ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 21, 1996 TAG: 9606210066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHESTER
SOURCE: Associated Press
Lona Jones was a nurse who knew her brain cancer guaranteed her a painful death, so her neighbor and fellow healer understood why she chose Dr. Jack Kevorkian as a way out.
``I'm sure that having a lot of knowledge about the disease does color [Jones'] decision,'' said retired military doctor Joseph Belzile, a friend of Lona Jones and her husband, Ralph.
Her decision had not been easy or quick, Belzile said. It had been 18 months since Jones was diagnosed as having a malignant brain tumor.
``We've known she was terminally ill for a long time,'' he said. ``From what I understand, she was in a lot of pain in the last few days.''
Belzile said Ralph Jones called him early Wednesday morning and, in a sorrowful voice, told him that Lona was dead and that he would not return to his suburban Richmond home for several days.
Lona Jones, 58, had consulted with Kevorkian on the telephone and by mail before traveling to Michigan, said Michael Schwartz, one of Kevorkian's lawyers. He was not sure how long their relationship had lasted.
Neighbors said Lona's love for her husband, a retired Army colonel, is the reason she endured the disease as long as she did.
``He waited on her hand and foot,'' said one weeping neighbor who asked not to be identified. ``They were a beautiful couple - just real devoted to each other.''
Most of the neighbors in the affluent suburb of imposing brick homes and tall shade trees expressed shock over Jones' death, but mixed their surprise with sympathy.
``I was surprised,'' said Rosemarie Ferrara. ``She was a very level-headed woman ... not a fly-by-night person.''
Jones, a former nurse at Chippenham Medical Center and the mother of two grown daughters, died of carbon monoxide poisoning, Michigan authorities said. Her body was brought to North Oakland Medical Center in Pontiac, Mich., just before midnight Tuesday.
The death was the 30th Kevorkian is known to have attended since 1990 and the second he acknowledged attending since his acquittal last month on assisted-suicide charges.
An autopsy revealed evidence of neurosurgery on Jones' brain, but no evidence that her life was in immediate danger. Tissue tests to identify and define any tumors would take days, Oakland County Medical Examiner Dr. L.J. Dragovic said Wednesday.
Michigan authorities declined to say whether they would try to bring criminal charges against Kevorkian in Jones' death.
LENGTH: Medium: 54 linesby CNB