Business, friends come to Riverbank veteran’s aid

Ed Jones is a resourceful guy.

During his Army career from 1952-64, he was an engineer who worked on precise power equipment, he said. He maintained generators that powered missile firing systems.

At the Riverbank mobile home park where he’s lived since 1990, the Korean War veteran and retired truck driver built front and back porches.

With support from City Councilman Cal Campbell, he’s been working to have a sidewalk built in front of the Park Sierra mobile home park on Patterson Road because he and other senior residents walk or use motorized scooters to get to nearby businesses along the busy thoroughfare.

But when it came to addressing a big problem in his mobile home, the 85-year-old hit a wall. Or, rather, a hole in the floor.

Specifically, the floor in his bathroom was collapsing from long-ago water damage, and Jones had resorted to putting wood wedges around the toilet to keep it from falling through. He also was using a 5-gallon bucket to fill the toilet bowl so he could flush it. He didn’t have the funds to renovate, and he didn’t have a credit rating, he said. “I paid cash for everything my whole life.”

Diane Talbert, a friend of Ed’s (or “Eddie,” as she calls him), learned of his plight and took action. A fellow member of Korean War Veterans Post 316, Talbert started a crowd-funding drive on the website gofundme.com, with a goal of raising $8,000. She steered some attention to it on Facebook, but the drive stalled at $100.

But Talbert, who’s also secretary and treasurer of the Riverbank chapter of the nationwide nonprofit service group Royal Neighbors of America, didn’t give up. She said she secured a donation from the Tracy-based Welcome Home Heroes Foundation to help Jones with bathroom repairs. And through another member of the Korean War veterans group, she was put in contact with owners of Direct Appliance and Direct Appliance Flooring & Home in Modesto.

Sam Garrett, a co-owner of the remodeling side of Direct Appliance Flooring & Home, stepped forward to get the job done, donating materials and a crew’s time.

Recounting the bathroom’s many problems, Garrett noted that Jones had to step over a 2-foot tub edge to use shower. And because of what Talbert called “haphazard plumbing repairs” from before Jones bought the mobile home, much of the room’s floor needed to be rebuilt, Garrett said.

The job has been a big one for such a small space. The crew started at the beginning of last week, Garrett said, and did all new plumbing, including a shower and drain system, a vanity and sink and an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant toilet that sits a bit higher than a standard one.

“Realistically, if we were to do a bathroom job like this, it would be about $7,000,” he said. He added that the crew replaced the bathroom window, too, because the old one had rusted shut, giving the room no ventilation other than the door.

By the end of Thursday, the crew expected to have the sink and toilet installed. The shower still needed installation of safety bars and a curtain rod. Then new cabinetry and painting will finish the job.

Working with Jones around has been a kick for the crew, Garrett said. “He’s a good guy. ... He’s still a firecracker at his age,” with a lifetime of stories to tell.

Still, Jones said he’s tried to stay out of the way. “I think it’s a helluva thing they’re doing for me,” he said. “I do my thing, they do theirs, I go to the restaurant and tell them, ‘Don’t let anybody come in and steal things,’” he added, smiling. “I’m sure they don’t want me to sit around watching them work; you know how that is.”

Staying out of the way is easy for the sociable veteran. For one, he loves to tend to his garden of aloe vera, tomatoes, calla lilies and other potted plants. “This is my pastime, what I do to keep busy,” he said, adding that he also brings in some pocket money selling the lilies at yard sales and flea markets.

And Jones is a morning fixture at the McDonald’s nearby at Patterson and Oakdale roads, where he “fills a corner” daily with friends and fellow veterans, Talbert said.

She said her friend is “kind of an icon around town, sort of an ambassador. ... He attends City Council meetings and is very concerned about our city.”

Talbert and an owner of Direct Appliance both noted that Jones is a proud man who was reluctant to accept the bathroom remodel, viewing it as charity. But they see it more as a small repayment to a man who’s served his country and his community well.

“He’s just a beloved guy in our community,” Talbert said. “When he enters a room, you know Eddie’s in the room.”

“I have a big mouth,” Jones replied, not missing a beat.

“I,” Talbert finished, teasingly, “wasn’t going to say that.”

This story was originally published July 9, 2015 at 4:43 PM with the headline "Business, friends come to Riverbank veteran’s aid."