Extracted from The Waco Tribune-Herald (Waco, TX)
Wednesday, March 12, 1975

Salesman Recalls 66 Years on Road

By MARY HERNDON
Staff Writer

For 66 years Ira T. Jones stationed his business, I. T. Druggist Sundries, in Waco as he drove around Texas and neighboring states, selling druggist sundries to drugstores.

He said he logged more than two million miles on the more than 30 cars he owned until he retired two years ago. He said he thinks this is a record.

Wednesday is his 90th birthday. He resides at 1017 Jefferson.

“I met a lot of people. It was a wonderful life. Nothing could compare to it. Boy, I had the friends,” he said.

He said he enjoyed the fellowship of other traveling salesmen at motels more than any other aspect of the job.

“I knew from 10 to 15 men at each place. We would eat dinner and watch TV and play dominoes until we got tired and went to bed. It was wonderful fellowship. You can't beat it,” Jones said.

Nothing seemed to affect business much, he said.

“Business was just as good during the Depression as it was after it. I had smooth sailing and went right ahead, carrying on as before,” Jone said.

He carried items ranging from jewelry to wallets to wrist watches in the trunk and back seat of his car, he said.

“I sold about $1,000 a week, making about $150 a week profit. I was never robbed in my life -- I never lost a nickel and I don't remember missing a piece of anything,” he said.

He would return to Waco at the end of a trip and his car would be nearly empty, Jones said.

“My longest trip was two weeks. If I wasn't able to get by to see my customers, they would send me a mail order and I would mail them their goods. I tried to call on my customers once a month. That kept me on the road most of the time but I was usually home on weekends,” he said.

Jones was born in Winn Parish in Louisiana in 1885. There were 11 brothers and sisters in his family.

“My neighbors used to see me on the street and they would ask me what was going on at our house the night before. I'd tell them it was just a family affair. We were just having a good time,” he said.

A brother and two sisters still live in Louisiana.

Jones said he got the pioneer spirit and decided to come to Waco in 1907.

“It is centrally located to the rest of the state and I decided it would be a good place to life for my type of business. I liked it and stayed,” he said.

Jones had an office in the Provident Building at 414 Franklin for about 20 years until it was destroyed in the tornado of 1953. For several years he owned I. T. Jones Inc., Jones Blades, selling as many as 2,000 cards in one order, he said.

“When I came here, cedar blocks paved Franklin and it was a town of about 40,000. It has changed quite a bit since those days,” he said.

He has been a member of First Baptist Church about 50 years and is a member of Waco Karem Shrine Temple.

He has one daughter, Mrs. W. L. Barron of Houston, and four grandsons.

Jones says his health is “pretty good and I sleep good. I take very little medicine. I have no troubles of any kind except for a touch of arthritis in my right shoulder. I am comfortable most of the time.”

He said he told his doctor he retired too soon. He said his doctor told him he should have kept selling another 20 years.

“There aren't as many traveling salesmen as there used to be. I guess it is a different age. But if I were to live another 90 years, I couldn't pick out a better 90 years than the ones I've had,” he said.