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March 11, 2010

Long-time shoe-shine man dies

Rich Flowers The Athens Review

Athens — Whether they knew him as a preacher, singer or a shoe-shine man, Pete Jones was known for leaving things a little brighter.

Jones died last Friday at the age of 58 in a Tyler hospice. Funeral services are set for 1 p.m. this Friday at the Church of the Living God on U.S. Highway 175E in Athens. Visitation will be at the church Thursday from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Jones, who buffed up shoes at the Barber Shop on the Athens square for more than 30 years, had battled diabetes and other health issues for decades. He had polio as a child, and wasn’t released from the hospital until he was 3-years-old.

All through his life, Jones struggled with speech impairments that often made him hard to understand in normal conversation, but not when he was singing or quoting scripture. He has been an assistant pastor at the COLG on U.S. Highway 175 for about the past 40 years. 

Barber Shop owner Renee Dowell said Jones’ departure leaves a void on the Henderson County Courthouse square.

“We’re sad today,” Dowell said. “He touched so many lives. He loved to serve the Lord.”

Jones was born in Dallas in 1952. His father was a Baptist preacher, who also taught him how to shine shoes. Jones’ older brother, George Jones, said his brother learned to sing before he could talk.

Dowell said George Jones continued to visit his brother each day at the hospice, although Pete Jones had slipped from consciousness.

Dowell said good-bye to the shoe-shine man last Wednesday. Friday, the doctor told George Jones that his brother’s vital signs were better, but when he reached the hospice that afternoon, Pete Jones was gone.

“He was irreplaceable,” Dowell said.

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