Intro Text
Bud Jones started his taxidermy business when he was a teenager in Tallapoosa, Georgia.
When Jackie and Bud went on their first date in 1954, little did she know that his calling would set the scene for their love story.
Transcript:
Bud Jones: What do you remember about our first date?
Jackie Jones: Well, I got in the car, and you said, “Now, don’t get excited, Jackie, but my pet snake is loose in this car.” And I’m not a snake person.
Bud Jones: But you toughed it out.
Jackie Jones: I toughed it out. You were a hot number for me. We dated for two years, and then we decided to elope.
Bud Jones: I remember you didn’t want your mother and daddy to know where we’re going, so you threw your clothes out the window.
Jackie Jones: I did.
Bud Jones: And just as we were getting ready to leave, Ivy Pope called and said he had killed a strange bird in his lake and wanted me to come and look at it. So we went over to Ivy Popes Lake, and he had just killed a duck.
Jackie Jones: And by then it was night, and we had to go to the judge’s house. And when we got there, he was drunk.
Bud Jones: Well, he wasn’t exactly drunk. He was just kind of wobbling a little. Well,
Jackie Jones: he was feeling real good.
Bud Jones: Yeah, he was feeling good.
Jackie Jones: Well, I must have been crazy in love to go through this.
Bud Jones: Yeah.
Jackie Jones: We seldom ever have an argument, but if it is, it’s about something like an elephant’s eye.
Bud’s place is on the opposite side of the room from mine, and we get along real well, because we can’t see what each other are doing.
Bud Jones: She’s kind of bossy.
Jackie Jones: And I admit it, but I’ll say right here that you do know a lot.
Bud Jones: Well, I’ll be. I need to record that.
But let me tell you, a man or woman is blessed if they can go to work every morning and enjoy it. I’m just real happy that I’ve had a partner all of these years that I wouldn’t trade for anybody.
Jackie Jones: Thank you. Life has not been dull with you, bud.
Bud Jones: Well, I know that.
Jackie Jones: It’s been very
Bud Jones: But when you got in the car that night, you should’ve known.
Jackie Jones: That should’ve been my first clue as to what my life was gonna be like.
Bud Jones: Thank you, Jackie, and I love you.
Jackie Jones: I love you most.
Outro text:
After 68 years of marriage and more than half a century working together, Bud died at the age of 94.
Jackie continues to run their business alongside their daughter Cherry Jones.
