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Ex-roommate says Jones was religious while at I.U.
By Matt Morris
Kenneth Lemons said he would “definitely not” like to be remembered as Rev Jim Jone’s college roommate at I.U.
Jones, leader of the Peoples Temple, triggered a mass-suicide when he ordered more than 900 persons to drink cyanide-laced Kool Aid at the religious cut’s settlement in Jonestown, Guyana, last week.
Jones, 46, was born in Lynn. He attended high school in Richmond before coming to IU in 1948. He founded the Peoples Temple in Indianapolis in 1955, and in 1965 he moved with his followers to Ukiah, Calif. The Jonestown settlement was established in 1973, and Jones moved there in 1977.
Lemons, an auditor for an Indianapolis hotel, roomed with Jones during one semester of the 1948-49 school year at I.U. in Rogers Center, now GRC.
“Everyone got along beautifully. But this man had not one friend in the dormitory from the time he moved in until he moved out,” Lemon recalled. “But he wanted it that way.”
Even then, Jones was a radical and deeply religious person who often quoted the Bible, out loud, in their dormitory room, Lemons said. Jones believed he was somewhat of a Messiah, Lemons added.
“He always, from the very beginning, made it plain that it was our loss that he didn't get along with us better because he was chosen,” Lemons said.
Jones was 16 when he enrolled at I.U. Lemons, who was 18 at the time, said most of the other residents in Rogers center were upperclassmen and graduate students. He said Jones acted immaturely and resented Lemons when he tried to give Jones advice.
Because of Lemons’ religious background, he said he “tried to steer some of his (Jones’) more radical (religious) beliefs back to a more sensible plane.
“I thought the guy at 16 needed a little bit of help, and I thought that if I could get him (to listen to Lemons), maybe he might try to reach out and get some help,” Lemons said.
Because Lemons tried to counsel Jones, he said the possibility of friendship between the two was jeopardized.
“He (Jones) never had anyone stand up to him like I tried to. Because I was older and stood up to him, it cost any chance of friendship I might have had with him,” he said.
Lemons said Jones applied himself to his studies, but he never took academics seriously while at I.U. Lemons only had one class with Jones. Lemons said it was an economics class and during an exam, Jones did nothing but doodle on the test booklet, later leaving an unsigned test on the professor’s desk and denying ever taking the exam.
Lemons said he was not surprised to hear about Jones and he mass suicide at Jonestown. “Anyone who is dynamic and can back up what they say, or supposedly back up what they say, can have this effect over somebody. That part doesn’t surprise me,” he said.
“I really believe this all developed once he got out of school and moved to Indianapolis (where he founded the Peoples Temple). It all kind of evolved. He did a lot of the same thing he pulled down in Guyana on a much smaller scale right here in Indianapolis,” Lemons said.
“Once he started the peoples Temple…he definitely started showing all the attributes…that made him try to gain complete control over their minds and their wealth by having them (his followers) sign over all their assets to him. It was all a very calculated thing.”
