Perry Mac Jones, 85, passed away on Nov. 10 in Merriam, Kansas.
Jones grew up in the small Northwestern Louisiana town of Mansfield. When he was 15, his family moved to Shreveport, Louisiana.
Perry honored his Southern upbringing with his love of cooking some of his favorite Cajun dishes, including gumbo, red beans and rice and okra-forward fare. He also liked project cooking, like preserving lemons for future recipes.
Perry’s biggest love may have been racing. As a young man, he purchased his first sportscar, a blazing-red 1958 Triumph TR3, and joined the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA).
For several years, the SCCA used the DeSoto Airport, a World War II airbase, for regional races in Mansfield. As soon as he hit the SCCA’s legal racing age of 21, Jones entered his TR3 in his first sanctioned race, the Mansfield Sports Car Races in March 1961. The two-day event featured around 100 drivers that year — Jones as the youngest entrant, who participated in the novice “Le Petite” race.
“I would like to say I won that race, but the fact is I started in the middle of the pack and finished the same (fifth place),” Jones said. You could say Perry “didn’t win no checkered flags, but he never did come in last.”
Perry said he knew his parents wouldn’t approve of him entering the race. He figured since they were both in South America where his father was supervising the construction of a pipeline, they would never find out.
However, his plan was quickly foiled when a photographer from the local Mansfield Enterprise newspaper snapped a photo of Jones at the race and ran it in the newspaper that week along with a story highlighting his participation. Friends of Jones’ parents mailed them four separate clippings of the write-up with the photo of him sitting in his TR3, helmet and all, ready to race. He was correct in assuming they would not be pleased with this news.
But Jones’ first race wasn’t a total loss. At the event, he met some contacts from automotive-filter manufacturer Fram. A couple years later, they offered Jones a sales position with the company in Kansas City, Missouri. He moved to Kansas City, where he met his wife, Sandy, and started a family with his two daughters, Melissa and Heather.
Because Sandra Rae Nearenberg was Jewish, Perry converted in 1973.
When the team at Fram heard that Jones had motorsports experience, they asked him to help form a racing program for the brand. So, in addition to his regular sales responsibilities, Jones began helping recruit drivers to use the company’s products and display Fram decals on their race cars.
Jones said he never imagined that first race in Mansfield would lead to his 40-year career in the automotive aftermarket. He’s glad he got behind the wheel, put the pedal to the metal and enjoyed the ride ever since.
Close friend Bill Schmidt met Perry when they enlisted to work as medics in the Air Force Reserve at Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base in Belton, Missouri.
During their time as reservists, Schmidt said he vividly remembers their first two-week summer camp at the base hospital. On day one, they were assigned duties including bedpan and latrine cleanup. Not appreciating the assignments, Perry walked into the unit commanding colonel’s office and explained they were there to learn medical training so they would be ready to serve as medics if they were called up. Perry’s nervy demands led to Bill and Perry’s duties the next day changing to taking X-rays, giving shots, administering physicals and emergency room etiquette.
Schmidt said this is who Perry was, someone who aggressively stood up for what he believed in.
Around the same time, Schmidt said Jones desperately wanted to take a European vacation but couldn’t afford it then. So, he schemed up a plan, donned his full Air Force uniform, and talked the base ground crew into letting him catch a transport plane flight across the Atlantic to Spain.
On the way there, the aircraft landed in the Azores islands for refueling. During the stop, the pilot visited the back of the plane to check on everyone. The captain was surprised to see Perry and asked why he was on the flight.
“Apparently a vacation in Europe for a reservist airman not on duty was not a proper use of an Air Force flight, so he ordered Perry off the plane,” Schmidt said.
However, some of the local airmen explained to the captain that there were no commercial flights back to the United States from the Azores and Jones would be stranded there. So, the captain reluctantly agreed to ferry Perry along to his Spanish destination but told him he never wanted to see his face again and to never again pull such a stunt.
Schmidt summed it up best: Perry led an interesting life and tried to live it to the fullest.
“I enjoyed sharing his stories and will miss him calling to get together for lunch. Farewell, my friend!” he closed.
Perry is preceded in death by his parents, Herman and Gladys, and his wife, Sandy.
Perry is survived by his sister, Hollisann Kent; daughters, Melissa (Chris) and Heather; and grandchildren, Kennedy and Warner.
