Feature Story

Retirement: a new chance to make a difference Just ask Walter and Lucille

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RSVP director, Pam McCrum, (left) and Catholic Charities director, Vicky Schultz (right) both appreciate Walter, Lucille and all their volunteers

Retirement hasn't meant inaction for Walter and Lucille Wrozek, whose motto is: "Call one and you get two ... "

By Carolyn Smith

Retirement hasn't meant inaction for Walter and Lucille Wrozek, whose motto is: "Call one and you get two. If you don't want two, we don't go." The couple thrives on volunteer work - from helping the poor to other seniors. But, let it be known to all who call that the couple, each 71 years young, do everything together.

Doing good for others is their favorite hobby. They each do it 100 hours a month. And just listening to the litany of projects they have supported the past 15 to 20 years (they don't remember how long or how many) can be both exhausting and refreshing.

They are 11-year members of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (better known as RSVP), part of Catholic Charities, where they also are on the advisory board. They donate time and energy to the Salvation Army, their city's Parks and Recreation department, the Senior Olympics, and the Rose Run at their community college.

When they are not doing those things, they serve on the "Healthy to 100" committee, sponsored by their local hospital and department on aging. Or you may find them at the McDonald's Easter Egg hunt, or the Learning Fair. Or maybe they are visiting people in nursing homes. Or perhaps they are offering time somewhere else they don't yet know about or have forgotten that they do on a regular basis. You see, Walter and Lucille are too busy to keep track of time.

Lucille says the feeling one gets from volunteering is hard to describe. She tells the story of a 100-year-old woman whom she first met a year ago at the Senior Olympics. "She was at the Penny Pitch this year. I didn't recognize her. She said, `Don't you remember my telling you last year that I was 100 years old? Well, today I'm 101!' I just gave her a big hug."

A former vice president of a local bank, Walter retired in his mid-40s because of his health. At the same time, Lucille retired as an inspector for a local manufacturer. Walter has cancer that is in remission. The couple has two children, Michael and Deborah Ann, and six grandchildren. "The Lord has been good to us, and we want to give to somebody else,"says Walter.

Sometimes, though, a time of crisis can inspire prayer and good works. Six years ago, such a challenge tested the couple's faith and courage in the form of adversity in the family. They grew closer to God and prayed each day to St. Jude that the family would heal. Their prayers were answered in a positive way.

When asked what their Catholic faith means to them, Walter and Lucille answer in unison: "Everything!" According to Walter, "We have the Lord on our shoulders all the time. Somebody else is a lot worse off than we are. I honestly believe that the Lord will not give you any more than you can handle."Any words of advice to prospective volunteers? Borrowing from the Nike slogan, Lucille says, "Just do it! It makes you feel so good. Sometimes we dread going to some places. We really do. But when we come home, we are just lifted! ... There are so many things you can do, even from home," she adds. "You can call sick people, for example."

The couple thrives on volunteer work-from helping the poor to other seniors. Walter's advice has him recalling a sermon he heard a few years back: "When you die and get to the pearly gates, the Lord will say `What did you do?' And you will say something like `I was an attorney' or `I was a doctor.' But the Lord will again ask, `What did YOU do?' Well, I have the answer. We are doing God's work. The gates will open for us in heaven because we are doing God's work.

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