Marcella Jones - Paying it Forward

Marcella Jones moved to the Treasure Coast in 2018 after her husband’s work brought them to the area. She was online looking for volunteer opportunities in the area when she came across Florida Oceanographic Society and the oyster shell bagging volunteer events. “I have taken oyster shell calcium for a metabolic imbalance since age 20,” she remembers thinking to herself, and it was the perfect opportunity for her to pay it forward. “It was my way to honor the oysters who gave me the calcium I needed to sustain me over my lifetime."

In 1987, after leaving Texas and relocating, she met her husband, Gordy, in Boston, and they settled there for the next twenty-seven years. Of her time spent in the northeast, Marcella recalls sailing their 30-foot Newport sloop in the Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay and seeing the local marine life. “Diving for lobster, meeting the sea life up close, and seeing the return of the Harbor Seal was a great delight.”

Marcella has been a volunteer at Florida Oceanographic Society for almost two years and has accumulated close to 100 hours bagging oyster shells, conducting water quality testing, and sea grass restoration. “It really enlarges the soul, to promote a cause larger than yourself,” she says of the volunteer roles she has taken on.

Snapshot:

Born in: Falfurrias, Texas

College: President’s Scholarship at Trinity University in San Antonio transferred to University of Texas, Austin

Favorite Local Restaurant: Husband is a proficient chef so they dine like king’s at home.

Hobbies: Enjoy diving, sailing, gardening, beading and birding

Favorite Books: Twelve Rules for Life, an Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson, Beyond Good and Evil by Neitzche, Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

 Recommended Movies, TV or Series: The Crown, Hanna, Hannibal, Ozark and Better Call Saul