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<p>KILLEEN, TX. &#8212; A Wilkes-Barre native with a passion for video games and giving back to his community passed away Thursday.</p><p>Josh Jones, 34, died at 11:24 a.m. Central Time after emergency surgery to attempt to repair a tear in his aorta valve at Scott &amp; White Memorial Hospital in Temple, Texas.</p><p>Kenda &#8220;Keni&#8221; Jones, Jones&#8217; wife, said her husband was always told video games would never get him anywhere.</p><p>&#8220;He was set to prove everybody wrong, and he did,&#8221; she said.</p><p>According to Josh&#8217;s LinkedIn page, he was the event coordinator and co-founder of Gaming World Wide, &#8220;a global organization that has unified gamers around the world who wish to create video game-based events that benefit society.&#8221;</p><p>Kenda explained she and Josh met through a video game, and Josh moved to Texas roughly 10 years ago. Since then, she said her husband sought to give back to the community through fundraising efforts.</p><p>One year, she said her husband did a fundraiser to benefit the American Cancer Society. Another year, Kenda said a boy in their community sold his PlayStation 4 so he could buy smoke detectors for those in his neighborhood.</p><p>Josh got together with some friends and they bought the boy a new PlayStation 4 and games.</p><p>&#8220;He had a big heart,&#8221; Kenda said. &#8220;All he cared about was being part of something big.&#8221;</p><p>According to Josh&#8217;s LinkedIn page, he was a coach and volunteer for Special Olympics Luzerne County from 1995 until 2007.</p><p>Josh&#8217;s mother, Mary, of Plant City, Florida, described her son as a &#8220;very loving and giving person&#8221; who helped everyone he could.</p><p>&#8220;Josh did everything he could for anybody that needed help,&#8221; she said. &#8220;He was always there.&#8221;</p><p>Mary added that Josh has two young children who live in the Pittston area.</p><p>A GoFundMe account has been set up for the family as they begin preparing for Jones&#8217; funeral.</p><p>As of Friday afternoon, nearly $3,000 had been donated from 46 people.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Jones </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_Jones.jpg</photo0><caption0>Jones </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Travis Kellar</p><p>tkellar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>Lend a hand</strong></p><p>Visit the GoFundMe page for Josh Jones&#8217; family by visiting https://www.gofundme.com/loveforjosh.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Travis Kellar at 570-991-6389 or on Twitter @TLNews</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Josh Jones, Wilkes-Barre native with passion for gaming, passes away