From Memories of Stas Ionov
A friend of mine at work noticed on Monday that I was acting differently and asked me if everything was alright. I told her, “no”, I had lost a very dear friend over the weekend. She said, is this a friend whose passing will leave a void in your life? And it hit me, yes, the loss of Stas will leave a giant void in my life.
I was introduced by Sue Harmon, my mentor and training partner to Stas about 7 years ago. I was training for the Los Angeles Marathon and Stas was training for Catalina. Sue was not training for either so she said to me, “Jake, here is your new training partner leave me alone this year”. And off the three of us went on a 20+ mile run in a downpour that made us question our sanity several times. It was the start of a great adventure in being in the company of Stas Ionov.
That was the beginning of a friendship and relationship that went countless miles, resolved endless domestic and international problems, helped elect several presidents, and gave me a friend whose memory I will cherish until we meet again.
Starting in December and ending in March, for 4 – 5 hours every Saturday, for seven years I enjoyed the company of this man as he showed me areas of Southern California which I had never knew existed, much less been to before. He was an “E” ticket ride.
He would guide you into in Cheseboro canyon and show you sea shells in the sides of mountains to illustrate that these mountains were at one time under water.
Or he would force you up Stunt Road to show you rock formations whose beauty can only be seen by those who could venturesome enough to find them.
Take you to a part of L.A. County where the “farmers” weren’t that friendly and you better have some speed left to get out there.
Run you up Mulholland to show you at the top where a volcano had created a crater in the topography that you had just run into and out of.
Take you into Malibu Creek State Park to show you the filming site for Mash.
And of course Bulldog, the brown bitch and the black bitch.
How do you replace that void?
During these outings, Stas would enlighten me on national and world issues, and bring with him his strong sense of right and wrong. His thoughts on the world were crystal clear. One day we were discussing the results of a nationally known trial and he was adamant about the man’s innocence. When I questioned him on this, he was succinct in his response. He said the jury said the defendant was innocent, it was a trial conducted under the laws of the state, therefore because of the way the laws in our land work, he is innocent. When people in society start putting themselves above the law, it is the beginning of anarchy. The clarity of his logic was impeccable.
How do you replace that void?
In social situations, Stas was the consummate refined gentleman with the social graces of an individual who graduated from a finishing school. Even with this high degree of awareness he still fit in perfectly with John Duddy and myself who shall I say were never as high up the social skills ladder. In fact, if I were optimistic, both John and I would like to think we might have even dragged him down a few rungs to our level.
How do you replace that void?
Regarding his family, they were the passion in his life. As a husband and father, his devotion to Irena and Sophi was second to none.
How do you replace that void?
The answer is you never replace the void. You can only hope that our memories of Stas will fill as much of the hole in our lives that Stas’ passing will leave.
My last run with Stas was in February of 2005. We went out for a long run (4 hours) in a downpour that made us question our sanity several times. Little did I know it was the last great adventure I would have in being in the company of Stas Ionov.
Mark "Jake" Jacobson
September 16, 2005
