I met Jona when we first started at Bucks4books. When I was first hired by Mike he said that he would be finding a manager to run the store because he had to go back to corporate in New York. I think a lot of the new staff really wanted Mike to stay because he seemed so laid back, young and fun. Short after that talk Jona Nord came into our lives with that giant smile on his face. I was skeptical at first, he seemed like he really wanted to do business and was not looking to having much fun. Boy was I wrong!
Jona and I quickly became friends at work. Although I only knew Jona for a short time I felt very close to him, like I could talk with him about anything. We spent many hours at work together in the off season and talked about anything and everything. I could talk to him about family, friends and troubles with my boyfriend and he would give me advice and wouldn’t sugar coat anything. He was always honest with me. One of the policies at our work was to leave our personal problems at the door, but there was no fooling Jona. If something was wrong in my personal life I would try to come to work with a smile on my face but Jona always knew when something was up. Once he finally got what was wrong out of me, he would try to help me fix it, give me advice or make me feel better in some way.
Our number one topic of discussion during season was the Lakers. We could talk for hours and hours about last nights game or the upcoming game. Jona always wanted to help anyone at our work with anything. He offered to help me with homework or when I was looking for a second job he said he would make some calls and he was sure he could find something for me. He always went above and beyond his duties as our manager. He always worked so hard at his job and he really wanted to help build the company as much as he could. For a while I was worried about him because he would be sending the staff emails at 3:30 in the morning. I always gave him a hard time for that and he always just smiled and said he knew he was working too hard but the work had to be done.
Before I left B4B was when Jona first went to the doctor before his family trip to Cabo. He asked me not tell anyone, he didn’t want anyone to worry in the company or make a big deal about it, but he had gone to the doctor and there was something wrong with his liver and they had to perform a lot of tests on him when he got back. He said he was disappointed when the doctor told him not to drink on his trip. Ironically when he came back he brought me a shot glass.
I was sad to leave B4B because of the great relationship I had with everyone and how close we had all gotten, and I was especially upset when I found out more about Jonas cancer. Every time I spoke with him after I left, he would down play it and say everything was okay and that he was doing great and feeling good. Even though he sounded good I still knew it wasn’t as great as he was making it out to be. He was so unselfish in that way, he never wanted anyone to stress or worry about him.
I couldn’t make it to Jona’s benefit, but I spoke with him the week before it. I called him the day before his visit to UCLA and he seemed in a really happy mood. He told me about everything that was going on and once again down-playing it all. At one point in our conversation I could hear him choke back some tears. I lost it. I had to mute my phone so he wouldn’t hear me bawling. He quickly changed the subject and told me he had a secret to tell me. He told me he knew about the benefit. We laughed about it as he told me the story of who slipped and how they tried to cover it up. He said not to tell a soul that he knew because if Dawn found out that he knew she would be so disappointed. I promised him I wouldn’t say a word. That was the last time Jona and I really talked for a good while. I text him and sometimes he would text back but not say too much. I didn’t want to keep bothering him since I knew he was going through a lot.
The week of Jona’s passing Lindsey (B4B employee) and I went to the first Laker game of the season because my dad got season tickets. Jona knew about this when I was still working for B4B and I always told him I would take him to games. Of course he would never let me live that one down. He would remind me over and over that I had to take him to the games, and I always intended too. The night of the Laker game I told my dad all about Jona and what was going on and I asked him if I could take Jona to a game when he was feeling a little better. Of course he told me yes. That Friday afternoon I found out that Jona had passed. I was devastated and shocked. Jona was one of the most amazing people I have ever met. I always felt like we had a bond and that we would always stay in touch with each other. The memories that I have with him will stay with me forever. Jona was not my boss, he was my friend and I will cherish his friendship forever.
Love you Jona, Rest in Peace my friend
- Court