Ted Jones was as proud of being in the guitar Thumb Pickers Hall of Fame as he was of his reputation as one of the country’s leading tax attorneys and political experts.
Jones, who died this week at 85, left a huge imprint on the legal profession, state and federal government, country music, politics, education, southern cooking and tomato farming.
Separated from his parents when he was a year old, Ted was raised by his grandparents on a farm in Georgia where he was born. He learned about Louisiana on childhood visits to his dad’s soft drink bottling plant in New Iberia.
Jones quit the agricultural college in Georgia where he was enrolled in 1954 to join the Air Force. He was sent to San Antonio but ended up at England Air Force Base in Alexandria.
That led him to Northwestern State University where he said his professors “put the fire to the clay of my character and prepared me to meet the world.”
It was the beginning of a long and powerful bond between Ted and the university. He was a professor at Northwestern in the Charles Ragus Endowed Chair in Business when he died.
Over the years, Northwestern paid tribute to Jones by inducting him into its Long Purple Line Hall of Distinction and with an Honorary Doctorate Degree.
Northwestern bestowed those highest honors it offers on Jones in recognition of his extraordinary career achievements and the extensive financial and political support he generated for the school.
In his college days, Ted cut his teeth on politics playing in bands that stumped the state with governors Earl Long and Jimmie Davis. He said that launched his participation in 175 political campaigns.
Ted got a law degree from Ole Miss and a Master of Laws in Taxation from Georgetown to prepare for dealing with legislatures, Congress, governors and others even higher up the political ladder.
He was lobbying for Louisiana when Congress voted to give the state a cut of offshore oil revenues for higher education. Ted brought back the first multi-million dollar check from the Treasury Department in his coat pocket.
Every member of Congress beginning in the 1960s knew Ted. Most of them were in his Washington home for his Country Dinner No. 1 of chicken fried steak, white gravy, mashed potatoes and purple hull peas or Country Dinner No. 2 of chicken and dumplings.
Ted often hauled a stainless steel smoker behind his truck and cooked whole pigs and all the trimmings for politicians and other friends.
Nobody had more political stories than Ted Jones. He was a master raconteur who entertained elected officials nationwide with his anecdotes for a half century.
He helped start the Washington Mardi Gras and was still a major player in that popular and widely-publicized event when he died.
His passion for guitar playing and country music never waned. He played with the Jimmie Davis Band for years when the former governor was recording hits like You Are My Sunshine.
Ted backed up Elvis Presley at the Louisiana Hayride in the 1950s. He was Merle Haggard’s personal attorney, went to dozens of Merle’s concerts and fed the band when it was in Louisiana.
After Ted mastered thumb picking on his guitar and was named to the group’s Hall of Fame, he got them a million dollars in federal money for a new building. The “business card” Ted handed out for years was printed on a guitar pick.
He is also in the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame and worked to keep it going and was named a Louisiana Legend by Louisiana Public Broadcasting.
Ted’s love for growing things that started on his granddaddy’s farm never faded. He had thousands of tomato plants and acres of watermelons for years on his farm in Bogalusa.
He gave away most of what he grew but enjoyed sitting on the tailgate of his truck under a shade tree in his Panama Jack straw hat selling produce and visiting with folks who came by.
Ted was an outdoorsman. He went on duck hunts with Gov. John Bel Edwards and Vice-President Dick Chaney, fished for salmon in Alaska with U.S. Sen. .Ted Stevens and caught bream and white perch at Toledo Bend with Congressman Billy Tauzin.
Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell, a long-time friend, offered an appropriate tribute when he heard of Ted’s death. He said, “Ted Jones was always the most interesting person in the room.”
REPRINTED FROM THE NATCHITOCHES TIMES