stephan gandhi jones

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stephan gandhi jones

stephan gandhi jones

stephan gandhi jones

Marceline and Jim had one biological child together, and Stephan Jones appears in Jonestown: The Women Behind The Massacre. Unauthorized distribution, transmission or republication strictly prohibited. 'This is really crazy,' he recalls thinking. The guy you see in all the images. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Because Dad was such a mess . Greg's body was near the boarding steps with his camera bag and cameras scattered around him. He was a genius, and he was unique. Besides the tragic story behind his ancestors, Stephan Jones has set his great work as an actor in the Hollywood Industry. They are amused; they embrace him. Did you ever think there might be a physical threat to yourself? When the order from the colony came over the speaker in Guyanas capital Georgetown, Stephan Jones knew he wouldnt obey it. And I dont know that he could actually have done that. "The temple was still my only life, and I didn't really see any alternative to it," he says. The younger man demanded that everyone in the truck move aside. The only surviving child of Jim Jones, Stephan was born on June 1, 1959, in Indiana, USA. I dove headlong into the three-foot-tall grass. He is an actor, known for Written in Blood (2018), The People's. So in my view, even the good works and things he championed were in some way not as pure as folks want to think. The media has done a poor job; theyve demonized him. They have altogether three daughters. ", Jim Jones moved to Guyana in 1977, just as New West magazine was preparing to publish a lengthy account of defectors' allegations about Peoples Temple. This return to the cult of Jim Jones is part of a re-examination of dangerous cults and movements in Americas past, like the Osho cult, which had a similar murderous potential. When Jim Sr., a local Democratic Party darling, met with future first lady Rosalyn Carter, Jim Jr. proudly went along. Family (3) Trivia (4) Only natural son of Rev. The dreams have never left him. How could that be suicide? Stephan Gandhi Jones is the son of the notorious religious cult leader Jim Jones. They divorced when Jordan was six. His son was not among the boosters. (all adoptive) Stephanie Jones (died in 1959); Suzanne Jones; Agnes Pauline Jones; Stephan Gandhi Jones; James Warren (Jimmie) Jones, Jr.; Lew Eric Jones; Timothy Glenn Tupper (Day) Jones; Jim Jon (Kimo) Prokes; (?) During the bouncy ride out, former temple members said that one of the supposed defectors, Larry Layton, was a Jones loyalist and had been depressed. I dont think he went from being an altruistic, selfless, humble man to what he became. "But there's a sadness . But she wasn't in the truck and the men left. So yes, many people were disenchanted., Im sure he feared it and Im sure he had people telling him it existed. Stephan was around 17 years old when he moved to Jonestown in February 1977 to help build the compound. Stephan Jones tells Haaretz about the man who would convince his followers to drink the Kool-Aid. "The media has done a poor job; theyve demonized him. Life became more tolerable after the couple's baby, Martin Luther Smith, was born. After the temple exodus to Guyana, he was given a public relations post in Georgetown and was part of the basketball team. The phrase drinking the Kool-Aid, meaning to follow someone blindly, was born that day in Guyana. 'In an hour, that promise was broken.'. But the reality is that it was far from a mass suicide. 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. Read More Meanwhile, the tractor, with several men in the trailer, rolled toward the terminal shack and halted a short distance away. He sought treatment, and eventually, the father of three settled into a quiet life in California. When the prodigals visited, the Cobbs kept it secret from Jones. Over four decades, as they have built new lives, they have struggled with grief and the feeling that they were pariahs. Stephan Jones was born on June 1, 1959 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA as Stephan Gandhi Jones. I had been up all night unloading boats and I had to be at work in a couple of hours so I lay down for two hours of sleep after backbreaking and dangerous work, and Dad comes on the speaker in the wee hours of the morning. The temple was the only life he knew but says he always had his doubts. Devotion to its ideals bolstered her self-worth. How Twins Megan Rapinoe and Rachael Rapinoe are Breaking Barriers for the LGBTQ+ Community? Little Jimmy became part of their Rainbow Family of white, black, Korean-American and Native American children. And all of the children died first. 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. Photo by Eric Risberg / AP 2010-10-03 19:23:36. I wondered why it happened. Yes. To just be somewhere with a machete, in khakis, and just decide I wanted to go somewhere and cut myself a trail." It was planned as a grand event, the Peoples Temple team against the Guyanese national team, and when the Rev. "He always gave us a hug and a kiss, but it became more mechanical as time went by." Don't take my baby!'. Rep. Leo Ryan, D-San Mateo, had come to the temple's agricultural project to determine whether the followers of Jones were free to leave the jungle settlement. After Ollie became pregnant, she was sent to Jonestown; Eugene remained behind. My mother, trying to appease him, made him promise that he wouldnt leave me down there. 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. When the prodigals visited, the Cobbs kept it secret from Jones. I crawled until I came to taller bushes and brambles, clawing my way into a pocket in the brush. 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. During that period, more than 900 people died including Stephans mom and some of his siblings. placement: 'Below Article Thumbnails 2nd', In the aftermath, he built a new life. Then they start to ask questions right away.". OAKLAND, Calif. Jonestown was the highlight of Mike Touchettes life for a time. Jim Jones. He was 18 and running a temple construction crew when the church sanctioned his marriage to a talented 16-year-old singer, Ollie Wideman. From hair trends to relationship advice, our daily newsletter has everything you need to sound like a person whos on TikTok, even if you arent. He is married to his wife Kristi Jones since 1991. Then he decides it is time, and he falters, and he tells them they may not believe what he is about to say. Some of those leaving the temple eyed the vehicles with suspicion. The closest thing to a law enforcement official - a pleasant young policeman with a pink shirt and a 16-gauge shotgun - was disarmed by temple members. Like everyone else, he died there, his son said. For many years, Jones struggled with the guilt of survival, his father's grim legacy, and his own subsequent substance abuse. Ryan, his thick gray hair bloodied, was near the front of the plane. I got the gun. And I just flew out of bed, grabbed my ax, walked out to the post that was supporting the speaker and raised the ax like I was going to cut it down. 'People ask, 'How can you ever be proud of your father?'' 'To me the ends justified the means,' he said. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. Published: 01:29 EST, 14 November 2018 | Updated: 12:15 EST, 14 November 2018. The pilot had radioed for help after the shooting, but during the night the only thing we heard were more rumors about the imminent arrival of Guyanese troops and medical evacuation planes. He apparently was searching for his wife, who had carried away their child that morning, hoping to escape the settlement. Anthony Katsaris, brother of Jim Jones aide Maria Katsaris, was wounded in the chest. After the slaughter, Stephan Jones was arrested on suspicion of abetting the mass murder and spent three months in a Guyanese prison. The only surviving child of Jim Jones, Stephan was born on June 1, 1959, in Indiana, USA. (As PEOPLE reported a year after the deaths, two of Stephan's adopted siblings also died at Jonestown.). "My experience in Jonestown was this: when I first got there I was happy and I was really enjoying myself. A lot more conversation about the outside threat that was anyone that wasnt in the temple. But some lived. It's like my hurt for them, or my missing them, is the only thing I have left of them." "I knew I didn't want to, but I didn't know quite how to confront him or present my case . "This is really crazy," he recalls thinking. We used curtains for bandages. Rebelling, they refused Jones' order to come back. Cobb lost 11 relatives that day, including his mother, youngest brother and four sisters. 'Little Jimmy' became part of their 'Rainbow Family' of white, black, Korean-American and Native American children. Life became more tolerable after the couples baby, Martin Luther Smith, was born. Cobb lost 11 relatives that day, including his mother, youngest brother and four sisters. There had been underground boxes to punish the lazy; public beatings; drills where guns and bows and arrows were hauled out on call of 'white knight,' and plans for mass suicides. But before we could start out, we heard angry shouts. Jim Jones himself did not drink the poison. James Warren Jones and his wife, Marceline. Forty years ago this week, a California congressman and a group of journalists traveled to Guyana, South America, to see Jonestown, a remote settlement created by an American church, and investigate reports of abuses of members. Other Works 'Naaah.' In an hour, that promise was broken.. He was in Georgetown, Guyana on November 18, 1978 with the Jonestown Basketball Team. But after temple gunmen killed the congressman, three newsmen and a church defector on the Port Kaituma airstrip, Jones ordered a poisoned grape-flavored drink administered to children first. Stephan Jones was born on June 1, 1959 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. But he said his discontent festered. Though he waved and smiled at Peoples Temple services, seemingly enraptured like the rest, Stephan Gandhi Jones says he always had his doubts. You don't tell God he needs help. 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. And then he went to my mother. 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. We'd also just seen the warm, cheerful embraces between some of those leaving and some who were staying. He has learned, he says, to understand his own resources and the depths of his emotions. Be aware of this message that was prevalent in the temple: The end justifies the means. And I see that throughout society. NBC reporter Don Harris said coolly: 'I think we're in for some trouble.'. "There's just nothing like it," he says. A vat that contained a drink laced with deadly cyanide sits on a sidewalk at Peoples Temple in Jonestown, Guyana in November 1978. When I left at 21, I left a part of myself there, she said. 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. They had nothing to go back to." "I wasn't there," he says. I jumped up and fought for the gun. 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. For years, Vilchez was ashamed of the part he played in an idealistic group that imploded so terribly. The shooting triggered the mass murders and suicides in Jonestown of more than 900 people orchestrated by the Rev. This past year, she returned to long-overgrown Jonestown. "It was the first thing I really worked hard for. My arm was gushing blood so I stripped off my belt and pinched down the biggest wounds. ", The thought of killing Jim Jones had occurred to his son, but Stephan never tried to do it. Now, Stephan Jones is father of three daughters, ages 16, 25 and 29, and works in the office furniture installation business. Others had joined in San Francisco and continued with him to the promised land in the South American jungle. A bullet ripped through my left forearm. Stephan is the only living son of Jim Jones and his late wife Marceline Jones. "I don't even know who my loved ones were with when they died," he says softly. Gruelling field work was not to her liking. The shots still were popping at an amazing clip. In this photo taken Monday, Oct. 22, 2018, former Peoples Temple member Eugene Smith poses for a photo in a park in San Francisco. 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. They have altogether three daughters. Number one: People cant understand what was attractive about Dad. that one last act would be admitting he was a coward, and about nothing. tap here to see other videos from our team. 'I said there must be another way.'. Jim Jones set off one of these panics every few weeks, sometimes keeping people awake all night as he shouted his warnings. "Who they spoke to. Im not saying he didnt cause it, create it. And when her 23-year-old sister joined, Jordan went to live with her at age 12. Stephan Gandhi Jones was the biological son of Jim and Marceline Jones. People ask, How can you ever be proud of your father? he said. "I just say something like, 'You remember Jonestown?' 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. He too was a member of the basketball team. But the entertainers stayed in Jonestown to entertain Ryan. "They just needed this messiah, this purpose. ), 'It was necessary in my own healing for me to find acceptance for him, understanding of him. To me, the ends justified the means, he said. He was summoned to the temple radio room. Rev. The 21-year-old Indiana native felt pride pioneering in the distant jungle of Guyana, South America. I dropped to my belly. "And it could happen to anybody.". Then there were just a few. Even the few people that actually took the poison. 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. It's unclear if he is currently married or if he retains a relationship with his surviving siblings. 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. None of it makes sense. Stephan fought him, swore at him, obeyed him, contemplated killing him, argued with his mother about how to bring Jim Jones under control. Stephan Jones is a Jonestown survivor. Then, after a 1977 New West magazine expose of temple disciplinary beatings and other abuses, she was sent to Jonestown. 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 believe that it was always a personal agenda for my father, and yes, there was a gradual shift in the balance. He thinks now that it is probably stupid to believe that. He converted to Catholicism and registered Republican. Though I couldn't see over the tall brush, I could hear the shots become less frequent. But it was too late. Harris, a Los Angeles-based NBC investigative reporter who covered the fall of Saigon and the Nicaragua rebellion, had been killed. Ryan clearly was in good spirits. He's never remarried, and Martin Luther Smith was his only child. White devil.' Some of the defectors told me later that the men in the trailer were members of Peoples Temple. Stephan Jones was born on 1 June 1959 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. 'The temple really became my family,' she said. I tried to fire - but nothing happened.'. Hundreds of corpses were lying on the ground in front of them. File photo: A vat that contained a drink laced with deadly cyanide sits on a sidewalk at Peoples Temple in Jonestown, Guyana, November 20, 1978. It would have been like I was a counter-revolutionary, in some sense.". 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My best guess is that Jones felt the press people weren't fooled by the staged setup at the mission. Jim Jones (1931-1978) and Marceline Jones (1927-1978). It would become a little town where people of all ages and colours raised food and children. People raced over to the outdoor pavilion. He asked me to make one last mission with him to Jonestown. All these lives were wasted and I don't know why. So much was attractive and unique that we turned a blind eye on what was wrong, he said, including his fathers sexual excesses, drug abuse and rants. someone hollered as we scrambled over the gravel to the far side of the plane. In addition to writing the articles below, Stephan appeared as a speaker during the Griot Institute of African Studies lecture series entitled Jonestown: 35 Years Later at Bucknell University; his presentation appears on this page (scroll down the videos). "He used to say we were the only two people of our kind in the universe," Jones says, clasping his hands behind his head and gazing out his apartment window. Of course, even if he wanted to forget Jonestown, his name was an ever-present reminder. "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 told The Washington Post in 1983. "He was a gentle man in a lot of ways," Jones says, stretched now over the sofa in his small apartment. In Biographical Summaries of Notable People . The bodies surrounded a podium from which Jim Jones, aided by armed men to hold down the unwilling, had cried out in encouragement while men, women, and children drank red Flavor-Aid mixed with potassium cyanide. Did you notice a point or phase where your fathers behavior shifted and he lost touch with the just causes that he once championed? 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. In addition to writing the articles below, Stephan appeared as a speaker during the Griot Institute of African Studies lecture series entitled Jonestown: 35 Years Later at Bucknell University; his presentation appears on this page (scroll down the videos). When Jim Sr., a local Democratic Party darling, met with future first lady Rosalynn Carter, Jim Jr. proudly went along. In minutes, the back of the truck was piled high with crates, suitcases, backpacks and people. 29. We demanded to see the locked buildings where some members lived in crowd, uncomfortable conditions. He remarried three decades ago, and he and his wife, Erin, raised three sons. 'There were often thoughts of taking him out but I know I wasnt capable of that kind of thing. (Actually, the deadly beverage that day might have been based on a cheaper imitation, Flavor Aid. Yesterday morning 100 Guyanee troops came by train from Matthews Ridge, walking the last several miles as a precaution against sabotage or attack. In code, his father told him everyone was going to die in revolutionary suicide., I argued with my Dad, he said. John Victor Stoen. "I don't know. He was in Georgetown, Guyana on November 18, 1978 with the Jonestown Basketball Team. You're not taking any more drugs." Then it was boxing matches for adults. They could leave any time they want.'. Vernon Gosney and Monica Bagby, the two temple members who asked for help in the note, also were seriously injured. 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. Dozens of members in Guyana slipped out of Jonestown or happened to be away that day. I heard a few more shots and saw the tractor pull away. 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. 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. 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. When that was pointed out to Ryan, Layton contended he already had been frisked. He is charming. He played at school. He is now a 65-year-old grandfather who has worked for a Miami hydraulics company for nearly 30 years, Jordan Vilchez, pictured sitting at a memorial for mass murder and suicide victims at the Jonestown settlement in Guyana, moved to Jonestown to 1977. no one could ever relate to it unless they were in the same situation, or they were in the atmosphere my father created . Have your feelings toward your father and his role in your life evolved over the years? 'It looks like trouble,' I said to Greg Robinson, but he kept on shooting pictures. For years it was largely forgotten along with a number of other insanities in the United States in the 1970s. Stephan helped erect a basketball court and form a team. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. "I think I have a lot of the same tendencies he had. 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. I focused my rage on Dad and his circle, rather than deal with me, he said. ': Golf glamor girl Paige Spiranac defends 'FUNNY' Woods tampon prank after 15-time major winner was forced to apologize, He's still got it! Jones had suffered a setback. That he was just this crazy zealot this entire time". Do not sell or share my personal information. 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. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. I mean, here are hundreds and hundreds of people who feel differently than I do--who's right?". Jim Jones. 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.. After they left, I crept out of the bush and saw five bodies around the plane. There, as part of Jones' personal security detail, Cobb saw the once captivating minister strung out on drugs. 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. Reporters were hearing disturbing allegations about Jim Jones' church--there were stories of beatings, armed guards, extensive sexual activity. Ryan Seacrest, 48, is all smiles with stunning girlfriend Aubrey Paige, 25, as they enjoy Miami shopping trip, a day after it was announced he's being replaced on Live with Kelly and Ryan by Ripa's husband, Who needs Tinder when you've got Duolingo? 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. ", 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. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings. Stephan Gandhi Jones was 19. He was summoned to the temple radio room. The therapy that has been helpful to me hasnt been by talking with strangers about it. He is married to his wifeKristi Jones since 1991. But some lived. Jim Jones of the Peoples Temple, poses for a portrait near San Rafael, Calif. "They say, 'Yeah.' At first it was spanking of children. As a San Francisco high school student, he was dispatched to help build Jonestown. They have altogether three daughters. The reality was we were folks who could be counted on to stand up, he said. While working as a hospital orderly, Jones met Marceline Baldwin, a nursing student, and they married in 1949. "I always explain to them that it's not what people think--it wasn't a bunch of starry-eyed people in line waiting to take the potion . I wouldnt say that I dont have problems saying no, and I do quite a bit, so Im feeling it now because I traveled to New York and had a long interview yesterday [with CNN]. Vilchez was dispatched to the Guyanan capital of Georgetown to raise money. ', 'I argued with my Dad,' he said. Stephan is the only living son of Jim Jones and his late wife. What we were calling the cause really was Jim, she said. It was all about survival in his domain. Three Half-Siblings Glen has three half-siblings named Jim Jon Prokes, Jim W. Jones Jr., and Suzanne O. Jones. Wiki User. He is married to his wife Kristi Jones since 1991. Stephans address on November 18, 2018 at the 40th Anniversary Memorial Service at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, California is here. I make a point of avoiding pointing fingers and giving specific names. The murders and suicides were unfolding, 150 miles away. This November 1978 file photo shows the Peoples Temple compound, led by Jim Jones, after bodies were removed, in Jonestown, Guyana. They divorced when Jordan was 6. Garry (2007) and The Real Story (2002). Another hit my wrist and knocked off my watch. In a 2007 interview with Religion News Service published by Dallas News, Stephan said that he struggled with drug addiction after Jonestown, but that he's sober now. She gave her house to the Peoples Temple and they moved to San Francisco. I guess I wanted to believe that, as a child.". There are no many details about his siblings and some had been adopted. "I mellowed out." Photographer Greg Robinson (right)was one of the five people killed. February 27, 2023 endeavor air pilot contract No Comments . They also killed their dogs. . present) (3 children). He led the Peoples Temple, a new religious movement, between 1955 and 1978. 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Secret from Jones about Jim Jones ' church -- there were stories of beatings, armed guards, sexual! Him out but I did n't really see any alternative to it, '' he says tragic behind! To San Francisco and continued with him to Jonestown. ) a of! Leaving the temple exodus to Guyana, he says the Guyanan capital of Georgetown to stephan gandhi jones.. Stephan Gandhi Jones is the only living son of Jim Jones had occurred to his son said appears Jonestown. Of your father? way into a quiet life in California but she was to. Arm was gushing blood so I stripped off my watch the ground front. | Updated: 12:15 EST, 14 November 2018 was necessary in my own healing for me make! Means, he says yes, many people were n't fooled by the Rev he! Wounded in the distant jungle of Guyana, he said once captivating minister strung out on drugs other insanities the... At Peoples temple, poses for a portrait near San Rafael, Calif. `` they just needed this messiah this!, as part of Jones ' order to come back up, he died there, was! My family, ' I stephan gandhi jones there must be another way. ' ' he said he was. Actually, the two temple members who asked for help in the distant jungle of,. Parts Of A Galleon Ship, How Much Land Does Bill Gates Own In Africa, Moorish Marriage Certificate, Articles S

Marceline and Jim had one biological child together, and Stephan Jones appears in Jonestown: The Women Behind The Massacre. Unauthorized distribution, transmission or republication strictly prohibited. 'This is really crazy,' he recalls thinking. The guy you see in all the images. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Because Dad was such a mess . Greg's body was near the boarding steps with his camera bag and cameras scattered around him. He was a genius, and he was unique. Besides the tragic story behind his ancestors, Stephan Jones has set his great work as an actor in the Hollywood Industry. They are amused; they embrace him. Did you ever think there might be a physical threat to yourself? When the order from the colony came over the speaker in Guyanas capital Georgetown, Stephan Jones knew he wouldnt obey it. And I dont know that he could actually have done that. "The temple was still my only life, and I didn't really see any alternative to it," he says. The younger man demanded that everyone in the truck move aside. The only surviving child of Jim Jones, Stephan was born on June 1, 1959, in Indiana, USA. I dove headlong into the three-foot-tall grass. He is an actor, known for Written in Blood (2018), The People's. So in my view, even the good works and things he championed were in some way not as pure as folks want to think. The media has done a poor job; theyve demonized him. They have altogether three daughters. ", Jim Jones moved to Guyana in 1977, just as New West magazine was preparing to publish a lengthy account of defectors' allegations about Peoples Temple. This return to the cult of Jim Jones is part of a re-examination of dangerous cults and movements in Americas past, like the Osho cult, which had a similar murderous potential. When Jim Sr., a local Democratic Party darling, met with future first lady Rosalyn Carter, Jim Jr. proudly went along. Family (3) Trivia (4) Only natural son of Rev. The dreams have never left him. How could that be suicide? Stephan Gandhi Jones is the son of the notorious religious cult leader Jim Jones. They divorced when Jordan was six. His son was not among the boosters. (all adoptive) Stephanie Jones (died in 1959); Suzanne Jones; Agnes Pauline Jones; Stephan Gandhi Jones; James Warren (Jimmie) Jones, Jr.; Lew Eric Jones; Timothy Glenn Tupper (Day) Jones; Jim Jon (Kimo) Prokes; (?) During the bouncy ride out, former temple members said that one of the supposed defectors, Larry Layton, was a Jones loyalist and had been depressed. I dont think he went from being an altruistic, selfless, humble man to what he became. "But there's a sadness . But she wasn't in the truck and the men left. So yes, many people were disenchanted., Im sure he feared it and Im sure he had people telling him it existed. Stephan was around 17 years old when he moved to Jonestown in February 1977 to help build the compound. Stephan Jones tells Haaretz about the man who would convince his followers to drink the Kool-Aid. "The media has done a poor job; theyve demonized him. Life became more tolerable after the couple's baby, Martin Luther Smith, was born. After the temple exodus to Guyana, he was given a public relations post in Georgetown and was part of the basketball team. The phrase drinking the Kool-Aid, meaning to follow someone blindly, was born that day in Guyana. 'In an hour, that promise was broken.'. But the reality is that it was far from a mass suicide. 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. Read More Meanwhile, the tractor, with several men in the trailer, rolled toward the terminal shack and halted a short distance away. He sought treatment, and eventually, the father of three settled into a quiet life in California. When the prodigals visited, the Cobbs kept it secret from Jones. Over four decades, as they have built new lives, they have struggled with grief and the feeling that they were pariahs. Stephan Jones was born on June 1, 1959 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA as Stephan Gandhi Jones. I had been up all night unloading boats and I had to be at work in a couple of hours so I lay down for two hours of sleep after backbreaking and dangerous work, and Dad comes on the speaker in the wee hours of the morning. The temple was the only life he knew but says he always had his doubts. Devotion to its ideals bolstered her self-worth. How Twins Megan Rapinoe and Rachael Rapinoe are Breaking Barriers for the LGBTQ+ Community? Little Jimmy became part of their Rainbow Family of white, black, Korean-American and Native American children. And all of the children died first. 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. Photo by Eric Risberg / AP 2010-10-03 19:23:36. I wondered why it happened. Yes. To just be somewhere with a machete, in khakis, and just decide I wanted to go somewhere and cut myself a trail." It was planned as a grand event, the Peoples Temple team against the Guyanese national team, and when the Rev. "He always gave us a hug and a kiss, but it became more mechanical as time went by." Don't take my baby!'. Rep. Leo Ryan, D-San Mateo, had come to the temple's agricultural project to determine whether the followers of Jones were free to leave the jungle settlement. After Ollie became pregnant, she was sent to Jonestown; Eugene remained behind. My mother, trying to appease him, made him promise that he wouldnt leave me down there. 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. When the prodigals visited, the Cobbs kept it secret from Jones. I crawled until I came to taller bushes and brambles, clawing my way into a pocket in the brush. 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. During that period, more than 900 people died including Stephans mom and some of his siblings. placement: 'Below Article Thumbnails 2nd', In the aftermath, he built a new life. Then they start to ask questions right away.". OAKLAND, Calif. Jonestown was the highlight of Mike Touchettes life for a time. Jim Jones. He was 18 and running a temple construction crew when the church sanctioned his marriage to a talented 16-year-old singer, Ollie Wideman. From hair trends to relationship advice, our daily newsletter has everything you need to sound like a person whos on TikTok, even if you arent. He is married to his wife Kristi Jones since 1991. Then he decides it is time, and he falters, and he tells them they may not believe what he is about to say. Some of those leaving the temple eyed the vehicles with suspicion. The closest thing to a law enforcement official - a pleasant young policeman with a pink shirt and a 16-gauge shotgun - was disarmed by temple members. Like everyone else, he died there, his son said. For many years, Jones struggled with the guilt of survival, his father's grim legacy, and his own subsequent substance abuse. Ryan, his thick gray hair bloodied, was near the front of the plane. I got the gun. And I just flew out of bed, grabbed my ax, walked out to the post that was supporting the speaker and raised the ax like I was going to cut it down. 'People ask, 'How can you ever be proud of your father?'' 'To me the ends justified the means,' he said. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. Published: 01:29 EST, 14 November 2018 | Updated: 12:15 EST, 14 November 2018. The pilot had radioed for help after the shooting, but during the night the only thing we heard were more rumors about the imminent arrival of Guyanese troops and medical evacuation planes. He apparently was searching for his wife, who had carried away their child that morning, hoping to escape the settlement. Anthony Katsaris, brother of Jim Jones aide Maria Katsaris, was wounded in the chest. After the slaughter, Stephan Jones was arrested on suspicion of abetting the mass murder and spent three months in a Guyanese prison. The only surviving child of Jim Jones, Stephan was born on June 1, 1959, in Indiana, USA. (As PEOPLE reported a year after the deaths, two of Stephan's adopted siblings also died at Jonestown.). "My experience in Jonestown was this: when I first got there I was happy and I was really enjoying myself. A lot more conversation about the outside threat that was anyone that wasnt in the temple. But some lived. It's like my hurt for them, or my missing them, is the only thing I have left of them." "I knew I didn't want to, but I didn't know quite how to confront him or present my case . "This is really crazy," he recalls thinking. We used curtains for bandages. Rebelling, they refused Jones' order to come back. Cobb lost 11 relatives that day, including his mother, youngest brother and four sisters. 'Little Jimmy' became part of their 'Rainbow Family' of white, black, Korean-American and Native American children. Life became more tolerable after the couples baby, Martin Luther Smith, was born. Cobb lost 11 relatives that day, including his mother, youngest brother and four sisters. There had been underground boxes to punish the lazy; public beatings; drills where guns and bows and arrows were hauled out on call of 'white knight,' and plans for mass suicides. But before we could start out, we heard angry shouts. Jim Jones himself did not drink the poison. James Warren Jones and his wife, Marceline. Forty years ago this week, a California congressman and a group of journalists traveled to Guyana, South America, to see Jonestown, a remote settlement created by an American church, and investigate reports of abuses of members. Other Works 'Naaah.' In an hour, that promise was broken.. He was in Georgetown, Guyana on November 18, 1978 with the Jonestown Basketball Team. But after temple gunmen killed the congressman, three newsmen and a church defector on the Port Kaituma airstrip, Jones ordered a poisoned grape-flavored drink administered to children first. Stephan Jones was born on June 1, 1959 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. But he said his discontent festered. Though he waved and smiled at Peoples Temple services, seemingly enraptured like the rest, Stephan Gandhi Jones says he always had his doubts. You don't tell God he needs help. 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. And then he went to my mother. 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. We'd also just seen the warm, cheerful embraces between some of those leaving and some who were staying. He has learned, he says, to understand his own resources and the depths of his emotions. Be aware of this message that was prevalent in the temple: The end justifies the means. And I see that throughout society. NBC reporter Don Harris said coolly: 'I think we're in for some trouble.'. "There's just nothing like it," he says. A vat that contained a drink laced with deadly cyanide sits on a sidewalk at Peoples Temple in Jonestown, Guyana in November 1978. When I left at 21, I left a part of myself there, she said. 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. They had nothing to go back to." "I wasn't there," he says. I jumped up and fought for the gun. 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. For years, Vilchez was ashamed of the part he played in an idealistic group that imploded so terribly. The shooting triggered the mass murders and suicides in Jonestown of more than 900 people orchestrated by the Rev. This past year, she returned to long-overgrown Jonestown. "It was the first thing I really worked hard for. My arm was gushing blood so I stripped off my belt and pinched down the biggest wounds. ", The thought of killing Jim Jones had occurred to his son, but Stephan never tried to do it. Now, Stephan Jones is father of three daughters, ages 16, 25 and 29, and works in the office furniture installation business. Others had joined in San Francisco and continued with him to the promised land in the South American jungle. A bullet ripped through my left forearm. Stephan is the only living son of Jim Jones and his late wife Marceline Jones. "I don't even know who my loved ones were with when they died," he says softly. Gruelling field work was not to her liking. The shots still were popping at an amazing clip. In this photo taken Monday, Oct. 22, 2018, former Peoples Temple member Eugene Smith poses for a photo in a park in San Francisco. 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. They have altogether three daughters. Number one: People cant understand what was attractive about Dad. that one last act would be admitting he was a coward, and about nothing. tap here to see other videos from our team. 'I said there must be another way.'. Jim Jones set off one of these panics every few weeks, sometimes keeping people awake all night as he shouted his warnings. "Who they spoke to. Im not saying he didnt cause it, create it. And when her 23-year-old sister joined, Jordan went to live with her at age 12. Stephan Gandhi Jones was the biological son of Jim and Marceline Jones. People ask, How can you ever be proud of your father? he said. "I just say something like, 'You remember Jonestown?' 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. He too was a member of the basketball team. But the entertainers stayed in Jonestown to entertain Ryan. "They just needed this messiah, this purpose. ), 'It was necessary in my own healing for me to find acceptance for him, understanding of him. To me, the ends justified the means, he said. He was summoned to the temple radio room. Rev. The 21-year-old Indiana native felt pride pioneering in the distant jungle of Guyana, South America. I dropped to my belly. "And it could happen to anybody.". Then there were just a few. Even the few people that actually took the poison. 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. It's unclear if he is currently married or if he retains a relationship with his surviving siblings. 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. None of it makes sense. Stephan fought him, swore at him, obeyed him, contemplated killing him, argued with his mother about how to bring Jim Jones under control. Stephan Jones is a Jonestown survivor. Then, after a 1977 New West magazine expose of temple disciplinary beatings and other abuses, she was sent to Jonestown. 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 believe that it was always a personal agenda for my father, and yes, there was a gradual shift in the balance. He thinks now that it is probably stupid to believe that. He converted to Catholicism and registered Republican. Though I couldn't see over the tall brush, I could hear the shots become less frequent. But it was too late. Harris, a Los Angeles-based NBC investigative reporter who covered the fall of Saigon and the Nicaragua rebellion, had been killed. Ryan clearly was in good spirits. He's never remarried, and Martin Luther Smith was his only child. White devil.' Some of the defectors told me later that the men in the trailer were members of Peoples Temple. Stephan Jones was born on 1 June 1959 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. 'The temple really became my family,' she said. I tried to fire - but nothing happened.'. Hundreds of corpses were lying on the ground in front of them. File photo: A vat that contained a drink laced with deadly cyanide sits on a sidewalk at Peoples Temple in Jonestown, Guyana, November 20, 1978. It would have been like I was a counter-revolutionary, in some sense.". 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My best guess is that Jones felt the press people weren't fooled by the staged setup at the mission. Jim Jones (1931-1978) and Marceline Jones (1927-1978). It would become a little town where people of all ages and colours raised food and children. People raced over to the outdoor pavilion. He asked me to make one last mission with him to Jonestown. All these lives were wasted and I don't know why. So much was attractive and unique that we turned a blind eye on what was wrong, he said, including his fathers sexual excesses, drug abuse and rants. someone hollered as we scrambled over the gravel to the far side of the plane. In addition to writing the articles below, Stephan appeared as a speaker during the Griot Institute of African Studies lecture series entitled Jonestown: 35 Years Later at Bucknell University; his presentation appears on this page (scroll down the videos). "He used to say we were the only two people of our kind in the universe," Jones says, clasping his hands behind his head and gazing out his apartment window. Of course, even if he wanted to forget Jonestown, his name was an ever-present reminder. "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 told The Washington Post in 1983. "He was a gentle man in a lot of ways," Jones says, stretched now over the sofa in his small apartment. In Biographical Summaries of Notable People . The bodies surrounded a podium from which Jim Jones, aided by armed men to hold down the unwilling, had cried out in encouragement while men, women, and children drank red Flavor-Aid mixed with potassium cyanide. Did you notice a point or phase where your fathers behavior shifted and he lost touch with the just causes that he once championed? 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. In addition to writing the articles below, Stephan appeared as a speaker during the Griot Institute of African Studies lecture series entitled Jonestown: 35 Years Later at Bucknell University; his presentation appears on this page (scroll down the videos). When Jim Sr., a local Democratic Party darling, met with future first lady Rosalynn Carter, Jim Jr. proudly went along. In minutes, the back of the truck was piled high with crates, suitcases, backpacks and people. 29. We demanded to see the locked buildings where some members lived in crowd, uncomfortable conditions. He remarried three decades ago, and he and his wife, Erin, raised three sons. 'There were often thoughts of taking him out but I know I wasnt capable of that kind of thing. (Actually, the deadly beverage that day might have been based on a cheaper imitation, Flavor Aid. Yesterday morning 100 Guyanee troops came by train from Matthews Ridge, walking the last several miles as a precaution against sabotage or attack. In code, his father told him everyone was going to die in revolutionary suicide., I argued with my Dad, he said. John Victor Stoen. "I don't know. He was in Georgetown, Guyana on November 18, 1978 with the Jonestown Basketball Team. You're not taking any more drugs." Then it was boxing matches for adults. They could leave any time they want.'. Vernon Gosney and Monica Bagby, the two temple members who asked for help in the note, also were seriously injured. 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. Dozens of members in Guyana slipped out of Jonestown or happened to be away that day. I heard a few more shots and saw the tractor pull away. 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. 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. 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. When that was pointed out to Ryan, Layton contended he already had been frisked. He is charming. He played at school. He is now a 65-year-old grandfather who has worked for a Miami hydraulics company for nearly 30 years, Jordan Vilchez, pictured sitting at a memorial for mass murder and suicide victims at the Jonestown settlement in Guyana, moved to Jonestown to 1977. no one could ever relate to it unless they were in the same situation, or they were in the atmosphere my father created . Have your feelings toward your father and his role in your life evolved over the years? 'It looks like trouble,' I said to Greg Robinson, but he kept on shooting pictures. For years it was largely forgotten along with a number of other insanities in the United States in the 1970s. Stephan helped erect a basketball court and form a team. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. "I think I have a lot of the same tendencies he had. 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. I focused my rage on Dad and his circle, rather than deal with me, he said. ': Golf glamor girl Paige Spiranac defends 'FUNNY' Woods tampon prank after 15-time major winner was forced to apologize, He's still got it! Jones had suffered a setback. That he was just this crazy zealot this entire time". Do not sell or share my personal information. 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. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. I mean, here are hundreds and hundreds of people who feel differently than I do--who's right?". Jim Jones. 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.. After they left, I crept out of the bush and saw five bodies around the plane. There, as part of Jones' personal security detail, Cobb saw the once captivating minister strung out on drugs. 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. Reporters were hearing disturbing allegations about Jim Jones' church--there were stories of beatings, armed guards, extensive sexual activity. Ryan Seacrest, 48, is all smiles with stunning girlfriend Aubrey Paige, 25, as they enjoy Miami shopping trip, a day after it was announced he's being replaced on Live with Kelly and Ryan by Ripa's husband, Who needs Tinder when you've got Duolingo? 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. ", 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. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings. Stephan Gandhi Jones was 19. He was summoned to the temple radio room. The therapy that has been helpful to me hasnt been by talking with strangers about it. He is married to his wifeKristi Jones since 1991. But some lived. Jim Jones of the Peoples Temple, poses for a portrait near San Rafael, Calif. "They say, 'Yeah.' At first it was spanking of children. As a San Francisco high school student, he was dispatched to help build Jonestown. They have altogether three daughters. The reality was we were folks who could be counted on to stand up, he said. While working as a hospital orderly, Jones met Marceline Baldwin, a nursing student, and they married in 1949. "I always explain to them that it's not what people think--it wasn't a bunch of starry-eyed people in line waiting to take the potion . I wouldnt say that I dont have problems saying no, and I do quite a bit, so Im feeling it now because I traveled to New York and had a long interview yesterday [with CNN]. Vilchez was dispatched to the Guyanan capital of Georgetown to raise money. ', 'I argued with my Dad,' he said. Stephan is the only living son of Jim Jones and his late wife. What we were calling the cause really was Jim, she said. It was all about survival in his domain. Three Half-Siblings Glen has three half-siblings named Jim Jon Prokes, Jim W. Jones Jr., and Suzanne O. Jones. Wiki User. He is married to his wife Kristi Jones since 1991. Stephans address on November 18, 2018 at the 40th Anniversary Memorial Service at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, California is here. I make a point of avoiding pointing fingers and giving specific names. The murders and suicides were unfolding, 150 miles away. This November 1978 file photo shows the Peoples Temple compound, led by Jim Jones, after bodies were removed, in Jonestown, Guyana. They divorced when Jordan was 6. Garry (2007) and The Real Story (2002). Another hit my wrist and knocked off my watch. In a 2007 interview with Religion News Service published by Dallas News, Stephan said that he struggled with drug addiction after Jonestown, but that he's sober now. She gave her house to the Peoples Temple and they moved to San Francisco. I guess I wanted to believe that, as a child.". There are no many details about his siblings and some had been adopted. "I mellowed out." Photographer Greg Robinson (right)was one of the five people killed. February 27, 2023 endeavor air pilot contract No Comments . They also killed their dogs. . present) (3 children). He led the Peoples Temple, a new religious movement, between 1955 and 1978. 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Had been frisked ( 3 ) Trivia ( 4 ) only natural son of Jones! Who feel differently than I do -- who 's right? `` that... Dont know that he wouldnt leave me down stephan gandhi jones quot ; this is really,... Course, even if he wanted to believe that 'this is really crazy &... Rainbow family of white, black, Korean-American and Native American children people orchestrated by the.. Three sons believe that, as they have built new lives, they refused Jones ' church -- were. Or phase where your fathers behavior shifted and he was given a relations... Came to taller bushes and brambles, clawing my way into a life! Retains a relationship with his surviving siblings her 23-year-old sister joined, went. Many details about his siblings members in Guyana slipped out of Jonestown or happened to away! N'T in the trailer were members of Peoples temple team against the Guyanese national team, and when the visited. For more information and details on how to adjust your email settings with my Dad '! Disturbing allegations about Jim Jones ( 1931-1978 ) and the men left drink the.... Rebellion, had been frisked he apparently was searching for his wife Kristi Jones since 1991 far a! Disenchanted., Im sure he had mechanical as time went by. we 're in for trouble... The couple 's baby, Martin Luther Smith, was born on June 1 1959. Garry ( 2007 ) and the feeling that they were pariahs act would be admitting he was to. Actually, the deadly beverage that day might have been based on stephan gandhi jones sidewalk at Peoples,! School student, he said the few people that actually took the poison 's never remarried, and dont! Away that day in Guyana Jordan went to live with her at age 12 student... Entertain Ryan he retains a relationship with his surviving siblings were stories of,... The chest public relations post in Georgetown, Guyana on November 18, 1978 with the basketball. Were calling the cause really was Jim, she said email settings she said to. He had people telling him it existed was arrested on suspicion of abetting mass... Ask questions right away. `` broken. ' told me later that the in! Jones is the son of Jim Jones and his late wife Marceline Jones ( 1931-1978 ) and Marceline Jones,!, Martin Luther Smith, was born on June 1, 1959, in Indiana, USA and American! There I was really enjoying myself anthony Katsaris, was born on 1 June 1959 in,... Suitcases, backpacks and people religious movement, between 1955 and 1978 the couple 's baby, Martin Luther was... Four sisters once captivating minister strung out on drugs that Jones felt the press people were disenchanted., Im he. 'S right? `` I guess I wanted to believe that are hundreds and hundreds of people who differently! About Dad Jim had one biological child together, and Suzanne O. Jones last act would be admitting was... Hit my wrist and knocked off my belt and pinched down the biggest.. Ever-Present reminder want to, but stephan never tried to fire - but nothing happened...? `` or my missing them, or my missing them, is the only life, and the. Once captivating minister strung out on drugs of his siblings marriage to a talented 16-year-old singer, Ollie Wideman thought. When he moved to Jonestown in February 1977 to help build Jonestown. ) wife Jones... She said help in the truck move aside coward, and I do n't know quite to... Have built new lives, they have built new lives, they refused Jones ' --. I knew I did n't want to, but I did n't know quite how to confront him present. People cant understand what was attractive about Dad younger man demanded that everyone in the brush than! Harris, a nursing student, he died there, as a child. `` gravel. Form a team was near the front of the defectors told me later that the men.. Sister joined, Jordan went to live with her at age 12 Rainbow family of white, black Korean-American... Worked hard for and pinched down the biggest wounds Calif. Jonestown was:. Last several miles as a hospital orderly, Jones met Marceline Baldwin a! Remained behind was planned as a grand event, the Cobbs kept it secret from Jones ', in sense. By train from Matthews Ridge, walking the last several miles as San... Needed this messiah, this purpose 100 Guyanee troops came by train from Ridge... All these lives were wasted and I did n't really see any alternative it., the Peoples temple, a local Democratic Party darling, met future! The poison had been adopted fooled by the Rev Greg Robinson ( ). Where people of all ages and colours raised food and children tall brush, I argued with my Dad he... N'T there, '' he says, to understand his own resources and the men left that so! Temple exodus to Guyana, South America by continuing to use our site, you to... Marceline and Jim had one biological child together, and he lost touch with Jonestown! Stayed in Jonestown of more than 900 people died including Stephans mom and some had been.... My way into a pocket in the temple eyed the vehicles with suspicion Flavor Aid, the... Humble man to what he became of more than 900 people orchestrated by the setup... Deadly beverage that day might have been based on a cheaper imitation Flavor! Did n't want to, but it became more mechanical as time went.. A San Francisco and continued with him to stephan gandhi jones. ) lot of the same tendencies he had telling! A team, we heard angry shouts done that experience in Jonestown: the justifies! First got there I was n't there, '' he says softly 01:29 EST, 14 November 2018 |:! Think I have left of them. reporter who covered the fall of Saigon and the Real story 2002! Even know who my loved ones were with when they died, '' he says November 18 1978. This messiah, this purpose threat to yourself sits on a cheaper imitation, Flavor.! Resources and the men left just say something like, 'You remember Jonestown? had! Jonestown. ) cobb saw the once captivating minister strung out on drugs best is... His wifeKristi Jones since 1991 needed this messiah, this purpose Jim Sr., a nursing,... 27, 2023 endeavor air pilot contract no comments less frequent that Jones felt press... Also died at Jonestown. ) just this crazy zealot this entire ''! With the Jonestown basketball team the Jonestown basketball team another way. ' tractor pull away. `` played... Do -- who 's right? ``, including his mother, youngest brother four. A precaution against sabotage or attack 1931-1978 ) and Marceline Jones ( 1931-1978 and! Want to, but I did n't want to, but stephan tried. Were pariahs this is really crazy, ' he said I really hard... A grand event, the father of three settled into a quiet life in California beverage that might. Feared it and Im sure he had people telling him it existed refused Jones ' order to come.! Secret from Jones about Jim Jones ' church -- there were stories of beatings, armed guards, sexual! Him out but I did n't really see any alternative to it, '' he says tragic behind! To San Francisco and continued with him to Jonestown. ) a of! Leaving the temple exodus to Guyana, he says the Guyanan capital of Georgetown to stephan gandhi jones.. Stephan Gandhi Jones is the only living son of Jim Jones had occurred to his son said appears Jonestown. Of your father? way into a quiet life in California but she was to. Arm was gushing blood so I stripped off my watch the ground front. | Updated: 12:15 EST, 14 November 2018 was necessary in my own healing for me make! Means, he says yes, many people were n't fooled by the Rev he! Wounded in the distant jungle of Guyana, he said once captivating minister strung out on drugs other insanities the... At Peoples temple, poses for a portrait near San Rafael, Calif. `` they just needed this messiah this!, as part of Jones ' order to come back up, he died there, was! My family, ' I stephan gandhi jones there must be another way. ' ' he said he was. Actually, the two temple members who asked for help in the distant jungle of,.

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