ST. PETE, Fla. — It’s a family reunion decades in the making. This week, 10 siblings from across the country, ranging in age from 95 to 73, are reuniting for the first time in 43 years.
And it’s all taking place in the city where they grew up, St. Pete.
Sitting together, staring out at the Gulf of Mexico at their beach house rental, the Jones Family siblings said it’s good to be home.
“One house with all of us together, we’ve done nothing but talk,” 95-year-old Betty Worden, the oldest of the siblings, said.
Nostalgia ran deep as these 10 brothers and sisters reminisced over family photo albums.
“We were looking at photos from way before I was born, and I have no idea about these people, so I’m learning things that my parents did that I didn’t know,” 73-year-old Ron Jones, the baby of the family, said.
“We had the most wonderful parents. You just couldn’t have better,” 89-year-old June Eason said.
While they may be in their 70s, 80s and 90s now, when you get them all together, the games, laughter and camaraderie are just as strong as ever.
“We’d play games like red rover, red rover let the ball come over, hide and go seek, and all those things that kids play,” 87-year-old Eddie Jones said. “We got along good together most of the time. I would tease my sister, of course."
Despite growing up in St. Pete, the only one who still lives here is the middle child, Dan Jones. The rest of the siblings are spread out around the country, including Seattle, Nashville and Madison.
“And I just prayed for a year, 'Lord keep us healthy so we can have this reunion all together,' and here we are,” 85-year-old Dan said.
84-year-old Erma Jean Andrews agreed.
“It's wonderful to all get together again and just to find out what each one is doing,” she said.
It’s going to take a week-long reunion to catch up on how much the family has grown.
“35 children, 66 grandchildren, 28 great-grandchildren and one great, great, grandchild,” Erma said.
They said the word that comes up the most is “fortunate.” Over the years, seven of the 10 have overcome cancer, while five of the men served in the U.S. military during wartime.
But no one is surprised that they’re all still here.
“My mom lived to be 105 and a half, and her mother lived to be 103 and a half, so we have good genes,” Betty said.
