Scholarship Renamed Honoring Doris St. Onge Buchannon
By Leslie Rott

Doris St. Onge Buchannon

When Jason and Eric St. Onge set up the St. Onge Latex and Groove Athletic Scholarship three years ago, they had the intention of promoting sportsmanship in the children of Mackinac Island. While that mission remains the same, the scholarship takes on more meaning as they rename it the Doris St. Onge Memorial Athletic Scholarship.

“Doris played every game like it was the World Series,” said her nephew, Jason St. Onge, who along with his brother, Eric, started the scholarship and continue to fund it. His aunt wasn’t a terrific athlete, he said, but she played with a lot of heart.

“It would be all guys and Doris,” he said of playing sports with his aunt while growing up. She was only four years his senior and was considered a tomboy by the family.

She was called “Duke” by those who knew her well because of her love of Duke University’s football team.

“She was a tough kid,” said her sister, Mary Cope.

Last August 24, Doris St. Onge Buchannon died of cancer at the age of 35.

She was born November 26, 1968, at the Mackinac Island Medical Center and was graduated from Mackinac Island Public School in 1987. She lived in Jackson and then Boyne City until her death and was the mother of three children, Nicholas, 15, Jennifer, 11, and Aaron, 4. Her nine siblings are Glenn, Gloria, Pamela, Mary, Marilyn, Frank, Ida, Mike, and Lori.

“She was a very kind, generous, and caring person,” Mrs. Cope said. “She was a child at heart.” Her siblings still consider her to be a little girl, as she was the baby of the family until her sister, Lori, was born. Mrs. Cope said she will always remember her sister’s contagious laughter.

Jason St. Onge said the inspiration for the scholarship was his childhood memories on the athletic fields.

Like his aunt, he was not an athlete, he said, but enjoyed the opportunity to play a variety of sports at Mackinac Island Public School, opportunities that might not have been available at larger schools.

He wants students today to have the same opportunities and the scholarship helps send Island students to off-Island sports camps and to bring sports camps to the Island.

Mrs. Cope said renaming the scholarship for her sister “really validates Doris’ life, because sports were something she loved.”