“It’s hard to put into words what this means to us.”

Surrounded by family and friends, Susie Grant struggled to find the words to express her gratitude. She and her husband, Tony, were this year’s recipients of the ice cream/supper fundraiser at Lewistown-Trinity United Methodist Church (LTUMC) on Friday, June 26.

The money will go toward supporting the Grants during a difficult time. Tony is now in stage four of pancreatic cancer.

Diagnosed in October 2025, Tony originally spent 30 days in the hospital and, since then, has gone through six rounds of chemotherapy. He’s currently continuing the fight against cancer by trying a new kind of chemo.

The Grants have a simple plan for the funds—paying off bills and making it possible for Susie to spend less time working and more time caring for her husband.

A 1979 Indian Lake High School graduate, Tony earned his degree from Bowling Green State University, then started his career teaching fifth grade at Benjamin Logan Middle School.

That led him to begin a wrestling program at the district. He managed everything from the Little Raiders club to the middle and high school teams. Tony coached for 36 years; retiring as Director of Wrestling Operations in 2015.

But he wasn’t done. Tony went back for another three years, then trained his replacement, Kyle Seeley. He also served as an executive board member of the Greater Miami Valley Wrestling Association.

More recently, Tony worked part-time at the Big Horn Shoe Shop in West Liberty until his diagnosis. Susie also had a teaching degree from Bowling Green and, like her husband, retired in 2015.

Then she too went back to fulltime teaching because they needed the insurance for Tony’s heart failure diagnosis, before they knew he had cancer.

Today, Tony and Susie are dealing with everything that follows a stage four cancer diagnosis. With that in mind, LTUMC chose them as recipients of their fundraiser.