My dad is a wonderful person. He was born in Nova Scotia, Canada while his parents were stationed there in the Air Force. Coming to Superior when he was one, he was one of five children born around the U.S. and Canada as his parents served our country. He broke his back at work, but it does not stop him from helping others. He does whatever he can to help others and even sometimes more than he can because it makes him feel good.
He is very involved in Boy Scouts and is an Eagle Scout, himself. He was honored to be a guest of President Ronald Reagan and have dinner at the White House for his volunteer work.
His parents taught him in early childhood to work hard and give back to his neighbors. He cut grass, shoveled snow and helped anyway he could. Sadly when he was my age now, his mom died, and being in Scouting kept him out of trouble. With no mom to raise him, his Dad did a great job in raising eight children. He thanks the many people of Superior, for all the support and tells me that we need to say thank you when someone makes good out of hard times.
My dad, Ken Jones, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Superior, working for the railroad in Superior while going to school. He has worked in the forests, volunteering with firefighting and conservation projects. He worked for the railroad for 25 years, taking a night off his job when he graduated from Superior High School.
He then met a wonderful lady who became his wife and my mom. At work he fell down a broken stairway at work and broke his back. For a long time he had to be in and out of the hospital and were told they would not have any children. So my Mom and Dad started taking in young people that need a place to call home a place of love. Then God gave them two miracles, my brother with autism, and me.
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My brother, Mark, does not understand a lot of things, but understands how much we love him, and we are a great family and very lucky to have two very loving parents. When my brother was hurt, he has worked to change laws so that it can never happen again to another Autistic or disabled child. He has made a lot of difference in many young people's lives.
He started volunteering at our schools and churches. He carves and gives them as gifts, or gives the money away he makes from them to people in need. He and Mom have given 2 cars away to kids who did not have a way to go to school. He plows my neighbors out in the winter. He does carpentry and work around houses of people in need or can not afford to fix them. He also volunteers at St. Luke's and donates blood at the Superior Hospital.
This last winter when he was sick, he was asked to carve a 6 foot Corpus for our church family at St. Anthony's in Allouez, and he invited my brother and I to help, along with some guys from Superior Middle School to help. We did it for the people in our parish that had given to us in many ways, to honor them but he said to give back to God for what he gave to us. I was proud of my Dad, because a lot of my friends that come out from school are invited to be like my parents children and are loved in our home. He let us shadow him in our job shadowing part of 8th grade classes. He goes to lumber yards and collects their junk wood scrapes and shapes the different types of wood to make the many colors of his carvings called Intarsia. He says it is like taking the junk of people's lives and making something beautiful from them, just as God does.
A person that has touched many lives is a perfect title for him. My dad has done so much for so many people that I could go on all day talking about him. He is an idle to me and many other people. He is one of my heroes because he takes time for me and my family. It seems that he is always running for my family. I don't know how he does it but, he does it all the time. It seems like everyday could be a challenge, but he never complains about what he does, and he is very good at being my Dad, along with many of my friends. What I think is great is that he never stops moving until bed time. He is so kind and loving, I am grateful I have him for my Dad.
Josh Jones of South Range attended Superior Middle School last year and will be starting at the high school in the fall.
