Subscriber since 1936: “I still want to know what’s going on.”

Joy Jones of New Lebanon saved a copy of the Aug. 14, 1945 edition of the Dayton Daily News that marked the end of World War II. LISA POWELL / STAFF

Joy Jones of New Lebanon saved a copy of the Aug. 14, 1945 edition of the Dayton Daily News that marked the end of World War II. LISA POWELL / STAFF

Since she was 10 years old Joy Jones has made a habit of reading the Dayton Daily News every day.

It started with “the funnies,” or comics she used to read with her father Daytonian Charles Ankney, which evolved into 83 years of subscription to the Dayton Daily News, the 93-year-old New Lebanon resident said.

“My daddy, he’d lay on the floor after supper and read the paper, and so I laid on the floor with him and that’s how I got interested in it. My daddy would read part of it to me that I didn’t understand,” Jones said. “Anyway, he had to have that paper.”

Jones continued reading into her 20s when she got married and then remarried 10 years later. As she got older, she looked forward to her son, Charles Webb, bringing in the paper to read every day. He recently moved out for the first time at 78 years old.

One of the highlights of her time reading the Dayton Daily News was when her father appeared on the front page on Thanksgiving for his church work helping people with no where else to go, a surprise he kept to himself until his family read the paper.

She looks forward to getting the paper every day, and often has a carrier who makes sure the paper is right by her door, Jones said. It’s a habit, and she said she doesn’t feel her day is complete until she’s read the Dayton Daily News.

“I want to be informed,” Jones said. “I still want to know what’s going on.”


To finish the 120th year of the Dayton Daily News this month we are featuring stories of some of our lifelong subscribers. Read them all at DaytonDailyNews.com

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