Eulogy
Eulogy
Maasai Jones was born in Palo Alto, CA on January 19, 1998. It took 2 full days of labor before they informed his mother Ana that they would need to do a caesarean to bring this active/kicking bundle of joy into the world. Maasai adapted to being a sound sleeper within a month of being home. He was a squirmer and progressed rapidly to turning and holding his head up high and making facial expressions with anyone who happened to be holding or babysitting him. Maasai had many surrogate aunties and uncles who took turns visiting and spending time with him. By the age of 1 Maasai travelled with his parents on a long extended trip to Fiji, Hawaii, and Australia and made the trip back East to New York, Boston, and Connecticut.
Maasai was not someone to listen to lullaby music within that first year and was practically raised with reggae music and immediately picked up the lyrics for his favorite songs like Cocody Rock by Alpha Blondie. He was not someone to be confined and as a toddler wriggled himself out of the carseat and the seat belt and could be found standing up or clambering in the back seat while the car was in motion. This also extended to the crib where he slept in his own room and at the age 2 ½ years was climbing in and out and exploring the house and pulling the drawers out one by one to in the kitchen to make a step like contraption to reach the cookies and treats on the counter that were at least 4 feet off the floor.
Maasai’s impish sense of humor was established at a young age. One time his dad tried looking for Maasai and could not find him and after repeated calls Maasai was not to be heard or found. His dad began to panic and searched the house frantically. Eventually he was found at the back of the unused fireplace, where he was hiding. Only the whites of his eyes gave him away; and when he was discovered, he started laughing uproariously at this practical joke.
Maasai was more than ready for pre-school and was a favorite at both Action Day and Ballard Montessori because he was so astute and personable. The parents and teachers loved him and everyone wanted a playdate with Maasai. He was full of energy and was strong because he was scaling the trees, gates, fences, monkey bars, and even the arches in the doorway before age 3. His first soccer practice found him on the field comparing power rangers and batman shirts with his childhood friend Riley – much to the frustration of his mom and the coaches. He took to sports immediately and tried everything from ice-skating, to soccer, T-ball, basketball and swimming.
Maasai entered Kindergarten at Capri elementary in Campbell and within a week was switched to a combo Kindergarten and 1st grade class because he tested high and was able to grasp work at that level. He was a perfectionist (he gets that from mom) and would practice writing his letters over and over again until they turned out beautiful and correct. He was an avid reader and was reading 2 levels above the national standards for his grade level. For third grade Maasai moved schools to Village Elementary in Campbell, where his mother could volunteer in the classroom at least 3 hours a week and spend time with him on fieldtrips. He was an artist and paid attention to details in his drawings. He excelled at writing and had the most beautiful written projects that could go on for pages. His taste for books ranged from sci-fi to contemporary fiction, and were averaging 600-800 pages, and sometimes looked too heavy when he lugged them around.
Maasai learned to ice skate, rollerblade, and skateboard from his dad at an early age. He learned hockey with his brother at the San Jose ice center, where he would play as a squirt and a peewee. He was extremely agile. In his most memorable game; he scored a goal; and later made an acrobatic defensive stop; in which he appeared to flip over the goalie.
At the age of 6 ½ Maasai attended a birthday party for Owen, his brother’s friend at the local California Sports gymnastics training center on Race Street. When his mother dropped by to pick him up from the party, the manager and party coordinator were waiting to speak with her about Maasai. For a minute his mother thought he was ill or had done some damage to the equipment. The manager asked if mom could follow her on the floor where she had Maasai scale the 15 foot climbing wall and pull himself up on the rings, and run on the balance beam effortlessly. She asked if Maasai had any training in gymnastics to which mom explained no, but he is scaling the poles out on the front patio and hanging upside down on doorway arches and climbing the large magnolia tree at home. She asked if we would consider trying out for level 4 gymnastics for the boys team at California Sports Center.
Eventually Maasai competed for the boys team, and developed a love for the training and competition. It started out as a mere 1 hour of training two times a week, and ended 10 years later with 4 hours a day 6 days a week at level 10 Men’s team with San Mateo gymnastics. Maasai was disciplined at such a young age and would juggle and finish most of his homework before practice each day and for years, dinner at the Jones home started at 8pm and ended at 9 because of the long training hours. The gymnastics competition season began in late December and ended with States competition around April . The season ending competitions brought Maasai and his family to Santa Rosa, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Reno, and more destinations through the western states. He accumulated an impressive collection of medals and trophies for all of the events, including first place in the All-States for his level 7 floor routine. During this time, his coaches Jing-jing and Tony, and the other gymnastics parents, became an extension of the Jones family.
Maasai’s gift for words and writing became more evident in middle school. In 5th grade, he reached the middle school spelling bee final. In the district round , he faced off against an 8th grader from Rolling Hills in the finals. In 6th grade, Maasai won the school and district spelling bee. He was so determined to win, that he drilled on tough words with his dad for an hour or 2 every day. The only word he could not spell right consistently was “rhododendron”, so they drilled that one in particular many times. As fate would have it, that was the final word for his school level bee, and he aced it. He went on to qualify for the inter-regional Scripps spelling bee the next 2 years.
Along with gymnastics, hockey, and school, Maasai began piano lessons with Ms. Andrea; who loved his discipline and knack for reading and playing so beautifully. Every year, Ms Andrea held a recital, and her students would show off what they’d learned. Maasai mastered “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast his first year, and went on to be a strong piano player. His dad’s special favorite was his rendition of “Scarborough fair” and his mother’s; Bach’s concerto in D minor. One year Ms Andrea was so inspired by the progress Maasai was making; that she performed a duet with Maasai at the annual concert. She played the guitar, while Maasai played the piano for “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong. It was truly a thing of beauty to behold.
Maasai attended Bellarmine Prep high school next. During his freshman year, he was challenged with the workload, material, and environment. He eventually made friends and excelled in the arts, especially writing. At one point he had a quest to join all 22 clubs on campus to see who offered the best food. At times his mother would call to see who he was out with and he was with the Korean club because they knew where to find the good food. Maasai was part of the Black student union and was the president his senior year at Bellarmine. He excelled at writing and became a part of Mr. Lum’s close knit writing group. His poignant and in-depth analysis and reflection on racism in Mr. Facione’s August Wilson’s seminar prepared him for college. His poem on racism was read to the faculty the end of his senior year in Mr. Lum’s quest to have Racism become the topic for the Social Justice Summit theme at Bellarmine. His back flips during the homecoming football games and at the dances became legendary and pretty soon everyone knew Maasai. Maasai was very social and always made himself at home when he first met the parents of the friends. And his mother thinks that the parents and families loved and adored Maasai and kept feeding him good food so he could return more frequently.
During this time, Maasai turned to music, open mic, freestyle rap, and writing as an outlet. His cousins will always remember the freestyle rap sessions and the music made with them his last two years in high school. There were numerous recordings made online and Maasai began to put lyrics together for his close friends and family. His senior year at Bellarmine Maasai applied to 9 Colleges across the nation. He was accepted to all 8 colleges and with the acception of NYU. Maasai was ready gravitating to living in New York because according to him “it was the mecca” for all his writing and music. He chose Hofstra University on Long Island, NY and was accepted into the Honors program that only admitted 200 of the freshmen class out of the 1000 students in his class.
We remember Maasai today as his best self- a loving soul with a prankster’s sense of humor. The gifted essayist, story writer, and spoken word performer. The super strong, super flexible athlete that could wow a crowd with his performances. The cousin who could always get the last word in; when the teasing started. The games player, who introduced many of us to Magic the Gathering, Netrunner, Rust, Defense of the Ancients, and many more. The same guy who we all turned to; when wondering which music we should listen to next; or which rising actors we should check out; or what black scifi authors had incredible writing; and so on. This is the son who curled up and slept in our arms as an infant; who escaped all playpens; who “entertained” us with commentary, on the whole San Jose to Grand Canyon drive; and who refused to sleep on the 9 hour flight from Hawaii to Fiji as an infant; but wriggled seemingly the whole time. He is the grandson who was a favorite both in Sacramento and in New York, because he was so respectful, observant, hard working, kind, and funny.
Today we honor your memory. Though your life was short, it impacted all of us deeply- forever. Your soul is resting peacefully now. We miss you and love you.