LOCKPORT: Author finds special memories ease loss

Local News

Related Photos

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

November 2, 2007

By Joe Olenick/olenickj@gnnewspaper.com The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Fri Nov 02, 2007, 11:40 PM EDT

Susan Jones has no writing experience, no publisher, no publicity and isn’t trying to become famous.

Not usually what a new author would say, but Jones’ writing has a different purpose. Her first book, “Until We Meet Again” is about a grandfather and a grandson who have a special relationship. However, the two only have short time together, and the boy learns that memories can be created at any time and last forever. The book is an insight on how to deal with the loss of a loved one through memories.

“I’m not doing this for me,” the author said. “It’s not self-serving. It’s my way of giving back.”

Jones is writing from experience. After losing both of her parents, Jones lost a close friend to pancreatic cancer in 2001. Barbara Ennis lived in Lockport and with her husband, Tim, purchased Montondo’s Seafood in 1985. After she passed away, the local Barbara Ennis Foundation was formed. Tim Ennis was chairman of the board for PanCan, the national organization for Pancreatic Cancer last year, and is still an active board member.

The book is dedicated to Jones’ late father. Living in Connecticut, it was difficult for her to leave while her father was sick. So anytime she left, she gave him a special goodbye that later influenced the title of the book.

“One day as I stood at the foot of his bed, I looked up and said in a cheery voice, ‘Dad, until we meet again’ and he responded. And that became our monthly exchange instead of goodbye. It gave me the comfort to walk away and know that I would see him again either at home or in the next place,” Jones said. “The last weekend I saw my father, I did tie a red balloon to his bed telling him to let the balloon carry him home and not to be afraid. That Sunday, I returned to Connecticut and Monday morning I got the call from my sister, Molly, and I knew his journey home was a peaceful passing.”

When the book was released, it wasn’t Jones who noticed the inspiration of her father’s death.

“This is about you and Dad,” Molly Jones told her sister.

Experiencing the losses of both parents and Barbara Ennis wasn’t the only inspiration for the book. Jones was also inspired by a few thoughts she had one day. After sleeping one night, an idea came to her.

“Very early one morning, I was awakened from a deep sleep. Comforting thoughts and tenderhearted images of a little boy and his grandfather sharing ordinary moments were flashing through my tired mind,” Jones said. “I couldn’t get the thoughts out of my mind, so I sat up and wrote it down. When I was done, I wondered, ‘What am I going to do with this?’ I just forgot about it (until) a series of events led me to meeting someone who was an author and her editor and publisher. It just continued to grow and eventually became the book it is now.”

A graduate of Adrian College in Michigan, Jones went to Niagara University for a master’s degree. She was a first grade teacher in Newfane Central School District for 13 years, and later for 19 years in Connecticut. Other than an occasional run-in with English, Jones has no writing background.

“I didn’t intend to write this particular story. I believe those thoughts were gifted to me as a form of healing following the death of my parents and a very dear friend,” Jones said. “Although the story depicts a relationship between a little boy and his grandfather, the memories in the book are ones I actually shared with various people in my life.”

All profits from the book are going to PanCan. The book is also listed on the Hospice Web site, and is endorsed by the National Funeral Directors Association. The book will appear in its 2008 catalog. Anyone can go to the PanCan Web site, www.pancan.org, or Jones’ Web site, www.bookofferings.com, to purchase the book.

The book-signing tour could not have happened at a better time. November is National Pancreatic Cancer Month, and the tour will bring Jones back to Lockport on Nov. 23. She will sign copies of her book at 3 p.m. at the Market Street Art Center, 247 Market St. in Lockport. The next day she will be at another book signing in Albion at Ace Hardware on 146 South Main St. Jones’ sister, Molly, is the owner.

If there is one lesson people can take from this book, Jones said, it would be to make the most of every moment with loved ones.

“We must take the time to make memories with those we love while time allows, for we never know how many moments are left to share,” Jones said. “And may we also come to know that our most treasured memories really do come from the ordinary moments.”

Contact reporter Joe Olenick

at 439-9222, ext. 6241.

Text Only

Local News

Shovel-ready park has perks
At first glance, the big, orange road sign announcing vacant property on Lockport Road as a “shovel ready certified” building site seems a bit gratuitous.
To companies looking for new places to launch a business, it’s not. The sign in their eyes is a welcome mat, for in three words a community pronounced itself ready, willing and able to make a deal quickly.

February 3, 2012 1 Photo
Roy-Hart to play the big stage
A group of local students will be performing this month at Kleinhans Music Hall just before a BPO concert.
The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra will welcome the Royalton-Hartland High School Mixed Chorus as part of the BPO’s Community Spotlight program on Feb. 19 at Kleinhans in Buffalo. The chorus will perform under the direction of Carolyn Unitas Roos and accompanied by Janice McKinney.

February 3, 2012
Former NFTA cop sentenced
A former Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority police officer will spend six years on probation for sending a sexually explicit photo to a teenage girl, a girl he later had a sexual encounter with.
In addition, John W. Ingham will spend 25 weekends in the service of the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office Work Program. Ingham was sentenced Thursday by State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch, Sr. Ingham will also register as a sex offender.

February 3, 2012
Speakers address SPCA contract
Animal rescue volunteers want the City of Lockport to hit the SPCA of Niagara where it hurts — in the pocketbook — and help force reform of the troubled animal welfare organization.
Volunteers from multiple small, private rescue groups, and the SPCA itself, descended on the Common Council Wednesday to talk about the city’s ongoing involvement with SPCA.

February 2, 2012 4 Photos
Liberty Tire cited for 'multiple' violations
The City of Lockport will require Liberty Tire Recycling to obtain an operating permit in order to avoid being declared a hazard.

February 2, 2012
Instant millionaire
Paul Schneider had just gotten off the phone with his girlfriend when he called her back with some breaking news.
“She was teasing me and said, ‘so you hung up the phone with me to scratch your scratch offs?’” Schneider said. “And I said, ‘It’s a good thing I did because I won a million dollars.’”

February 1, 2012 1 Photo
Fire code crackdown vowed
City code enforcement officers are planning an inspection blitz at the multi-building Liberty Tire Recycling complex, in the hope of helping the company avoid another huge fire, officials said Monday.
Liberty Tire, 470 Ohio St., likely will be cited for one or more fire code violations after fire struck the facility this past Friday. A large pile of tires, stored behind one of the buildings, caught fire when a live industrial power line fell on the pile. The power line had partly melted due to a short circuit inside a building.

January 31, 2012 2 Photos
NFTA cuts will make transportation difficult
NFTA cuts will make it difficult, if not impossible for Buffalo-area commuters to get to work in Lockport and Lockport residents to get to Buffalo.
Millie Spencer, who lives near the Walden Galleria, takes four buses and an NFTA train to get to Lockport for her job as a graphic artist four days a week.
“This will threaten my job,” said Spencer who is married and has four children. “We’re down to one car and my husband’s job takes him all over the place. What would I do? I don’t know.”

January 31, 2012 1 Link
Prepared patriots
At mobilization ceremonies across the state this weekend, hundreds of servicemen from the Army National Guard were cheered on their way to training for a possible overseas deployment.
More than 1,800 soldiers assigned to the 27th Brigade Combat Team mobilized before heading to Camp Shelby in Mississippi to train for an expected deployment to Kuwait this spring. In Lockport, nearly 75 men from Company A of the Brigade Special Troops Battalion were thanked for their previous — and coming — service to the nation at a ceremony Sunday. Likewise, 90 were sent off in Geneseo Saturday, and more in Buffalo and Rochester.

January 30, 2012 1 Photo
Town recycling numbers are up
The Town of Lockport seems to have taken a bigger interest in recycling.
At a Town Board meeting Wednesday, Councilman Paul W. Siejak said for all of 2011, the town recycled 27.55 more tons than it did a year ago. Electronics recycling, which the town started in July, totaled 4,914 pounds.
For the electronics recycling, the town receives 5 cents per pound, which means Lockport was paid $245.70.

January 30, 2012
More Local News Headlines

Local News

Search Results

Related Photos

LOCKPORT: Author finds special memories ease loss

Site Map

Contact Us