ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996 TAG: 9608090090
SECTION: DISCOVER ROANOKE VALLEY PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
Thirteen years ago, Sister Veronica Sheehan set out to teach the Bible to Roanoke City Jail inmates.
When she realized many couldn't read, she developed a full-fledged education program for them.
There was no guaranteed funding, no paid staff. Volunteers kept the program running.
"We didn't have any money," the 65-year-old nun said. "We went for years not knowing where money was going to come from. Schools and libraries donated materials."
More than a decade later, the program has grant funding, paid staff and a name - Roanoke Education Area Program.
Sheehan "was the key person," said Harris Green, rehabilitation counselor for the jail, who first approached Sheehan about setting up the program in the early 1980s. "She was a godsend for us. She was the program."
It is her ministry to help those in need, Sheehan said.
A Massachusetts native, Sheehan settled in Roanoke in 1974, after two summers traveling to the area to teach at a Head Start center in the old Harrison School.
She fell in love with the mountains and peaceful living. Her summer journeys to Roanoke turned into full-time teaching at Roanoke Catholic School.
Sheehan left Roanoke Catholic in 1983, then devoted herself to community outreach through St. Gerard's Catholic Church in Roanoke, which included the inmate education program.
After retiring from that work in 1992, she became involved with the League of Older Americans Area Agency on Aging as site supervisor for the agency's Southeast Roanoke Diner's Club. The club provides senior citizens with a hot lunch and activities.
"One of the things I remember was how appreciative she was, of the clients she worked with and of other staff people," said Amanda Crabtree, director of community services for the LOA. "She used to give me notes thanking me for my staff meeting. Anyone who can appreciate a supervisor and thank them for small things like three hours of training, that's pretty special."
Illness forced Sheehan to slow her pace several years ago. The respite didn't last long. The LOA persuaded Sheehan to return - as a foster grandparent.
For four hours a day beginning last fall, Sheehan taught at Total Action Against Poverty's Jefferson Street Head Start center.
Tom Craddock Jr. ran into Sheehan there while doing volunteer work. He hadn't seen her in years. She was his first-grade teacher, known then as Sister Helen Charles. (She has since returned to her baptismal name.)
"For her to still be teaching is just incredible," Craddock said. "Just to see her working with kids at her age. She has devoted her whole life to teaching."
This summer, Sheehan is working as a foster grandparent at the Northwest Child Development Center in Roanoke.
"To know you have no responsibility for them in the classroom, to know you can go in as a different person and help guide them, give them extra attention," she said. "It's very challenging to work with the future leaders of tomorrow."
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN Staffby CNBChildren at the Northwest Child Development Center in Roanoke
gather around Sister Veronica Sheehan, who is working as a foster
grandparent this summer.