(This week The Columbian-Progress spotlights Jones Companies’ Eric Lucas.)
Q: When and where were you born?
A: I was born in Hattiesburg Aug. 5, 1978.
Q: Where did you attend school?
A: I attended school in the Columbia School District and at Pearl River Community College, where I played baseball.
Q: What was your childhood like?
A: It wasn’t like kids today. They tend to stay inside on their phones and with electronics. We would play outside from daylight until dark, playing baseball and doing normal boys stuff.
Q: Where do you work? Tell us about your job/company.
A: I work for Jones Companies, and there are different entities within it. I work for Jones Lumber Company with the field safety team. I visit lumber mills in Natchez, Bay Springs, Hazlehurst, Gloster and Sandy Hook every week. I spend my days on the road a lot checking out safety hazards and dealing with insurance. I recently became a member of the Columbia School District Board of Trustees, and I’m excited to serve on it. I have three kids in school there, love the Columbia School District and played football and baseball at Columbia High School. I want to help make it better for everybody.
Q: What led you to your profession?
A: It was kind of by chance. I worked at Pearl River Valley Electric Power Association for 16 years. I started here in 2015 with Dixie Mat, LLC, which is now New South which entails laying mats to give access to power and oil lines. I did that for about a year before this job came open with Jones Lumber. I wanted to take it to be with my family more because I was gone away from home every week. I wanted to watch my kids grow up.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your job?
A: The people here are wonderful from the bottom on up to the top. Everybody treats you the same. I enjoy meeting new people at all of the middle. Jones Lumber, specifically, has about 200 employees so I get to talk with them.
Q: What is the most challenging aspect of your job?
A: Getting everybody on board for safety and getting everybody to buy in to what we do. Especially with lumber mills, it’s kind of hard because some guys have done it their way for so many years, and you want to change something. A lot of times it’s hard to change.
Q: What advice would you give someone considering your career path?
A: Do something you love and not for the money and consider your family. A lot of people before they have their own families don’t consider having children someday. If you’re working at a job where you’re gone all the time, you miss your children growing up. Make sure it coincides with your family time.
Q: What was your first job?
A: The first job I ever had was painting houses with my uncle, Ford Sinclair, when I was in ninth-grade.
Q: Who is the person who has been most influential in your life?
A: Definitely my parents. My dad, Rex, was a good Christian man and was a little old fashioned at times, I thought, but looking back I’m glad he raised me the way he did. He taught me morals and values. My mom, Theresa Rowell, instilled kindness, and she was everything you would think of when you think of a Christian mother.
Q: What is your spouse’s name and what does she do? Do you have children?
A: Stephanie. She works on the heart team at Wesley Medical Center in surgery. I have three children, Grady, who is a senior, Tucker, who is a freshman, and Cole, who is a seventh-grader.
Q: If you could have anything for your last meal on earth, what would it be?
A: It would probably be deer sausage and tomato gravy with biscuits.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
A: Australia because I’d love to the see the Outback, wildlife, beautiful oceans and beautiful land. I love the outdoors and getting outdoors in the Outback would probably be cool.
Q: What hobbies do you like to do in your spare time?
A: Most of the time I spend time with my family. All of my kids play baseball, so I spend a lot of time with that. I hunt and fish when I get a chance. I love playing golf. My oldest one loves to play, too, so it gives me a chance to spend more time with him. I lead the music at New Hope Baptist Church and love singing.
Q: What do you enjoy about Columbia and Marion County?
A: Everybody knows everybody, and it’s kind of like a big family. If someone is hurting or sick, it seems like the whole county comes together. In a big place, you just wouldn’t have that.
Q: If you could have lunch with anyone from your life or history, who would it be and why?
A: My grandpa, Charlie Sinclair. I love the stories he used to tell. He was in World War II. When we would have family get-togethers, he would tell us all stories of what him and his brothers used to do. One of the stories he told me was his brother, Bob, got the idea to carry a sheet up to the top of a barn and jump off. My grandpa said Bob could just picture himself floating gently to the ground, and he jumped and just splatted on the ground. My grandpa was just colorful, and I loved being around him.
Q: If you didn’t have to worry about money, what would you do all day?
A: I would love to have a lot of land and go hunting and fishing.
Q: Would you rather read a good book or watch a good movie and why?
A: A movie. I’m not a book reader unless it’s something about sports. I was one to get CliffsNotes in high school.
Q: What moment in your life has had the biggest impact on who you are today?
A: When I accepted Jesus as my savior. I was raised in church, and every decision I make is based on “What would God want me to do?”
Q: What would be the No. 1 thing on your Bucket List?
A: I would like to go on a safari in Africa big game hunting.
Q: If you could describe your morals in three words, what would they be?
A: God-fearing, dependable and loving.
Q: How would you like to be remembered?
A: I’d love to be remembered as a guy that when I walked around people knew I was a Christian. That’s what we’re here for is to praise God and show others God’s love.
— Joshua Campbell
Pictured Above: New Columbia School District Board of Trustees member Eric Lucas of Jones Lumber Company stands with a sculpture made from items from a sawmill at Jones Companies on U.S. 98. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
