CityView Magazine - Fayetteville, NC
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1482727
18 November 2022 "My sister-in-law set us up on a blind date," says Wes. Lucy says, with a laugh, "It was disastrous," remembering how Wes put her on a budget on the way to the restaurant. "I must have looked like I was dressed expensively," says Lucy. Wes tried to drink a large beer that night — even though he was not a big drinker. "I was a teetotaler sitting there with a 32-ounce beer. I think I wobbled walking out," Wes recalls. Despite any perceived missteps, they went on another date, and then another. ey were engaged to be married by their fih date. e wedding came four months later in May 1975. e Joneses had earned their bachelor degrees only a few years previously. Lucy had a degree in journalism, with an emphasis in marketing and public relations, from UNC Chapel Hill. Wes graduated from Duke University with a degree in biology and kept going. He spent the next 11 years at Duke in medical school, as an intern and resident in internal medicine and finally as a fellow in gastroenterology. "I had a very definite call from the Lord to become a physician," says Wes. Everything they have done they attribute to God — even ending up in Fayetteville in the mid-1980s. "God's a big God, and he told me what to do," says Wes. ey had planned a move to Spartanburg, South Carolina, where Wes had a job contract. Unsettled about his decision, he went to lunch one day with a friend who was a cardiologist at Duke. As they talked, Wes' friend told him to look at Fayetteville, and the Joneses decided to visit. "Our parents tried to dissuade us, and when we got here, there was a sign on Skibo Road telling us to turn le to go to Fayetteville. en the next sign we saw told us to go the opposite way. I told Lucy, 'is town has no clue where it is at,'" says Wes. "But I thought it was pretty. Going through Fort Bragg and seeing the area was nice," says Lucy. at was almost 40 years ago. Since then, Wes has practiced medicine Enhancing stability for organizations and encouraging giving are two of the Joneses' goals. They were instrumental in building the Cumberland Community Foundation into what it is today. Lucy and Wes Jones' love story began on a blind date and led to their marriage in 1975.