Saying goodbye

Today marks the end of an era.

But a family tradition of nearly three decades will continue.

Joni Penrod, who has served as athletics secretary for Jay County High School since 2003, officially retires from her position today.

“I think just looking overall, I feel good, I want to go do things,” said Penrod, a 1977 JCHS graduate. “I want to go travel and do fun things while (she and husband Todd) feel good.

“We have a motorhome. We plan on traveling and seeing things we haven’t seen.”

Penrod, 60, started her professional career as a medical assistant in a doctor’s office. while her mother, Jeannie Habbeger, was the JCHS attendance secretary. Habbeger became athletics secretary in 1993 and held that position for a decade.

Being so closely involved with the school for such a long period of time, Penrod said she felt a strong connection to it and the athletic programs, that her family helped in some way to get it going. At some point, she mentioned to her mother she wanted her job when she grew up.

“In November or December 2003, she called me and said, ‘Are you grown up yet?’” Penrod laughed. Habegger was going to retire, and asked her daughter to apply for the position.

It stayed within the family.

“It was a major pay cut but it was the best decision,” she said. “I’ve never regretted it.”

Penrod has outlasted four previous athletics directors, and current AD Steve Boozier is the fifth with whom she’s worked alongside.

Brad Lindsey was the first, then current Jay School Board president Phil Ford stepped in. Her stepfather, Ted Habegger, was her third boss, and Bob Lutton took over until 2013, giving way to Boozier.

“It was fun,” she said of getting to work with a wide range of personalities. “Everybody does things different so it was a challenge to do things how they wanted and make it all work.”

Penrod said her most memorable moment as athletics secretary was the boys basketball team’s run to the state finals in 2006. She recalled one morning she showed up to school at 5:30 a.m. and there were fans already in line to purchase tickets even though they didn’t go on sale for another 90 minutes.

“That was the craziest, most fun … bizarre,” she said.

At boys basketball games, Penrod’s boisterous cheering voice could often be heard above most others — a trait her mom also shared — from her seat in the corner baseline opposite the visiting team’s bench.

And while she will no longer be athletics secretary, she’ll still attend games as she can; the kids are what she’ll miss most about not being in the building every day.

“Just getting to know the kids, that’s so much fun when you know them and watch them play,” she said. “I’m going to miss the kids. It’s like a family out here.”

Speaking of family, as JCHS becomes Jay County Junior-Senior High School this fall, Penrod’s sister, Kristi Pryor, will take over as athletics secretary. As one walks down the hallway after entering the main office doors, the third office on the right will remain in the family.

“I think Mom would be so happy,” Penrod said. “I feel very comfortable. I’m always a phone call away and (Pryor) knows that.

“I think it’s awesome. We’ve already discussed … some of Mom’s stuff is still in the office. The Christmas tree, that was Mom’s. We just left it.”

Penrod delayed her retirement a month — the academic calendar year runs from July 1 through June 30 — to help Pryor get as much covered for the 2020-21 school year as possible given the consolidation. Pryor will have the added duties of handing all of the junior high scheduling as well.

But when Penrod wakes up Monday morning, she won’t have to make the short trek from her rural Portland home to 2072 W. Indiana 67 for the first time in nearly two decades.

“It’s just going to be bittersweet,” she said. “I love my job. I’m not leaving because I don’t, I’m leaving so I can go have fun.”