ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, June 5, 1996 TAG: 9606050011
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KATY SINCLAIR SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
She stands no more than 5 feet tall. She's unassuming in stature but commands respect in light of her contributions to the community. The Christiansburg-Blacksburg Rotary Club highlighted just how important those contributions are when it handed Jeanne Warner the 1996 Citizen Recognition Award.
The award is given to a resident who has made significant contribution to the community.
"My wife and I proposed [Warner] because we know of the civic works she does," said Wirt Wills, a 40-year Rotary member. "We are a service club. That's the business of rotary."
This, to say the least, is what Warner does every day of the week, every week of the year by contributing her time and dedication to several organizations.
She doesn't see this as any cause for recognition though
"I work with people who do a lot more volunteering than I do," she said.
That hardly seems possible.
Warner is actively involved in Bloodmobile, the Humane Society, Blacksburg Methodist Church, Columbia Montgomery Regional Hospital, the Interfaith Food Pantry and the Montgomery County Christmas Store.
Warner said this last activity is, perhaps, her favorite.
When local families go through the store and pick out items, Warner escorts them. She shows them to the different departments based on the recipients' ages.
"Some [families] are so appreciative," she said. "There are so many people who have lost jobs, this is a big help to them."
During the rest of the year, Warner said, she is partial to her volunteer work at the hospital. She works at the information desk and greets people. She also directs people to the different parts of the hospital, in person, not by pointing her finger.
"I'd rather go with people and direct them to where they have to be," she said.
Though she describes her work as routine, she said, "I really feel like [I'm] helping."
Warner also helps the Food Pantry by rising early on Tuesdays to gather the day-old bread and pastries left at Kroger grocery store and delivering them to the pantry.
"I gather as much as my car will hold in the back, in the trunk and in the front," she said. Unfortunately, the pantry is very small so Warner has to limit her helping hand.
"At one time five [shopping carts] were loaded with bread and I couldn't take it all," she said. "The pantry is just too small."
Warner didn't always volunteer.
She had a full-time job for many years at Virginia Tech as a secretary in the materials engineering sciences department.
She and her husband, Eugene "Pop" Warner, moved to Blacksburg in 1965 after the airline company he flew for in North Carolina folded. He took a job as a pilot for Tech. Warner joined Tech's secretarial staff in 1966.
"I loved working for students," she said. "I just enjoy talking to them. There are a bunch of nice boys and girls."
Her husband worked as a pilot until 1979 when he retired, "not willingly," Warner said. "Once you're a pilot it's just in your blood. Everything else took a back seat."
Pop Warner died in 1982. Jeanne Warner's volunteer work started when she retired in 1987.
"People started asking me to volunteer and I said 'Oh, sure I have plenty of time,'" she said.
Her time is spent between her volunteer work, her family and bridge games.
Some days she can't believe how busy she is. "Sometimes I look at my calendar and am glad to see an afternoon free."
But, she is quick to add, "When I do help, I enjoy it. "
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: LORA GORDON. Jeanne Warner is winner of the 1996 Citzenby CNBRecognition Award from the Christiansburg-Blacksburg Rotary Club.
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