Connie Lewis, Columbus Junction,
The Community Caring award recognizes individuals who have make a positive difference in their community. Nominations for the award are submitted by local individuals or organizations, and the winner is selected by the 11 member Community Foundation Board. Connie Lewis received a personalized garden stone engraved by Chris Weyrick and $100 for a non-profit organization of her choice. There were seven great nominations submitted this year, and they all deserve this recognition. The other nominations include: Rose Carlson and Irv Meier of Wapello, Jeanne Mott of Morning Sun, Dale Whitaker of Oakville, and Tom Wilson of Letts. Ruth Yakle was also nominated for the award posthumously. Following are excerpts from the nominations:
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CONNIE LEWIS, nominate by Sherry Humphreys and Trish Woepking
Connie and her husband Warren have served tirelessly and been devoted to the Columbus Community and surrounding area over the last 50 years. Connie and her husband were two of the first 3 Emergency Medical Technicians in Louisa County and recently received an EMT State association honor for their service Together they established the County First Responders of Conesville, Letts, and Grandview while providing all the education and equipment for each responder. They also spearheaded EMT-A and QRS educational classes and served on the SE Iowa Emergency Medical Services Council and Louisa County Emergency Medical Services Board.
Connie initiated interest in the Safe Haven for Babies Law through local legislatures and has been a volunteer at Louisa County BIrthrite. During the 2008 flood, she helped bag sand and also created a temporary food pantry for people who could not get out of town to buy food. Connie has been an active member of her church, serving on the building board and nurturing committee, she created the Christmas in July event to provide food for a mid-year donation to Community Action, and was keeper of the island garden in front of the church. Connie chaired the first Civic Center Golf Outing Benefit.
Connie has always lived and believed in equality of life and justice for all races. She and warren have paid for high school education for girls in Africa, one of which they brought to the US and put through college and watched over her as she currently is studying for her doctorate degree. Connie has mentored many children and teens in Columbus and West liberty and has assisted in obtaining social security numbers, education and citizenship for some of our Columbus families.
Connie is past president of the Columbus Community Club, the Columbus Lions Club Chapter R of TTT, Louisa County Human Concerns and Louis County Red Cross. She has also been a Charter representative to Louisa-Henry-Jefferson Counties Mental Health Board, Secretary to the Louisa County Local Emergency Planning Commission, Committee member of Louisa Public Health Nursing Board, Layman Review Board of Louisa County Care Facility, and was the originator of the “River Junction Function†which she chaired for 3 years. She and her husband raised the first $250,000 for the original Columbus swimming pool. Connie continues t be active in the community and church, assisting those in the community to further their education and status.
ROSE CARLSON nominated by Pat Colthurst
Rose Carlson is a long-time resident of Wapello and Louisa County who has been diligently, and often anonymously, “doing good†in our communities. Rose is a volunteer on the Wapello Food Pantry Board, and often is a person who is called to come into the pantry to meet someone in need after-hours.
Rose has been the Salvation Army contact in Louisa County. As a volunteer, she meets with local people and agencies, assisting people in need, raises funds for the Salvation Army. She is a valued and respected resource for our Louisa County Community Services office. At the request of the Louisa County CPC office, Rose also serves as a Social Security Representative payee for individuals - something she does, at her own time and expense. Rose has also volunteered her time and talents on a nursing home care review board for the past 20 years for the Wapello Nursing and Rehab Center.
Rose is very involved with the Keck Memorial Library in Wapello. She has served on the Library’s Board for the past 12 years, and is currently the secretary of that board. She is also involved with the Friends of Keck Library, was their first President and current Treasurer, and has been successful in writing grants for the library.
Rose is a member of several local service organizations: Chapter ET of PEO, Chapter G of TTT, and Wapello Study Club. She currently serves as Treasurer for the Wapello Study Club. Each of these organizations serves our communities in various ways, which requires a great deal of volunteer time on the part of each member..
Rose has a lot of practical experience and personal qualities that make her a great volunteer, such as dedication and trust-worthiness. She has varied and valuable volunteer service to our communities, which has enhanced the quality of life here in Louisa County. Her service makes a difference to the people she helps, and it makes a difference to the county in our pocketbooks!
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IRV MEIER – nominated by Mary Boysen
Irv Meier is a teacher at the Wapello High School and has been a wonderful influence on the youth that have passed through the Wapello school district for many, many years. Irv has been in charge of the Wapello Future Farmers of America (FFA) and is committed to seeing his students excel. He spends countless volunteer hours each year going above and beyond his job. The Louisa Soil & Water Conservation District is involved with Irv hosting the Sub District Soils Judging Contest and has the privilege to work with him each year in holding this event in Louisa County. This event includes 5 to 9 schools from Southeast Iowa which includes anywhere from 100 to 150 kids attending. Irv organizes this entire event and makes it happen without problems every year.
Irv also works with his students on other competitions such as plant identification and meat judging. No matter what the competition, Irv teaches his students good work ethics and the value of setting goals. He shows them what happens when you work hard toward those goals.
Irv has been a driving force behind the annual FFA Rodeo, an event that draws hundreds of people to our community each year. It is an event that involves all the FFA students and even their families. It helps the students learn how to plan, organize and carryout a large event.
Irv is dedicated to the education of his students and preparing them for life as adults. He is the kind of teacher that students say made a difference in their lives.
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Jeanne Mott – nominated by Pat Cothurst
Jeanne and Jim Mott, as owners of S&J Tube, are active in the community. They take part in Chief Wapello Days parades at a level that few businesses do: involving many of their employees, purchasing t-shirts for employees and family members to wear, and financing a parade entry that anyone could be proud of. As parents, in previous years when their children were in our local school system, they were involved at a level of above and beyond to support their own children as well as others. Now both of their children are adult business owners, one in Louisa County, working and giving back to our communities.
Additionally, there are two recent endeavors that speak to how Jeanne is deserving of the award: 1) Jeanne was very instrumental in getting local people together to talk about a project and using one of their properties in Wapello to benefit people with disabilities in our county. This project is known as MOTTS, an acronym for Mentoring, Outreach, Training, Transition, Supports. This project was at a large personal/business expense to the MOTTS. The community gains because there is a building with much-improved eye appeal, and there is now a local service for people with disabilities that was not available before.
2) Last winter, Jeanne was instrumental in bringing Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace Institute to Louisa County, as they hosted a local class in their MOTTS location. This is a public service that affected at least a dozen local families, and will have future affects as some “graduates†of the class are now hosting other classes.
Jeanne has also been active in bringing area people together and heading up a Trails committee to work on the development of trails Louisa County to promote health, recreation and tourism in our county.
Jeanne is a “worker bee†in supporting causes she believes in and making things happen in support of those goals. All someone has to do is take the time to read the artwork that Jeanne personally selected, purchased and hung in the MOTTS building to know that she is a person who believes in people, and in teamwork, and the power of a person’s dream. And she is humble about it, too.
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Dale Whitaker – nominated by Mayor of Oakville, Benita Grooms
Dale Whitakers’ community involvement and commitment can be summed up in the song lyrics “You just call out my name (cell phone) and you know whereever I am, I’ll come running to help you, my friend.†He started out by joining the Fire Dept. at the ripe ole age of 18 and continues to this day as Assistant Fire Chief. He is always “on call†for fires and is the EMT “go’ferâ€, getting them to the right location, handling equipment, maintaining order and assisting the Ambulance personnel. This involvement and commitment has been on-going for 44 years. OK - Now – you do the math - he really does not act that old!
Dale is a valued member of the City Council not only as a decision maker but is also willing to chip in and help with problem solving when things go wrong or do not work. We know that we can call Dale, and he will be willing to do whatever it takes to get things right and working. As a Councilman he is assigned to the Park Board where he has taken on applying and receiving grants for the 2 new parks that we proudly have gracing our main street. As a councilman in Oakville, there is no compensation for this other than a thank you.
Dale’s home was destroyed in the 2008 flood, but he rebuilt in our community and helped with the rebuilding of many other homes. Dale was instrumental in the development of the Memorial Park that was dedicated to the Volunteers that came to help restore our community. The Volunteers and the effort that was expended for our benefit was near and dear to his heart and many hours were put in helping them in any way possible. The highlight of his day was in working side by side with the many groups that came – always with a smile and a MT Dew.
Dale was and is Tonya Lanz’ right hand man in a very successful volunteer effort to restore our homes and businesses. He is President of the Oakville Development Corp./Oakville Volunteer Foundation and is always available to talk about the latest houses for sale, proudly showing them off, and will personally walk people through each and every one to find the home that suits them.
With a request by Grant Schaeffer to do an Eagle Project in Oakville the suggestion was made by Dale to redo the entrance sign coming into Oakville. With this came a lot of brainstorming and planning. The decision was made to turn an ugly empty lot into a park welcoming visitors to our City. Grant Schaeffer, with Dales help, replaced the signage board with a planter and a sign bearing our motto “A Peaceful Place Between Two Riversâ€. Dale enlisted help from Trees Forever and Keep America Beautiful securing the Grant money to make the park a reality. With help from Council Members and his wife Kathie, trees and plants were planted, 2 picnic tables were installed and a very inviting park is there for all to enjoy.
Dale has been involved in the Boy Scouts for many years; He serves on the Board of Review for the Eagle Scout Program and has helped with Scouting Fund raisers and is especially good at flipping pancakes. He is a representative on the Oakville Scholarship Committee in awarding the Oakville scholarships to a graduating senior of the Wapello Community School. With every Homecoming or other event in Oakville Dale is busy helping with the parades, water fights, canoe races, the hog roast, and frying fish.
When his son Lance served in the Army National Guard stationed in Iraq, Dale and Kathie became involved with an organization SOFT (Support Our Families and Troops). Many hours and days were spent walking in Parades, collecting, packing and sending items in care packages, by the truck load, for Lance’s Unit and any soldier not getting packages from home, and tying Yellow Ribbons for their Return Home Ceremony held at SCC Auditorium.
Dale extends kindness to all who need a helping hand, a smile, or just someone to listen. He answers the call without hesitation. He is just the kind of person a community needs.
TOM WILSON – nominated by L&M PTO
Tom has been an incredible support and asset to our organization and our school. In 2008, the PTO of Louisa-Muscatine began to look at updating and replacing some of our school playground equipment. There were safety issues that needed to be addressed, and we were committed to providing safe, attractive and developmentally appropriate playgrounds for our students. In order to achieve this goal, we had to create a pre-school playground, rework a primary (grades K-3) and intermediate (grades 4-6) playground. The task was daunting, to say the least. In order to achieve our goal, we would have to raise over $200,000. Tom agreed to chair our project. With Tom as our leader, motivator, accountant and sometime cheerleader, we began our task.
The PTO, under Tom’s guidance and energy, created numerous fundraising opportunities. He would spend at least one hour each day, researching grant opportunities online. In addition, he helped contact businesses and corporations in the area to get their financial support. Tom also created public relations opportunities to acknowledge this support to the community. Working with school officials and the school board, he provided ongoing updates as to the progress of the project.
With the PTO’s help, Tom created many smaller projects. They include: a raffle for a big screen TV - he printed the tickets, arranged for the TV and spent many hours at many events selling the chances, as did the staff and parents in PTO; A three city pop can collection project - Tom arranged the publicity, helped pick up the cans and delivered them to the recyclers in Burlington; A project to “buy a tile†with a $100 donation and netted a sizable profit; and two fund-raising dinners were held in conjunction with athletic events. Tom organized, attended and worked many hours to make these things happen; he organized a valet parking service for school events; and he spearheaded the construction events when it was time to put the equipment together. Most of all, Tom provided the energy, the enthusiasm and the passion that helped make this project happen, three years ahead of schedule. In two years, instead of the original five year projection, we had three beautiful, safe and appropriate playgrounds for our students. Through it all, Tom was positive that it could be done. And that positivity was contagious. In fact, our representative from the playground equipment company, continually expressed his disbelief that a project of this magnitude could take place so quickly. Tom was the catalyst, a humble catalyst, but a catalyst none the less. The PTO, Louisa-Muscatine Elementary and the children of Letts, Muscatine, Fruitland, Kranston, and Grandview are the eternally grateful recipients of Tom’s work. They will enjoy the fruits of his labors for many, many years
RUTH YAKLE – Nominated by the Louisa County Habitat for Humanity Board
Ruth passed away last spring and is dearly missed. Ruth made a positive difference in many people’s lives in Wapello and Louisa County. She demonstrated a caring and commitment in all of her activities and the acts of love that she gave so freely. Ruth had a life-long commitment to education and teaching. She was a Resource Room teacher at Wapello for 30 years, and a sponsor for the key club many of those years. After she retired from teaching, she continued to teach GED classes, supervised home-schooled students, and tutored students who needed a little extra guidance.
Ruth believed in community service. She was a charter member and active volunteer of Louisa County Habitat for Humanity and served as President for several years. She also served on the Family Selection, Family Support, Fund Raising, and Church Relations Committees. She was the organization’s Historian since inception. As President, she worked with regional and international Habitat officers. Ruth’s leadership was demonstrated time and again, as she worked to get volunteers to help with construction, wrote news articles, organized fund raisers, and in many other ways carried out her commitment to help eliminate poverty housing in Louisa County. Her tireless efforts helped build homes for 11 families in the county.
You could often meet Ruth dropping off items at the local food pantry, collecting school supplies in the fall, helping with the annual coat and mitten drive, driving people to doctor appointments, or running errands for shut-ins. She and Marj Haganman organized monthly bingo games for seniors at the Wapello meal site. Ruth was on the Louisa County Extension Board, serving as their treasurer and helping with the 4-H events. She also served as treasurer for the Prevent Child Abuse Organization. Ruth was an active member of the Iowa Retired School Personnel Association, Delta kappa Gamma, and the Wapello Study Club. Ruth was the kind of person that helps make a community a good place to live. She was a quiet leader and an inspiration to many.
