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As the retired president/CEO of the former Stone and Thomas department store, Wilbur S. Jones Jr. said there were many times he figuratively went “over the edge” at the store’s building in downtown Wheeling.
Now Jones and his wife Joyce Jefferson plan literally to rappel down the exterior of the Stone Center when YWCA Wheeling sponsors its annual “Over the Edge” event on Saturday, Aug. 22 to benefit the programs of the YWCA.
Money raised is to benefit the YWCA’s mission of eliminating racism, empowering women and “promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.”
Participants who arrange at least $1,000 in pledges get the opportunity to rappel down from the roof of the Stone Center, which stands nine floors high and is 126-feet tall. Activities will take place on the Market Street Plaza side of the building.
Jones, 70, served as an executive with Stone and Thomas – his family’s business – for 24 years. The Jones family operated Stone and Thomas for 151 years before it sold out to the Elder-Beerman in 1998.
Jones said he is proud that Stone and Thomas provided employment opportunities to women when they didn’t exist, and was among the first companies to provide women supervisory opportunities.
“The store over the years has been a major factor in women’s lives, and was always a major factor in support of women,” he said. “The opportunity to continue that is kind of nice.”
It won’t be the first time Jones has rappelled down a building. He said he engaged in rappelling 48 years ago when a member of the U.S. Army.