Oral History, Harold Benson Jones

In this oral history, Elizabeth Oden interviews Harold Benson Jones (1919-1999) in his Worthington home at 154 Franklin Avenue on May 15th, 1986. Jones recalls Worthington during his youth and topics include the schools he attended, sports, businesses in Worthington, Halloween festivities, transportation, farming, and other memories.

Harold Jones moved to Worthington when he was in the sixth grade and graduated from Worthington High School in 1940. According to an April 5th, 1989 "Worthington News" article, he attended Florida A&M University on a football scholarship where he majored in music. At the start of World War II, Harold was employed by the Jeffrey Manufacturing Co. making war supplies after a football injury kept him out of active service. He married Juanita Reynolds, with whom he had five children, and studied voice at Capital University. In the early 1960s, he studied at OSU, majoring in social work and minoring in music. There he was a member of the OSU Symphonic Choir. In 1973, Jones was ordained a local elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and in 1989 was associate pastor at St. John A.M.E. Church in Worthington.

Mr. Jones was known as the soloist for the Memorial Day services at Walnut Grove Cemetery. He retired from employment with the Worthington School District in 1985 after 26 years of service at Wilson Hill Elementary School. From many reports, Harold Jones was not only head custodian, but a counselor and best friend to hundreds of Worthington students.

He also served throughout the years on a number of community organizations, boards and commissions including the Worthington Alliance of Black Parents, the North Area Mental Health Board, the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, the Worthington Pastors' Association and the Worthington Community Coordinating Board. He was a founding member of the Worthington Human Relations Commission.