Sidney F. Smith Toy Fund donor making new rituals in aftermath of deep loss
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NORTHAMPTON - For Christine Jones and her two daughters, Kennedy, 12, and Kolbie, 10, this will be the first Christmas in their new home in Florence.
The outside lights are up; inside, the tree in the living room sparkles and glows. They've talked a bit, Jones said, about starting some new traditions this season, maybe making some Christmas cookies together or setting aside a night to stay in and watch a special movie.
Mostly, they just want to be together.
"The holidays are tough," said Jones, 48.
This will be only the second Christmas since the death of Timothy Jones, who was Christine's husband and her daughters' father.
This season, while still coping with her own grief, Jones did something to make the holidays a little easier for others, with a contribution to the Gazette's Sidney F. Smith Toy Fund. Created in 1933, the fund provides certificates to eligible families who can use them to buy holiday gifts at participating stores.
Her $100 donation to the fund helped bring the total raised to date to $34,226.50. The Gazette is aiming to raise $75,000 to cover the cost of the vouchers sent out to area families in need.
Along with her check, Jones sent in this note: "In loving memory of my husband, Tim Jones, who will not be able to see his kids grow up."
Timothy Jones died on Aug. 4, 2010 in a horrific accident in Des Plaines, Ill., near where the family was then living. Early one weekday morning, on his way to work, he was killed when his car was hit by an oncoming train as he was driving across the tracks. He was 51.
The sudden loss upended life for Tina, as she is known, her daughters, and two older stepchildren, Kyle, 28, and Kelsey, 24.
In February of this year, Jones and her daughters moved to their new home in this area. Tina Jones - her maiden name was Vayda - had grown up in Williamsburg, graduated from Hampshire Regional High School in 1981, and still has a sister, brother and cousins in this area. Her husband's parents and a brother also live in western Massachusetts.
"I had nobody there," she said of her decision to relocate from Illinois back to more familiar surroundings.
Throughout the new house are photos of her late husband, a man with the solid, sturdy look of someone you could depend on.
In just about every picture, he is smiling and surrounded by an affectionate family. He was happy and outgoing by nature, Jones said.
"He was the kind of person who made people feel good about themselves," she said. "You loved him after meeting him for five minutes."
The two met through Coca-Cola, the company they both worked for. Christine worked in Greenfield and Tim in Pittsfield, she said. After they married in 2002, they lived in several different states as Tim moved up the corporate ladder. At the time of his death, he was a vice president for Coca-Cola, with responsibilities for the Chicago-Milwaukee market area.
Her husband worked very hard and was successful, Jones said, but that wasn't what defined him.
Growing up in Pittsfield, she said, his family hadn't had a lot in the way of luxuries. Tim's parents, though, raised him with love, respect, and good values, she said. "That's what made him the man he is," she said, slipping into the present tense. "He was always very humble," she said. "He always felt like he had to give back." He did a lot of volunteer work for girls and boys clubs, she said, and coached kids' soccer and basketball teams.
At the church they attended in Illinois, she said, they used to sign up to help a family in need at Christmas. Church members participating in the project would get a list of gift suggestions for each member of the particular family they had agreed to help. The idea was to get one gift for each family member.
Her husband, though, could never stop at just one, she said. "I think he bought everything on the list. He loved the holidays."
Having been in their new home for less than a year, Jones says she and her daughters are still adjusting to their new lives. On some days, she said candidly, it's still all she can do to get up out of bed. Her kids, though, keep her going, she said.
She plans to make this the family's permanent home. "This was our last move," she said. As the year draws to a close, Jones says it has been a difficult passage for her and her family but that she is certain she made the right decision. Asked if there was anything else she wanted to say about her husband, her eyes filled with tears.
"He was a good guy," she said.
Toy fund details
The Sidney Smith Toy Fund distributes $40 vouchers for each child from age 1 to 14 in eligible families from any Hampshire County community except Ware, or in the southern Franklin County towns of Deerfield, Sunderland, Whately, Shutesbury and Leverett.
The following stores are participating this year: A2Z Science and Learning Store, 57 King St.., Northampton; Deals & Steals, 76 Pleasant St., Northampton; Faces, 175 Main St., Northampton; F.J. Rogers, 3 Main St., Florence; Peebles Dept. Store, 2 College Highway, Southampton; JCPenney, 341 Russell St., Hadley; Mountain Goat, 189 Main St., Northampton; Target, Route 9, Hadley; The Toy Box, 201 North Pleasant St., Amherst; and Wilson's Department Store, 258 Main St., Greenfield.
The Gazette and Berkshire Children and Families in Hadley cover costs associated with the drive, freeing all donations to fund the vouchers.
Donations to the fund may be dropped off at or mailed to the Daily Hampshire Gazette at 115 Conz St. in Northampton, 01060 or Gazette offices at 67 Main St., Easthampton, or 9 East Pleasant St., Amherst. Donations may also be made through Gazettenet at www.gazettenet.com.
Checks should be made payable to the Sidney F. Smith Toy Fund.
