Run in the Sun to Honor Coach Jerry Staton, Support Hospice Serenity House

OSKALOOSA – For more than fifty years, Coach Jerry Staton encouraged athletes to believe in themselves, work together, and look out for one another.

On Saturday, Aug. 1, his family invites everyone to continue those lessons at the 15th annual Mahaska Health Foundation Run in the Sun.

The event begins at Statesmen Community Stadium in Oskaloosa and includes a timed 5K run, a 2K walk, a free fun run for kids, and family activities.

Funds raised will go to the Mahaska Health Foundation and Hospice Serenity House, which offers end-of-life care and support for patients and their families.

This year, the featured family is Staton’s widow, Sharon, and their children, Jeff Staton, Wendy DeWaard, and Stacey Sytsma. They are taking part in memory of Coach Staton, who passed away on Nov. 13, 2025, at Hospice Serenity House.

In a July 28 interview with Oskaloosa News, the family spoke about the care Staton received, the lessons he taught, and the lasting impact he made in the communities where he coached.

A Family Helped by Serenity House

In his final years, Staton lived with dementia. As his health declined, his family reached a point where they needed more help than they could provide at home.

Jeff Staton said those final days were difficult for his father and the entire family.

“The hospice house did a tremendous job of comforting him, giving him dignity, treating him with respect,” Jeff Staton said.

He said the family saw the care firsthand and remains grateful for the comfort the Serenity House team provided.

Stacey Sytsma said the staff also recognized that the family needed support during that time.

“Dad was the patient, but we were too,” she said in an interview shared by Mahaska Health.

Their experience is why they agreed to be the featured family for Run in the Sun. They hope other patients and families will receive the same care when they need it.

Sytsma said Serenity House helped them care for the man who had always cared for them.

“They helped all of us,” Sytsma said.

For the family, supporting Serenity House is not just about remembering Staton. It is also about ensuring this care is available to other families in the future.

“Our community is so lucky to have that,” Sytsma said. “I hope people come out for that reason, and also to enjoy being together.”

Allowing Families to Be Families

Mahaska Health Hospice Serenity House is a six-bed facility on the Mahaska Health campus in Oskaloosa. It opened in 2010 after a community fundraising campaign.

Registered nurses and certified nursing assistants staff the facility around the clock, and volunteers also help patients, families, and staff.

Hospice services may include pain and symptom management, spiritual care, respite care, family meetings, and support for those dealing with grief. Care can be given at home, in assisted living, in a nursing facility, or at Serenity House.

Serenity House is designed so families can spend time with their loved ones, rather than having to handle all the caregiving themselves.

Mahaska Health says hospice patients can come to Serenity House even if they use another hospice provider. The organization also says no one will be turned away for being unable to pay.

The Staton family saw how important that care was when Jerry could no longer stay safely at home.

Wendy DeWaard also shared that Jerry’s sister had been cared for in the same room at Serenity House before Jerry stayed there.

DeWaard said her father would not have wanted attention placed on himself.

“He would think he shouldn’t be honored, like he would think somebody else should be,” DeWaard said.

Still, she believes he would want to help Serenity House continue serving other families.

A Coaching Career Built on Belief

Staton was 84 when he passed away. He spent 53 years teaching and coaching at several schools in Iowa.

He coached at Pekin, Vinton, Clarinda, Oskaloosa, Pella Christian and Albia. He also coached at Lea College in Albert Lea, Minnesota, and spent one year in Milan, Missouri.

Staton spent 29 years at Oskaloosa. His 1996 football team won a state championship, and his teams at Oskaloosa, Pella Christian, and Albia made several playoff runs and trips to the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

According to Staton’s obituary, he was inducted into the Iowa Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He was also placed on the Parsons College Wall of Honor in 2012.

His family said that for him, winning games was only one part of what he did.

Staton was known for taking on teams that needed rebuilding. Jeff Staton said his father’s real strength was helping athletes and communities believe they could improve.

“The magic is he got people in Oskaloosa to believe that they could be good, that they could beat the Pellas of the world, they could be state champions, and there’s power in believing,” Jeff Staton said.

That message is also part of the 2026 Run in the Sun. When the family was asked to choose a phrase for the event shirts, they picked one word: “Believe.” Jeff Staton said, “That’s the word Dad always used with the team and with us as a family.”

That message stayed with the Staton children long after their days on the football field.

“We weren’t allowed to say can’t,” DeWaard said. “That’s a dirty word.”

Success Measured Years Later

Jeff Staton said his father did not judge a team’s success only by its record.

He recalled a time when his father was asked how good one of his teams would be. Staton answered that the real results would not be known for many years.

“I’ll tell you in about 20 years when these young men become fathers and are leaders in their communities,” Jeff Staton recalled his father saying.

The family said that after Staton’s death, former athletes, students, and community members kept sharing stories about him. Some told them about help he had given that his wife and children never knew about.

Sytsma said many people remember the football victories, but her father also paid attention to young people who were struggling.

“He helped all kinds of kids,” she said.

The family has also created scholarships in Staton’s memory at Oskaloosa, Pella Christian, and Albia. Three scholarships have already been given, and the family plans to offer them again next year.

Jeff Staton said the family does not think Staton’s name needs to be on a building or stadium for his influence to last.

“He’s going to live on in the hearts of the people that played for him,” he said.

A Full-Circle Moment

One moment at Serenity House showed the Staton family how far the coach’s influence had reached.

Jeff Staton said one of his father’s former football players and wrestlers was volunteering at Serenity House when the family arrived.

Years earlier, that athlete had suffered a broken neck during a wrestling tournament in Keokuk. Staton rode with him in the ambulance to the hospital in Iowa City.

Decades later, that same former athlete was at Serenity House to help Staton and his family.

Jeff Staton called it a full-circle moment.

Another connection came through members of the hospice team who had family ties to former Staton athletes. Former players also visited their old coach during his final days.

Those moments showed the family that the relationships Staton built lasted long after the season ended.

Passing Kindness Forward

Sharon Staton described her husband as kind, even when his job required him to be firm with players.

“He was a really kind person, even though sometimes in his position he had to be tough with people,” she said. “But sometimes that’s being kind.”

She believes that supporting Serenity House is a way for former players, students, and friends to carry on the example her husband set.

“I know he would hope that anybody who crossed his path would come and help do something like this and pass the kindness on,” she said.

Run in the Sun Schedule

Early packet pickup will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday, July 31, at Hospice Serenity House, 630 N. 12th St. in Oskaloosa. It will be offered as a drive-through service.

The Saturday event schedule includes:

* 7 to 7:55 a.m. — Race-day packet pickup
* 8 a.m. — Opening ceremony, national anthem and recognition of the Staton family
* 8:30 a.m. — 5K run begins
* 8:35 a.m. — 2K walk begins
* 9:30 a.m. — Awards ceremony and finish festival
* After the 5K and 2K — Free children’s fun run and family activities

Family activities will include inflatables, a foam pit, face painting, vendor booths and refreshments.

Participants should park south of Statesmen Community Stadium and enter through the south gates.

The event will take place rain or shine. Race officials may delay, postpone or cancel activities if lightning or other conditions create a safety risk.

Online registration will remain open through Friday, July 31. Participants may also register on the morning of the event. People can run or walk individually, create a team, donate, purchase a tribute sign in memory of someone, or buy an event shirt.

Registration and donation information is available at mahaskahealth.org/run2026.

Amanda Doud, Mahaska Health Foundation director, said every person who takes part helps support the work of Serenity House.

“Every runner, walker, volunteer, sponsor, and donor helps Hospice Serenity House provide compassionate care for patients and their families,” Doud said.