Stephanie, Lauren, Lindsey and Dr. Craig Jones

The Joneses: Choosing to Give

“Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses,
into something a little different than what it was before.” – C.S. Lewis

After studying for four years in preparation for a teaching career, Dr. Craig Jones made a drastic decision – to essentially start all over.

In the back of his mind, the Comanche, Okla., native had once considered a career in veterinary medicine, but this dream did not make him feel any different or any more qualified to become a vet than any other young person raised in his rural community.

“I grew up on a ranch,” says Jones.  “The vet in that area was an integral part of the community.  He was just as necessary as a doctor, banker or lawyer to make our community work.  Everyone went to school with the thought that it would be neat to be a vet.”

Like many children his age, Jones was no different in entertaining the thought of becoming a veterinarian only briefly before dismissing it as a dream impossible for him to reach. 

Thus he followed in his mother’s footsteps and pursued his second career choice – teaching.  After four years on a rodeo scholarship at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Jones only lacked a semester of student-teaching to earn his degree and begin his career.  But one sentence uttered by Jones’s friend’s father, a veterinarian, would change Jones’s entire life.

“He said, ‘you like to read, you’re smart, you can do it’,” says Jones referring to his friend’s father’s encouragement to pursue a veterinary career.  “My friend’s dad gave me the encouragement.  He was the one person that believed I could do it and I did it.”

With that, Jones took off to Oklahoma State University’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences and endured six more years of college to earn the title of veterinarian in 1989 and establish his own practice, Northside Animal Clinic in Cleburne, Texas, 17 years ago.

“There was a lot of effort, emotion and sleepless nights that occurred between wanting to be a vet and being one,” says Jones.

One less sleepless night for Jones came by way of a scholarship that helped him continue financing his education.  While Jones was immensely grateful for the gift upon receipt, today he is inspired to repay it by establishing the Craig and Stephanie Jones Endowed Scholarship to benefit a veterinary medicine student.

Besides setting an example of generosity for their daughters, Lauren, 10, and Lindsey, 7, it is Jones and his wife, Stephanie’s, hope that the recipient of their scholarship will feel a relief of financial stress and have the same desire to repay the gift in the future. 

“We chose to endow a scholarship because we didn’t want to just help a student, we wanted to help a lifetime of students,” says Jones.  “Our purest intention is that each person who receives a scholarship through us will feel the need to do the same thing and, in time, our gift will be the catalyst for several more.”

“I feel this scholarship provides the opportunity for someone to attend school who might not otherwise be able to handle the finances comfortably,” says Stephanie who shares her husband’s enthusiasm for the care of animals and graduated from Texas A&M with an animal science degree.

The couple’s scholarship will serve as a thankful reminder of the generosity Jones received from his donor and quite possibly inspire a trend of giving back.

Just as C.S. Lewis’s quote states, “every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you…into something a little different than what it was before,” Jones’s choices have made him a veterinarian, a father and a generous benefactor to future OSU students.
 

Top of page ^