Rotary honors a longtime ivory tickler

Doris Jones, who has played piano for the Fort Scott Rotary Club for about 40 years and even longer for the Kiwanis Club, was recognized Wednesday by the Rotary Club for her years of service to the group. Jones is one of only two pianists in the 93-year history of the Fort Scott Rotary. (Jason E. Silvers/Tribune)

As her immaculately manicured fingers instinctively fly across the keys, accompanist Doris Jones plays the familiar "R-O-T-A-R-Y" for fellow Fort Scott Rotarians -- for possibly the thousandth time.

She's been doing it weekly for so many decades, no one can determine the exact date she began.

What is known is that at 94 years of age, Jones has been only one of two accompanists weekly serving Rotary since the club's establishment June 1, 1918, 93 years ago.

Doris Jones, longtime piano player for the Fort Scott Rotary Club, is surrounded by club presidents past and present Wednesday. The organization honored Jones for her long years of service at First Presbyterian Church.(Jason E. Silvers/Tribune)

At an age when most people need a good reason to get up in the morning, it is her noon Rotary meeting that inspires Jones. Fashionably dressed, meticulously groomed and always ready for her drive to the club meeting, Jones has a twinkle in her eye that lets you know she catches most of the typical, quick-witted Rotarian humor swirling around her.

To quote some of the songs sung at Rotary, she's everyone's sweetheart ... everyone's "Tootsie Wootsie" and not just in the "Good Old Summertime."

Jones was born with music in her genes.

"My mother didn't know one note from another, yet she played hymns on the piano, played the guitar and sang," Jones recalls. "And my grandfather was a fiddler, so I inherited music from both sides of my family."

Piano lessons for Doris? Those were learned at a very early age from a young friend in an adjoining apartment in Fort Scott. Jones learned her lessons well -- well enough to teach piano to hundreds of students -- sometimes 20 at a time.

She began teaching piano to provide income when her husband developed lung cancer in 1959. Until that time, she focused playing the piano primarily for the high school glee club, community service organizations and countless funerals.

"There were times when I played at three funerals in one day," she recalls.

Don't think for a minute Jones' repertoire is limited to Rotary, glee club and funeral selections. Stop by the door at her senior living home at Cavalry Crossing on any given day. You're apt to hear great ragtime tunes made famous by Joe "Fingers" Carr or Scott Joplin as you picture a smoky barroom scene from "The Sting."

Her range of selections defies imagination. She knows them all.

While Jones may glance up at her worn, dog-eared Rotary songbook from time to time, it's only out of necessity. Most of these songs are securely archived in her mind.

Having given up many of her other community responsibilities over the years, Jones continues service to Rotary 24 years after she was eventually named an Honorary Rotarian on Nov. 1, 1987.

Why does she continue with Rotary?

"I enjoy it!" is always the answer. "I just don't want to give it up."

And local Rotarians feel the same way. Jones is the embodiment of Rotary's motto "Service Above Self." Her love of Rotary and fellow Rotarians inspires members today, just as it has for so many decades, and will continue for as long as they are blessed with her presence.

Those same musical genes Doris inherited from her family have been passed onto her son, Larry, who is the minister of music for the Baptist Tabernacle in Overland Park.

Doris' daughter, Marilyn, and her husband, Delbert, reside in Overland Park with frequent visits to their home on Lake Fort Scott.