Almost invariably, Dr. Mason Jones was the first and last person to greet us, and that seemed as it should be. Although lean and lanky, the retired Dayton pediatrician exuded the kindly benevolence of Father Christmas.
Jones purchased the 50-acre farm in the late 1950s with his close friend, Ron Baker, to raise quarter horses. Then one day he asked, “Wouldn’t it be fun to start growing Christmas trees for little kids?”
“Dad was a big kid,” recalled his daughter, Laura Rench.
Although Rench and her husband, Dave, bought Country Pines years ago, her father was a constant presence, directing traffic, selling hot chocolate, making popcorn in the big stone hearth.
This year, we approached the tree farm with something of a heavy heart. Dr. Jones wouldn’t be there to welcome us. He died Aug. 18 at the age of 95 — an unexpected loss, despite his years. Last Christmas, he had been hale and hearty as ever.
To make matters worse, our oldest, Alec, was sick and couldn’t join us — the first time he hadn’t led the exploration for the Perfect Christmas Tree. In a 1996 column, I wrote about our first trip to Country Pines, when Alec was 5 years old and his sister, Veronica, only 5 months old: “Jim and Alec picked out a saw, filled with manly pride at the thought of cutting their own tree. Alec wandered among the rows of trees like Balboa claiming these lands for Spain, inspecting each tree with a proprietorial air. He liked them all: short, tall, plump, bedraggled.”
That year, Alec settled on a pre-cut tree, but soon afterward he established his unquestioned right to cut down the Christmas tree — only after the arduous ritual of selecting and rejecting dozens of candidates. Who would do the honors in his absence?
Tears came to my eyes as I trekked the muddy fields — shellacked with images of my much-younger children scampering through the fields, and of Dr. Jones congratulating us when we returned with our prize.
In 2002, only a month after we brought our youngest, NiNi, home from China, Jones stopped us on our way out and returned with a Ni-Ni-sized tree, about two feet high. “A Charlie Brown tree!” the older kids cried in unison.
By any worldly measure, Jones had been a successful man. He raised five children and was married to his wife, Alice, for nearly 70 years. During his 40-year career in medicine, he served as chief of staff at the Children’s Medical Center of Dayton and past president of the Montgomery County Medical Society and Dayton Area Heart Association. In an effort to honor nurses, he created the Mason S. Jones, MD Nursing Leadership Lecture at Children’s.
Yet I can’t help wondering if he’ll be remembered just as much for the way he nurtured the Christmas spirit throughout the Miami Valley. He had a soft spot for the smallest and sickliest tree saplings, often saying, “They deserve a chance to grow.”
Apparently he felt the same way about all the kids he hired to work every winter at Country Pines. “He fostered great relationships with the fabulous young men and women who worked out here during the years,” Rench said. “He loved them dearly and loved to hear their stories.”
Rench attributes her father’s longevity to his active lifestyle at Country Pines. “He wouldn’t stop,” she said.
“He would show up at 8 o’clock Saturday morning, and he did everything — he mowed, he planted, he sheared. It was a real source of joy, because he liked getting out in the fresh air, he loved the garden.”
Rench misses her father terribly, but she admits, “I talk to him all the time, and it really helps. Most of the time, I’m laughing with him. He was always so upbeat. It’s hard, but oh my goodness, he’s everywhere out here.”
And maybe, just maybe, the important things do remain the same, in spite of the changes and losses that seem especially poignant this time of year.
I can still recall, vivid as a picture, Dr. Jones presenting the Charlie Brown tree to toddler NiNi.
It’s now side by side with another image: 10-year-old NiNi, her face a portrait in determination, cutting down her first Christmas tree, clean through.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2209 or mmccarty@DaytonDaily News.com.
About the Author