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Jones decorates sweet treats
Kurtis J. Wood/Post-Register
Cathy Jones puts the finishing touches on a batch of holiday cupcakes at Akins Harvest Foods on Tuesday.
Cathy Jones has enjoyed living in the Quincy Valley for over 30 years now, and being able to do what she loves to do for a living is icing on the cake.
Jones works as a cake decorator at Akins Harvest Foods. She started working there in 1983, when the store first opened. She was there until 1998, when she left to work in a similar capacity at Food Pavilion stores in Wenatchee and East Wenatchee. She returned to Akins five years ago.
Jones loves art, and sees cake decorating as a convenient, creative method of expressing that love.
“It’s my passion,” she said. “Cake decorating comes easy. It’s like they say — if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.”
Jones got her start in cake decorating while working at an Albertson’s store in the Seattle area.
“I had been fascinated with it,” she said. “At the time I was the front-end sales person. I would always watch (the cake decorators). Then one day one of them told me to take home some icing and practice, make some roses. I did that, and when the cake decorator job came open, I said, ‘I’ll do it. I’ve done it before.’ I even took some decorating classes; I learned about how to do different types of flowers and wedding arrangements.”
Jones decorates cakes for all sorts of holidays and special occasions, but cakes reserved for quinceañeras— traditional rite-of-passage celebrations for young Hispanic females — have always been a favorite.
“I don’t get to do it often, but it’s challenging,” she said. “It’s got fountains and three different tiers, with a bridge going across it.”
Jones said her love of art and creative expression comes in very handy at her job.
“It definitely helps if you have artistic talent,” she said.
“I remember once when I needed a backup person to work part-time on weekends, I called the high school and asked the art teacher if there was a student interested in the job. They sent me over a girl and she caught on really quick and did a good job. I think it goes hand-in-hand.”
Jones grew up in the Seattle area and graduated from Renton High School. She moved to the Quincy Valley when her first (late) husband, Gil Stewart, got a job at Crescent Bar. One of her other passions that she shared with Gil was golf, so living at Crescent Bar — where Gil eventually held the job of golf course director for many years — was perfect for them in a lot of ways.
“I loved it,” she said. “For our kids, it was like having 100 grandparents. And we never got tired of the view — our house faced the island, and we could see the Colockums.”
Jones, however, has switched home courses in more ways than one. She now lives with her husband, Tom (owner of T&J Service Center) at Colockum Ridge Golf Course, in a house that sits right next to the ladies’ tee box on the 12th hole.
Jones tries to golf a couple of times a week during the season.
“If it involves golf, I’m there,” she said. “The lowest handicap I had was a 14. I’ve been between 14 and 20. I try to stay in the teens, and right now I’m in the teens.”
She’s also recently become a grandmother. Her oldest son, Derek Stewart, lives with his wife, Jaclyn, and their 2-year-old boy, Gilbert, in McKinleyville, Calif. Derek is an electrician for the United States Coast Guard.
Derek and Jaclyn are expecting another child, a daughter, in March.
Jones’ youngest son, Tyler, works in the Seattle area for Synaptic Mash, a company that offers learning management systems and programs to school districts.
