Community mourning after Ga. teacher’s body recovered in lake
ATLANTA, Ga. - A community is mourning after the body of an Atlanta teacher was recovered from Lake Oconee on Sunday.
The search for Gary Jones’ body lasted 29 days before he was found. Jones and his fiancé, Spelman College professor Joycelyn Wilson, went missing in February. Jones was a teacher at Westminster Schools, where he taught science and was a coach.
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The school’s president, Keith Evans, said the community is mourning this loss in a statement on Monday. Evans continued to say Jones had a positive impact on his students since ing the staff in 2002.
Jones’ body was found by searcher Keith Cormican, who came from Wisconsin to help look using a sonar device. After the recovery, Jones’ brother said the last 29 days have been the worst days of their lives.
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Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said he can’t such an extensive use of resources for a search in the last 40 years.
“It’s sad for them, it’s sad for everybody involved,” he said. “But then again we’re glad we were able to do this.”
Jones ed the Westminster staff in 2002 and was a middle school science teacher, eighth-grade basketball coach and head of program for track and field.
The water in which Jones and Wilson’s boat was found is pierced from below by old tree limbs. Those trees, the nearby dam, and the constant water flow made the search more complicated than usual.
But the clues were there. Jones’ shoes were found washed ashore. His wallet was still in the boat.
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