MEET THE FAMILY

Team Jones

Team Jones was established in 1987.  Andy was a Marine Artillery Surveyor at Camp Pendleton looking for a place to live when his roommate got married.  Valeri was a software tester working in Solana Beach, looking for a roommate to replace the ones she'd had to evict for non-payment. They were introduced by a roommate service (thank you Susan Shaffer, wherever you are!) and they moved in together on the first of March, 1987. They announced their engagement in the middle of May, and were married in Pennsylvania on the 18th of August that same year. 

Few of their friends expected that a radical right-wing red-neck Republican Jarhead from Texas and a radical left-wing liberal ex-hippie Democrat from Massachusetts would EVER be able to stay together, and many bets were made as to how long THAT marriage would last - none of those friends bet more than a year.

We have remained happily married since then, and to our knowledge, all bets have been paid.

Andy

Andy was born in Iowa on March 30, 1961 and was raised in Midland, Texas. He graduated from Lee High School in 1979, and joined the Marines. He was an 0844, Fire Direction Controlman/Surveyor for artillery. He also had schools and training as an embarkation specialist, NBC NCO, Career Planner, Recruiter and as a marksmanship coach. In the course of eight years, he served on Okinawa, Japan, at Camp Pendleton, California, 29 Palms, California, and Recruiting Station San Francisco. He has visited most of the Pacific Rim on duty, and toured Europe on leave. He was honorably discharged from the Marines in 1988.

He has worked as a land surveyor in California and Utah since leaving the Marine Corps, marking out highways, bridges, dams, and hundreds of buildings that range in size from an 4-by 8-foot playhouse in the back yard of a suburban residence to a 32-story office building in downtown Salt Lake City. His professional goals are to eventually get his State License and to learn CAD (computer-aided design) well enough that he doesn't have to work outside anymore.

His hobbies include shooting, reloading, fishing, hunting, auto mechanics (yeah, there's some difference of opinion, there), reading, minor woodworking and carpentry, and collecting old, WWII-era military surplus rifles, especially the Russian-made Mosin-Nagant. He coaches rifle and pistol whenever the opportunity arises and loves to shoot the family's black powder cannon.  On any given evening, you will probably find him playing soldier in any number of online war games such as Call of Duty, Counterstrike, or Battlefield 1942.

Andy is an exceptional writer, but instead of working on the Great American Novel, he keeps a web log of life and politics on Blogspot.

Valeri

Valeri (no "e", it got lost when she moved to California) was born in Massachusetts on August 18, 1957 - which makes her a Yankee, but all relationships are made stronger by overcoming handicaps.

She grew up in Arizona, and later Pennsylvania. She was an au pair in Germany right after high school, and spent a year touring Europe. She traveled across the country twice by herself in the late 70's, and sang and played guitar in several bands. She visited Beijing on business in 1985, and toured the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City and Tienenman Square before it became a household name.

Valeri studied Data Processing at the Northern Chester County Technical School (NCCTS, which later changed its name to Center For Arts and Technology,  Pickering campus).  Her first job at a computer company was 1981 at Kaypro, Inc., where she worked as a shipping/receiving worker and runner/truck driver. At the end of her 6 years there, she was a senior technical writer and head of software testing in 1987. Having found that she had a knack for it, Valeri continued testing software at various companies.  In 1991 she was recruited by Novell which brought the family to Utah.  She remains in the field of software testing/quality assurance.

Her hobbies include SCCA Solo racing, reading, pistol shooting (her favorites are the Ruger Security Six .357 revolver with a 6" barrel and her Ruger P89 9mm semi-automatic), beadwork, and chatting on the internet where she is sometimes known as HelenWheels.

Valeri keeps an online journal at LiveJournal and has both a MySpace and Facebook page (search "Valeri Stapel Jones").  If you would like to see some pictures and a brief history of her family before she was married, please click here.

Mary

Mary Vee was born in San Diego in February of 1990 and is named for her two grandmas.

She has a beautiful singing voice, and enjoys long boarding down Provo Canyon.  She is also a very good creative writer, but since she graduated from high school in 2008, she only practices that art by keeping a journal.  

Her mom would not sign the necessary permission forms when she was underage, so Mary got the treble clef tattoo pictured to the left about thirty-seven seconds after she turned 18.  Since then she has gotten other ink (including the phrase "Seventeen Ain't so sweet" on her thigh) and piercings without permission from her parents.   

Mary has expressed an interest in a career as an elementary school teacher, but is taking some time off before she goes to college.

There are more pictures of Mary and blog entries on her MySpace page.

Elizabeth

Elizabeth was born in American Fork, Utah in February of 1993 during the last huge storm of the 1992-1993 winter season. Ask Valeri about that some time, it's one of those things that really suck when they're happening, but later in life it makes a great story.

When she was a baby, Liz was often called Biffster because her then 3-year-old sister was unable to pronounce Liz and called her "Bif" instead. Other nicknames have included Jellybean and Jarvis - don't ask me why.

Elizabeth is a very smart girl. About midway through first grade, she decided it wasn't challenging enough, so she skipped to second grade and mastered that in no time at all. Her academic prowess has mostly continued, and if she stays on her current track, she will have enough credits to graduate halfway through senior year. It is expected that she will graduate with her class in the spring of 2010.

Liz lives to dance (that second word is NOT misspelled), and is now competing, performing and choreographing with the Orchesis dance company at school.  She also enjoys editing photos and posting them on her MySpace page.

More Pictures

The Cats

You'll have to meet the cats on their own page.