The ABCs of Love: The Mamons

Think twice before you complain about attending the staff meetings at your job—it may be where you find true love.

It was a Manassas Park City Schools staff development meeting where Jon Mamon met his wife, Stacey, 12 years ago.

 “I did notice my future wife when she walked into the room,” Jon said of Stacey, who was then a teacher at Manassas Park Elementary where she is now principal.

She was fairly new to the area and lived with two roommates who were both teachers; one worked with Jon at Manassas Park Middle.

Soon, Stacey and Jon crossed paths again at a mutual friend’s party.

“I was already there when she walked into the room and I was like, ‘There’s that girl I saw at the staff development,'” Jon said.

They immediately found it easy to talk to each other, he said.

“We had a lot in common,” she said. “And certainly, I  think with both of us being in education we have a lot of similar experiences.”

The two tried to keep their romance “low key” throughout their three-year courtship, but it wasn’t that easy.

Jon stopped teaching math and began working in instructional technology for the school division, moving in and out of buildings during the day and increasing his chances of crossing paths with Stacey.

“When we would see each other in the hallway, we would walk the opposite way so people wouldn’t have even known that we knew each other,”  she said laughing. “But certainly as we continued to date, people knew.”

Recently, deputy superintendent of schools Dr. Ritchie Carroll told Stacey she remembers when she realized the two were an item. “At the time Dr. Carroll was my principal. We'd had a dinner or an event at the old MPES. Ritchie said, ‘I remember thinking to myself, why is Jon Mamon here?’ And then, here comes Stacey walking up to him.’ She said,  ‘I knew then,’” Stacey said.

Stacey said she loves the way Jon has always supported her as she worked to advance her career. He helped her through graduate school and through the National Board Certification process. "I can remember all the help that you gave when I was going back to school,” Stacey said to Jon during a conversation in her office earlier this month.  

 “I couldn’t have done that without your help and support," she said.

“I knew she could do it,” Jon said. 

The couple, who married in August 2003, said they spend a lot of time talking about education. “We talk a fair amount; I would say it’s natural. We have things in common, we bounce a lot of ideas off each other. We have similar, but also different perspectives on things. I really respect what Stacey thinks about things,” Jon said.

But at times they get to a point where they agree not to talk about work, the couple said. It’s a little easier now that they have a 2-year-old son in the house to keep their attention, Stacey said.

“What we do is a huge part of us,” Stacey said. “It sounds kind of corny, but I think we both enjoy what we do. We share that similar love of what we do. We have similar approaches to it and work ethic. We love what we do and we love where we do it.  As evidence, we’ve been in Manassas Park a long time," she said. John has been with the division 22 years while Stacey has been employed for 13.

She loves the moments when she meets someone who recognizes her last name as belonging to her husband, Stacey said of Jon, who is now the director of accountability and assessment for the division.

“When they have that moment they say, ‘Mamon? I know Jon Mamon are you related to Jon Mamon’? And I say, 'Yes that’s my husband,’” she said.

The Mamons said they like the connection they have to students, families and colleagues in Manassas Park. “I think we share the bond of being in education, but then being in education in the same community is another very positive part of it as well,” Stacey said.