Buckner orphan writes her story

Updated: 4/13/07

Buckner orphan writes her story

By Analiz González

Buckner International

GARLAND—Only a privileged few children grow up with perks like private piano lessons, swimming classes and rigorous academic programs.

Frances Jones counts herself among the privileged. Minus parents, her childhood was almost a fairy tale.

Frances Jones

“Once upon a time, there was a 10-year-old girl named Frances who lived in an orphanage called Buckner Orphan’s Home in Dallas, Texas,” Jones writes in her new book, Orphan Journey: Memoirs of Growing up in Buckner Orphans’ Home. “Six hundred boys and girls lived there.”

Jones, 67, decided to write her story after being urged by her adoptive parents and friends to share her Buckner adventures. She enrolled in a creative writing class at Eastfield Community College in Mesquite, where her professor and classmates also encouraged her desire to write.

She wrote most of the memoir at her kitchen table. She would pick up a notebook and pen and scribble away until her childhood appeared on the pages.

“I mainly wanted to tell what I loved about Buckner and why I loved it and what they gave me,” she said.

Jones had a happy childhood.

People who don’t know any better feel sorry for her because she was an orphan, she conceded. But they’re completely wrong. In fact, when a couple offered to adopt her at age 14, she turned them down. She felt at home at Buckner. She’d been there since she was 5 months old, and as a high school student, she was pretty popular, she said.

Luckily, her adoptive parents were willing to wait until Jones was 18 before making her a part of their family. They adopted her just in time to put her new name on her high school diploma.

“I had a wonderful childhood, and even though it was cloistered within these gates and fences, I still had a lot of opportunities,” she said. “I never lacked love. I call (Orphan Journey) my love story for Buckner.”

Jones’ story includes memories of Christmas presents, basketball games and the close friendships she had with her 600 to 800 “brothers and sisters.” She also writes about the times she got into trouble with teachers.

“Mr. Holman was forever catching me talking to my neighbor,” she writes. “He would reprimand me and call me to the front of the class. Then he would get out his paddle and give me a few licks in front of everybody. You’d think that would cure me. However, I guess the temptation to talk was greater than the fear of punishment.”

Jones loves to chat. When she talks, she moves her hands and looks her listener right in the eye. In fact, her friendliness kept her from feeling lonely in the orphans’ home, she said. And with so many people around, there was always someone to talk to.

Jones also writes about how Buckner molded her into who she is now. One obvious influence was her decision to adopt her two children, Richard and Melissa. Melissa was adopted through Buckner. And Jones said both her children had strict Christian upbringing, just like the one she always knew.

“If something is good in my life, I give Buckner the credit,” she said. “I’m just very grateful.”

Buckner took in the 5-month-old after she was declared “unadoptable” because of an eye deformity. The orphans’ home made itself responsible for eye surgeries. The home’s founder, R.C. Buckner, died long before Jones was born, but she feels a special bond for this man, who did so much for her, she said.

One of her favorite pictures is of a group of orphan girls standing in front of founder R. C. Buckner's statue. They’re all smiling and facing the camera, except for one. Jones’s upper body is tilted toward the statue. And if you look closely, you’ll notice she’s clinging to the figure’s hand.

“My childhood at Buckner was all I ever knew,” she said.

It’s where she met her life-long friend, Maggie. It’s where she learned to swim and cheerlead. And it’s where she learned to sing and play piano.

Today, her piano sits next to a window in her living room, and the sunlight falls on the keys when she plays. It’s one of the things she carried with her into adulthood, along with her determination to write a memoir.

When Jones finally finished her book, she wasn’t sure how to go about getting it published. She’d always thought the only way to publish a book was by submitting it to a publisher and waiting to see if they liked it. Until one day, a friend called to tell her about a website that allows writers to publish their own work. After spending two and one-half years writing her memoir, she decided it was time to share her story with a larger audience.