Patriotic flair
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Jonell Jones honors the Red Cross service of her great-aunt Nell Orth, shown in this photograph. The quilt is made from Orth’s Red Cross uniforms, and her “canteen aide” cap and a certificate of service grace the walls of the room.
[Times photo: Thomas M. Goethe]
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A Tampa woman transforms her home's guest room into a salute to America.
By JUDY STARK, Times Homes Editor
© St. Petersburg Times
published May 25, 2002
TAMPA -- "I was red, white and blue when red, white and blue wasn't cool," Jonell Jones says.
She's got the flag collection, the Uncle Sams, the pillows, the piece of barn siding cut in the shape of a heart and painted you-know-what colors, the T-shirts. (The one she was wearing as she spoke said, "My heart is red, white and blue.")
She's got a room in her North Tampa home dedicated to all things red, white and blue. And some of them are real treasures.
[Times photo: Thomas M. Goethe] |
Guests who stay at Jonell Jones’ home have no doubt where her allegiance lies. “I always thought that one of these days I’m going to have a red, white and blue room, and when we moved in here in 1996, I said, ‘Now’s my chance.’ ” |
"My great-grandmother cut up my great-aunt's Red Cross uniforms to make this quilt," says the Yankee Doodle Dandy -- call her J.J., everyone else does -- as she pointed to a red and white hand-stitched quilt on the bed.
The story behind the quilt is a little piece of 20th century history come to life.
It was in the mid-1940s, while World War II raged, that J.J.'s great-aunt Nell Orth volunteered for the Red Cross canteen in Evansville, Ind. Born in 1898, Nell Orth was two years older than the century. She and her husband, Joe, had no children, so she had time to serve coffee and sandwiches and welcome the troops.
For her efforts she received a certificate that hangs on the wall of her great-niece's home, right next to her framed blue "canteen aide" cap: "To Mrs. Joseph Orth, in recognition of meritorious personal service performed in behalf of her nation, her armed forces, and suffering humanity in the Second World War." It is dated December 1945 and bears the signature (probably not his very handwriting) of President Harry Truman.
They don't write certificates like that any more.
Her uniforms eventually became the quilt, which J.J. says guests actually use. When it needs washing she takes it to a coin laundry and runs it through a big washer with whatever laundry detergent she happens to have. (It comes out fine.)
After the war the Orths moved to Inverness, says J.J., who is named for her aunt and uncle, Joe and Nell. Both are now deceased.
On the same wall, just below Great-Aunt Nell's memorabilia, hang a pair of dog tags from World War I. They are stamped with the name of Mack P. Thornton, Nell's brother, who was an ambulance driver in that war.
Another wall is the photo gallery, bearing the likenesses in uniform of a dozen family members who served their country. Among them is a photograph of J.J.'s husband, Jesse Jones, 74, a retired Arkansas state trooper. It hangs next to the certificate documenting his crossing of the International Date Line when he served in the Merchant Marine during World War II. "The Navy rejected him because he's colorblind," his wife explains.
"I've always been really patriotic," says J.J., 59, a benefits administrator at Human Resources Inc. in St. Petersburg. "When I turned 21, the thing that made me most excited was that I could vote." Over the years she began to collect patriotic memorabilia. "I always thought that one of these days I'm going to have a red, white and blue room, and when we moved in here in 1996, I said, "Now's my chance."'
The walls are hung with the folk-art patriotic angel she painted, a couple of American flags, an old-fashioned portrait of Great-Uncle Mack as a child, and pictures, signs and accessories she has collected or received as gifts over the years. "Different people have brought me different things. It's a little overwhelming," she acknowledges.
[Times photo: Thomas M. Goethe]
One of Jonell Jones’ favored possessions is an Uncle Sam hat adorned with campaign buttons. “I’ve always been really patriotic,” she says.
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One treasured item is a tall Uncle Sam hat on which she has pinned the campaign buttons, both original and reproductions, she has collected over the years. Her sister acquired the hat when she flew home to Little Rock, Ark., on election night 1992, the night Bill Clinton was first elected president. J.J. was a Clinton volunteer.
There's another treasured item in the room that has become even more important in recent months. On July 4, 1999, J.J. and a friend had brunch at Windows on the World atop the World Trade Center in New York City. Later they boarded a ferry to watch the spectacular fireworks display from New York Harbor. As they cruised past the Statue of Liberty with the sun setting, J.J. snapped a photo of Lady Liberty bathed in a golden glow. That photo now hangs prominently on the wall.
Since Sept. 11, the memory of that day, the statue, the fireworks and the World Trade Center have taken on a special red, white and blue significance.
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