IN MEMORY

Edward Jones wrote:

As of 7:38AM Ohio time, father was pronounced non-responsive and they were in the process of calling the Coroner when I got the message.

Earl D. Jones is dead.

I am crying as I write this as I am trying to get to Cincinnati as fast as I possibly can.

I don't know how else to put it.

I don't know what else to say.

~Eddie

The funeral and burial has been set and it is VERY short notice. Here are the details:  

LAYOUT - 9AM - 10:30AM FRIDAY AUGUST 27TH  

It's at a funeral home, which I can't remember the name of, but I have the address: 529 Main St.

The Burial will be at Noon, Ohio time in Dayton's V.A. Cemetery.  

Dayton National Cemetery
VA Medical Center
4100 West Third Street
Dayton, OH 45428-1008

The event has happened

Yesterday, at 12 Noon, those of us who were able to attend, sent our friend, our comrade and our leader to his rewards. Those who did attend made it an occasion that all will forever cherish. NOT because of words said to recall his life, but the stories of those assembled of HIS life among us. To hear ALL that they said it would appear he lived several lifetimes in one. SCA, KAG, BLA, AmtGuard, MUFON, and many others there to regale those within earshot of their friend and brother in arms, Earl Jones.

The ENTIRE morning it was overcast and looked like rain at ANY minute would break out and pour down upon us. I drove back to Dayton from the funeral home with Margie (his wife and now widow) and it was the best hour of my life. I got to speak to HER and Earl as well by hearing of his passions from her and the people he'd touched in their lives together. Never have so many been so blessed by a single soul in all our known existences. Between his rescuing her from natural and unnatural disasters, her cheating death with him for over thirty-five years together, it was a very enlightening drive.

Once there, we were calmed by the skies as they cleared for that briefest of moments when the casket was removed from the hearse, and a single ray of light shone down upon us. Those of us fortunate enough to be his pallbearers, took note and we followed that ray into the chapel where the services for him were held in typical military fashion and Margie was presented his flag for service to our country. All during this time, it shone and widened to show his presence among us there and to comfort his loved ones and friends... It stayed until all those gathered left and he was ready to go onward.

I doubt if ever there were a more perfect funeral day. This one seemed to be the perfect ending to his memory as we left they explained that his casket was being placed in, of all places, HAWAII lane. (The streets in the VA center are named after states) I found it fitting that he was FINALLY in the warmest place he could possibly find, a virtual paradise that begged for his presence, and the pirate in his soul would love the irony of being placed there after so much in his life was so wrongfully committed against him.

Eternity in Hawaii is almost appropriate for him, but unless they have serving wenches, a good batletlh and sword with an enemy for fighting, and barrels of mead and bloodwine, I think he'll keep looking for paradise in the hereafter...

I've related all this not as an epitaph to him, but as a service to those who were unable for whatever reasons to attend. HE was there, and so were we.     . . . Let this moment stand in all our memories forever as the way HE wanted it...

Robert W. Cunningham

T-Gen Khinsharri~ of the BLA

The Dragonfly

Once, in a little pond, in the muddy water under the lily pads, there lived a little water beetle in a community of water  beetles. They lived a simple and comfortable life in the pond with few disturbances and interruptions.

Once in a while, sadness would come to the community when one of their fellow beetles would climb the stem of a lily pad and would never be seen again. They knew when this happened; their friend was dead, gone forever.

Then, one day, one little water beetle felt an irresistible urge to climb up that stem. However, he was determined that he would not leave forever. He would come back and tell his friends what he had found at the top.

When he reached the top and climbed out of the water onto the surface of the lily pad, he was so tired, and the sun felt so warm, that he decided he must take a nap. As he slept, his body changed and when he woke up, he had turned into a beautiful blue-tailed dragonfly with broad wings and a slender body designed for flying.

So, fly he did! And, as he soared he saw the beauty of a whole new world and a far superior way of life to what he had never known existed.

Then he remembered his beetle friends and how they were thinking by now he was dead. He wanted to go back to tell them, and explain to them that he was now more alive than he had ever been before. His life had been fulfilled rather than ended.

But, his new body would not go down into the water. He could not get back to tell his friends the good news. Then he understood that their time would come, when they, too, would know what he now knew. So, he raised his wings and flew off into his joyous new life!

            ~Author Unknown~