In September of 1993, David Jones Sr. was leisurely driving his wife around downtown Biloxi, MS on her lunch break when he noticed something strange beyond the rooftops of the building they passed. Unexpected, but not unfamiliar. Returning his wife to the bank where she worked, Jones set a course toward what he had seen. Pulling up to Biloxi Prestress, his former place of work appeared revived after being dormant for the months since its closing.
Continuing to follow the cranes silhouetted on the horizon, Jones pulled his truck closer to all the activity. Hard to miss with his flaming red hair, Jones was soon approached by a man who introduced himself as a General Manager with a precast concrete manufacturer named Tindall. His Atlanta division of Tindall was building the new parking deck for the Grand Casino in Gulfport, MS and planned to open a satellite location in Biloxi to minimize the cost of shipping their finished products.
The two men chatted amicably about Jones’ precast experience from his time working at Biloxi Prestress. “He started quizzing me,” Jones recalled, “and I knew about all that stuff out there.” Jones must have given some good answers because she started his new job with Tindall the next day.
In the nearly 30 years since Tindall’s Mississippi Division began, Jones’ son and grandson have joined the Tindall family. David Jones Jr. signed on with Tindall a year after his son, David Jones III, was born. Leaving behind an air-conditioned job as a casino lighting director, Jones Jr.’s new coworkers inducted him into the family like a little brother. “I came in, and they were placing bets on how long I would last,” David Jr. explained.
Today a production and carpentry supervisor, Jones Jr. outlasted all the bets. He has two reasons for staying with Tindall for the past 22 years: “One, I did start to enjoy the work because … at the end of the day, you could see something that you created. And two, I could see [my dad] every day. Have a minute with him in the morning or whatever it was, and I always got a chance to hang out and talk.”
Jones Sr. retired from Tindall in 2011, seven years before his grandson started with the company. Jones III is the Tindall Mississippi Division’s first computer numeric control (CNC) router operator, working to incorporate automation into many of the processes his grandfather completed by hand 30 years before. “All the processes of [the CNC], learning all that. I just enjoy it,” Jones III shared. “I go home now, and I’m watching YouTube videos about CNC machines.”
In his retirement, Jones Sr. is still hard at work creating art in his wood shop. From picture frames and beds, to swings and gliders, Jones Sr. creates gifts for his friends and community, often donating his work to local causes. Of course, he still makes time to visit Tindall occasionally to see his son, grandson, and the rest of his work family.