Isabelle Hickman Award goes to Eleanor Smith
By: Kristy Klaus
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‘When I consider all you have done and continue to do even at the age of 92, I am awestruck.’ Patricia Cavanaugh |
Eleanor Smith is preserved in alcohol.
At least that’s the little joke she tells people when they ask her for her secret to living an active life at age 92.
“I can’t see sitting around and rocking myself,” said Mrs. Smith.
Whenever she has one of those aches or pains that comes with growing old, she said she simply gets up and it goes away.
Mrs. Smith volunteers one day a week in the Capital Health System at Fuld’s Lantern Gift Shop. She also knits baby hats for the hospital’s newborns and hats for the residents of Martin House.
Mrs. Smith recently won the Isabelle Hickman Award for excellence and dedication to community service at the 16th Annual Retired and Senior Volunteer Program Recognition Brunch at the Princeton Hyatt.
“We nominated her because she is the embodiment of the volunteer spirit in Mercer County,” said Lynne Kluin, a Capital Health System at Fuld spokesperson.
Mrs. Smith volunteers through RSVP, a program run through the United Way of Greater Mercer County. Over 600 program volunteers who contribute over 88,000 hours of service for various organizations throughout the county.
Mrs. Smith said she was shocked to find out she got the award. She said she couldn’t figure out why she was picked, but Patricia Cavanaugh, vice president of patient services and the chief nursing officer at Fuld could.
“When I consider all you have done and continue to do even at the age of 92, I am awestruck,” Mrs. Cavanaugh wrote in a letter of congratulations to Mrs. Smith.
Al Maghazehe, chief executive officer of the hospital, wrote in another letter that he hopes he has “half the energy you do at the age of 92!”
Mrs. Smith first started volunteering over 30 years ago when she retired from her job as a bank teller. She worked in the hospital’s operating room information area getting patients ready for surgery.
“I couldn’t sit around and do nothing,” said Mrs. Smith.
In addition, she volunteered at the American Cancer Society, delivered Meals on Wheels and brought picnics to the challenged children at Skillman.
She swears that if more people volunteered they would live longer.
“It gives you something in life to look forward to,” said Mrs. Smith.
Volunteering gives her the satisfaction of knowing she is doing something for other people, Mrs. Smith said.
Mrs. Smith is the oldest of nine children and describes herself as “always on the go.” She still drives and boasts, “I just bought a new car last year.”
This great-great aunt plays pinocle twice a month, enjoys needlepoint and goes to dinner with other RSVP volunteers after their monthly meetings.
This award isn’t the first Mrs. Smith has won for her volunteer work. She was the recipient of the 1990 Lawrence Township Office on Aging Award.
Mrs. Smith has no plans on slowing down either.
“I’ll go until I can’t go anymore,” said Mrs. Smith.