On Wednesday morning around 7, Mary Anne Jules, 61, a former athletic director at the Bridgehampton School, was hit by a work van while jogging in her Water Mill neighborhood, according to Southampton Town police.
The driver remained at the scene of the accident, a police press release said. Ms. Jules was in serious condition when she was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital. There has yet to be an update on her condition.
Southampton Town detectives are investigating the cause of the accident, which has rattled many in the Bridgehampton School District community. In her 32 years at the school, Ms. Jules was known for championing young athletes. The school’s tradition of making athletic opportunities available to students speaks to her legacy, which she kicked into action in 1982, when she joined the faculty and began revamping the athletics program.
In a testament to the active lifestyle she promoted in students, the salutatorian of Bridgehampton’s class of 2017 jumped at the opportunity to honor Ms. Jules. Nia Dawson set up a challenge to honor her, using a YouTube video to encourage the “Bridgehampton family, everybody who knows and loves her,” to do 20 push-ups and “get active and do what she would want us to do.” Ms. Dawson said that Ms. Jules used to tell her, “Do 20 push-ups a day and you’ll be all right,” which is what Ms. Dawson proceeds to do for the #MsJulesChallenge.
In 2018, The Star reported on Ms. Jules's induction into the Bridgehampton School’s Hall of Fame and also listed her many professional honors. “She is a past president of Section XI, the governing body for high school sports in Suffolk County, she has twice won Bridgehampton’s teacher of the year award, and she was Section XI’s athletic director of the year in 2014, the year of her retirement, the same year that she was cited by SCOPE Education Services for having been of outstanding service to her district,” the article said.