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ROY — A retired Roy teacher is now getting an outpouring of support from some of his former students as his family is going through a difficult time, yet again.
They're about to lose a third family member to cancer.
The Roy Junior High building now is not the same building that Larry Jones taught math in for more than 30 years, but that school community still remembers him.
Larry Jones is now retired and spends his days caring for his 38-year-old daughter who is in hospice for brain cancer.
"Throughout his tenure, he had this habit of helping everyone," his son Tyler Jones explained.
The school is not the building, but rather the many people who remember Mr. Jones.
"One of his students would come and say they were worried about where they were going to get their next meal, and he would slip them a $20 bill," his son explained.
It's just the kind of teacher Tyler Jones said his dad was. But he said his dad rarely asked for help himself, even when his wife, Patty Jones, struggled through cancer in her vocal cords and again with breast cancer that took her life in 2012.
KSL-TV produced a story with Patty Jones for Mother's Day just before her death because she, too, was known for being giving, in being a Young Women's leader at her church.
About four years before, Tyler Jones' oldest sister, Carri Jones, was also taken by cancer, a brain tumor. That brings us to Kali Jones, now in the final stages of her third bout with brain cancer.
"Kali is very much like my dad, in that she gives and she will give, and she will give — especially a smile and her positive, bubbly attitude, that she's so well-known for," Tyler Jones said.
All of the treatments can be expensive but, as Tyler Jones explains, his siser hasn't always had insurance. And recently, his dad took out another loan to help cover the costs.
A former student has set up this website* to help out Larry Jones and his family.
*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
