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How Community Service Changed My Life
I retired early from a career in the food business and my husband and I moved to Pineville, Missouri. I didn’t plan to retire at that time, I was hoping to get a job at Walmart to finish my working years. Instead, I got involved in community development as a volunteer. First I was asked to run for the office of mayor. It wasn’t strictly a volunteer job. It paid the princely salary of $50/month, but I loved it. I saw it as a way to pay back the village that raised me with so much love and care. When I realized how many things were needed, I was hooked on community service. It never occurred to me that I should have more compensation. I was paying back a big dept.
I often wonder what Pineville would be like today if there
had not been a group who opposed anything I suggested from day one. They
were more intent on blocking me in any way possible than seeing what we
could accomplish together. What had I done to deserve such treatment? I
was an uppity, educated woman who wanted to change the way things had
been done for decades and that could not be allowed. Besides, there was
someone in the wings who wanted the job desperately. To answer my
question: Pineville would be far better prepared to deal with the
wrenching changes ahead when the growth of northwest Arkansas pushes
across the state line at an even faster rate.
In the short two and a half years I served as mayor, I
conducted the first inventory, had City Hall checked for accessibility
for all, introduced computers (the clerks were handwriting water bills
with pencil), and my husband wrote free programs for the water and fire
departments, I helped write a grant to replace the dangerous wastewater
plant, served on the advisory committee for I-49 and found a way to keep
the old highway between Anderson and Pineville intact instead of being
cut, proposed and campaigned for a use tax that brought millions of
dollars to the city. Only recently have funds been allocated to better
serve residents instead of staff.
I didn’t give up and quit easily. I endured public
humiliation and embarrassment, destruction of 23 tires with nails and
screws, expensive damage to my car, constant criticism and so much
passive-aggressive treatment that my spirit was broken. My only regret
is that I didn’t have a press conference to explain the harassment that
drove me to give up. Yet, when I asked a local newsman why he didn’t
write a story about what I had gone through his response was, “We report
the news, we don’t make the news.”
After my tenure as mayor, I still refused to give up trying
to make Pineville a better place to live and to prepare for the changes
coming. I continued to work on economic development, art walks,
Christmas events, watershed protection, and promoting businesses as a
member of the board of the Chamber of Commerce which culminated in the
production of the folk history play, “Snake County Stories.”
What did all of these good and bad experiences teach me?
Being deeply interested in a problem and looking for answers
is an opportunity for personal growth in addition to improving a
situation.
Good can be accomplished even in a hostile or unpromising environment.
I am a stronger person from any experience and working to repay my hometown gave me a real sense of purpose and usefulness.
There is no doubt I made political mistakes and there are
many things I would do differently today, but I did the best I could at
the time.
There are always opportunities for improvement. It takes
working together, developing trust and respect for others, and a sincere
belief to quote the late Paul Wellstone, a Minnesota Senator,
“We all do better when we do better.”
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