Never Forget: AJJ Scholarship Fund Keeps Mission Alive with Youthful Energy

Arthur Jones woke at 3:30 a.m. every weekday morning, getting himself out the door and on the train by 4:15 a.m. from his home in Ossining to New York City.

His destination was the World Trade Center, where he worked at Carr Futures on the 92nd floor of the North Tower. An early start time meant he would walk back through his front door by 4:30 p.m., greeting his young family — his wife, Carol Francolini, and their three children, Julia, Charlotte and Cary — with love and warmth.

“We were all so happy to see him, and he was an amazing father,” Francolini said, her voice cracking. “He loved being with the kids, so that was really important for him to get home in time to do that.”

But one day, he never did.

On September 11, 2001, Jones was one of nearly 3,000 people killed during a series of terrorist attacks — the deadliest in human history — leaving behind a grieving community, his children and wife, who was three months pregnant with their fourth child, Joseph.

Today, his youngest son is helping to carry his father’s memory forward — alongside his siblings, friends and family.

Over the past two decades, the AJJ Scholarship Fund has raised more than $400,000 — money that has supported graduating seniors by way of scholarships awarded across the East End, as well as other local initiatives, explained Joseph Jones, who co-chairs the organization’s junior board with his longtime friend, Cormac Walsh.

“The biggest part of it for me, and why I do it and why I put so much effort into this, is because it’s my father’s name,” Joseph Jones said. “He might not be with us, but we can carry on that legacy of his through impactful events and an organization like what we have here.”

Jones, known to many as Art, had a lot of energy as a child, according to his younger brother, Scott. After graduating from Hampton Bays High School in 1982, he attended Hamilton College on a basketball scholarship. He had a big circle of friends and loved sports and music, and standing at 6-feet-4-inches tall, he made an impression when he walked into a room.

“He was everybody’s best friend,” Francolini said. “After he died, I can’t tell you how many letters I received, ‘Oh, Art was my best friend.’ And he truly was. Even in high school, there were no cliques in his world. He embraced everyone.”

In 2002, Scott Jones and a group of friends established the AJJ Scholarship Fund, which gave $2,500 to two basketball players — one male, the other female — in an effort to honor its namesake. Over the years since, the organization has only grown, raising a large portion of its funds through a pair of annual fundraisers — a cocktail party and a golf outing.

Today, the organization also supports the community at large, from the Special Olympics to the Lions Club, and has helped several local families dealing with illness or tragedy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it even provided N95 masks to local doctors and hospitals.

“There’s no doubt, I think Art would think it’s great and all the good that has come of it, that’s the best part,” Francolini said. “And I know he’d be proud.”

This past fall, the junior board co-chairs helped spearhead a new initiative — forming a team to participate in the Tunnel to Towers 5K Run & Walk in New York City — that raised over $20,000, they said.

“At first, it was just an idea,” Walsh said. “We were like, okay, we’ll probably get 10 people to do it — we’ll get our friends and some of the siblings — and then we had 22 people that signed up to be runners. We had a bunch of people come after and, next year, we’re looking to more than double it.”

The run/walk symbolizes New York Fire Department firefighter Stephen Siller’s final footsteps from the foot of the Battery Tunnel to the Twin Towers, and pays homage to the 343 FDNY firefighters, law enforcement officers, and thousands of civilians who died on September 11, 2001, according to the event’s website.

“I didn’t really know what it was truly going to be like,” Joseph Jones said, “until you get on a boat downtown that takes you over to Brooklyn and there’s just a sea of people, and that’s when I noticed how big this really is and everyone’s doing it for the same cause — of just trying to keep that memory alive and honoring the firefighters that ran through the tunnel.”

Crossing the finish line was emotional, Joseph Jones said, and he couldn’t help but think of his father.

“It did feel like he was with us,” he said, “and I know he was.”

Sometime in the future, the organization will be passed down to the junior board, Scott Jones said, who hopes they will continue to infuse it with new ideas and fresh energy — and to keep the original mission alive.

That is exactly what they intend to do, the co-chairs said.

“The further away that we get from 9/11, the more people are going to forget,” Walsh said. “So I think that’s the main goal, to just keep that going — and to never forget.”

For more information about the AJJ Scholarship Fund, visit ajjscholarshipfund.org.