IF you met Ted Jones, the one commodity you needed was time and lots of it.
Ted was many things: a teacher, lawyer, advocate for Princes of the Church, defender of the accused and a dedicated campaigner for social justice, but his most prized role in life was that of a loyal husband, father and friend.
Ted was exceptionally loyal.
He had a deep and unwavering faith and was most committed to his local church, St Gerard’s.
Ted loved to “hold court” and, in spite of being a teetotaller, he loved to socialise.
He could captivate an audience of one or 20 with his story-telling, delivered with an unrivalled fluency of speech, mesmerising forensic recall of detail and told in a witty, charming and often impish manner.
Ted was born in Belfast in 1943 to Tommy and Betty Jones.
He was one of three children. Moya, his sister, predeceased him in 1999 and he is survived by his younger sister, Eilish. The family lived at 27 McCleery Street in north Belfast.
Initially, Ted qualified as a teacher. He taught in St Gabriel’s and loved sharing his encyclopaedic knowledge with his students - he could recite poems and prose in a most infectious way.
He taught English in France and when he returned to Ireland his well-heeled French students still greeted each other affectionately with Ted’s customary “Well” rather than the typical “Good Morning”.
In the throes of the Troubles, Ted began studying law. A polymath, he was awarded a State Exhibition Award for his exceptional ability.
He qualified as a solicitor in 1973 and thereafter, throughout his legal career, honoured each and every client with an outstanding level of representation, regardless of their background or standing.
Ted had a respected and often feared reputation for his ability to recall and recite legislation and case law at any moment.
In both the legal practices he established, he was a mentor, an advocate-strategist and an artful tactician.
He appeared in many of high-profile cases during the Troubles and was a strident critic of the trial processes which led to false incarceration and miscarriages of justice.
As a long-term advisor to the Catholic Church in Ireland, he sat on a commission which examined the implementation of stronger child protection guidelines.
His efforts for reform were unwavering and during a visit to Rome, he made a pit stop at the Vatican to share his views with one of the Pope’s top officials.
Ted’s friendships were testament to his loyalty to others, his close circle of friends consisting of friendships forged in Primary 1, from his days as a teacher, his studies at Queen's and through some five decades in law and from summers spent in the Aran Islands and his beloved Mullaghmore.
The most important friendship of all was with the great love of his life, Kate, whom he first met aged 16.
When married in 1968, Ted and Kate set up home in Number 22 McCleery Street, only doors from where he had grown up.
After a stint in Carlisle Square, they moved to their present home in Strathmore Park North.
So, despite being an avid traveller, Ted lived his entire life no further than a 10-minute drive within the boundaries of north Belfast.
Together Ted and Kate had four children: Lizanne, Nick, Rachel and Judith.
He truly could “walk with crowds and keep his virtue, talk to kings and not lose his common touch”. Doubtful though that he would have approved of Kipling!
There’s more than an irony to this tribute as Ted on more than one occasion remarked to a friend: “I don’t want any of that nonsense when I go!”
Ted Jones died aged 77 on March 5.
Tom Kelly
