John Louis Jones was born January 16, 1919 to William Robert Jones and Mary Margaret Moore. He was known to one and all as Jack. John Louis was not his original name. It took three birth certificates to arrive at the name he used during his life. His original birth certificate proclaimed his name to be Robert John Jones. The next version, which was filed right after the first, said his name was Robert Louis Jones. It wasn’t until May 17, 1967, on an amendment signed by his mother, that he is listed as John Louis Jones.
Jack grew up in Readstown, Wisconsin. The family’s land was close to the Kickapoo River. Jack spoke of a time that the area was rapidly flooding. He jumped on a horse and moved the cattle to higher ground. He got in quite a bit of trouble from his father for this action.
Jack’s sister, June told me a story of his teenage years. It seems that Jack and a few friends had gone out of town. On their way back into Readstown, with Jack at the wheel, a man stumbled out of a bar and into the street, directly into the path of the oncoming car. Jack couldn’t stop the car quickly enough and the man was killed. The man’s widow did not blame Jack. She felt that her husband was drunk and it was his own fault. I never heard my father speak of this incident, so I was glad June shared this with me.
Jack attended Readstown High School and graduated with the class of 1938. One night, he went to a dance…