HALIFAX — Kim Kelly had already pointed out that her long-time teammate Colleen Jones wouldn’t have advised crying during an interview when Kelly’s eyes started to well up again as she tried to capture her friend’s incomparable life in words.
“I think that’s what she would want people to remember her, as a warm, compassionate, caring human,” Kelly said of Jones, her voice shaking as tears fell, just before Canada’s eight best women’s curling teams began play at the Scotiabank Centre for the chance to represent the country at the 2026 Olympics.
“And I think what I would miss most is all of her,” Kelly added. “Just her.”
On Tuesday, the curling world mourned the loss of an icon as news emerged that earlier in the day, Jones had lost a nearly three-year-long battle to cancer at the age of 65, with her husband Scott Saunders and sons Luke and Zach by her side, in her hometown of Halifax.
All the while, Canada’s Olympic curling Trials are ongoing in Jones’ hometown, where Canada’s top men’s and women’s teams are competing for a berth to Milano Cortina, and as Kelly put it: “She would’ve loved to be here right now.”
Jones’s presence was certainly felt.
The first words over the arena’s speaker Tuesday evening ahead of the women’s draw were: “The curling world has lost a legend,” followed by clips of Jones celebrating some of her incredible six Scotties Tournament of Hearts championship wins on the big screen, always sporting that giant smile she so often wore. Fans in the building rose to their feet and clapped in her memory, and there was a moment of silence before play began.
Out on the ice for the pre-game memorial ceremony were Jones’s three former teammates in Kelly, Mary-Anne Arsenault and Nancy Delahunt, along with Jones’s son, Luke, who earlier Tuesday released a statement from her social media accounts announcing she had passed while surrounded by her family, and looking at the ocean from Maders Cove, her favourite spot in Nova Scotia.
Jones coached Luke and team Nova Scotia to a playoff appearance at the Brier earlier this year. She cried tears of joy when he made his debut on that stage, back in 2023.
Jones, a two-time world champion, played in more Scotties games than anybody ever, and 21 national championships in all. She was the youngest skip to win the title. She was the first skip to win four straight national championships.
Jones blazed trails not only on the ice in growing the profile of the women’s game, but also as the first female sports anchor in Halifax in 1986, the start of a nearly three-decade-long career as a reporter. She was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2022 for her work in paving the way for women in both sport and broadcasting.
“I think she was a person in the world that left a big footprint, but in curling, I don’t know if anyone will leave a bigger one,” Kelly said, since her friend’s impact was felt as a person, curler, and media personality.
Jones was so energetic, with infectious enthusiasm and a love for life, and Kelly said one of Jones’s sisters, Monica, told her that Jones “fought tooth and nail to stay in this world.” The statement issued by Curling Canada’s CEO Nolan Thiessen included: “She is the best of what our sport is and can be.”
It seemed fitting that Jones’ final day was a celebration of the best curlers in this country. Jones never earned the right to represent Canada on the Olympic stage, but Nova Scotia has a contender on the women’s side led by skip Christina Black. She and third Jill Brothers, second Marlee Powers — the fiancée of Jones' son, Luke Saunders — and lead Karlee Everist nearly pulled out a victory, but moved to 3-3 after a loss Tuesday night to Selena Sturmay.
After her victory, Sturmay called Jones “a real Canadian treasure.”
“She’s paved the way in so many regards for women’s curling,” Sturmay said. “I’m just really, really proud and lucky to be walking in the path that she’s carved for us.”
Kerri Einarson, whose Manitoba rink is undefeated and will play Rachel Homan in the round robin finale on Wednesday for a berth straight to the final, got teary-eyed thinking of Jones’ legacy, and said, “her smile — I’ll never forget it.”
Black, a Halifax native, reflected on what Jones did for curling in her home province, and for herself, specifically.
“I wouldn’t be here without her. There’s no doubt in my mind. I idolized her growing up,” Black said. So much so that Black attended the 1999 Scotties in Charlottetown, where she saw Jones win and collapse joyfully to the ice.
“It’s a moment I’ve always had and I was like, 'I want to have that moment, I just want to have that moment like Colleen.' I followed them so much after that. I loved them and everything about her, and just wanted to be like her,” Black said. “And it made me believe, like a kid from Nova Scotia, we can be champions. We can do that. You know, we may be small, but we’re great. And that’s because of her.”
Kelly thought about a friend who always told her, “life is beautiful,” who taught her many lessons.
“I always say I learned how to win, but it sounds really cliché but to say, I learned how to live life bigger and life fuller,” Kelly said. She wished it were Jones who’d been standing in front of reporters Tuesday.
“She would know what to say, how to act, how to make everyone feel better about it,” Kelly said. “She’d say you know what just celebrate me, I lived more than most people did in my 65 years.”
Back in February of 2024, Jones was down at ice level at the Markin MacPhail Centre in Calgary, site of that year’s Scotties, and she was reflecting on the game that was still one of the great passions of her life.
“I think the whole winning thing becomes just so electric for you, because you’ve heard the roar of the crowd so many times, it makes you love the game more,” Jones said, with that big smile on her face. “Winning makes you love, love, love, love everything about this. There is so much to love.”
And so much to remember, too, about one of the best ever to play the game.
