THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 3, 1995 TAG: 9508010062
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: In the Neighborhoods
SOURCE: Mike Knepler
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Inez Combre downplays her public life. She's not even sure what the term means.
``You mean that now that I'm retired, how I'm supposed to go fishing but I end up doing a lot of volunteer work?'' she said, laughing.
Ummm, it's nothing to do with whether you're retired, but volunteering can be part of it.
``I'd rather tell people about my cakes,'' she said, trying to pre-empt more questions about her public life. (She makes great-looking cakes, by the way, and carries photos of them in her pocketbook.)
She braces herself to list her community activities:
Vice president of the Park Place Civic League. An organizer of a neighborhood carnival. President of the Gospel Choir at Norfolk United Methodist Church and active in several committees there. A founder of the Park Place Academy. Helped students prepare for the Summer STEPS youth-jobs and community-service program.
That's part of what Inez Combre does after 25 years in woodcrafting at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and six years before that as a licensed practical nurse.
In ``retirement,'' Combre still works. She's parish administrator for Mission of the Holy Spirit Church, office manager for a computer software company, CCG Systems and has a home-based wedding consultancy.
``I don't look at myself as being anything great. If there's something to do to help out, I'll do it. I'm not looking for pats on the back,'' she said. ``I'm basically kind of shy. I'd rather go in the corner and get the job done. Sometimes I get cottonmouthed.''
Fishing? ``I love it. Spots and croakers. That's my relaxation,'' she said. ``I just have to put it on my calendar with my other work.''
Neighborhood bookshelf. Recent years have seen more and more written on public life. The authors seem to have folks like Inez Combre in mind. Some samples:
``Free Spaces: The Sources of Democratic Change in America,'' by Sara M. Evans and Harry C. Boyte.
Theme: ``Free spaces are settings between private lives and large-scale institutions where ordinary citizens can act with dignity, independence and vision. These are, in the main, voluntary forms of association with a relatively open and participatory character - many religious organizations, clubs, self-help and mutual aid societies, reform groups, neighborhood, civic and ethnic groups, and. . . associations grounded in the fabric of community life. . .
``Democratic action depends upon these free spaces, where people experience a schooling in citizenship and learn a vision of the common good in the course of struggling for change.''
``The Quickening of America: Rebuilding Our Nation, Remaking our Lives,'' by Frances Moore Lappe and Paul Martin Du Bois.
Themes: Dispelling myths that public life is only for the famous while everyone else participates mostly by voting. Instead, the book presents everyday things we do to make a living democracy.
The book includes stories of people helping their neighborhoods and a series of workbook exercises.
The ``Civic Declaration.'' It's not a book but a proclamation of the American Civic Forum's New Citizenship Project. It's built on common ground of political moderates, liberals and conservatives.
The declaration portrays public life as anywhere ``public problem solving takes the place of private complaint.'' Center for Democracy and Citizenship, Humphrey Institute, 301 19th Ave. South, Minneapolis, MN 55455.
Thanks again, Inez, for having a public life. by CNB