Family meant the world to Bishop Asa Jones Sr.
When it came to his 10 other siblings, his wife and their 12 children, or his more than 100 grandchildren, Jones Sr. showed time and time again there was little he wouldn't do for them.
"When my son was innocently murdered ... 8 years ago, as old as my parents were, I remember them traveling back and forth (from Erie to Ohio) that week at least three to four times to make sure I was OK," said his daughter, Sheila Halton. "When it came down to Dad’s kids, they were the number one priority for him, no matter what age he was or what health condition he had."
Gwendolyn Gavin, another one of Jones Sr.'s daughters, remembers when she was coming back to Erie from Pittsburgh and her father jumped at the opportunity to move her back home.
"He wanted me home so bad and I was remodeling my kitchen and bathroom so he had gone up to Lowe's for me. I looked in the middle of the street and saw all this stuff ... and I said, 'That’s Daddy,'" Gavin said. "I said, 'Dad what are you doing?' and he said, 'Well, I was so excited you were coming home I forgot to shut the trunk of the car so I don't know where half the stuff went.' "
Jones Sr., of Erie, who was the pastor of the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, showed compassion like that for his family up until he died at 86 on May 5.
Obituary:Bishop Asa Jones, Sr., 86
"You don’t find too many people who were genuine through their whole life, but with my dad, there was just a straight line, there were no interruptions to his giving," Gavin said.
Brother and father all in one
Jones Sr. was not only a father to his children, but his siblings, too. After his father died, Jones Sr. became the patriarch of his household, and he never missed a beat when it came to providing for his family, said his sister Elnora Jones.
"He stepped in as the big role to take care of the family, making sure my mom didn’t have to worry about anything, how to pay this or manage whatever," Elnora Jones said. "We looked up to him. He was the greatest man that I ever knew."
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Elnora Jones stayed close with her big brother and visited him and his wife, Floretta Jones, who she considered a mother figure to her, every chance she got.
"I might go over at 4 in the afternoon and be there until 1 in the morning," she said. "Just the atmosphere in his home with him and his wife, you didn't want to leave. There was just that much love, he would talk as if you'd just came."
'Epitome of love'
If there's anything Halton learned from her father, it was how to love.
Halton prides herself in having a father who had so much love to give, especially toward his wife of almost 70 years.
"She was like his queen," Halton said. "When I saw them have interactions together, all we saw was pure love. Because he showed my mom so much love and compassion, even us as girls sought out men to do the same for us."
Halton said her parents were a team. You didn’t get one inch from one and one from the other, and if they didn’t agree, it didn’t happen.
"My mom was a solid homemaker ... but Dad was the one who showed us what love really is and how to make sure if love is in the house, anything can make it," Halton said. "He was like the epitome of what love was for a family man."
It's the kind of family man his son, Roderick Jones, tries to be himself.
"He always taught us, even as children, you have to provide for your family and you don’t get credit for providing for your family. And I’ve taken that same mentality into my family," he said. "Don’t tell me how good of a job I do with my children because that’s what I’m supposed to do, and I got that from my daddy."
Creating a ministry
In 1986, Jones Sr. started the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, but he didn't build his ministry overnight.
After moving the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ from 26th and Wayne streets in Erie to its current location at 1962 Buffalo Road, Gavin knew there was a lot of work to be done.
"The roof had collapsed and everything, so that’s when I went to my bank and told them we need to finance my dad’s church," she said. "And because of who my dad was ... they went by the faith of my dad and by the faith of me."
In the beginning, Jones Sr.'s church didn't have any worship musicians, but Gavin and some of her siblings didn't let that stop them.
"He had no organ or musicians so we self-taught ourselves because we loved our dad so much," she said. "We would go in day after day, Sunday after Sunday night and we just self-taught (ourselves). Then we had a choir and we built my dad’s church up from there."
Anthony Laster Sr. didn't know anything about church when he came to Erie from Chicago, where he was "doing things that would’ve ended with me dead or in jail," he said. But then he met Jones Sr.
"He was my father in the gospel and naturally," Laster Sr. said. "I told him at one time he was the biggest man I knew. He was just there in a critical moment of my life when I had no guidance."
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Under Jones Sr.'s ministry, Laster Sr. began to preach and learn how to be a loving pastor. As the head of the church, Laster Sr., said it's a great honor to take over for Jones Sr., but knows he'll never be able to fill his shoes.
"He was a very great man and he loved God," he said. "I can only go on what he’s taught me and shown me in life and continue to lead his people in the right direction."
Baylee DeMuth can be reached at 814-450-3425 or bdemuth@timesnews.com. Follow her on Twitter @BayleeDeMuth.
