Working at the Aeronautical Center is a family affair for Dina and Elza Jones. Dina works as a Management and Program Analyst in the FAA Academy’s Contract Support Section (AMA-520B) while her father, Elza Jones is employed as an Electronics Technician in the Communication/ATS Support Branch in the FAA’s Logistics Center (AML-8030). While they don’t get to see each other during the work day, there is something special about knowing that your loved one is only a few buildings away. Between the two of them, they have 75 years of federal service. Elza started his federal career with the U.S. Air Force in 1953 and then retired after 30 years of service. He earned a degree in Radio Technology while in the military and then upon retiring, earned a Physical Education degree from Rose State College and then attended the University of Central Oklahoma to obtain a degree in Business and Human Resources. Elza joined the FAA in April 1993. Accustomed to working hard, Elza and his wife raised six children; four girls, and two boys while living the military life, relocating every 18 months or so.
In 1998, Elza learned about a job opening for an Office Assistant in the Air Traffic Division, he knew Dina would be right for the job so he encouraged her to apply. She did, and soon thereafter, Dina also became a federal employee. Even as a young girl at the age of fourteen, Dina worked as a secretary. She loved her job so much, she had aspirations of being a secretary for the President of the United States. Today, Dina is still employed in the Air Traffic Organization but is responsible for many projects and renovations. If you have visited any of the FAA Academy buildings, you may have seen the results of her decision-making processes, such as the renovation of the snack bar located in the Air Traffic Building and refurbishing General Thomas Stafford’s on-loan exhibits in the atrium area of the Thomas P. Stafford Building. She’s currently overseeing the reconstruction in the lobby of Building no. 3. Dina enjoys her work, and she says it inspires her to take more training to improve the learning process for instructors and students.
When fellow employees learn that the Dina and Elza are related, the response is “Oh, I know him/her, they are wonderful!” or “Elza is your father? He’s such a good guy!” or “Nooooo way, that’s your daughter?” Dina says, “It’s funny to hear folks talk about this wonderful man that I have had the pleasure of knowing my entire life.” Unassuming as they can be, these Joneses are most at peace when they are surrounded by the love and close connections of their family members. In 2010, Elza began noticing a decline in his wife’s memory, in particular after she survived a bout with colon cancer in 2009 and bacterial spinal meningitis in 2010, Elza’s wife was officially diagnosed with dementia, so the family has rallied around to take care of her and look after one other. “Our family is around each other many times during the week,” explains Elza. “Dina does all the scheduling of family activities, to be at the house to assist me with her [mother’s] care. Two other daughters have moved in with me. We spend a lot of time together.” Dina considers time with her family as a blessing. “When I look back on our lives, I see that my Mom did her very best to make sure we were close and stayed close as a family. Now with her dementia, it is showing up in spades with everyone coming out to help take care of her, so we don’t have to put her in an assisted living home. You reap what you sow!” says Dina.
Dedicated to his work, Elza is most proud of working with his colleague, Alan DeArman in implementing an AN/GRT Team that involves air-to-ground communication systems using the ‘three deep concept’, where you have three people with similar skill sets who are able to step-in at a moment’s notice to perform some complicated tasks. Prior to employment at the FAA, Dina worked at a Supply Depot at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, California. Besides her work at the Aeronautical Center, Dina volunteers and serves as the President of the Mutual Aid Pledge System (MAPS), an employee operated organization that provides monetary benefits to designated beneficiaries in the event of a MAPS member’s death, and is a Youth Minister to 6th-12th graders at her church. She also enjoys crocheting “graphgans” (which are like afghans or blankets made by following a chart in the form of a graph), baby afghans, hats, scarves, etc. for loved ones. One of Dina’s favorite places to hang out is Hobby Lobby amidst all the yarn and hooks. Elza’s hobbies include spending time with his children and his family. He enjoys helping them with their school work and other activities. He believes that he will have a grandchild in the Olympics someday, and another one in the NBA. He is so proud that many of his grandchildren are in honor society. He takes great pleasure in buying them Math and Reading books in the summer and just watching them learn and progress. Humble about his talents, at the age of 15, Elza excelled at baseball and was asked to try out for a local pro team. At the time, he didn’t really know what was being offered to him so he didn’t follow up on it, as he says he had no one to direct him. His very first job was being a paperboy for the Detroit News.
When asked what traits they admire in others, Dina conveys that she admires those that really enjoy what they do, and who are not afraid to share their gift. She appreciates people who will ask for help when they need it and honors those who are honest and trustworthy. Elza respects those who want to be the best at whatever they are doing, while also enjoying it. He also insists that one should never let success go to their head.
In the early years, family vacations were not prevalent in the Jones’ household. Being in the Air Force, they spent most of their time moving. Money was of concern and it was too expensive to travel with a large family. But in 1996, the family saved enough money to go to the Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Elza took his wife, seven grandchildren and a nephew on a three-week vacation! Today, the family enjoys occasional outings. Dina likes to take her grandkids to various locations in Oklahoma but they have also had recent travels to California. Just this year, Elza arranged an outing for 23 family members, and took them to the Oklahoma City zoo! “It’s like my second home with the kids,” Elza insists.
Pertaining to the best advice each of them has ever received, Dina says that “One time my husband and I were arguing, and he said to me…….you know, I think we’re going to agree to disagree on this one; and, he, also, made sure we never went to bed mad. Those two things went far in keeping our marriage a happy one.” Elza’s best advice was received while working in an auto plant in Detroit. He was working with a carpenter in a railroad car, and they were having a conversation about people being laid off. Elza said, “He told me that he would not get laid off because he had a trade. He advised me to get a trade, so I did.”
If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting the Joneses, you are definitely missing something special. Besides being devoted to their faith, they are compassionate, hardworking people, who know how to laugh and embrace life. They treasure their family time and the different gifts that each family member possesses. They giggle, because no one has yet correctly guessed their ages. People are surprised to learn how old they really are. In the words of Ausonius, a Roman poet, “Let us never know what old age is. Let us know the happiness time brings, not count the years.”
