?SALISBURY – Friends are mourning the loss of Chris Jones, co-owner of the Blue Vine, who died Friday morning at a Winston-Salem hospital.
Jones, 55, suffered heart failure and had been at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center since Sept. 19.
He co-owned the retail wine shop with wife, Rose Meeks Jones. The couple opened the business, located at 209 S. Main St., in 2006, and it has since been a venue for live music featuring local musicians.
Neighboring restaurants and friends volunteered their time at the shop over the past month so Rose could be by her husband’s side.
Local musicians organized a fundraiser earlier this month to help the family with medical expenses. Self employed, the couple did not have health insurance.
Rose posted a message on Facebook notifing friends and family of her husband’s death:
“There will be good cookin’ and bluegrass in heaven tonight to celebrate the newest arrival. Christopher Dwayne Jones 4/21/57-10/19/12.”
She had posted daily updates about his condition since he was hospitalized.
“The community just lost an angel. He was great,” said friend Linda Thompson.
Thompson, who has volunteered to help at the shop, was there Friday along with employee Vanessa Martin.
Rose told Thompson in a phone conversation earlier Friday morning, she’d like to host a public memorial for her husband at the shop.
In the mornings, it wasn’t odd to see Jones seated at a table in front of the shop, reading a paper and watching cars go by, Thompson said. A group of balloons sat at his table in his memory.
The Meroney Theater marquee reads “Chris Jones 1957-2012.”
Cam Hall, with the Meroney, said she and her husband, Bill, have been friends with Rose and Chris.
“He’s going to be terribly missed. I hope that she will have the strength to continue without him because it will be mighty hard,” Hall said.
She said it won’t be the same not seeing Chris’ smile as she goes into work next door.
Chris has been a longtime restaurateur in and around Salisbury and a musician, appearing in several Piedmont Players productions and performing with bands.
The Blue Vine remained open Friday night, with Dale Mills and Jeff Michael and friends, as a tribute to Chris Jones’ love of bluegrass. The shop will be closed today.
Contact reporter Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253.