RALEIGH, N.C. — Some people in this world beat cancer. Some people in this world beat COVID-19. Some people in this world live to be 100.
Sam Jones has done all three on the way to making 104 yearly trips around the sun. His story includes more hills and valleys than most, on the way to creating a mountain of memories. The skin on his face crinkles at the corner of his mouth and widens as creases replace the dimples on his cheeks.
His presence draws the eyes of his children and grandchildren in the living room of his home in Fayetteville. His oldest daughter, Marion McLaughlin, said her father is an inspiration to their family. She said, “It feels good to have him as our Dad. I wouldn’t have it no other way.”
It is reasonable to believe most people who reach her father’s age rely on others to physically move in and outside of their homes. When he becomes tired of sitting in his reclining chair, he will stand on his own two feet and walk around without any help at all. With a grin a hundred miles wide, Jones strides across the floor of his home. “I can walk a little bit now,” he says.
Beyond his impressive mobility, Jones possesses a certain willpower to overcome sickness and disease most people will likely never endure in one lifetime. To put food on the table for his family he had to first pull it out of the ground.
Jones said as a younger man he was a farmer. Corn, cotton and beans were just some of the crops he raised. “For a long time, my daddy was a farmer and he taught me how to do it,” Jones said. Except he didn’t always own the land and he couldn’t keep everything he planted. His daughter Carolyn Jones explained it’s because he was a sharecropper, so he gave up portions of his crops to pay rent.
As if being a Black man in the deep south wasn’t hard enough for Jones, he encountered other obstacles later on in his older years as well.
In the late 1990’s, Carolyn said he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He beat the cancer. About 20 years later, his wife, Mary Jones, died after 78 years of marriage. Jones said, “I think about her all the time.” McLaughlin said her mother and pops, as they call him, were the glue holding the family together.
In 2019, he survived surgery for a brain bleed. Then again during the middle of the pandemic in 2021, he contracted COVID-19. When Jones went into the Cape Fear Valley Medical Center for seven days due to the novel coronavirus, it was hard on him and his family.
His granddaughter Pamela Price said, "We knew he was going to beat it because he has come through so much.”
The father of nine and grandfather of 20 returned home from the hospital in March. Price said her grandfather is as tough as they come. “The one thing I can say is that he is the epitome of a strong man,” Price said.
To stay strong, Jones stays active. There are times when he will walk around outside his home for exercise. Family members say they love taking him out for fresh air. Price said he walks well enough most days to go without a wheelchair. “I always say I would love to live as long as he has lived enough to be 104,” Price said.
To look at Jones is to see how time was then and how time is now.
Five generations of children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and more are because of this 104-year-old soul. Life surrounds him and swells up inside of him. Jones loves life. “I’m happy to be here,” he says.