| (Editor's Note: This is the second story of a three-part series)
Bob Jones said his wife Judy had many friends in the Wallis community.
And outside the community, as well.
Folks drove in from miles away to stop at her antiques store, JJ's Stuff N Such on Highway 36, to browse and chat with Jones, a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and owner of a beloved cocker spaniel named Buster.
Wauneta Halfin laughs at the memory of her friend's sense of humor. Moments later, Halfin recounts - her voice breaking as she stumbles for the right words - Judy's generosity and thoughtfulness.
"One of my best buddies" is how she described Judy. Halfin used to help out at the store, where the two just had "plain old fun."
"Everybody who walked in her door was her friend," she said.
Bob Jones, of Simonton, was married to Judy for 43 years and his devastation in losing her last year is palpable. Judy was hit and killed by a commercial flatbed truck on Aug. 17, 2006, in Wallis. She was hit on a sidewalk near her business.
Jones and his attorneys, Ralph Gustafson and Keith Slade, recently discussed a pending civil lawsuit against truck driver Silvio Henao, now 57 and of Richmond, and Bison Building Materials Ltd., based in Houston. Henao ran over and killed Jones, 62, on Aug. 17, 2006. An Austin County grand jury no-billed Henao in December. (See story in Friday's Herald.)
The civil suit was filed on behalf of Bob Jones and the Jones' four children.
"Their claims are based on the facts and circumstances surrounding the death of his wife and their mother," said Gustafson, based in Houston. A jury would determine the amount of all damages.
"We're looking at the only thing they can recover, and that's compensation for their mental anguish, their loss of consortium, Ms. Jones' physical pain and mental anguish prior to her death and compensatory damages based on her ability to earn money with her business, which was an antique shop," Gustafson said.
Bob Jones agonizes as to why Henao was no-billed and didn't even receive so much as a ticket.
"I can't come up with a logical explanation as to why you can have this tragedy and no charges of any kind be filed," said Jones, 63, who's retired.
He and the lawyers said they are also concerned about conflicting statements Henao gave about his role in the incident. They're also puzzled about what kind of weight the grand jury gave to a police officer who witnessed the wreck.
"I think we expect that the criminal justice system will do what is right," Gustafson said.
"It's beyond money," Bob Jones said, explaining that his cause is about justice, rather than compensation.
Henao's attorney, Jeff Diamant of Houston, who also represents the company, said that Henao blacked out before he left the roadway and during the wreck and that he blacked out because of an apparent medical condition not known to him at the time of the wreck: undiagnosed brain tumors.
But apart from the lawsuit and his complaints about the investigation, Bob Jones and his family miss Judy, called JJ by everyone who knew her.
Tom York, owner of Country Rose, an antiques store located next to JJ's Stuff N Such, said he and Judy Jones used to discuss the safety of the sidewalk in front of their businesses. He said Judy was concerned about it.
York said in an earlier conversation with The Herald that he didn't like to dwell on the wreck, that he's been asked about the wreck "50 gazillion times" and that he is ready to move on.
He had warm memories of Judy, though.
"She was a nice lady. She was real talkative and friendly to people," he said.
York was in his store the day of the wreck and was not injured. Just his and Judy Jones' business operated on that particular block. He said he talked to her moments before the wreck occurred. Other people also were on the sidewalk around the time he was there but had vacated the sidewalk before the truck came down its path. No one else was injured.
"I didn't see her get hit," said York, who has operated his business since 1991. "We looked where all the noise was. Then everything started flying at us. There was a lady standing here talking to me. She went screaming out the back door. The glass just came flying at us. The pieces off the truck ... landed right in front of me."
The crash, which caused about $100,000 in damage to his business, ripped off the awning in front of the store, destroyed every window, damaged the sidewalk and cracked the building's brick. He had to close his business for a week.
"We were good business friends, and I supported her and she supported me, and I had no issues with her at all," said Don Daft, owner of Palo Duro Freight Services Inc., which operates upstairs from Judy Jones's store. "Judy was a great gal, I think. I think the community sorely misses her because she's not around."
Boards cover the windows of JJ's Stuff N Such now, and a locked front gate rests in front of the front door. On the front gate is a cross with a rose attached. What appears to be inventory remains inside the store. Judy had operated the business since 1997.
An auction to sell the contents will be held sometime soon, the family said. The family opted against reopening the store because it operated so near to where Judy died.
"She was the business," Bob Jones said.
Down the street, business owner Viola Holub recalled details of the day of the accident but also remembered Judy Jones as a friendly woman who always wore a smile. She saw Judy almost every day, she said.
"Everyone knew Judy," York pointed out.
Halfin said the last remark she remembers from Judy before she died was how much she loved her husband.
Judy and Bob were a "a wonderful couple - they were really in love with each other. It was nice to see."
Judy's daughter, Kathrine Coffey, 46, of Simonton said she and siblings Greg Jones, 38, of Katy; Mary Whitcher, 44, of Houston; and Barbara Ann Jones, 47, of Sealy, were very close to their mother. They're still grieving, of course, and have had to find extra coping skills to deal with the details of the incident that led to her death.
Coffey said she was "best friends" with her mom and that she felt proud to be Judy's daughter.
What does she miss most about her mother?
"Picking up the phone and talking to her at any given time," Coffey said. "That was the one thing that we all did with her."
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