Melvin Lee Jones

Hey fam and friends,


Well as promised I wanted to post about a very special man named Melvin Lee Jones. Melvin passed away 2 weeks ago. He was my grandpa. He left such a legacy for me and my family to follow in.


Grandpa Jones to me is sort of the iconic Grandpa that any child might wish they had. He loved to spoil his grandkids in any way possible, be it taking them lunch, slipping them money, buying them things. He loved making his grandkids happy. It was such a privilege to spend the night at Grandpa's on a weekend for us. Memories of bedtime stories of Grandpa's life experience clutter my mind. Be it known that they were probably all only half true, and 100% exaggerated, but we LOVED them so much. We laughed and laughed and occasionally screamed in the occasional scary story. Saturday mornings he would get up and make us a good old southern-style country breakfast (100% unhealthy - yet SO delicious) full of "hotcakes" topped with not only butter and syrup but peanut butter too, eggs and hashbrowns, and the occasional gritz too. We would usually go visit Saturdays to many less-fortunate families or people who were all alone and had no one to visit them. Many times he would make me sing a series of songs or play them a song on the piano if there were one handy. The people loved it and he always looked to see if he could do something for their needs.


For any who knew him, my Grandpa Mel Jones was a notorious jokester. He loved jumping out and scaring you, making you jump. He would never be caught dead without his handy dandy comb on hand. You name it, a wasp, bee, bird, or what have you, Mel Jones would have his comb out and come up and buzz the person in their ear with the comb so as to induce a nearly pants-wetting reaction. At his funeral they mentioned a time when a man was plugging in a cord and he came up behind him and buzzed the man. The man was SO scared that he fell promptly to his rear, fearing an electrical shock. Grandpa was also notorious for pretending to be asleep and if you dared come closer and putting your hand near him he would come alive and snap your fingers nearly clean off with his teeth. Then of course you can't forget about his "Tests". He would have you lift your hands up saying, "Now keep them up high. This is the test to see [insert phony test name here ... i.e. test to see if you are a little girl, or test to see if you are a grown up, or test to see who is the strongest, etc. You figure it out.]" He would proceed to jab at your ribs and tickle you till you broke down into laughter. I swear the man had an uncanny ability to detect the EXACT rib and prodding motion with his finger so as to produce an immediate machine gun laughter from us. Incredible!


He was such a revered man by many. At his funeral, one of the things that was highlighted was his ongoing question, "What can I do for you?" Even in his last week of life and bed-ridden state he was ever concerned for the well-being of others. I can remember distinctly how he never missed his home-teaching families in a month until he was forced to stay home. Even then he would assuredly make his routine phone calls to all his family, friends and hometeaching families to see if they were doing well. I'm serious, as if on cue he would call once or twice a week, usually in the morning, just calling to see if we needed anything or tell us a joke or to hear how our week was going. Sometimes it seemed so annoying when he called, but now that he's not around we find it all the more quiet, wondering why no one calls in to check in on us like before. I miss picking up the phone and hearing, "Is this Bryson Davis Jones who broke his bones?" *note: he would interchange any name here and end in "who broke his bones" as some kind of rhyme - not sure why*


He lived a life of service as a father, brother, home-teacher, bishop, mason and more. He was a hard worker an example of righteous living, a man without guile. He will be missed by all. My aunt Brenda at his viewing commented to me, "I thought, 'Gosh Dad! You left us such big shoes to fill! It's going to take ALL of us to fill even one of them.'"


I had hoped to be able to report back to him when I returned home from my mission, but I know that he had a time to go and it was selfish of me to expect that he would wait for me. I'm grateful at least for the opportunity to have been able to sing at his funeral and be with the family. On the positive side, all the family members who otherwise would not have been able to attend my homecoming and open-house were able to be there. Just like Grandpa Jones, alway thinking of others.


I love you Grandpa. Now I'm going to have to report to him one day a little bit more down the road. I know the reunion will be equally sweet, and I anxiously await it.