IN THE EVENING OF HIS LIFE, Clarence Jones could be home like any other octogenarian, feet up and relaxing in a reclining chair.
However, to do this would be out of character.
So instead, at 84 years old, Jones can still be seen riding his nifty bicycle “Betsy” – which he has had for 60 years – all across Christ Church as he goes to various job sites to build homes, repair roofs, toil the land or even descend wells.
Jones is a mason, carpenter, gardener – a man of many talents. And using his hands is what he loves to do most.
His work day begins around early morning when he heads out, and work is done when the sun sets. Jones labours not out of necessity but by choice.
“Stay home, to rust? If I stand home, I sick,” he responded when asked why he continued to work even after retirement age.
On a job in Kendal Hill, Christ Church, with a youthful bounce in his step, the father of six was not afraid to get down and dirty in the shrubs or for that matter, climb high on a ladder. In fact, he declared that he wasn’t afraid of a “little” hard work.
He explained that this industrious nature began to manifest when at the tender age of 13 he stopped attending the then St Lawrence Composite School to work in carpentry. The first of ten children, Jones said it wasn’t easy for his parents to support their large household so he made the sacrifice.
“At that time fifth, sixth and seventh standard all was doing the same thing. My father and mother was there but that is how it goes; you had to help so I decided to go look for carpentry work.”
He quickly found a job in the trade working for a man known as Forde at Top Rock, Christ Church. But in those days apprentices were not paid so he rested hope, according to him, that the boss man would be compassionate and give him some money.
“I got nothing. Back then you never used to get any money, you would just go and beg somebody for a job [because] you just wanted to learn something, so I work for two years before I got $2. The fellow that I beg for the job pay me the Saturday night but I lost that $2,” he recalled, laughing loudly.
“I had on short pants and I put it in the wrong pocket so when I was heading home, I passed my grandmother and say: ‘Beeks, $2 for two years’ and she say, ‘Why you don’t buy flour from Allamby?’ I put in the hand and the money gone.
“She told me go back up by Forde and tell he it drop in the yard. When I get down there he ask me what I come for down there and that I can’t come in. So all what I do I can’t get bread, I made rust (a type of bread) the night and that is what I eat for lunch the rest of the week.”
As he got stronger, Jones went on to become a skilled operator in demand from people as far away as St Peter. On a couple of occasions, before “Betsy”, he would walk from Maxwell Hill, Christ Church to Strathclyde, St Michael to work on homes.
Nowadays, he doesn’t ride too far from home because of slightly bad knees, though he maintained: “When I get on pun the bicycle all the pains does go out.” However, he plans to stick with the trade until the Lord calls his name because he believes even though there have been many improvements to the industry and a decline in demand for chattel houses, people like him are still crucial elements in the art of craftsmanship.
“It is faster now but the older quality is the best; that is why the houses built lasted longer. The fellows before me, they were masters. That is why even if there wasn’t no money, you would still work because when you had a good break with them, they would show you all the secrets to do certain stuff right. Them days were good days. That is why I can’t stay home to rust out.”
His advice for all young people was that even if they don’t see a future for themselves as a skilled person, it was for their benefit still to learn a trade.
“Nowadays you would meet the young ones and tell them they going to high school. If they do and ain’t get through, try and learn a trade. In my day I would have had to get a [tool] box, the boss man would come and look in the box and I may make about two shillings a day. But they feel that can’t work now.
“I say all you got to get is a bag, saw and hammer and the least you can get is $90,” said Jones, who revealed proudly that he had built his home himself. (SDB Media)
