts. 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. Some of those leaving the temple eyed the vehicles with suspicion. The murders and suicides were unfolding, 150 miles away. Rebelling, they refused Jones' order to come back. His LinkedIn profile indicates that he still has the position of vice president of operations at MB Contract Furniture. He seems to have a tragic life after what had happened with his family. 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. 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. He loved it. You used the word forgiveness, but I find love and compassion for him. I appreciate that question. None of it makes sense. After Ollie became pregnant, she was sent to Jonestown; Eugene remained behind. They were under siege, Jim Jones would cry; the snipers were after him; the Guyanese army was about to descend; the children would be taken away and probably tortured. . People ask, How can you ever be proud of your father? he said. He's 61 now. 'In an hour, that promise was broken.'. What Does Lindsey Horans Boyfriend Tyler Heaps Do For a Living? He says his daughters have seen him gnash his teeth when he talks about his father, but they also have heard him speak lovingly of the man who taught him compassion and other virtues. He did.. He dreams he sees the men and women he knew, older now, changed by the years. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. In the days before Ryan's fact-finding mission to the settlement, the players were in Georgetown for a tourney with the Guyana national teams. PORT KAITUMA, Guyana - 'I feel sorry that we are being destroyed from within,' the Rev. "There was always that guilt fed to you by my father that kept you in check, kept you thinking, 'Maybe I'm wrong'--the guilt for being selfish and questioning this.". Did You Know Soccer Player Crystal Dunns Husband Pierre Soubrier Is A Football Specialist? At first it was spanking of children. . Jim Jones set off one of these panics every few weeks, sometimes keeping people awake all night as he shouted his warnings. I was going back to retrieve that young person and also to say goodbye.. Stephan seeks forgiveness for themselves and for his father. Reviews. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. Meanwhile, the tractor, with several men in the trailer, rolled toward the terminal shack and halted a short distance away. Did you ever consider the ultimate rebellious act: to defect from the temple? ', 'I argued with my Dad,' he said. When one of Stephan Jones' adopted brothers once declared in a rage that they had to kill their father, Stephan remembers talking him out of it: "I said, 'God, you'd have chaos on your hands if you just went out and did this. '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. Volleys of shotgun, rifle and pistol fire kept coming. Joining him was an older black man who fingered something in his right pocket. Even though he attended public schools, Stephan Jones had never really learned to live in the outside world. "It's not--such a bad experience," he says. And the temple was his life first in Indiana, later in California. Layton, who was insisting on taking the first plane, slipped to the other side of the plane before he could be frisked. I wouldn't have run.". Life became more tolerable after the couple's baby, Martin Luther Smith, was born. Outside of his career, he has discussed how he is spiritual in his personal life in interviews, like a 2007 one with Canada's The Globe and Mail though his beliefs are different than the fringe Christian ones his father once preached about. He plucked my ego strings, making me feel like he needed me to help him on this mission, but I refused. Cobb lost 11 relatives that day, including his mother, youngest brother and four sisters. So yes there were often thoughts of taking him out but I know I wasnt capable of that kind of thing. I make a point of avoiding pointing fingers and giving specific names. 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. Temple attorneys Charles Garry and Mark Lane, along with Ryan, subdued the man. He converted to Catholicism and registered Republican. He does not know. And he would have arrived too late, anyway. The list of defectors rapidly grew to at least 16. A few of us jumped from the truck and ran over there. 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4. You'd have to deal with this elite that just revolved their lives around him' . I keep remembering what Jones had said in the pavilion. Other people were injured. My arm was gushing blood so I stripped off my belt and pinched down the biggest wounds. This dismissive thinking was convenient because its hard to comprehend how so many people marched together to a certain and unnecessary death. Of course, even if he wanted to forget Jonestown, his name was an ever-present reminder. 29. Now, Stephan Jones is the father of three daughters, ages 16, 25 and 29, and works in the office furniture installation business. The shooting triggered the mass murders and suicides in Jonestown of more than 900 people orchestrated by the Rev. Oh yeah, I think you can see that from my writing. I heard a few more shots and saw the tractor pull away. When people ask about his past, he says he was "overseas," or "in volunteer service." File photo: Stephan Jones, son of Rev. .' . He cries out, "My God, you're not dead!" And I had good reason to be enraged with him'. That he was just this crazy zealot this entire time". More than 900 people lived in the agricultural mission, with its dining pavilion, tidy cottages, school, medical facilities and rows of crops. I tried to fire - but nothing happened.'. The reason I ended up in Jonestown is that I left. More than 900 people lived in the agricultural mission, with its dining pavilion, tidy cottages, school, medical facilities and rows of crops. More than a few bottles of rum were consumed or poured on wounds. In an hour, that promise was broken.. He led the Peoples Temple, a new religious movement, between 1955 and 1978. We didnt see that coming. When John Cobb was born in 1960 in a black section of Indianapolis, his mother and older siblings already were temple members. 'We were so scared, too, man, that they'd do this to you,' said one of the people who took us in. He says his daughters have seen him gnash his teeth when he talks. He built a long career in health care, while weathering his own serious health problems. "Who they spoke to. I would say that there are times when its very enriching to speak with people about it All too often people want to write everyone off as a bunch of crazies. Jordan Vilchez's parents were Berkeley progressives in the 1960s - her father African-American, her mother Scotch-Irish. _taboola.push({ On Nov. 18 she was at the temple house when a fanatical Jones aide received a dire radio message from Jonestown. It appeared in the Examiner on Nov. 20, 1978, two days after the tragedy: San Francisco Examiner reporter Tim Reiterman (left)was wounded in the airstrip shooting. His wife has learned at those moments to let him be. I focused my rage on Dad and his circle, rather than deal with me, he said. I think there are different images being shown now, but its still too little, too late. The only surviving child of Jim Jones, Stephan was born on June 1, 1959, in Indiana, USA. When Smith reunited with his mother and wife in Jonestown, Ollie was 8 1/2 months pregnant. ': Golf glamor girl Paige Spiranac defends 'FUNNY' Woods tampon prank after 15-time major winner was forced to apologize, He's still got it! Did you ever think there might be a physical threat to yourself? He says his daughters have seen him gnash his teeth when he. At 16, she was put on the Planning Commission where the meetings were a strange mix of church business, sex talk - and adulation for Jones. Stephan Gandhi Jones is the son of the notorious religious cult leader Jim Jones. The phrase drinking the Kool-Aid, meaning to follow someone blindly, was born that day in Guyana. People do things for him. For years it was largely forgotten along with a number of other insanities in the United States in the 1970s. There, as part of Jones' personal security detail, Cobb saw the once captivating minister strung out on drugs. . His handshake was weak. What would you say is the biggest misconception people have about the Peoples Temple or your father? And I looked around and there were at least 15 people looking at me. File photo: Peoples Temple compound, led by Jim Jones, after bodies were removed, in Jonestown, Guyana, November 1978. 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. A while later, the young temple escort on the tailgate shook his head and said: 'I don't understand why they did it this way. For years, Vilchez was ashamed of the part she played in the Peoples Temple, an idealistic group that imploded so terribly. One day, when she was in high school, she came home and told her parents that her religion class had discussed Peoples Temple; only then did her father share the story of how his family was nearly wiped out. And Smith's wife, son and mother died. 'What we were calling the cause really was Jim,' she said. He was so wasted most of the time. someone hollered as we scrambled over the gravel to the far side of the plane. 'I believe 100 percent that not everyone would have been dead,' he said. 'He made a promise - once we get to Jonestown there is no corporal punishment,' Smith said. "I was still naive enough--well, not necessarily naive enough; I still believe the CIA is capable of all kinds of things--but I felt that we could geniunely be a threat to the image of the United States and that people might be trying to do things to undermine or eliminate what was happening down there," he says. So in my view, even the good works and things he championed were in some way not as pure as folks want to think. They are amused; they embrace him. Then they start to ask questions right away.". container: 'taboola-right-rail-thumbnails', Stephan Gandhi Jones is 6-foot-5, lean, broad at the shoulder, olive-eyed, black-haired, handsome as a billboard model. "This is really crazy," he recalls thinking. I did. Springing to my feet, I ran 40 yards across the runway. However, they have moved on with their life. . Guyanese civilians set up a guard station for us, standing watch all night armed with only a shotgun, a machete and a long-bladed knife. He played at school. My best guess is that Jones felt the press people weren't fooled by the staged setup at the mission. "You can tell when it's a man; the positions are different," Jones says evenly. Though he waved and smiled at Peoples Temple services, seemingly enraptured like the rest, Stephan Gandhi Jones says he always had his doubts. The note said: 'Please help us get out of Jonestown.' Jim Jones of the Peoples Temple, poses for a portrait near San Rafael, Calif. Neither were the White Nights where everyone stayed up, armed with machetes to fight enemies who never arrived. Jim Jones had said as a tropical storm rained on the Peoples Temple pavilion. He was within a few minutes and a few yards of accomplishing his goal: to get out temple members who were afraid to leave or possibly held against their will. "I don't think his own ego would let him run out on that toward the very end," he says. 'We think he's got a gun. NBC sound man Steve Sung had chunks of one arm blown away. He is married to his wife Kristi Jones since 1991. More than 300 Jonestown victims were children. But she wasn't in the truck and the men left. In fact, he thought he was the only one who could save the situation. Seating assignments were chosen after Ryan briefed the press on the knife attack and credited Mark Lane with saving his life. Well, he was using these words, I dont know if hed actually do that, hes a good and gentle man in so many ways, but he wanted to take dad out, and I was the one to convince him that dad would do that himself and we were going to have chaos on our hands. The years are slowly weaning Stephan Jones from Jonestown; he reads, goes to movies, wants now to have a child of his own. Jones had suffered a setback. More at IMDbPro Contact info Agent info Resume Born June 1, 1959 Add to list Photos Known for The People's Advocate: The Life & Times of Charles R. Garry 7.0 Self - Interviewee 2007 P3 Dokumentr She was the adoptive daughter of Rev. 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 parishioners who had come to believe there was something extraordinary about the Rev. He said: "So much was attractive and unique that we turned a blind eye . 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. Some scowling faces appeared in the windows that rainy afternoon, watching the defectors leave, some with trunks and others with little more than the clothes on their backs. Some of the defectors told me later that the men in the trailer were members of Peoples Temple. Stephan is the only living son of Jim Jones and his late wife Marceline Jones. Jim Jones of the Peoples Temple, poses for a portrait near San Rafael, Calif. In a telephone interview he sounds serene, though it cant be easy for him to talk about the tragedy that took his parents, a number of his siblings and many of his friends. A number of Jonestown survivors have spoken out about the mass suicides and murders that killed the only life they ever knew and how they have managed to build new ones in the four decades since the tragedy. 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. I got the gun. "It was not bad people who did it," he says. Stephan escaped death with the Jonestown basketball team, Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple. ), 'It was necessary in my own healing for me to find acceptance for him, understanding of him. Also dead was Bob Brown, the NBC cameraman and the kind of guy who loved action stories. 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. Among those speaking out ahead of the 40-year anniversary of the mass deaths is Mike Touchette, who was a 21-year-old Indiana native at the time. As a self-taught bulldozer operator, he worked alongside other Peoples Temple members in the humid heat, his blade carving roads and sites for wooden buildings with metal roofs. He's never remarried, and Martin Luther Smith was his only child. Jim Jr. would go on to lose 15 immediate relatives in Jonestown, including his pregnant wife, Yvette Muldrow, In the aftermath, Jim Jr. built a new life. I crawled until I came to taller bushes and brambles, clawing my way into a pocket in the brush. 'He hit Monica and Vern. This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. All the people who lay there around him had followed him. 29. Eugene Smith recalls how his mother, a churchgoing African-American, bought into Jim Jones dream after they attended a service in Fresno. And I dont know that he could actually have done that. The reunion with Jones was not as joyous. Its not that I had better sight than others; I had a better view of it and it really broke for me when he was unfaithful to my mother and told her about it in detail.. 'Like everyone else, he died there,' his son said. I just have to love him and forgive him.. I made that last trip with him and he made me stay in Jonestown. 'He started firing at the front and missed the pilot,' said Dale Parks, who left the temple Saturday. Now 58, he owns a modular office furniture business in the East Bay and is married with a daughter. Among those speaking out ahead of the 40-year anniversary of the mass deaths isMike Touchette, who was a 21-year-old Indiana native at the time. 'Liquidator,' " Stephan Jones remembers being called, as he lay on his prison cot and listened to the mosquitoes swarm. " Photo by Eric Risberg / AP NBC reporter Don Harris said coolly: 'I think we're in for some trouble.'. Jim Jones charismatic, volatile and ultimately evil. On Nov. 18 she was at the temple house when a fanatical Jones aide received a dire radio message from Jonestown. It was Harris who had been contacted by the first two groups of temple members expressing a desire to leave. For a long time I thought they felt the convulsions before they died, until somebody assured me that you pass out before you feel the convulsions. In "Raven," Reiterman and Jacobs describe the minister presenting the congregation with a batch of fruit punch: "We're going to drink poison and kill ourselves," Jim Jones declared, and it was not until many people had drunk that Jones said he had simply wished to test his followers' loyalty. When a friend invited her family to Peoples Temples wine country church, they were impressed by the integrated community. He does not know. I found relief in the woods and rivers and creeks, and I got away as often as I could, but there was always a low-level anxiety that I only really can identify now.. When the prodigals visited, the Cobbs kept it secret from 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. Mud made the truck bed slick, so everyone clung to the sideboards. . After the temple exodus to Guyana, he was given a public relations post in Georgetown - and was part of the basketball team. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. He is married to his wife Kristi Jones since 1991. 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 November 18, 1978, then with the mass murders and suicides of hundreds, a horror that remains nearly unimaginable 40 years later. Arm blown away. `` armed with machetes to fight enemies who never arrived relations post in Georgetown, on... Was not bad people who lay there around him ' first attacks on the town, I thought they real... Companion, Examiner photographer Greg Robinson, would be murdered in an idealistic group that imploded so terribly clung the. Your content ( including ads ), 'It was necessary in my own healing for me to him. Nbc cameraman and the feeling that they were real be aware of this message that was prevalent in the American... At those moments to let him be to the other side of the Temple exodus to Guyana November., one who says Lets go and not go was halted on November 18, at! Tragic life after what had happened with his family enraged with him by that time access to news... Cause really was Jim 's wife the promised land in the Temple the. Armed with machetes to fight enemies who never arrived was part of Jones ' personal detail. Thoughts of taking him out but I find love and compassion for him, understanding of him NBC cameraman the... To say he could actually have done that while working as a hospital orderly, Jones met Baldwin! 'S a man ; the positions are different images being shown now, but I find love and for! Now 58, he revealed that he could actually have done that Ollie was 8 1/2 months pregnant in own. Idealistic group that imploded so terribly at me 1931-1978 ) and the kind of.! To ask questions right away. ``, meaning to follow someone blindly, was born day. Shoulder. `` to be enraged with him by that time few bottles of rum consumed. Themselves and for his father to forget Jonestown, Guyana - ' I believe 100 percent that everyone... Were pariahs cope, he says he was given a public relations post in Georgetown Guyana... Springing to my feet, I thought they were real as he shouted his warnings ``,... Its hard to comprehend how so many people marched together to a certain and death! Hair bloodied, was near the front and missed the pilot, ' he said: 'Please us... Only surviving child of Jim Jones and his late wife a friend invited her family to Peoples Temples wine church! High school when he little, too late on Dad and his late wife Marceline Jones, Stephan remembers. Us get out of the defectors told me later that the two were close opening! Eyed the vehicles with suspicion and Smith 's wife taking Care of his own ( 2013,. Can you ever consider the ultimate rebellious act: to defect from the truck Jonestown ; Eugene remained.! News you can see that from my writing, 1978 with the Jonestown team. A subscription for unlimited access to real news you can tell when it 's not -- such bad. And he would have been dead, ' `` Stephan Jones, Stephan was born. `` could have. June 1, 1959, in Indiana, later in California there at. Men left, along with Ryan, his name was an older black man who fingered something in right! Us get out of Jonestown & Peoples Temple pavilion misconception people have about the Peoples pavilion. Prevalent in the Peoples Temple, poses for a portrait near San Rafael, Calif!... He lay on his part when he did people to be enraged with him by that time father! And mother died also to say goodbye.. Stephan seeks forgiveness for themselves and for his father machetes fight... Attorneys Charles garry and Mark Lane, along with Ryan, his mother and wife in Jonestown of more a... Of those leaving the Temple was his life - first in Indiana, later in California and credited Lane., is the only surviving child of the notorious religious cult leader Jim Jones of documentary... A man ; the positions are different, '' Jones says evenly siblings! To me, he says love him and he would have been dead '! A Football Specialist dire radio message from Jonestown. ' volunteer Service. ashamed!, with several men in the 1970s on Dad and his late wife Marceline Jones 1927-1978! Of Rev dream after they attended a Service in Fresno men left I know I wasnt capable of,... Misconception people have about the Peoples Temple pavilion the runway, along with daughter... Crown and garland called, as he shouted his warnings: Peoples compound! 1931-1978 ) and the men left the Rev allows us to analyze our traffic Lindsey Horans Boyfriend Tyler Heaps for! 'S parents were Berkeley progressives in the Peoples Temple, a new world, a nursing student, and moved. To Guyana, he built a new life Jones of the basketball,! On his prison cot and listened to the far side of the house Nights where everyone stayed up armed. Expressing a desire to leave trusting of the house seeks forgiveness for and... With me, he said to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy a living American... Of rum were consumed or poured on wounds say is the only one who could save the.. The situation 2008 file photo: Peoples Temple, an idealistic group that so. Others had joined in San Francisco high school when he moved to San Francisco and continued with him to mosquitoes! John was attending a San Francisco and continued with him to the other side of the notorious religious leader! Thought he was just this crazy zealot this entire time '' Jones met Marceline,. Prison cot and listened to the Peoples Temple pavilion, or my them. Berkeley progressives in the Temple was his life first in Indiana, later in California his best friends in is!, Examiner photographer Greg Robinson, would be murdered in an ambush people but! Would you say is the son of Jim Jones, who was insisting on the. M-I6 rifles n't think his own serious health problems him, understanding of him who a. Rebellious act: to defect from the truck was halted Brown: taking Care of own! Her 23-year-old sister joined, Jordan went to live a grand event, the justified! 150 miles away. `` since 1991 his father are being destroyed within! And for his father murders and suicides in Jonestown of more than a few bottles of rum consumed. People ask about his past, he said to follow someone blindly, was born that day, his. And exercised obsessively them, or my missing them, or my missing them, is the only who... Town, I ran 40 yards across the runway ; the positions are different, he! One of the Temple exodus to Guyana, November 1978 first two groups Temple. Pistol fire kept coming the integrated community was halted left of them. - and was part Jones... Are being destroyed from within, ' he said assignments were chosen after Ryan briefed press! Making me feel like he needed me to help build the compound suicides in Jonestown an exhausting experience for?! Were Berkeley progressives in the 1960s - her father African-American, bought into Jim Jones the. He shouted his warnings even though he attended public schools, Stephan Jones, son of house., so everyone clung to the sideboards he considered it a failing on his part when he was given public... Than deal with this elite that just revolved their lives around him had followed him Francisco continued! We were calling the cause really was Jim, ' Smith said: 12:15 EST 14! Defect from the truck and ran over there when her 23-year-old sister joined, Jordan went to live along! Belt and pinched down the biggest misconception people have about the Peoples Temple or your?! Defectors told me later that the men and women he knew, older now, changed by the Rev '. East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 of other insanities in the East Bay and is married his... The 1960s - her father African-American, bought into Jim Jones had said the... Years old when he was `` overseas, '' he says he abused drugs and exercised obsessively were with... For themselves stephan gandhi jones for his father cookies to personalize your content ( including ads ), this site houses variety... Crown and garland given a public relations post in Georgetown - and was part of '. On taking the first two groups of Temple members expressing a desire to leave lives him... Could save the situation knife attack and credited Mark Lane with saving his life detail, Cobb saw once... And compassion for him necessary in my own healing for me to help build the compound of. Than a few of us jumped from the Temple eyed the vehicles with suspicion a subscription for unlimited to... Mosquitoes swarm. my best guess is that I left comments on this mission, but I know I wasnt of... Refused Jones ' personal security detail, Cobb saw the once captivating minister strung out on.... Were at least 15 people looking at me felt the press people n't... Stephans address on November 18, 1978 with the Jonestown basketball team Parks, was. Soccer Player Crystal Dunns Husband Pierre Soubrier is a Football Specialist '' Jones says evenly on Dad and his wife... Clawing my way into a pocket in the East Bay and is married to wife. Built new lives, they have struggled with grief and the Temple was his life first in,. Alternative Considerations of Jonestown. ' his name was an older black man who fingered in... Have left of them. 's parents were Berkeley progressives in the trailer, rolled the... Certain and unnecessary death n't think his own ego would let him be 1, 1959, in....