PLAINFIELD — Four days after family members and friends gathered to celebrate the 68th wedding anniversary of Lorraine Laneuville Jones and Charles A. Jones Jr., death parted the couple.
Dr. Lorraine Jones, who got married on June 30, 1945, and practiced medicine for more than 60 years, died of natural causes on the Fourth of July at the age of 92.
She opened her home office on West Fourth Street in the early 1960s, founded the Plainfield Health Clinic and fully committed herself to the community. She was often asked why she stayed in the neighborhood.
“I want to be here in the West End with the people, to practice with the people who need it the most,” was her usual response.
She later became the first black female pediatrician affiliated with Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center in Plainfield, and the first to be a trustee on its Board of Governors. The hospital closed in 2008.
“It speaks to the love and fight in her to make it to that day,” said granddaughter Ava Joseph, speaking of the anniversary. “She even gave the family a bit of a buffer, a few extra days before she passed.”
The couple met as college students in Nashville, Tenn. She attended Meharry Medical College, and he was studying mortuary science at Gupton-Jones College.
“It was just a normal meeting at Stuart’s Restaurant,” said Charles Jones, also 92. “We were in a group. There were a lot of medical students at the house where I stayed, and every night I’d be their guinea pig — they’d listen to my heart, look down my throat.
“After two weeks of knowing her, I told her I wanted to marry her. She wanted to finish her internship and residency before making any plans.”
He didn’t need to wait too long because she always was on the fast track.
Born on Dec. 12, 1920, Lorraine Laneuville graduated high school at 14, got her undergraduate degree three years later at Xavier University (La.), where she started a Delta Sigma Theta chapter, and earned her medical degree from Meharry in three years. She was a practicing physician at 24.
After she completed her residency in Scranton, Pa., her future husband popped the question and they married the following year.
“When we were first married, we lived in Atlantic City for a couple of years,” Jones said. “Then my wife took over my uncle’s practice in Farmville, Va.”
Jones established his own funeral home in Farmville.
The couple’s first child, Charles A. Jones III, was born in 1949; daughter Gueringer Ann arrived in 1952 and another son, Michael Jones, was born in 1960.
The move north
The 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education changed the course of the family’s life.
Virginia’s Prince Edward County closed its schools rather than integrate, forcing the couple to send their two older children to live with an aunt about 100 miles away to attend school.
The situation was rough on both the children and their parents.
“We decided to come to Plainfield (in 1961) to get out of the segregated South,” Jones said. “We had a lot of connections in medicine, and there were many black professionals here. Plainfield used to be called the Queen City — there were factories and several businesses. It was easy for my wife to establish herself in her practice.”
Jones opened his own business, a luncheonette, on Prescott Place and Fourth Street.
In the summer of 1967, the Newark riots triggered riots in Plainfield, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage. “White flight” ensued, and many major businesses and factories moved out of town.
Jones closed his luncheonette, which was struggling like other small businesses, and went to work for Prudential, where he stayed for 13 years.
He retired to work for himself again. This time, he started an insurance company, Insurance Unlimited, which he sold only five years ago.
The secret to a long, happy marriage, Jones said, is picking someone who has your back.
“Having a real partner, and knowing you have each other’s back and each other’s love,” is important, he added.
“My marriage means a lot to me because if it wasn’t for my wife, I wouldn’t have been as successful in business as I was. She was the backbone of the family, really. She always told me there’s nothing you can’t do. She would always build me up when I got discouraged.”
The couple continued to be Plainfield community stalwarts, even after they both retired. Over the years, she received many awards. In 1995, the American Medical Association honored her for practicing medicine for 50 years. Xavier University also lauded her for starting its Delta Sigma Theta chapter.
But her richest legacy is her strong family — her three children, six grandchildren and one great- grandson. Among them is a school principal, an engineer and a doctor. Her nephew, Eric Laneuville, is a well-known actor, director and martial artist.
Of course, she also is survived by her husband and partner of 68 years.
“We always did things together,” Jones said. “We did a lot of traveling together. We always thought things out together. We enjoyed family life — we always enjoyed the family.”
SERVICES: Viewing today at Rose of Sharon Community Church, 825 W. Seventh St., Plainfield, from 6 to 9 p.m. Mass at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Bernard Church, 1235 George St. in Plainfield. Repast will follow at Rose of Sharon Church immediately after funeral.