The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
'Mama Jones' is mama to many runners
Susan Jones has shared her love of running with hundreds of girls
By Sue G. Collins, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: May 10, 2007
Mother's Day this year will be bitter sweet for Susan Jones. In the past, she and her four daughters would pick up Susan's mother, Elizabeth, for a leisurely drive to admire their favorite gardens in Ann Arbor before stopping for brunch or a picnic.
Advertisement
"Stopping to smell the roses along the way" and what Susan calls the love of a "simple abundance" are two passions Elizabeth passed on to her daughter and granddaughters, who this year will remember her with great affection.
Elizabeth Harkins passed away last month at the age of 77 in her home, surrounded by her family.
"Mother's Day will be very different this year. I miss my mom but I carry her with me everywhere I go and that is a comfort during this sorrowful time of loss," said Susan Jones.
This Mother's Day weekend, Susan and her daughter, Anna, will nourish a new tradition by running a 25k in Grand Rapids for the second time together. Running is another passion of Susan's that she has passed down to her girls, as well as to the hundreds of girls who have run along side her in the Saline High School cross country program, which she has helped coach for a decade.
Affectionately known as "Mama J," Susan began as a volunteer with the Saline Middle School cross country team when her second daughter, Kate, showed interest in the sport.
"I realized this would be the perfect place for this mom to volunteer, given my love of running," Susan said.
She is ever quick to downplay her role in the success and popularity of the cross country program, although others would beg to differ, crediting her with helping instill a sense of pride and purpose in runners of all levels who "get with the program" in Saline.
"The paper isn't large enough to print all the amazing things she has done," said Kathy Roth, who is a photographer for the team and whose daughter ran on the team for four years with "Mama J."
"There were times during meets when I just wanted to warm my hands around her and be in her presence, absorb her aura. She is such a sweet soul and continues to keep giving and growing."
Susan said it's her pleasure to work with the runners and to share her philosophy of running and passion for the sport, and watch the kids learn life skills that will last far beyond the track.
"When we're sitting in the woods after a meet all muddy, we debrief. Not everyone would get it, but we do and it's magic," she said.
Susan helps create the magic by balancing her career in health care with her job as a mother to Lauren, Kate, Anna and Rosie, while nurturing her passion for running and coaching.
She is a discharge planning nurse at the University of Michigan Hospital and worked for three years at Arbor Hospice.
This thread of caring and community winds through Susan Jones' life, as she touches the students and their families, her running peers, the people she helps as a volunteer with Hope Medical Clinic, Back Door Food Pantry and, of course, her four daughters.
This Mother's Day, when Susan and Anna are pushing their bodies to the limit in the final miles, Susan will likely feel her mother running along side her, encouraging her to continue to follow her dreams and her heart, something she already does every day.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
Staff Blog, "Inside The Newsroom"
TOP JOBS
