‘True Gem’

The former assistant priest of Christ Church Parish Church, Canon Ivor Jones, who died this morning at age 101, has been described as a very special family man and a dedicated servant of the church.

Jones ended his earthly journey at
10:30 a.m., surrounded by family members.

“Dad was exceptional in a lot of ways. He was very understanding and extremely outgoing in his manner . . . . He was family oriented and very faith oriented. Of course, his faith was extremely strong as he was a canon, a real family man with his children, grandchildren and great grand. He loved everybody dearly,” his daughter, Valerie Goodman told Barbados TODAY.

“He was a true gem, a true gem of a father and grandfather. I can say that very much so, and he will surely be missed by many.”

Despite his advanced age, Jones remained active and alert until the end. Having played the piano at church for six decades, his passion for the instrument never waned, neither had his love for tennis, which he played until he was 94 years old, Goodman revealed.

“He loved to play the piano with everyone around singing the hymns. Of course, he loved his tennis – he was a very good tennis player and he played tennis until he was 94,” she said.

In addition to his dedication to the church, Jones taught English, History and Scripture at his alma mater, Harrison College.

Goodman told Barbados TODAY her dad remained quite popular among his former students.

“Some of his old students from Harrison College – a lot of those that he taught -spoke very highly about him and they really appreciated him and loved him as a teacher. That I can say for sure,” she stressed.

Jones would have celebrated his 102nd birthday on September 7, and was looking forward to it, his daughter said.

In fact, as recently as last week they had begun to discuss plans for the celebration. “He would have been a 102 on September 7, 2018, and the thing is now only last week I was up here and I was talking to him and I said, ‘Dad, you know that your birthday is coming up?’ So then I said, ‘who so you would like to come?’ And I called out some names and he said, ‘of course’, and I said, ‘you know you would have to drink some wine with them?’ He said, ‘of course, I would have to’. And that was only last week that he said that he would have to drink some wine and he was in his good mind until the end,” she said, forging a little laughter as she recalled the conversation.

Meantime, Cannon Wayne Issacs, the diocesan administrator in the Anglican Diocese, described Jones as a faithful follower of God who will be missed.

“He was one of our faithful and devout priests. He was very frank, he spoke his mind. He played the organ at Christ Church. He was [almost] 102 years old and we thank God for his ministry to the church and his work in the field of education in Barbados, and we appreciate his work in the diocese of Barbados,” Isaacs said.

Jones leaves to mourn three living children – Valerie Goodman, Angela Bryan and Geoffery Jones, ten grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild. (LG)