Ed Jones | |
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Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 8th district |
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In office January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1989 |
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Preceded by | Harold Ford, Sr. |
Succeeded by | John S. Tanner |
In office March 25, 1969 – January 3, 1973 |
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Preceded by | Fats Everett |
Succeeded by | Dan Kuykendall |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 7th district |
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In office January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1983 |
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Preceded by | Ray Blanton |
Succeeded by | Don Sundquist |
Commissioner of Agriculture of Tennessee | |
In office 1949–1953 |
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Governor | Gordon Browning |
Personal details | |
Born |
Yorkville, Tennessee, USA |
April 20, 1912
Died | December 11, 1999 Dyer, Tennessee |
(aged 87)
Political party | Democratic Party |
Spouse(s) | Llewellyn Wyatt |
Children | Mary Llew Jones McGuire and Dr. Jennifer Jones Kinnard |
Alma mater | University of Tennessee University of Tennessee at Martin |
Profession | Farmer |
Religion | Cumberland Presbyterian |
Ed Jones (April 20, 1912 – December 11, 1999) was a U.S. Representative from the state of Tennessee from 1969 to 1989. He was also the Tennessee Commissioner of Agriculture from 1949 to 1953. He was inducted into the Tennessee Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2011.
Jones was a native of Yorkville, Tennessee. Born April 20, 1912, he was the first of three boys born to Will Jones and Sibbie Hortense Pipkin. He graduated from the University of Tennessee Junior College (now the University of Tennessee at Martin) in 1932 and the University of Tennessee in 1934 with degrees in agriculture. His father was a laborer who worked odd jobs for local farmers. He instilled a strong work ethic in Jones from an early age, requiring him to work after school and on Saturdays. When Jones' father was unable to pay his medical bills, he began doing odd jobs for Dr. Finis Ewing Wyatt, the local country doctor. Ed Jones would marry Dr. Wyatt's daughter, Llewellyn, in 1938, and they had two daughters: Mary Llewellyn Jones, who died in 1977, and Jennifer Jones Kinnard, a retired nephrologist, who currently resides in Charleston, S.C. On May 22, 1980, Congresswoman Marilyn Bouquard of Tennessee welcomed Jones into the "grandparents club" with an address on the House floor shortly after the birth of his only grandchild, Meghan Elisabeth Kinnard, a political and legal affairs reporter for The Associated Press.
Ed Jones was a dairy farmer and remained so throughout his lifetime - even during his 20 years in Congress. In the late 1990s, Jones was diagnosed with Alzheimers and died on December 11, 1999, in Dyer, Tenn.
In 1934, he took a job as an dairy inspector for the state of Tennessee. He remained as inspector until 1941 when he began working as a supervisor for the Tennessee Dairy Products Association. In 1944, Jones became an agricultural for the Illinois Central Railroad, a job he held until 1969, except for four years when he was Commissioner of Agriculture. This public role was pivotal in helping to make him a public figure in West Tennessee.