Pam & Gloria Carlson, Tom & Bill Jones
Bill Jones, Tom Jones, Pam Carlson and Gloria Carlson were very successful business people and farmers in northwest Missouri for nearly 75 years (1949-2023) when Gloria Carlson died at age 96. The parents, William, Sr. and Goldie Jones, and four of their five children, Valeria (20), William, Jr. (18), Thomas (17), and Virginia came from the Vermillion, South Dakota area in 1949.
Their oldest daughter Gloria was an excellent student in high school where she met her future husband, Mayo Carlson. She graduated from Samuels School of Beauty Culture in Sioux City, Iowa in the summer of 1947. The following summer at the age of 20, she and Mayo were married. They moved to Missouri when Mayo attended mechanics’ school in Kansas City. In 1951, they purchased Blue Top Service Station and Café in Conception Junction, not far away from the Jones family farm. They ran the business together until Mayo’s death in 1974. Gloria was the cook and waitress in the café. Mayo was the mechanic and pumped gas for customers (pumping your own gas came much later). In 1954 their only child, Pamela Jon Carlson, was born.
The work ethic of Bill and Tom Jones started while they were in high school. They both worked at Evergreen service station in Vermillion where they graduated from high school. They worked at their father’s farm, as well as the farms of neighbors. After the move to Missouri, they farmed with their father until both were drafted into the U.S. Army in the early 1950s. Bill’s service was from 1952 to 1954 in Korea. Tom’s service was at Ft. Ord, California.
They returned after their military service to continue farming with their father. Neither Bill nor Tom ever married. Their entrepreneurship started in the early 1960s when they owned the Sinclair Service Station known as Jones Boys Service. This business helped them in their future businesses as it likely brought them into contact with everyone in the community. Then, in 1966, they started Jones Boys Construction, building Butler and Brock grain bins and selling the necessary grain-handling equipment, all while still farming. Their large farming operation became Jones Boys Farms which eventually owned thousands of acres in multiple counties. Tom enjoyed collecting and restoring old tractors like the ones his father had owned and looked forward to the Heart of American Tractor Cruise. Both men were extremely personable and enjoyed visiting with their customers and friends around the community. There were always smiles on their faces and ready laughs. They were prepared with extra “Butler” baseball caps to give away.
Gloria Carlson moved to her family’s farm to help with the businesses after her husband Mayo’s death. She was an excellent cook and helped with that part of living on a large farm operation as her mother aged. She also participated in the bookkeeping operations for the businesses. She enjoyed her very large garden, both vegetables and flowers, and the many cats that populated the farm. She was an avid reader of romance novels and liked traveling with Pam and others in the family. She wrote regular letters keeping in touch with her family outside of Missouri. She was close to her sister Ginnie who lived nearby. In Gloria’s younger years, she was a talented pianist.
Pam Carlson spent most of her childhood on her grandparents’ farm since her parents were busy with their business. She, too, was an excellent student and graduated from Stanberry High School in 1972 and then Northwest Missouri State University in 1977 with a major in Home Economics in the College of Education. She aspired to be a fashion merchandiser or interior designer, but the needs of her family intervened. She returned to the family farm where she became the bookkeeper and, eventually, part-owner of the farm and construction businesses. Pam remained single her entire life.
After the deaths of her uncles, she made the business decisions for both companies with the advice of their longest-term farm employee who was a close friend as well. There was eventually a computer in the house for business work, but it was never connected to the internet. They did adopt using cell phones. She enjoyed traveling with her mother to many locations in the U.S. and had many collections, including Hallmark ornaments and decorative tea cups. She, too, enjoyed the many customers that she came in contact with. She never became a quilter but enjoyed asking wives of the farmers about their quilting. It was said that she knew 80% of the people in northwest Missouri. Even though their last name was Carlson, Gloria and Pam were widely known as “The Jones Girls”.
Bill died at the age of 78 in 2008; Tom died at the age of 80 in 2012; Pam died at the age of 66 in 2020 just before the pandemic; and finally, Gloria died in 2023 at the age of 96, ending the Jones business legacy.
This scholarship was created by endowment in 2023 in memory of the Carlsons and Joneses and to honor their contributions to their communities of Stanberry and northwest Missouri.
Scholarships associated with Pam & Gloria Carlson, Tom & Bill Jones