Most Valuable Volunteer – December
Mary Jane Williams
Our last and final, but certainly not least, showcased volunteer is Mary Jane Wiliams. Hailing from Washington, her parents were John and Geneieve (Rutan) Williams. Mary Jane graduated from Wash High in 1956. Her sister, Frances, was her “Irish Twin” with Frannie being the older of the two. After graduation, Mary Jane started at Mellon Bank and was a proof machine operator. The machine sorts deposits by banks and directs the transaction to other banks or the federal reserve. She was promoted to the teller line and worked as a teller for ten years. Mary Jane received another promotion and moved to the mortgage and commercial loan department, from where she retired.
In this role, she would prepare the various documents for loans originating from Mellon Bank. Attention to detail, fiscal acuity and organization ability were all skills she possessed and made this job a perfect fit for her. Mary Jane made life-long friends at the bank and those bonds continue to this day. Former Mellon employees continue to meet once month for lunch and friendship.
After 44 years, she retired from Mellon Bank in October 2000 and was happily retired for a solid month before she realized she was going crazy and couldn’t stay at home! That’s what brought Mary Jane to the hospital. She started volunteering in November 2000 and has amassed 22,000 hours!
She loves to volunteer and is often at the hospital five days a week. While here, she does a variety of important duties. She delivers mail to the nurse managers and picks up all outgoing mail on each floor. She scans documents at Employee Health, prepares packets for staff returning from leaves, creates onboarding packs for replacement positions and assists them with any other clerical jobs they have. Mary Jane also helps scanning at WPHO, works in the volunteer office on a variety of projects and maintains the hospital’s bulletin boards.
When not at the hospital, Mary Jane like to read, predominately mysteries. She also likes crafts, crocheting and knitting. She’s made all her Christmas ornaments out of felt and beads! In warmer weather, you can find Mary Jane on her porch watching the traffic go by on Main Street or puttering in her yard. Her favorite garden items are perennials in her yard because they don’t need a lot of care. On the fall weekends, Mary Jane cheers for the Steelers!
When asked “Why she volunteers?”, Mary Jane said “I enjoy doing this. I see people every day. I see my friends here and I make new friends”. She said, “It’s good to get out and be with people. Everyone needs that”. We couldn’t agree more and are proud to celebrate and recognize Mary Jane Williams as our MVV for December.