When you ask Jane St. John what her hobbies are the first one she enthusiastically lists is saving money. With a husband, four children, nine cats and one dog, saving money seems to be a good idea. The biggest asset in this endeavor is coupons.

“I get coupons wherever I can get them - through the mail, in the paper, people save them for me,” she explained. “It’s not as easy as it used to be because they don’t take as many. There for awhile they were doubling and tripling them. I was saving 80 to 90 percent.”

“This year between all of (the stores) together I’ve probably saved $4,000 or $5,000. I save $300 to $400 a month,” she continued. “We only eat out once a month unless it’s a special occasion.”

“I cook a lot from scratch. I’m not one of those people who uses a coupon just because I have it,” Jane said. “My philosophy is the more money I save, the less money I have to make.”

“It can be done in this day and age,” her husband Jeff noted.

“It’s hard, but it can be done,” Jane added.

Jeff and Jane St. John met in 1984 when they were working at Freudenberg at Morristown. Their marriage got off to a very stormy start, which may account for why it has lasted 23 years. They were married at First Southern Baptist Church in Rushville by Wilbur Lynch on Sept. 21, 1985 on a nice autumn day. Everything went fine until the honeymoon.

“We went to the Pokono Mountains, then went to Connecticut to see his sister I had not met, and Hurricane Gloria struck that year,” Jane recalled. “I said, ‘I should’ve known.’”

The landfall in Connecticut was Gloria’s third after it hit North Carolina’s Outer Banks, then Long Island. It was the worst storm at that time to hit the northeastern United States since 1972. Hurricane Gloria became such a destructive storm that the name was retired from the Atlantic tropical storm list.

The St. Johns celebrated their anniversary this year in a much quieter fashion, spending a day off from work by going shopping together. Another cause for celebration was Jane’s 46th birthday Sept. 29.

Jeff worked at Freudenberg for 21 years until he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Jane returned to factory work for awhile. Then she did some baby-sitting, catering, cleaning houses, and cleaning a church. For the last four and one half years she has been a motor route carrier for the Rushville Republican. She had done the same job for six months in 1999 and 2000. The best part of her current occupation is working outside.

“I like to be outside,” she exclaimed. “I enjoy the weather when it’s not too nasty, when we don’t have ice like we did last January.” When bad weather strikes, she uses a four wheel drive to get the newspapers to her customers.

The St. Johns reside about one mile north of Manilla, in Shelby County.

“I grew up across the road from where we live now,” Jane commented. “My dad’s a farmer and he gave us some land and we put a Cape Cod modular on it about five years ago. We did live in Waits Addition for awhile.”

A Morristown High School graduate, she is the daughter of Theron and Pat Dawson and has two sisters; one lives in Greenfield and one in Avon.

Jeff and Jane have four children. Courtney is a senior at the University of Indianapolis, studying sports marketing. “She wants to get a job with the Colts,” her mother noted, adding that her daughter works at the Berean Christian store at Southport and at the school.

Jordan just graduated from Lincoln Tech and now is working at Smith Implements in Greenfield.

Chelsea is a sophomore at Morristown High School.

Theron wants to become a minister.

“We’re kind of having church at home. My son is going to be a preacher. He’s going to go to college to be a preacher,” Jane said. “We have it Sunday morning just like regular but it’s more of a Bible study format.”

“He goes to Morristown High School and he has started a Bible study group in the high school; they’ve let him do that at Morristown,” she explained.

Jane’s other hobbies besides saving money include sewing, cooking, gardening and being a Colts fan. She sews mostly for her family but made and sold about 200 Barbie doll outfits at Christmas one year.

Her joy in baking is giving away treats to other people and seeing their happiness.

“I’ve done a little catering, but with insurance and that I can’t afford to do that,” she reflected.

Her gardening is mostly produce for canning.

“This year I haven’t done as much. I made jelly, canned beets and green beans and tomato juice,” she said.

So far as being Colts fans, the whole family gets into the act.

“We’ve never been to a game but we got to go to training camp,” Jane said. Her favorite is Dallas Clark and he signed her jersey at training camp. She couldn’t explain why he was her favorite but it wasn’t just “because he’s cute.”

“Courtney knows Hunter Smith and is going to do some marketing. He recognized her at training camp,” Jane said.

Theron had a Colts encounter too.

“He went to have his Tony Dungy book signed and Tony let him put his Super Bowl ring on and he got to wear it for a minute,” Jane noted.

Whether you see her delivering newspapers, sharing homemade delectables, wearing the Colts’ blue and white or tending her garden, rest assured that her thoughts are on ways to save money.



Jan Voiles can be contacted at jan.voiles@rushvillerepublican.com or at (765) 932-2222 ext. 107. Add a comment to this story at www.rushvillerepublican.com.