Walter Jones remembered for his faith, integrity and the cards he sent

GREENVILLE -- Hundreds of people from across the state and Washington, D.C., came together at a church in Greenville on Thursday to remember the life and celebrate the legacy of Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., a man many of them described using the word "integrity."

And while numerous politicians were there to remember their colleague, Jones was much more to the people in his life than just a congressman representing Eastern North Carolina for nearly 25 years.

With Jones' wife, Joe Anne, and their daughter Ashley looking on from the front row, speakers praised his kindness and his Christian faith.

Joshua Bowlen, one of Jones' staff members, recalled how Jones treated him like he was his own son, and said there was a reason Jones was voted the nicest person in Congress.

"When discussing legislative matters, he would pat his heart to remind me he's a heart man," Bowlen said.

Jones sent Bowlen's mother cards when she was battling cancer, and told her to keep putting up a good fight. Bowlen said Jones never even met his mother.

Ken Haigler, a long time friend, said Jones was probably the reason the greeting-cards industry was still around today. Jones would sign "all of his cards, 'your brother in Christ,'" Haigler said.

A convert to Catholicism, Bowlen said Jones had a cross over his desk in the U.S. House and a rock on his desk engraved with Scripture.

Jones died Sunday on his 76th birthday.

Haigler read excerpts of an unpublished book Jones had written.

"You can question my intelligence, but you can't question my integrity," Jones wrote.

Gov. Roy Cooper also spoke, saying the two were often mistaken for each other during their time at the General Assembly, where both represented Eastern North Carolina districts.

Jones was a Democrat in the legislature but later switched parties to become a Republican before following his late father as a congressman.

"He was independent in his thinking. He didn't toe any political line but his own," Cooper said.

The crowd at St. Peter Catholic Church heard from Jones' friend since childhood, JY Monk. They were in each others' weddings, and Jones even introduced Monk to his wife, Jane.

In college, Jones would drive to Winston-Salem on the weekends to visit his future wife, Joe Anne, Monk said -- even if it was raining, which meant Jones' little sports car would flood because the roof was forever broken, he said. Jones would open the car door and a flood of water would pour out.

Even after Jones joined the U.S. Congress, he would still have a monthly lunch with Monk that would last three hours every time. It was pretty easy to manage, Monk said, because Jones would drive from Washington to his home of Farmville every chance he got on the weekends.

"I love you, Walter, and I know we will have lunch together someday," Monk said.

The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)

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