The boys in the boat: Sons honor ill father with renovated ‘Father Craft’

Eddie Jones always fancied having a boat.

He dreamed of drifting on a lake, the sun warm against his skin. He would enlist his sons, Ben and Dan, to be his first mates.

It was a dad thing.

In 1999, he bought a boat from a co-worker at YKK. Jeff Bishop’s father, Charlie, had a 14-foot Feather Craft at Lake Sinclair.

Eddie strapped it to the back of his truck and took it home to Macon. He still has the canceled check. He paid $150 for it.

Even back then, it was an ancient vessel. It was built in 1953, making it a year older than Eddie.

Part of the reason he wanted a boat was because of the romance of his favorite TV show.

“My Mayberry kicked in,’’ he said. “Andy and Opie … and their little boat.’’

The opening soundtrack of “The Andy Griffith Show” – with its familiar whistling – is a song called “The Fishin’ Hole.’’ In the scene, Andy and Opie walk down a path to the fictitious Myers Lake.

The beloved series, which aired for eight seasons, premiered on October 3, 1960 when Eddie was 6 years old, the same age as Ron Howard, who played Opie.

Not long after he bought the boat, Eddie discovered a leak. He patched it using a truck bed liner, and the adventures began.

He and his boys spent joyous mornings and splendid afternoons trolling along the banks at High Falls and fishing the quiet coves around Lake Tobesofkee.

On some days, they reeled in enough fish to take home and fry for supper. Other times, they simply bragged about the ones that got away.

It was never about the fishing.

It was about making memories.

The Feather Craft truly was a “Father Craft.’’

As the years floated downstream, Ben and Dan became fathers with their own children. Eddie’s boat was dry docked. The wooden bench seats were worn and splintered. The aluminum hull lost its luster, turning as dark as the backwaters it once navigated.

A seldom-used boat is like old bowling ball collecting dust in the attic.

“Why don’t you sell it?” his wife Peggy asked.

“No,’’ Eddie said.

And then he got sick.

It started with colon cancer in October 2018. He had surgery, followed by six months of chemotherapy.

For a long time, the boat and its Mercury outboard motor sat lifeless in the yard. It somehow seemed appropriate for Eddie to put repairing a sinking boat on his bucket list. At least he had the bucket.

One day, Ben hooked up the trailer to his truck and pulled it to his house.

“It became the operating room, like a show on HGTV,’’ Eddie said, laughing.

For sure, it was a “fixer upper.’’ And this time, Ben really did roll up his sleeves, as has become his inclement weather trademark as chief meteorologist at WMAZ.

He gutted the insides, replaced the rotten wood and rebuilt the transom. He spent so much time buffing the hull with an orbital sander it sometimes took him an hour to wash the aluminum dust off his face before going in front of the TV cameras.

Dan, who works at the Georgia Farm Bureau, replaced the trailer wheels and added a flag on the boat.

It was a team effort. Eddie called it “magic.’’

Their goal was to have it ready for Father’s Day last year. They finished a month early.

The finish was so shiny it was like a mirror. It was fully equipped, except for one item.

A name.

“We had joked about a name for years,’’ Ben said. “It never had one.’’

For centuries, ship and boat owners have carried on the maritime tradition of putting women’s names across their bows and sterns.

Given his father’s affinity for Andy Griffith, Dan figured a lady character from the show would be a nice tribute.

Eddie has few rivals for the title of biggest Andy Griffith fan in Middle Georgia. He can recite nearly every line from all 249 episodes. An upstairs room in his home is a shrine to all things Mayberry. He and his buddy, Ben Sandifer, once taught a Sunday School class based on the TV series at Park Memorial United Methodist Church in Macon. Years ago, the Jones family owned a pet cockatiel who could whistle the theme song. They inherited the bird from a neighbor who kept the cage close to the television, where the show comes on Channel 13 every afternoon at 5:30.

There were plenty of female candidates -- from Thelma Lou to Helen to Ellie, Clara and Charlene Darling.

No surprise. The winner was Aunt Bee.

Dan and Ben double-checked the spelling to make sure they got it correct – Bee and not Bea.

And they were more concerned about it being “Sea Worthy” than “Bee Worthy.’’

“I told Dan we did all this work on it, and I wasn’t sure the thing would even float,’’ Ben said.

When they presented Eddie with the renovated boat on May 5, 2019 -- Cinco de Mayo -- they didn’t want the day to be remembered as “Sinko” de Mayo.

There would be a series of practice runs before they took Eddie out on the lake for the Aunt Bee’s maiden voyage. When the day arrived, the three of them put in at Lake Tobesokee and cruised the 35 miles of shoreline from the marina past the sandy beaches, under the bridge and along the dam.

Eddie sat in the front, the flag flapping around his face. His cheeks were damp from the wind, waves and emotions of the day.

“Happy tears,’’ he said.

The cancer returned last fall. It had spread to his liver. He and Peggy spent as much time at Emory Hospital in Atlanta as they did at home. In March, a CT scan revealed 14 more tumors.

Inoperable. There would be no more surgeries.

With chemotherapy, his doctor said he possibly could live another two or three years. Without chemo treatments, the prospects were grim. He might not live to see another Father’s Day.

There really was no decision to be made. Eddie has chosen to fight the good fight and receive chemo every other week for the rest of his life. He will continue working his full-time job as a safety director at YKK. He will spend time with his family, go on a beach vacation, check off his bucket list and drink every drop of the good life.

He will watch episodes of “The Andy Griffith Show” for the 2,354th time and spend idle hours on his boat.

He is not ready for the tide to go out.

“I am trying to keep a good attitude,’’ he said. “I still believe in miracles. I am praying for one.’’

Ed Grisamore teaches journalism at Stratford Academy in Macon. His column appears on Sundays in The Telegraph.

This story was originally published June 21, 2020 at 8:00 AM.