he said. Little Jimmy became part of their Rainbow Family of white, black, Korean-American and Native American children. Anthony Katsaris, brother of Jim Jones aide Maria Katsaris, was wounded in the chest. 'He made a promise - once we get to Jonestown there is no corporal punishment,' Smith said. 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). Jones berated three other new arrivals for misbehavior on the trip; they were beaten and forced to work 24 hours straight. So grew the young Stephan: the quiet witness steeped in rage. And all of the children died first. Yet he submitted to a new search, then returned to his seat. Stephan Gandhi Jones was the biological son of Jim and Marceline Jones. He apparently was searching for his wife, who had carried away their child that morning, hoping to escape the settlement. Everyone was waiting for him to take himself out. His wife has learned at those moments to let him be. Jonestown was the highlight of his life for a time and he recalls feeling pride pioneering in the distant jungle of Guyana. 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. "My experience in Jonestown was this: when I first got there I was happy and I was really enjoying myself. Stephan Jones, Jim Jones's sole surviving child, was born in Indiana, United States, on June 1, 1959. They have three children. "It was not bad people who did it," he says. Going by the first body count, the media reported 383 dead. A few of us jumped from the truck and ran over there. I just have to love him and forgive him.. At the temple-exit guard post, the truck was halted. Some of the defectors told me later that the men in the trailer were members of Peoples Temple. It seemed the temple was generous: It willingly provided passports to those who wished to leave, and advanced $5,000 to help defray transportation costs. present) (3 children). . There was something there. PORT KAITUMA, Guyana - 'I feel sorry that we are being destroyed from within,' the Rev. "I think he would be admitting in his own warped mind that he was not this great revolutionary he had tried to build himself up to be . Stephan Gandhi Jones is the son of the notorious religious cult leader Jim Jones. The note said: 'Please help us get out of Jonestown.' Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. 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. For years, Vilchez was ashamed of the part she played in an idealistic group that imploded so terribly. Yes. Layton later was taken into custody by Guyanese authorities who seized a .38-caliber pistol and turned it over to U.S. Embassy officials. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Stephan Gandhi Jonesis the son of the notorious religious cult leaderJim Jones. I guess I wanted to believe that, as a child.". But the reality is that it was far from a mass suicide. The bodies of followers that drank the poison are strewn around the commune, The Peoples Temple compound, led by Jim Jones, is shown above in November 1978 after the dead bodies were removed. Within minutes, the aide and her three children lay dead in a bloody bathroom, their throats slit. I wondered why it happened. He said: "So much was attractive and unique that we turned a blind eye . In this Nov. 13, 2008 file photo, Stephan Jones, son of Rev. According to former members, Jones would not tolerate defections from the mission project and many of the church members considered those who leave to be traitors. I want out of this.' Finally, attorneys for both Ryan and the temple decreed that the courtroom was the proper place to decide the custody issue. But even Stephan Jones never imagined that death would come the way it did, so redolent of madness and evil, so savage that a kind of panic still crawls into his voice when he talks about it. "I'd go back in a minute. James Warren Jones and his wife, Marceline. mode: 'thumbnails-a', He was summoned to the temple radio room. Jim Jones of the Peoples Temple, poses for a portrait near San Rafael, Calif. Eugene Smith recalls how his mother, a churchgoing African-American, bought into Jim Jones' dream after they attended a service in Fresno. His biggest regrets revolve around the teams refusal to return to Jonestown. I think most people would have welcomed some kind of action that took Dad out of the picture but I didnt feel like we had enough people to back us up, or I didnt know those people.. He has learned, he says, to understand his own resources and the depths of his emotions. Greg's body was near the boarding steps with his camera bag and cameras scattered around him. Now, Stephan is a father of three daughters,. "I'm blessed to have hit enough of a bottom and to have been surrounded by amazing, wonderful, honest, compassionate and challenging people to see me through that," Stephan said. And in his growing community near the town of Ukiah, Jim Jones preached to the faithful about communalism, racial equality, "apostolic social justice" and the power of belief. He has taken a lead role in a 40th Jonestown anniversary memorial to be held Sunday at Oakland's Evergreen Cemetery, where remains of unclaimed and unidentified victims are buried. The church provided free drug rehabilitation, medical care, food. Life became more tolerable after the couples baby, Martin Luther Smith, was born. Wiki User. 'I said there must be another way.'. Like why would they follow such a madman and to such a crazy final act, and we probably know by now that it wasnt a mass suicide, but thats how it has been portrayed.. And there was more social rhetoric and action in my life and a lot more fear. Stephan Gandhi Jones is 6-foot-5, lean, broad at the shoulder, olive-eyed, black-haired, handsome as a billboard model. My best guess is that Jones felt the press people weren't fooled by the staged setup at the mission. He too was a member of the basketball team. Those who broke rules were disciplined. Dozens of members in Guyana slipped out of Jonestown or happened to be away that day. You describe yourself in your writings as a rebellious kid. Now, Stephan Jones is father of three daughters, ages 16, 25 and 29, and works in the office furniture installation business. "I got sick of the same speeches, the insisting people stay awake, the constantly testing people." We built a community out of nothing in four years, recalled Touchette, now a 65-year-old grandfather who has worked for a Miami hydraulics company for nearly 30 years. Stephan is the only living son of Jim Jones and his late wife. Haaretz.com, the online English edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, gives you breaking news, analyses and opinions about Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World. Family (3) Trivia (4) Only natural son of Rev. someone shouted, and the driver attempted to turn the truck around. John Victor Stoen. 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. A lot more conversation about the outside threat that was anyone that wasnt in the temple. For years, Vilchez was ashamed of the part he played in an idealistic group that imploded so terribly. But the boy was still a child of the Temple. Plunged into a new world, those raised in the temple or who joined as teens lost the only life they knew: church, jobs, housing and most of all, family and friends. (Actually, the deadly beverage that day might have been based on a cheaper imitation, Flavor Aid. Did You Know Soccer Player Crystal Dunns Husband Pierre Soubrier Is A Football Specialist? But in 1973, John's oldest brother and a sister, along with six other California college students, quit the church and became its enemies. 'Everyone participated in it and because of that, it went as far as it did,' she said. Play it now! They don't normally believe it at first. That way no one else would want to live. He converted to Catholicism and registered Republican. 'Let's go!' Is Kristie Mewis Dating the Aussie Star Sam Kerr? At the far end of the strip sat a yellow government plane. And the temple was his life first in Indiana, later in California. 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. Though he waved and smiled at Peoples Temple services, seemingly enraptured like the rest, Stephan Gandhi Jones says he always had his doubts. I think there are different images being shown now, but its still too little, too late. He thinks now that it is probably stupid to believe that. When that was pointed out to Ryan, Layton contended he already had been frisked. Stephan Gandhi Jones is the son of the notorious religious cult leader Jim Jones. To cope, he says he abused drugs and exercised obsessively. Well, he was using these words, I dont know if hed actually do that, hes a good and gentle man in so many ways, but he wanted to take dad out, and I was the one to convince him that dad would do that himself and we were going to have chaos on our hands. The people are elderly and he knows he must stop it, but he cannot make contact with them; they look at him as though from great distances. Relatives & Associates. 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.. More than a few bottles of rum were consumed or poured on wounds. Stephan Jones was born on June 1, 1959 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA as Stephan Gandhi Jones. That way no one else would want to live. 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. The next day, when soldiers of the Guyanese army, one of the most ragged in South America, hesitantly entered the Jonestown compound, they were blinded by the thick morning mist. "I usually try to tell people when we're in a good time to talk about it, because my God, it takes two hours just to scratch the surface," Stephan Jones says. Other people were injured. Only two days later did the picture became clear. You'd have to deal with this elite that just revolved their lives around him' . I got the gun. Among the hundreds of corpses, only one was different; he had died from a bullet to the head. Or lost touch with reality? Number one: People cant understand what was attractive about Dad. He seems to have a tragic life after what had happened with his family. To just be somewhere with a machete, in khakis, and just decide I wanted to go somewhere and cut myself a trail." In California, he was steeped in temple life. 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