Loyal Jones traveled on to the other side October 7, 2023, with his loving family around
him to help him on his way. He was 95.
Loyal was many things: a scholar, a gardener, a writer, teacher, student, music-lover,
tale-teller, wood-worker, and a loving, generous father and grandfather. He went
through life with an open heart and a great curiosity about the world and the people in
it. His first question was always “Who are your people?”
Loyal grew up in the farthest western corner of North Carolina as the youngest of eight
children. The Joneses were subsistence farmers and strict Southern Baptists. Loyal
had a pet crow who flew with them on the walk to church on Sunday and then waited
for them to fly back home. As he got older, Loyal would sneak out of Revival services
to go to the John C. Campbell Folk School for a bit of dancing. As a teen, he was
scolded for riding his horse on to the Folk School grounds and kicking up dust. He may
have been a bit of a rascal.
Loyal’s adventurous spirit led him to enlist in the Navy, but he was called home to run
the farm when his father became ill. He also became a horse trainer, teaching his
favorite mare how to count with her hoof. Eventually, an elder at the Folk School
suggested he apply to Berea College, where he earned his degree and met his wife,
another Berea student, Nancy Swan.
After a stint in the army and a Master’s degree from UNC, Loyal and Nancy moved back
to Berea for Loyal to work for the Council of the Southern Mountains, later becoming
Director. The Council was deeply involved in improving the lives of the underprivileged
and over-looked, a hallmark of Loyal’s working life. After leaving the Council, he
created the Berea College Appalachian Center, where he taught classes in Appalachian
Studies to Berea students, giving them knowledge and pride in their culture. In the
summers, he ran workshops for public school teachers to help them do the same for
their students.
In recent years, Loyal moved to Black Mountain, N.C. He was special to those who
cared for him at Highland Farms, and they were very special to him. He never took any
of it for granted.
Loyal’s family will grieve his loss and miss him terribly, but only in the most grateful sort
of way. Susan Ellen Jones and Charlie Broster; Carol Elizabeth Jones; Scott and Susan
P Jones; Zeke and Ashley Marrie; Vivian Leva and Riley Calcagno; and countless
descendants of the Jones family will remember him well. To know and love someone
so dear is a gift in this world.
