Neighbors: Karin Jones

The year was 1978, and Karin Vernon (now Jones), was swept off her feet by Dr. N. Buford Jones III. She says he was a real-life Rhett Butler in a three-piece white linen suit — her dream man. In fact, he swept her all the way to Savannah, Ga., from Chicago, where she was working in the Merchandise Mart, the world’s largest commercial building and wholesale design center.

“I wanted to work and have a career, and women there didn’t work; they were all ladies who lunched,” Jones said. “I didn’t know what to do, so I learned.”

Learning would become Jones’ fallback plan throughout her life.

She attended The Savannah College of Art and Design and graduated summa cum laude with an interior design and historic preservation degree in the school’s second graduating class.

From there, she started a company from scratch in a 12-by-12, windowless storage unit, much like a closet, in her husband’s doctor’s office. Jones and Associates was a commercial design company and furniture dealer. It was growing fast and kept her busy. She started the company in 1983 and sold it 15 years later, when her family moved to Concord, Mass., for their son, Scott’s education.

“By the end, I had my own building, my own warehouse, my own 16-wheeler and 12 designers,” Jones says.

When she got to Concord, she didn’t know what she wanted to do, so she followed her passion of learning and started taking courses at Radcliffe University in painting, gardening, architecture and writing. She took the information she learned and started teaching a course at the New England Institute of Art, which she calls “the history of everything,” that examined politics, art, architecture and history of different time periods and how they reflect a culture.

In 2007, after their son graduated from high school, she was ready to move somewhere new. After traveling for a year, they moved to Bird Key. She didn’t think she could love it, but she says it has really grown on her. She built and designed their home there and also helped with the renovations of Bird Key Yacht Club. She is the house and grounds chairman for the club.

“I didn’t want to do design anymore; I’d done it all of those years, and I really wanted to be in the world of ideas,” she says.

Jones began teaching a continuing-education class on the history of classical architecture at the University of South Florida. Most recently, she has taken courses on Asian art and architecture and opera.

She took more classes in painting in pastels and oil painting, and her home is filled with her own art.
“If you don’t grow, you die,” she says.

Next, she might try something completely different — scuba diving.

And this lifelong learner recently learned a new lesson — but this one was about herself.

“I don’t have to have a full schedule to be joyous,” Jones says about enjoying some unscheduled free time.

Five Things You Didn’t Know
1. Karen Jones is a master ping-pong player. She says the only person who can beat her is her son.
2. Jones wrote a 30-page memoir and is thinking about starting a second book.
3. Jones is a romantic and can’t watch movies with guns in them.
4. Jones is ambidextrous and can play tennis with both hands.
5. Jones’ home is a cross between Savannah, Ga., and Key West. It has dark wood and furniture and has an open floor plan.