Community Events

Thomas Jones always kept the promises he made to his wife. The first one he made when he married Alma ''Betty'' Nash 50 years ago — ''to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until death do us part.''

And the final promise days before she died.

'That was to finish my degree,'' said Jones, who turns 72 today.

Jones kept that promise.

The Akron man graduated Saturday at the University of Akron's E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall with an associate's degree in criminal justice.

Jones re-enrolled at the university a few months after his wife's death on May 11, 2007 — three decades after he began.

''It was rough after so many years,'' said Jones, who was decked out in his black robe and mortar board.

''I first started in 1977. I went part time in the evenings. I was busy working two jobs most of the time and raising my family — five children. So I would start and stop,'' he said.

Jones took advantage of his service in the Army.

''When I first started my education, Uncle Sam was paying for it with the GI Bill,'' he said. ''But that expired and I had to pay on my own.

''Over time, that got too strenuous and too expensive. . . . I was busy trying to figure out how to bring home the bacon.''

Somehow he always managed, say his children: Angela Jones, Valerie Murkins, Thomas Jr., David E. and Jeffrey A. Jones. The five children and their father live within walking distance of one another.

They take great pride in saying that their father also is a man who always made time for the community at large — driving the bus at his church and at Rockynol Retirement Community.

Jones cut back on his community activities as his wife's health worsened.

''When my wife got really sick with sarcoidosis [a lupuslike condition that attacks the major organs], I stopped a lot of things to take care of her,'' he said.

Valerie Murkins, 47, said she was a teenager when her mother was stricken with the disease.

''Dad was totally devoted to taking care of my mother,'' she said. ''They truly were a couple. They did everything together.

''Before she got sick, they even bowled for several years on the same league, including a traveling league. He still does.''

After his wife's death, Jones moved quickly to keep the promise to his wife.

So committed was Jones to honor her wish that he said he even took out a loan.

Jones returned to school after a career in the rubber industry.

He started out at Firestone, where he was a tire maker, and at Barefoot Rubber in Wadsworth, where he was a foreman. In 1983, he moved on to Goodyear Aerospace, where he worked in the brakes division, retiring in 2002.

Over the years, he worked a variety of second jobs, including bellman at Akron's Mayflower Hotel and orderly at St. Thomas Hospital.

He remains active in his church, Mount Zion Baptist, where he's been a member for 65 years and church treasurer for 30 years and counting. He's been on the church's board of trustees almost as long.

Jones also is a member of Mount Calvary No. 76 of the Prince Hall Lodge and a lifetime member of Al Kaf Shrine Temple.

Now that he has graduated, Jones, who said he once dreamed of being a lawyer, is considering coming out of retirement to put his degree to ''work in the investigative field.''

But the degree means more than a paycheck to Jones.

''I'm the first in my family to graduate from college,'' he said.

After the graduation ceremony, Jones walked into the lobby to be greeted by his family.

In addition to his children, there to cheer Thomas Jones on was his sister Beatrice Broadus of Akron.

''I'm so proud of him, I just don't know what to do,'' she said.

As family members looked on, Jones' daughter, Valerie, slipped a class ring, complete with his emerald birthstone, onto her father's right hand.

''I will wear this as proudly as I do my Masonic ring,'' he said.

While completing a two-year degree may seem like small potatoes to some, it's mighty big doings for Thomas Jones and his family.

And, no, he didn't graduate summa cum laude, magna cum laude or even cum laude.

At times it seemed like ''Oh, Lordy.''

But he made it.

More importantly, he kept the promise.

Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.