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War bride marks 72 years of helping U.S. veterans

By Sarah Pickett
Posted 8/1/18

KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – She is a World War II bride who celebrated 72 years of citizenship in the United States on June 23.

Joan Jones, 91, of Keystone Heights, has made her mark in the United States …

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War bride marks 72 years of helping U.S. veterans


Posted

KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – She is a World War II bride who celebrated 72 years of citizenship in the United States on June 23.

Joan Jones, 91, of Keystone Heights, has made her mark in the United States to honor the veterans who protected her home country of Australia during World War II.

In 1945, Jones met her future husband, a Navy officer, in Melbourne, Australia at an amusement park. From then on, every time his ship docked in Australia, they spent time together. Jones married “the love of her life” on February 6, 1946. A few months later, at age 19, Jones received her orders to board the USS David C. Shanks where she traveled to San Francisco. She arrived in the United States on June 23, 1946.

“I have been in this country for 72 years, and it has been quite an experience,” she said.

In 1990, she moved to Florida.

“My life changed forever (as) I became known in Clay County for the work I did for the United States Veterans,” said Jones, who refers to herself as an American-Australian, not an Australian-American.

After moving to Florida, Jones joined the Garden Club in Keystone Heights. Later, she served as the president of the Keystone Heights chapter. Jones is also a founding member of the Garden Club of Green Cove Springs, which celebrated its 10-year anniversary last year. The Green Cove Springs Chapter has worked on notable projects such as cleaning up the Green Cove Springs Library, adding a Butterfly Garden and redoing the shrubbery around the Historic County Jail.

She has also worked on several projects that honor the United States military veterans, including the Veterans Pathway Project and bringing Wreaths Across America to Clay County.

Jones started the Veteran’s Memorial Pathway Project, a veteran’s memorial with engraved bricks, in November 2004 after dreaming up the idea. She presented the project to city council and it was agreed on by a unanimous vote. Building began on the Pathway in Jan. 2005.

“I kept thinking for a long time about what I could do for the GIs. Fifty-four years later, I had a dream in the middle of the night. I went out to the kitchen and started writing all of this stuff down. It was the dream telling me what to do for the GIs,” said Jones.

She dedicated her life to the project, which was funded in full by private donations from businesses and organizations in and around Keystone Heights. For years, she coordinated and emceed Independence Day, Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies at the Pathway Memorial.

In 2009 and 2010, she attended ceremonies for Wreaths Across America at the Jacksonville National Veterans Cemetery with a friend and then began wondering if the program would work in Keystone. So, she contacted the national nonprofit’s headquarters in Maine and started taking donations for the wreaths. Two years later, in 2011, the first Keystone Heights Wreaths Across America ceremony was a hit and had around 200 people in attendance.

“I invite everybody; I would say within 100 miles around Keystone Heights,” she said.

“We’ve never had less than 200 people (at the ceremony),” she said.

Over the years, it has spread throughout cemeteries across Clay County, including churches throughout Middleburg, Green Cove Springs and Orange Park. Jones orders wreaths for other cemeteries upon receiving donations. Then, the other groups come to Keystone Heights and pick up their wreaths at 9 a.m. on the morning of the national ceremony.

For her seventh year involved with Wreaths Across America, Jones is already planning the program and receiving donations for wreaths for this year’s ceremony in Keystone Heights. This year, she wants to have a kids’ choir sing the National Anthem. Sponsors can donate $15 for one wreath or buy two wreaths and get one free for a $30 donation. Jones plans to gather donations for 700 wreaths this year. The 2018 ceremony is set to take place on Dec. 15 at the Keystone Heights Memorial Gardens. Jones says that anyone who wants to help unbox the wreaths can show up at 9 a.m. on the day of the ceremony.