Seeing Quadruple: The Story of Four Jondle Ladies at Three Pillars

The women of the Jondle family, (pronounced “Yon-dle”), are all happily employed. Mom, Dawn, works in housekeeping. Ashley, oldest daughter, works as a Service Associate caregiver. Dana, middle daughter, recently stepped out of a culinary assistant role and began in housekeeping. Erin, the youngest, works in laundry.

What you wouldn’t expect? They all work at Three Pillars Senior Living Communities in Dousman!

Sure, the ability to carpool, a short commute from their Dousman home, and excellent growth and development opportunities offered at Three Pillars are big factors in why they all love their jobs. But they all agree that the best part is the community – the people that make Three Pillars Three Pillars.

“Most importantly, it’s the people. It’s like a community here,” Ashley started to say, when Dawn, Dana, and Erin all chimed in and simultaneously nodded in agreement, “It really is!”

Dana continued, “I see someone from Three Pillars almost everywhere I go.”

Ashley agreed, “I mean, everywhere! At school, out and about. It’s like a family. With the residents, we get to see them every day, getting to know them on a deeper level. And the co-workers, too. We form amazing bonds across all departments. It’s a ‘living community’ for a reason.”

It started for the Jondles in October of 2011. Oldest of the three sisters, Ashley, was a sophomore in high school when she applied to be a culinary assistant in the dining services department. When she received a phone call back, she was delighted, and she landed the job. She worked at the Village on the Square (VOS) independent living apartments for her first several years. She enjoyed the cooking and prep work she did every day and the extraordinary team she worked with at VOS.

For Ashley, the lifelong friendships she still cherishes today began at Three Pillars. Her best friends are the people she works with, which brings her joy and reinforces her strong connection to her workplace.

Over time, Ashley’s friends became Dana’s friends. It was 2014 and middle sister Dana was a junior in high school. She saw how much Ashley was enjoying her job and said, “I was poor and needed a job. I thought, why not work with my lovely sister?!”

She applied for a similar position in dining services and was hired as a culinary assistant and server. They became the “Jondle duo” at Three Pillars.

Not long after Dana started, Ashely began college at UW Whitewater to pursue her Bachelor of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders. She continued to work at Three Pillars as her schedule allowed, and it wasn’t long before Ashley brought some of what she was learning at college to Three Pillars. She initiated a volunteer-based study with residents, testing speech perception and noise in older adults, and after three years of work, her research was published with the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR).

Ashley’s supervisor at the time suggested she consider adjusting her Three Pillars career to match her studies. In late 2017, Ashley became a Service Associate at Compass Point Catered Assisted Living, where she could work hands-on with residents in a caregiving role.

“The kitchen was absolutely wonderful,” Ashley fondly recalls. “I loved my time there, but now my job is more closely related to my long-term career goals. Plus, I still get to see all the same residents that I love.”

Now that she’s graduated, she’s currently taking a year off school to work full time at Three Pillars before heading back for her master’s degree.

Dana continued to work throughout high school and then began college at UW Eau Claire in 2016. She still works occasionally when home on break. Recently she switched departments to join housekeeping, rounding out her Three Pillars experience.

According to Ashley and Dana, the residents are part of the family, too, and get involved by “passing messages” along between the sisters.

Dana laughed, “When we work the same days, I tell them if they see Ashley to tell her I miss her! And they take great joy in doing so.”

During their years of employment, both Dana and Ashley have received scholarships from Three Pillars’ partnership with the Glenn L. Humphrey Masonic Lodge. “Among the many great things about working here is the support the organization provides to people in school,” said Ashley. The scholarships have helped them both pay for their school tuition and expenses.

By late 2017, the Jondle’s mother, Dawn, had heard for years about how wonderful her girls’ experiences working at Three Pillars were. In January of 2018, after the family moved from Wales to Dousman, she was attracted to the idea of employment close to home with better hours than her previous job. She began to consider a career with Three Pillars herself. Dawn applied and – wouldn’t you know it – landed a job in the housekeeping department. The 20-hour-per-week schedule was perfect, as she could still home school her youngest daughter, Erin, in the afternoons. The “Jondle duo” was now a trifecta.

Dawn says nothing was as cheesy and cute as her first few months when she’d hear multiple times per day from various people, “You’re Ashley and Dana’s mom? They’re SO wonderful!”

Ashley added that the tables have turned a bit now as people get to know Dawn. Now Ashley’s typical day often includes someone saying, “Awwww, Dawn is your mom, right? We LOVE Dawn, she’s so great!”

By June of 2018, the Jondles learned that the housekeeping department had a job opportunity in laundry for the same morning hours that Dawn worked. Who better to fill that part-time role than youngest sister, Erin? She was preparing to begin her sophomore year of home-schooled high school and kept busy with dance four nights per week, so she needed something to accommodate her schedule.

“It sounded like a good opportunity for a job with a perfect schedule, so it worked great,” Erin said, who now made the Three Pillars Jondle employees “The Fab Four.”

According to Dawn, “Now that we’re able to carpool to work, Erin and I spend our weekdays doing work in the morning and school in the afternoons.”

While there are other employees who have a relative working at Three Pillars, none can top the Jondle quad. With four of them on the payroll, you might be wondering if there are any other siblings.

When asked, the ladies chuckled and said there are two more brothers, both of whom are happily employed elsewhere. While the brothers don’t work at the same place, they do live together. All four joked that, “Jondles stick together!”

Dawn wanted to let everyone know:

“Working at Three Pillars is wonderful, and remember, you don’t even have to be a Jondle to work here! Join our family – and the other people who work here – and become a part of the Three Pillars team!”

Browse open positions and apply online 24/7 at threepillars.org