[Editor’s note: This profile of Marceline Jones is excerpted from the manuscript, The Peoples of Peoples Temple, by Sarah Rex.]
Marceline Mae Baldwin Jones
DOB: 1/8/1927
Age at Death: 51
Race and Gender: White Female
Place of Birth: Uniondale, Wells, Indiana
Family in Temple: Partner of James Warren Jones. Mother (Adopted and natural) of Stephanie Jones, Suzanne Jones, Agnes Pauline Jones, Stephan Gandhi Jones, James Warren (Jimmie) Jones Jr, Lew Eric Jones, Timothy Glenn Tupper (Day) Jones and John Moss Brown Jones. Grandmother of William Dillon Dean Jones, James Arthur (Jimbo) Bishop Jones, Stephanie Jones (Lemelle Bishop), Micheal Ray Jones, Stephanie Brown (Jamelle Morgan), Chaeoke Warren Jones, Monyelle Maylene Jones and Marchell Jacole Jones. Daughter of Charlotte Baldwin and Walter Baldwin. Daughter-in-law of Lynetta Jones.
Occupation in Jonestown: Medical Committee. Health Services
Kind, compassionate and loving, Marceline Mae Baldwin Jones was “the Mother of the Church,” and not just because she was married to Jim Jones. Rather, she truly viewed the children of the Temple as her children, and viewed them all as her family. She could always be found surrounded by kids or lending a kind listening ear. A well-loved and well-respected member of the Temple, she is remembered fondly by survivors today. She is consistently referred to as the “compassionate heart of the Temple.” She could admonish you or praise you, and somehow you would still leave with a smile on your face. She was the kind of group mother that you knew that whatever she had to say, she said it with your best interest in mind.
There have been many people who struck a chord in my heart during my process of writing The People of Peoples Temple, people whose stories are difficult to tell, people who stuck out. Marcie is at the top of that list. I can’t begin to read about her or write about her without tears in my eyes. Even though I know she was a victim of her husband’s madness, I would be doing a disservice to the other victims if I didn’t also acknowledge her complacency in much of the hatred and violence done by Jim or in his name. However, at the end of the day she truly loved the members of the Temple. I spent many hours reading over countless transcriptions and letters from Marceline, and I came to one single conclusion:
She was good. She was the reason for survival for so many in the Temple.
There are two stories that illustrate what kind of person Marceline was. One of them was from Michael Cartmell, the former son-in-law of Marcie during his marriage to Suzanne Jones. When he defected from the Temple, he did so knowing he would lose his family, that his decision put him in danger. Nevertheless, he couldn’t help but try – just once – to save his family from Jonestown. So, he went to the San Francisco Temple to try to contact them, but he was caught, and, as he says, “I saw my life flash before my eyes as they came after me. That is, until Marcie stepped in and stepped up.” She saved his life that day, he is still sure that the reason she stepped in is that she understood why he was there and why he was so desperate for another chance to talk to those he loved. She truly believed love could fix it all.
The next story is a lot sadder. On the audiotape recorded the day of the mass deaths in Jonestown, you hear Jim Jones admonishing someone he calls Mother for not wanting the kids to die. According to the most credible accounts of the day’s events – and survivors’ gut instincts – he was almost certainly addressing Marceline in that moment. Those same accounts relate how she fought tooth and nail against the people physically holding her back, as she struggled to intervene while the kids were being given the poison. And when the last child died, she stopped her fight, drank the poison and laid down beside the children she couldn’t save. As her son, Stephan Jones said, “She lost her last battle with Jim Jones.”
That is who Marcie was, the kind of woman who would – and did – live and die for the ones she loved. Like so many others in the Temple, she was not crazy. She didn’t remain in the Temple out of a sense of devotion to Jim Jones, although that did play a role. Instead, again like many others, she stayed for her kids, for her loved ones, for the community that she watched grow and helped build. Marcie was referred to as the heart of the church, but really, she was the figurehead for thousands of Peoples Temple members who were exactly like her.
“While dad pushed a path of self-righteousness and doom,” Stephan Jones said, “Mom spoke of universities and family and future and escape.” As long as she could draw a breath, Marceline Jones stood for hope.