LEWISTON – Leslie William Jones, 93, of 554 West Minot Road, Minot died Thursday, June 17, at Central Maine Medical Center.

He was born in North Waterford on July 20, 1910, the son of Wallace and Ethel Kilgore Jones. He had been educated there and grew up on the family farm. He had joined the North Waterford Grange 479 on July 8, 1927, and has remained a member for 77 years. He not only did farm work but butchering, blacksmith work with Earl Libby, carpentering, welding for people in the area, among other things.

He worked at Paris Manufacturing before moving to Hebron in 1940, where he worked for 15 years at Western Maine Sanatorium in maintenance and took care of the boiler.

On June 3, 1946, he married Alberta M. Thorpe and they lived in Minot. He was a milk producer for Emerson’s and Hemond’s Dairy and later Oakhurst Dairy for over 30 years. He was a very creative man. He continued helping others with trades he had learned earlier by welding or making parts needed for area farms, fixing and making horseshoes for Trundy Brothers.

He was also a fine finished carpenter, making bureaus, desks, wooden truck bodies, horse drawn three-seater wagons and many other items. He is probably most remembered for making his old fashion racks for drying clothes, averaging around 500 a year. He was the holder of Minot’s Boston Post Cane as their oldest citizen.

In 1930, he started playing drums, and a few years later he had his own orchestra, Jones’ Orchestra, that lasted for 60 years. He has played for West Minot Grange, the Odd Fellows Hall in Auburn, Crowley Junction Grange in Lewiston and for 28 years at Androscoggin Grange in Greene. He also played for special occasions. He and Alberta still went to dances on occasion in Cumberland.

When he wasn’t in his workshop, he was in his garden growing more vegetables than the family needed so he could give them to other family members and friends.

He is survived by his wife, Alberta Thorpe Jones of Minot; a son, Thomas Eugene and his wife Mary Grover of Minot; two daughters, Jennifer Jean Parsons of Mechanic Falls and Sharon May Castonguay and her husband Dave of Minot; a brother, Richard A. Jones of North Waterford; a sister, Isabelle N. Rolfe of North Waterford; grandchildren, Stephanie Ann Foster, daughter of Jennifer, Luke Thomas, son of Thomas, Cara and Lana Wheeler, daughters of Sharon; great-grandchildren, Brandon Thomas Kenneth and Christopher James, sons of Stephanie and Rene Foster; and many nephews and nieces.