Gatherings for Mother’s Day aren’t quite as enormous as they used to be for the sports-crazed Darpels and Jones. Nests have emptied. Household members have disbursed. Even so, the annual holiday on the second Sunday in May is just as rewarding and usually involves sports.
Local hall of famer Cheryl Darpel, the championship-winning former Northern Kentucky high school girls basketball coach, explains.
“My husband’s family is really big,” said Darpel, whose maiden name is Jones. “Paul is one of eight children and 26 grandchildren. When that side of the family celebrated Mother’s Day, it was a bash. The Jones side of the family is a little smaller.”
The Jones side is no less celebratory.
“I’m having brunch on Mother’s Day with my mom and my family at Summit Hills Country Club,” Darpel said. “It’s a special day. My mom, Grace Jones, is 90. She has belonged to the club for over 50 years and she likes to go there for brunch. Later on, I’m planning on golfing with my kids. After that, Paul wants to grill out in the back yard.”
It will be a gathering of 10 for brunch at Summit Hills. They are not quite sure where they will be golfing. Eventually, they’ll make their way back to the Darpel residence in Edgewood for the picnic dinner. Amid the Mother’s Day cards and flowers will be two incredible moms and a passel of Pandas and Colonels.
Darpel, from Ludlow, is the only Notre Dame Academy basketball player to return as head coach and win the region. The Pandas captured the 2007 9th Region crown and won a Sweet 16 state tournament game that year. It was Notre Dame Academy’s first region championship in 20 years. The last previous champion could boast Darpel as a player when she was Cheryl Jones on the roster.
Darpel’s Notre Dame Academy teams never had a losing season. The Pandas averaged nearly 20 wins over a span of 13 years under her direction. The 1987 Notre Dame Academy graduate won nearly 250 games and five district championships with four regional final appearances. Darpel was a three-time 9th Region coach of the year.
Darpel’s success spanned beyond the walls of Notre Dame Academy. She was an assistant coach for regional championship teams before and after Notre Dame. She was at Boone County High School before and Ryle High School afterward. Darpel also taught at Boone County High School. She is a Notre Dame Academy Athletic Hall of Fame and Northern Kentucky Athletic Directors’ Hall of Fame inductee.
Love for sports
As Darpel considers her path in life, she points to her parents as primary influences.
“I get my sports interest from my parents,” said Darpel, who played college basketball at Cincinnati and Eastern Kentucky. “My mom is a die-hard sports fan. Her and dad had season tickets for University of Kentucky football and basketball games. They had season tickets for the Reds and Bengals. My mom doesn’t miss many Reds games on TV.”
Grace was an avid tennis player into her 80s. She loves watching sports of all sorts on the home television. No matter where they are on game day, the Darpels have to get Grace home in time for the Reds.
“I like the Bengals, too,” Grace said.
It’s the second Mother’s Day after the passing of Darpel’s father and Grace’s husband of 56 years, Ron Jones. Mr. Jones was 95 when he passed in January 2023. He presided over the funerals of many Northern Kentuckians as founder of Ronald B. Jones Funeral Home in Ludlow. Grace remains the funeral home’s treasurer. She still drives to work from her home in Crestview Hills. She continues to beautify the property by personally taking care of the flowers around the premises.
Both of Darpel’s parents were born in Ludlow and attended Ludlow High School. Grace was born on Highway Avenue. She was a member of the Ludlow PTA. She has 11 grandchildren and one great grandchild.
“I’m going to get emotional here because I really love my mom,” Darpel said. “My mom was always my biggest fan. She was always there at my games to support me. Always. She’s a very special person and not just because she is my mom.”
Mother’s Day recognizes mothers and motherhood and acknowledges moms’ positive contributions to their families and society. Darpel and her mother have contributed mightily to their communities. They also had a lot of kids to help the communal cause. On Sunday, they will also honor Paul’s mom and remember Grace’s mom, who lived to be 92.
“I can only hope to have those genes,” Darpel said.
Building maternal bonds
Mr. and Mrs. Jones raised four children, all girls. Cheryl, the youngest daughter, and Paul celebrate their 32nd anniversary in December. They have five children: Ben, Abby, Nate, Nick and Luke. All were student-athletes either at Covington Catholic or Notre Dame. Four went on to college.
Ben and Abby graduated from Kentucky. Ben married former Notre Dame student-athlete Taylor Watts two years ago. He played soccer at Covington Catholic. He works for a cyber security company in Kentucky. Abby played basketball and won Silver Key writing awards at Notre Dame. She is a chemist in Tennessee. Darpel coached Abby’s fifth-grade AAU basketball team.
Nate, who played soccer and swam at CovCath, is at Ohio State. He’s an aviation engineering major. Nick, a football and baseball player at CovCath, is an accounting major at Western Kentucky. Luke is a junior at CovCath. He plays soccer. He received first honors on the CovCath second-quarter honor roll and is a member of the school robotics team. Darpel taught Luke in chemistry class when he was a sophom*ore.
“My mom is the hardest worker that I’ve seen,” Luke said. “She has a lot of great qualities I would like to mimic as I get older.”
That likely will include letting his children follow their muse when he becomes a dad. Darpel let Luke be Spiderman to his heart’s content when he was little and not just for Halloween.
“I’ve watched all the Spiderman movies, at least all the major ones,” Luke said. “Yeah, my mom is pretty cool.”
Darpel has been a science teacher with an emphasis on biology and chemistry at CovCath and Ryle. She’s been teaching for the past 10 years while also serving as owner, president and director at Ronald B. Jones Funeral Home. Darpel left Notre Dame to work full time at the family business while at the peak of her coaching powers. After her father died, she purchased the funeral home in 2023.
“I grew up around the business. I’ve been a funeral director since 2012,” said Darpel who spent four hours Wednesday in an online class. She is part of a continuing education program designed to keep her current in her field.
Darpel earned her funeral director’s license in 2014. She is a member of the Kentucky Funeral Directors Association.
Grace was all smiles when her daughter decided to work with her again.
“I’m glad she came back to the funeral home because we needed her help,” Grace said. “I’m very proud of her.”
Pushing the boundaries of motherhood
While setting records, accomplishing firsts and molding teenage girls into young ladies at Notre Dame, Darpel took motherhood to extremes. She bore all five kids in nine years while coaching at Notre Dame.
“When I told mom I was having a fifth kid, she told me I was crazy,” Darpel said. “I reminded her she had four kids.”
Four of Darpel’s children were born during the basketball season. The coach gave birth and was back on the bench within days on two occasions.
“That shows dedication,” Luke said.
Darpel said it was par for the course.
“Every Notre Dame team I coached had to deal with me having a kid,” she said. “You never plan it that way. It just happens. Now, I have five beautiful children and Mother’s Day is special.”
Celebrating maternal bonds isn’t just a one-day thing for the Darpels and Jones. It’s a celebration every day with hugs and kisses, well wishes, meaningful gestures and an enduring love for each other.
“I love my mom a lot, both her and my dad,” Luke said. “They are role models in my life. I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
