The deeds of Wanda McLean alive in youth
By BILL DUNCAN
The View From Here
On our life’s journey we meet thousands of people, some just in passing, but others come into our lives to leave a permanent mark.
So it was with Wanda McLean, a woman I met under unusual circumstances.
I was chapter manager of the American Red Cross in Douglas County, Oregon at a time when the area experienced severe flooding. The septic system sump pump at Wanda"s home was overworked because of the flooding and burned out.
The Red Cross replaced the pump under its disaster program that assists flood victims. For me, it was just a routine transaction, one that was repeated many times during the flooding disaster.
Wanda came to the Red Cross office after the rain had stopped, asking how she was to pay back the $385 for the pump. I explained that there was no pay back, it was a gift of the American people through the Red Cross disaster program.
She was adamant: "I don’t accept charity," she said.
I was equally adamant, "If you insist on paying back the gift, then why don’t you volunteer?" I named off a laundry list of volunteer opportunities. She selected a volunteer post at the VA hospital in Roseburg.
That accomplished, I went on with my role as manager and promptly forgot about this adamant volunteer until one day when my chairman of volunteers at the VA announced she was moving from the county, thus vacating her position. I received a telephone call from Bob Holscher, who was then manager of Voluntary Services at the Roseburg VA, recommending Wanda McLean for that position.
"Are you sure?" I said remembering the woman who stood, hands on her hips informing me that she didn’t accept charity and that she didn’t like the American Red Cross.
Bob reassured me that Wanda was the best and most dedicated volunteer he had. How could I ignore that recommendation? Wanda accepted the post and the rest is a Red Cross legend. Wanda volunteered at the VA hospital as the national representative for the American Red Cross from 1981 until cancer claimed her on July 7, 2003 at the age of 78.
She devoted more than 27,000 hours of service to veterans. At her funeral, her son, John, of Tenmile, Ore. said whenever he wanted to see his mother, he had to go to the VA hospital. She once told me that as a little girl, her grandmother, Anna Lewis, would take her to visit veterans at the Old Soldiers home before it became a VA hospital.
That, she explained, was the reason she was so devoted to the Red Cross youth program at the VA where she nurtured hundreds of young people as volunteers at the VA medical center.
This year, 46 young people gave their summer vacation time as volunteers at the VA through the Red Cross program. One of those young volunteers, Miriam Stroop, of Roseburg, was awarded the American Red Cross Clara Barton award for the more than 700 hours she gave as a youth volunteer at the hospital over the years. Appropriately, the award was presented as the 2006 Wanda McLean Memorial Award.
It is also fitting that Miriam was the recipient because she is as selfless as was Wanda McLean. That selfless nature may have been best described by her father, the Rev. William Stroop, rector of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Roseburg, when he said: "I have never seen a person so willing to help others as Miriam."
Which proves the statement made by Jeff Willis, a News-Review reporter who wrote in Wanda’s obituary:
"The volunteer spirit of Wanda McLean may no longer grace the halls of the Roseburg VA Medical Center with a friendly smile and a helping hand, but it will live on in the minds and hearts of those touched by her."
I was one of those.
(Bill Duncan can be reached by writing to P.O. Box 812, Roseburg, OR 97470, or by e-mail at elderstatesmansblog@yahoo.com)