Amaging(TM) Growing Old On Purpose

“If the Bus Is Going, I’m Going to Be on It!”

I had the pleasure of knowing an amazing woman who found an inner drive to live each day of her eighty-five years to the fullest. Her name was Ginny, and she volunteered at the hospital where I worked for a number of years in southwest Wisconsin. Ginny wasn’t content to watch life from the sidelines. She wanted to be a part of the action, to jump into the middle and help make a difference regardless of what “game” was being played! In addition to caring for her family, Ginny volunteered for the local hospital’s pie sale and quilt show, collected admission at the ballpark, worked in the 4-H malt stand, built parade floats, and helped in other ways as needed.

Ginny was a hard worker. When she was a hospital volunteer, there was no job Ginny was not willing to do. She often drove the car pool that collected other volunteers to help with special events. She also carried boxes of household items for a large-scale rummage sale in and out of a community building, browned pounds of ground beef for concession sloppy joes, and set up hundreds of quilt stands for a quilt show and then tore everything down and cleaned up afterward. These types of activities went on well into her retirement years, and these are just a few ways Ginny, along with her late husband, Donald, gave back to the small community that was their home for more than fifty years.