Editor’s Note: This article was published in The Red & Black by Katie Guenthner. https://www.redandblack.com/uganews/a-lasting-impression—family-and-friends-remember-gleaton-jones/article_506bad10-da7e-11ef-967a-97d4ca48e40c.html
Until the day he died, University of Georgia senior and SAE Brother, Gleaton Jones always kept a written copy of a Bible verse, 2 Corinthian 5:17, on his dashboard.
“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” The New Living Translation reads.
On Dec. 13, 2024, Jones died from injuries suffered in a car crash on Dec. 10. Family and friends remember the Albany, Georgia, native and former Georgia walk-on running back as a confident, outgoing and caring person.
“It seemed like no matter where we were, he knew everybody, and everybody knew him,” Greyson Clark, one of Jones’ roommates and a master’s student in forestry business, said. “He was just truly one of the most kind, outgoing, wanted-to-see-you-smile person I’ve ever met.”
Jones’ fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, held a vigil for him on Jan. 7. His roommates and fraternity brothers said that everyone wanted to talk, to the point where Jones’ father had to end the vigil. His funeral, held in Albany, was attended by more than 2,400 people, according to Jones’ parents, Marlin and Kirk Jones.
“The community came out in droves to celebrate and honor Gleaton’s life,” Marlin Jones wrote in a text message. “Many were there because Gleaton had in some way touched them over his 21 years.”
Jones was a role model for his peers because of his confidence and his faith, several of his friends said. His friends remarked on how he kept a copy of the verse 2 Corinthians 5:17 in his car, and he participated in Bible studies with his roommates and his fraternity, as well as going on mission trips throughout his life.
“I bought a Bible right after his funeral, and that’s the first thing I highlighted and wrote about,” Sarah Quinn Irby, a senior journalism major and friend of Jones, said.
In high school, Jones always said he would be a walk-on on the UGA football team, according to his friend and UGA alumnus Jake Kinney. His friends teased him about it, but Kinney said he found his confidence inspiring.
“Even if he failed, he was going to get up and do it again, but it wasn’t going to mess his confidence up,” his friend Graham Ford, a senior finance major, said. “That’s something that gives me peace.”
Ford added that Jones supported him through mental struggles, and he wasn’t the only one that Jones helped in this way.
“Gleaton was the guy that helped me not feel out of place,” Ford said. “A friend of his is a friend of mine.”
Extremely athletic, Jones enjoyed all kinds of sports, especially hunting. According to his mother, he was competitive, but patient when it came to teaching athletic skills to others.
“There was nothing he could not master or do from a physical standpoint,” Marlin Jones wrote.
Jones’ younger brother Cole Jones described him as a role model who always made sure he felt included and always was there when he needed to talk. Cole Jones said that his older brother made him “fall in love with the game of football itself” and encouraged him to pursue the sport.
“He was always there to protect me no matter what the problem was and walked me through every step of life,” Cole Jones wrote in a text message. “I found myself tearing up explaining to him one night that he has paved every path for me in my life no matter what it is I want to do and I’m so thankful I got to tell him that. I’ll never forget him because I would not be where I’m at today without him.”
Jones planned on returning home to run his family’s farm after college. The farm, which specialized in growing peanuts, was a large operation and well-known in the Albany community, according to Jones’ friends.
Jones planned on spending a year in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with his friends after graduation before returning to the family farm. Two of his former roommates, senior management major Luke Veal and senior finance major John Ferguson and Irby still plan on going.
“Luke and I were always still hesitant on it and kind of iffy, and Gleaton would push us to say yes, but now we’re going 100%,” Ferguson said.
Jones’ love of the outdoors will help his loved ones to remember him. His father, Kirk Jones, said it was a way that they connected, and Ferguson said that he still has a turkey call that Jones gave him.
“To follow in his earthly father’s footsteps was, looking back, it kind of makes you feel good,” Kirk Jones said.
Friends, family and even strangers reflected on Jones’ kindness. After his death, a woman who bought the house Jones and his roommates lived in wrote a note to Jones’ family saying that Jones had sat with her father, who had Alzheimer’s, and talked to him for hours while she was inspecting his house.
“Gleaton’s kindness and grace left a lasting impression on me,” the note read. “Even in our short time together, it was clear he was an extraordinary young man, full of warmth, generosity and a genuine joy for life.”
While the family is still thinking of ways to honor his legacy, they asked funeral attendees to donate to the hospital that treated Jones and have donated to renovate Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s basketball court. Kirk Jones said that he hopes that the plaque on the basketball court will be a way to preserve Jones’ memory for generations to come.
“He was a perfect son, an amazing friend and above all else the best brother a kid could ask for,” Cole Jones wrote. “He will be dearly missed.”
