I didn’t meet this woman, Colleen Jones, but I know of her and I’ve watched her in action as both a curling skip and as a reporter. I admired her competitive spirit, her sincerity, and her humanity. She was a fully genuine person and for those who knew her personally – they will all be grieving deeply this evening at news of her untimely death at 65.

My memories of her via TV are not vivid because they go quite a ways back but I have this gnawing and yearning to share as I recollect that central to her character was the way the she treated others. Curling is a game where players make shots and miss shots. Some shots go awry but then produce a favorable result. Some shots can lose a team games. She was the skip and thrived on having the last shot. Leaders step up to this kind of calling. Good curlers and leaders know how to keep a vibe when things go off the rails. They know how to uplift a disappointed player. Colleen had this going on like no other. She had other peoples interests at heart seemingly at every moment in her very raw unpretentious way. This is my memory of Colleen Jones.