Lester L. Jones

Growing up with my dad, he had a lot of patience with me. He taught me all kinds of things like how to build things like skateboard ramps, how to cut different materials using specific tool, how to drive a manual truck, how to shoot a gun and much more. The one thing that I always noticed about him was the patience he always had with me. Not once did he ever blow me off to not teach me or would get upset because I wasn’t learning how he wanted me to, but I always wondered how he grew that patience. I also remember how Grandpa Jones taught me a few things. He taught me how to weld and sight in my scope for my gun and he was just as patient as dad was with me. I remember when he taught me how to weld, he took a couple of pieces of metal and welded some of it together and explained how it all worked. After that, he showed me and had me weld a few pieces together. Of course, I screwed it up and Grandpa Jones just laughed and said to try again. I remember he looked at the first tack weld I did, he leaned forward raised his glasses up and just chuckled and said “yup, keep trying”. After a while, I was able to get the hang of it. I remember he helped me weld a skating rail together. We took measurements of how long and how high I wanted it, and he helped me cut it as well. When he was showing me how to sight my scope, again, it was try again, adjust this, adjust that, there you go. Now if anyone knows Grandpa Jones, they will know that he had all the patience in the world and he would drop what he was doing at the drop of a hat, just so that he could help you with what you needed. Grandpa Jones’s passing left everyone with something, and to me he left the most valuable gift that a man could have, patience. I now see where my dad got it all from, my grandpa. I could tell over the years that he meant the world to my dad, and he graced him with the patience. I’m glad that I didn’t only get it from my dad, but I was also able to learn it from my grandfather. My dad wanted to be just like his dad, and I want to be just like my dad. I want to have that same patience with my wife that my dad had with my mom. I want to have the same patience with my daughter and my son just like my dad had with me. Even though Grandpa Jones is no longer with us, he is still in our hearts and a piece of him will always and forever be with me. I love him and miss him so much and I truly wish I could be there to celebrate his memorial. Love, Jeffrey Alvarez