[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 200 (Friday, November 27, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1071]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF TROY LEE JONES

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JODEY C. ARRINGTON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 27, 2020

  Mr. ARRINGTON. Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the life, and 
honor the memory of Troy Lee Jones, a member of the Greatest Generation 
who I had the privilege of representing in the United States House of 
Representatives.
  It cannot be disputed, Madam Speaker, that Mr. Jones' life was 
defined by his devotion to the Lord, a fierce American patriotism, and 
a specialty for salesmanship--traits he no doubt passed along to the 
children and grandchildren he raised, all of whom have made tremendous 
contributions to the economic, health and educational wellbeing of West 
Texas.
  Troy Lee Jones drew the first breath of his extraordinary life on May 
14, 1924, in Radium, Jones County, Texas. Born to Georgia Mae and Lacy 
D. Jones, Mr. Jones grew up in small towns on the South Plains before 
graduating in 1941 from Sparenberg High School, located at Five Mile, 
Dawson County, Texas. After high school, he worked several jobs, 
including that of Civilian Quartermaster at Lamesa Field, a United 
States Army Air Force glider training school. Despite qualifying for a 
deferment, and against his mother's wishes, Mr. Jones enlisted in the 
United States Army in 1943. He trained at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, 
Indiantown Gap Military Reservation, Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, 
and Fort Hamilton, Brooklyn, New York.
  A member of the 487th Port Battalion, Company B, 5th Engineers 
Special Brigade, 1st Army, Mr. Jones trained for Operation Overlord 
with his fellow soldiers in Wales' Rhondda Valley before landing on 
Omaha Beach during the first wave of the Allied invasion of Normandy on 
June 6, 1944. A recipient of multiple campaign awards and the Purple 
Heart, Private Jones served the remainder of the war in Antwerp, 
supporting supply chains to arm and feed the Allied Forces, all the 
while, under constant bombardment by the Nazis.
  After returning from Europe, Mr. Jones lived in Lamesa where he 
worked for several years before meeting the woman with whom he would 
spend the rest of his life. Troy and Minnie Margaret ``Marge'' Ward met 
on a blind date on New Year's Eve, 1947 and the couple married on March 
31, 1950, in Lovington, New Mexico. Troy and Marge lived and worked 
alongside one another for the next seventy years, and their devotion to 
one another was evident even during the final days of their life 
together. During the decade following their nuptials, the couple was 
blessed with three children, Cathy, Terry and Jeff.
  A natural-born salesman, Mr. Jones peddled ointment door-to-door as a 
boy before beginning his formal sales career at Fair Department Store 
in Lamesa the week following his marriage. He worked in and managed 
consumer sales enterprises for over fifteen years until he operated his 
own--Jones Department Store--in Silverton, Texas. Not only was Mr. 
Jones a business leader in Briscoe County, he was elected to the 
Silverton City Council and served as the town's mayor during the 
twenty-two years he lived there. Marge and Troy sold their store in 
1986 and moved to Lubbock, where he worked in several sales positions 
prior to his retirement in 1999.
  It's true that Troy Lee Jones performed heroically on the battlefield 
and that he made many positive civic and economic contributions to West 
Texas, but what his family appreciates most, Madam Speaker, is the 
faith heritage that Troy passed along to them. He accepted Christ as 
his Savior at the age of seven, was baptized in Moran, Texas and spent 
the next nine decades living out his faith alongside his family and his 
community. He was an active member in several Baptist churches and was 
an ordained deacon.
  Mr. Jones was preceded in death by his parents Georgia Mae Loudder 
Jones and Lacy D. Jones. He is survived by his devoted wife Minnie 
Margaret ``Marge'' Ward Jones and his children, Cathy Marion Jones 
Buchanan (Michael) of Lubbock, Terry Lee Jones Byers (James) of 
Muleshoe and Jeffery Ward Jones (L' Anna) of Lubbock. He is also 
survived by eight grandchildren: Juli Catherine Buchanan McCauley, 
Cameron Ward Buchanan, Michael Dee Buchanan, Riley Mac Byers, Russell 
Ward Byers, Austin Keith Jones, Linley Brittain Jones Melham, Jeffery 
Nicholas Jones, and seventeen great-grandchildren.
  While Mr. Jones resided in Lubbock for the final thirty-four years of 
his life, he lived and worked in towns such as Radium, Lorenzo, Tuxedo 
and Levelland, communities that are the heart and soul of West Texas 
and the life book of Texas' 19th Congressional District. Like so many 
other rural Americans, Mr. Jones decided as a young man to trade a life 
of relative tranquility on the South Plains for one of grueling 
sacrifice on the battlefields of World War II. We must never forget 
those brave Americans, like Troy Lee Jones, who risked everything to 
secure not only America's freedom, but also to liberate the world from 
tyranny and terror. Private Jones and his fellow soldiers, airmen, 
sailors and Marines returned home to build their families and 
communities, laying the groundwork for the moral strength and economic 
prosperity that, even today, extends across the dusty plains of West 
Texas and from sea to shining sea.
  Madam Speaker, on behalf of my constituents and the Texas 
congressional delegation, I wish to thank Troy Lee Jones for his 
sacrifice for the cause of freedom, his legacy of faith and service to 
Almighty God, and his deep and lasting contributions to West Texas.

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