August 15, 2001
Ironworkers honor strong crew chief
James Jones' hard hat inducted into Mackinac Bridge Museum
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Saturday, August 4, a procession of Harley-Davidson motorcycles rumbled across the Mackinac Bridge. Heading to the Mackinac Bridge Museum, the riders escorted an honored cargo: one hard hat belonging to ironworker and fellow motorcycle enthusiast Jim Jones of Traverse City.
Jones, 51, died unexpectedly in early July. His colleagues at his last project, repairing the Mackinac Bridge, wanted to honor their friend and crew chief and suggested inducting his hard hat into the museum during the International Ironworkers Festival.
The ceremony was a small gesture that helped family, friends and coworkers remember a man who was proud, hardworking, loyal and lived life to the fullest.
"Jim was a happy guy, a very positive man and upbeat," said friend and co-worker Lyle Fannes of Manistee, who spearheaded having Jones' hat inducted into the museum, something not done for all bridge workers. "We worked a lot of jobs together over 20 years and he was very talented."
Working on the Mackinac Bridge was something that Jones was very proud of, said his widow, Judy Jones, and the tribute would have meant a lot to him.
"His dream was to work on a skyscraper and the bridge was as close as he got," said Jones, who married Jim in 1993. "This was an honor for him, to work up there. He felt lucky to do it and he'd bring rivets from the bridge, which they were replacing, and give them to people, saying they were a piece of history."
Jones father, Donald, agreed that working on the bridge was a highlight of his son's career, which included helping to build the Grand Traverse Resort and the Grand Traverse Pavilions.
"He was always telling us how it looked up on the bridge, working with the ships going under," said Jones of Kingsley.
Though he worked at jobs around the state, Jones was close to his large family and always based himself in the Traverse City area. He grew up on a farm in Kingsley and graduated from Traverse City St. Francis High School. He served in the army during the Vietnam War, stationed - and at one point briefly captured - in Korea in the De-Militarized Zone.
It was while serving as a lineman in Korea that he learned he had no fear of heights and liked working up high. After returning to Traverse City, he worked for two years at Cone Drive but decided he did not like working indoors. So he signed on as an apprentice with the Iron Workers Union Local 340, which covers the western half of the Lower Peninsula.
For the next 20 years, Jones traveled from project to project, following the work. He always loved being up high, said Judy Jones. She cherishes pictures of him working at the peak of the Grand Traverse Resort, which he said was waving in the wind the day they finished it.
"He loved it, he was as sure-footed as a cat," she said. "I never worried about him falling. I felt he could do anything. Anything he built, he built three times stronger than it needed to be."
Jones had a zest for life and she said the two had many great times together, especially when traveling around the country on his Harley. Wherever they went, they always stopped first to the local Veterans of Foreign Wars or American Legion post, reflecting Jones' pride in being a veteran.
"We would go for weeks at a time on a trip, just him and me," she recalled. "If it was raining that way, we went the other way."
"I feel very lucky to have had him in my life that long, I had a lot of fun with him."