Family Laces Up for Wellness Weekend 5K Hours After Losing Loved One
Eric Ayres Trending
WHEELING -- The Ogden Newspapers Wellness Weekend presented by WVU Medicine takes place every Memorial Day weekend, and it was bittersweet for one local family participating in this year’s events, as they ended up doing so in memory of a loved one who passed on the morning of the race.
Jon Saffell served as mayor of Glen Dale for many years and was a very active member of the community. His health had been failing in recent years, and although his passing was not unexpected, members of his family were wearing their hearts on their sleeves on Saturday.
"He just passed away this morning," his daughter, Julie Peroni, said. "He was in Good Shepherd Nursing Home, and he had Parkinson’s. The last two days were pretty bad, so we weren’t going to do this race. But the nurses there actually were fantastic, and they said ‘you should probably do it in his memory, because that’s what he would want you to do.’ So that’s what we’re doing."
Saffell, 84, died Saturday, and members of his family wanted to go through with the race and lace up in his honor -- particularly because Saffell himself had a passion for participating in road races and was a veteran of the Ogden Newspapers Wellness Weekend races.
"He ran the Ogden Race for many years," Peroni said. "He was a very avid runner. He ran quite a lot."
Saffell had moved to Wheeling about a year before he entered Good Shepherd, but his roots ran deep in Glen Dale.
"Everybody from Glen Dale knows Jon Saffell," Peroni said.
On Saturday, Peroni participated in the 5K Walk presented by WVU Medicine Children's along with her daughter, Ava, and daughter-in-law, Cara. Her son, Mario, took part in the 5K Run presented by WVU Medicine Children's.
"He’s running, we’re walking," Peroni said. "But we’re all doing it in my dad’s name."