LOCAL MAN REMEMBERED AS KIND, CARING : WALK TO BE HELD IN HIS NAME

Oxford– Husband, son, father of two, pharmacist, Ole Miss alumnus, deacon at First Baptist Church in Grenada and friend of many are just some of the hats that Rickey Jones wore during his life.
“He was always bright and cheery. He never criticized anyone. He was a people person, and he never gave us any problems growing up,” Jones’ mother Sammie Jones said with a laugh.
Rickey was a man of many talents and positive attributes, said Jones, who was instrumental in initiating diabetes outreach efforts in Oxford for the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi (DFM).
He was also a man who lived with diabetes virtually his entire life.
“Rickey had diabetes since he was seven years old,” his mother said. “But I always said that people with diabetes are the sweetest.”
It was diabetes that took Jones’ life in January 2007 at the age of 55.
“We celebrated Christmas in his bedroom,” she said. “Then, he went home.”
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Rickey had been having many problems with diabetes, problems that led him to a life
on dialysis for five or six years, a leg amputation in 2002 and a kidney transplant in January 2006.
In spite of all of these obstacles, he was determined to defeat diabetes.
“With his spirit and outlook, he could make it,” his mother said. “Even after his leg was amputated, he continued going to work– not because he had to, but because he wanted to relieve the workload of his coworkers.”
Rickey passed away in January 2007 from complications resulting from his kidney transplant.
“He loved everyone, and everyone loved him. He was very vivacious, and he always thought of others,” Jones said. “What else can I say?”
In honor of the legacy left behind by Rickey Jones, the DFM’s annual Walk for Diabetes will be held in memory of Rickey Jones on Sunday, Oct. 28. The walk, which is one of seven scattered throughout the state, will be held at the Lyceum loop on the Ole Miss campus. Registration begins at 1 p.m., with the walk starting at 2 p.m.
The DFM is the state’s only nonprofit health organization that provides diabetes research, information, patient services and advocacy, and its mission is to provide hope through research, programs and service to the 346,500 Mississippians with diabetes. Every dollar raised by the DFM stays in the state to support these efforts. In addition, 90 cents of every dollar raised goes towards the organization’s charitable purposes. The DFM is the one diabetes organization totally dedicated to all Mississippians– from children to seniors– who live with diabetes.
Walk in memory of Rickey Jones or in honor of a loved one with diabetes by coming out to the Circle on the Ole Miss campus Oct. 28. Call 1-877-DFM-CURE or visit the Web site, www.msdiabetes.org for registration information.