thedrifter
12-13-07, 09:05 AM
Article published Dec 13, 2007
8 decades of service honored
Red Cross volunteer surprised with diamond, gold and ruby pin, ceremony
By CATHARINE HADLEY
Staff writer
Helen Hutt became a Red Cross volunteer when she began teaching children to swim as a 14-year-old high school student in Elyria.
Wednesday evening, 80 years later, she walked into the Magruder Hospital conference room evening for what she thought would be the Ottawa County district's advisory board meeting.
Hutt was greeted by a standing ovation from about 70 friends, fellow volunteers, local dignitaries and officials from the Red Cross, including a representative from the national office.
Donald B. Dudley Jr., a senior vice president of the Red Cross, came from Washington, D.C. to honor her.
"I've worked for the Red Cross for 33 years, and I've never done this before," he said before he gave Hutt a diamond, gold and ruby pin to commemorate her years with the organization.
After the event, Dudley said Hutt is one of a handful of the organization's 1.1 million volunteers who have received the pin.
"Over the past five years, we've had four requests for 80-year-pins," he said. "What would the community be like if there were no one like that? If, all of a sudden, there were no volunteers?"
The crowd cheered when Ottawa County Commissioner Jim Sass announced he and his fellow commissioners had proclaimed Dec. 12 "Helen Hutt Day" in the county.
Commissioner Carl Koebel relayed a message from State Rep. Chris Redfern, who was unable to attend the event. Hutt received special recognition from the state house, and Redfern called her "one of Ohio's finest."
Port Clinton Mayor Tom Brown told the crowd when he worked as a school guidance counselor, he was afraid to give blood. Hutt made him sign an affidavit stating he would donate the next year.
"Since that time, I've given 51 pints of blood to the Red Cross," Brown said.
He said he remembered Hutt teaching children to swim in Lake Erie when he and wife Helen moved to the area in 1966.
"You were there, and you taught a lot of people," Brown said.
Hutt was also honored by the Magruder Hospital board of trustees, Beth Leggitt of the Ottawa County district office and Tim Yenrick of the Greater Toledo Area Chapter.
"I think it's really nice, but unnecessary," Hutt said of the fuss made over her after the awards were given.
She said most volunteers participate because they love the work.
"It must make the person who does it feel good, or they wouldn't do it," she said. "I don't think most of them do it for hours and pins."
Hutt has volunteered in the organization's armed-forces, blood-collection, disaster-relief and swimming programs. She has worked as a volunteer at Magruder Hospital for the past 30 years, and has an honorary lifetime membership to the local advisory board.
The volunteer said she had two favorite memories from her years of service. One is the mental picture she carries with her of the triumphant faces of her swimming students, when their heads would pop out of the water after swimming under the surface for several yards.
A second favorite memory comes from World War II, when she served as a staff member in the South Pacific. She worked on small islands, living in Quonset huts with other Red Cross members. She was working with a group of Marines who were training to invade Japan when they learned the war had ended.
"It was just a dead silence," she said. "That meant that the guys didn't have to invade Japan."
At the end of the Wednesday evening's event, Hutt had a sense of humor about the recognition she had received.
"Other people are going to get it if they don't conk out," she said.
E-mail Catharine Hadley at chadley@gannett.com.
Ellie
8 decades of service honored
Red Cross volunteer surprised with diamond, gold and ruby pin, ceremony
By CATHARINE HADLEY
Staff writer
Helen Hutt became a Red Cross volunteer when she began teaching children to swim as a 14-year-old high school student in Elyria.
Wednesday evening, 80 years later, she walked into the Magruder Hospital conference room evening for what she thought would be the Ottawa County district's advisory board meeting.
Hutt was greeted by a standing ovation from about 70 friends, fellow volunteers, local dignitaries and officials from the Red Cross, including a representative from the national office.
Donald B. Dudley Jr., a senior vice president of the Red Cross, came from Washington, D.C. to honor her.
"I've worked for the Red Cross for 33 years, and I've never done this before," he said before he gave Hutt a diamond, gold and ruby pin to commemorate her years with the organization.
After the event, Dudley said Hutt is one of a handful of the organization's 1.1 million volunteers who have received the pin.
"Over the past five years, we've had four requests for 80-year-pins," he said. "What would the community be like if there were no one like that? If, all of a sudden, there were no volunteers?"
The crowd cheered when Ottawa County Commissioner Jim Sass announced he and his fellow commissioners had proclaimed Dec. 12 "Helen Hutt Day" in the county.
Commissioner Carl Koebel relayed a message from State Rep. Chris Redfern, who was unable to attend the event. Hutt received special recognition from the state house, and Redfern called her "one of Ohio's finest."
Port Clinton Mayor Tom Brown told the crowd when he worked as a school guidance counselor, he was afraid to give blood. Hutt made him sign an affidavit stating he would donate the next year.
"Since that time, I've given 51 pints of blood to the Red Cross," Brown said.
He said he remembered Hutt teaching children to swim in Lake Erie when he and wife Helen moved to the area in 1966.
"You were there, and you taught a lot of people," Brown said.
Hutt was also honored by the Magruder Hospital board of trustees, Beth Leggitt of the Ottawa County district office and Tim Yenrick of the Greater Toledo Area Chapter.
"I think it's really nice, but unnecessary," Hutt said of the fuss made over her after the awards were given.
She said most volunteers participate because they love the work.
"It must make the person who does it feel good, or they wouldn't do it," she said. "I don't think most of them do it for hours and pins."
Hutt has volunteered in the organization's armed-forces, blood-collection, disaster-relief and swimming programs. She has worked as a volunteer at Magruder Hospital for the past 30 years, and has an honorary lifetime membership to the local advisory board.
The volunteer said she had two favorite memories from her years of service. One is the mental picture she carries with her of the triumphant faces of her swimming students, when their heads would pop out of the water after swimming under the surface for several yards.
A second favorite memory comes from World War II, when she served as a staff member in the South Pacific. She worked on small islands, living in Quonset huts with other Red Cross members. She was working with a group of Marines who were training to invade Japan when they learned the war had ended.
"It was just a dead silence," she said. "That meant that the guys didn't have to invade Japan."
At the end of the Wednesday evening's event, Hutt had a sense of humor about the recognition she had received.
"Other people are going to get it if they don't conk out," she said.
E-mail Catharine Hadley at chadley@gannett.com.
Ellie