‘A lot of thank you cards’: Rock Hill school surprises 103-year-old with a box of goodies

There’s a saying in Rock Hill, S.C. most residents likely have heard: Once a Bearcat, always a Bearcat.

Nothing could be more true for Dorothy Jones, who is a native of Rock Hill and celebrating her 103rd birthday in California. Jones is the last surviving member of the Rock Hill High School class of 1938, where she was the captain of the girl’s basketball team. The mascot is a bearcat.

Rock Hill holds some of her greatest memories.

Jones received a big surprise the night she was celebrating Thanksgiving and her birthday, with family and friends, The Rock Hill Herald learned during a call with Jones and her daughter Kate Jones Sunday. Jones’ birthday officially is on Nov. 29.

She had just eaten a slice of four-layered coconut cake and a sampling of pumpkin pie when Jones’ daughter, who is 71, brought out a big box.

Jones saw the words Rock Hill — then the tears flowed.

Inside the box were dozens of letters from children in Ms. Chubb’s first-grade class at Northside Elementary School, where she also attended; artwork, a card from the superintendent Tommy Schmolze; a card from the girl’s basketball coach Kenny Orr; a basketball jersey, a long-sleeve t-shirt and a basketball with more than a dozen signatures. They all wished her a happy birthday.

“What came out was a bunch of tears,” Jones said.

More than anything, Kate Jones wanted her mother to have a memento from her Alma Mater to cherish her time in Rock Hill. But she got much more.

“This was just kind of mind-blowing,” she said.

Lindsay Machak, executive director of communications and marketing for the Rock Hill School District, said the district decided to do something big for the alumna.

“We decided that we would do one better and really dig into what she loved most about being part of Rock Hill High School and Rock Hill schools,” she said.

What Dorothy Jones loved was being on the girl’s basketball team.

She can remember names of some of her teammates and that the girls played in a church gymnasium. Near the court was a hot oven they had to dodge around. She also remembers the game was played differently than it was in the 1930s.

“It changed completely,” she said. “And I watch the girls and guys play now and they race from one end of the court to the other and that one session would do me in.”

She said the “next game” she plays, she will be number 00.

Dorothy Jones also attended Ebenezer Elementary Schools and a three-teacher school called Highland Park. She remembers the administrator’s name was Mr. Ziegler. She said she also remembers being the smartest girl in the third grade.

“Rock Hill was a wonderful little town,” she said.

After talking about her time here, Dorothy Jonessaid “these things have been so vague for so long. It’s bringing back memories of a lifetime.”

The Depression was very hard on her parents and five siblings, Kate Jones said. Her mother and her sister Rebekah Bolin were the only two who graduated from high school, which only went to eleventh grade.

“Rock Hill has such a special place because in that moment in adolescence when a young person starts to be acknowledged by a greater field of social contacts and social engagement,” Kate Jones said. “That started mother on the road of living a much larger life than what her family of origin was able to say, imagine.”

After high school, Dorothy Jones, who was known as Dot Robinson at the time, worked at the Bleachery in Rock Hill in its office. During World War II, she joined the U.S. Navy as a Yeoman.

After the war, she returned to Rock Hill, where she purchased her family their first home.

She and a friend whom she met while in the Navy, wanted to help in the reconstruction effort in Japan after the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Jones relocated to Stockton, California, where her friend lived and worked at the Veteran’s Administration Office.

She met her husband Shannon Jones there and they raised a family of four children, while working on a local PTA and as a Brownie and Girl Scout leader. She became a regional representative for Drewry Photography, working there for 12 years.

Now Dorothy Jones spends time with her four children.

Jones’ daughter even organized a big celebration in California, with a parade — where some 200 people attended — and a performance by the Fresno High School marching band.

On Sunday — the day after her big surprise — Mother and daughter got busy “shooting some hoops” in the yard with the hoop over the garage and posed for a photo.

She’s going to be even busier in the upcoming weeks.

“It’s going to take an awful lot of thank you notes,” Dorothy Jones said.