Page 10 - Leisure Living Magazine Holiday 2017

runs deep; cultivated generationally through his family. Bill has been the longest tenured chair of the Firelands Regional Medical Center’s Board of Directors, having served in that capacity since 1982. His strong leadership was instrumental in the merger of Sandusky’s Good Samaritan and Memorial Hospitals in 1985 forming Firelands Hospital, and then the acquisition of Providence Hospital in 2001 to form today’s Firelands Regional Medical Center. Bill currently serves on the boards of Civista Bancshares and The Foundation for Firelands, and previously served the boards of United Way, Sandusky Area Chamber of Commerce, and Sandusky Rotary; and the list goes on. His dedication to community is tireless, and we have not even touched on his “day job” as the President and CEO of Industrial Nut Corporation in Sandusky, Ohio.
Between Bill and Alice, they exude enough energy to light a city, and in a sense, they do. Both served more organizations than we have space to list. When asked, what lights up their world, with- out hesitation both exclaim, “family!” They have 4 sons and 6 grandchildren. This philanthropic family has generously given much of their resourc- es to the community, time being the most precious.
Dianne Hartenburg Thrives As A Volunteer Guardian
By Jerry Mix, Feature Writer
You might think that after raising three sons, going back to school to become a registered nurse, working in the oncology field for five years and then working at New Life Hospice in the
Cleveland area, Dianne Hartenburg might really be ready for retirement and for her quilting group at Lakeside’s United Methodist Church.
Hartenburg, however, has other plans. This year, Hartenburg and her husband laced on their walking shoes and walked the Camino Portuguese, a 400 mile journey across Portugal into Spain to the City of Santiago de Compostella. Last year, they did a 500-mile walk across Spain to Santiago.
Volunteers Who Give
Unless this starts to sound a lot like Forest Gump and his trip across the United States, we ask Hartenburg
about these
trips. “The
walks are
pilgrimag-
es that have
been going
on for 1,000s
of years,” she
said. “This
year over
300,000 peo-
ple were
walking. It is
a religious pilgrimage. There are many reasons people walk. Some do it for the physical activity, some because they are grieving, some because they are grateful, and some have no idea why they are walking. You have plenty of time for reflection and prayer.”
In addition to very long walks, Hartenburg is also a volunteer with Ottawa County’s Probate Court Volunteer Guardianship program. Currently, there are 13 volunteers for Ottawa County who are involved with this program, but there is a need for many more.
“It’s a big responsibility, but it’s worth it,” Jennifer Simpson, Probate/Juvenile Deputy Clerk for the Ottawa County Probate & Juvenile Court, recently said.
Want to learn more? Here are some of the requirements for being a guardian volunteer. The guardian has to be a resident of Ohio, a law abid- ing citizen, be at least 21 years old and be able to attend on-going training. “The first thing vol- unteers have to do is attend an on-line six-hour training session that has been developed by the Ohio Supreme Court,” Simpson said. Simpson then interviews the people selected as volunteers.
To help these people who can be mentally
Dianne Hartenburg
“I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing that I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.”
- William Penn
Each year it is the tradition of Leisure Living Magazine to honor volunteers whose efforts make someone else’s life easier or better because of their own sacrifices of time and effort. There is a common thread that ties the annual honorees of the Leisure Living Magazine “Giving Back” feature and that thread is the recipients’ attitude of modesty and their desire to shine the light away from themselves. This year’s group is no exception.
~ Barb Clemons, Editor
10 |LeisureLiving Holiday 2017
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