What brought you to Virginia Voice?
I was considering a broadcasting career when a good friend of my parents told me about the Virginia Voice. She suggested that I try working as a volunteer for the Voice before starting to work part-time at a radio announcing job. (I was working full-time as a copywriter and then as a video producer.) I quickly realized that reading once a week as a volunteer for the Voice was the perfect broadcasting outlet for me.
How long have you been volunteering with Virginia Voice?
This March, I will celebrate my 40-year anniversary reading for the Voice.
What do you read for Virginia Voice?
I read the “News in Perspective.” Every week I surf the internet to find interesting opinion columns from a multitude of newspapers, magazines and websites around the country, trying to balance the perspectives along the political spectrum. (I started reading on a show called “Under Thirty!”)
How do you describe your work with Virginia Voice to your friends and family?
I tell them that reading for the Voice is a true labor of love! I tell them how much I enjoy reading as a volunteer, and that it means a lot to me to help people who are visually or physically impaired to keep informed about the world around them. I also tell them how fulfilled I feel every time I leave the Voice after completing my reading.
Do you have a favorite memory or story from your time volunteering with Virginia Voice?
My collective memory is about how much volunteering for the Voice has meant to me over the years, especially at times when I have felt down in spirit and reading at the Voice has picked me up, being something positive in my life in which I could take pride. I have greatly enjoyed working with other volunteers and staff members who have become good friends. Specifically, I enjoyed working with many other volunteers, including people I knew in their capacity as professional actors, to produce “Through the Looking-Glass.” I played Humpty Dumpty and Teedledum, and we used so many “Out-of-Sight Players” that you couldn’t have fit one more body into the studio!
Do you volunteer anywhere else in the community? Where, and in what capacity?
I volunteered for many years for Meals on Wheels, delivering full meals to shut-ins.
What do you enjoy doing when you are not volunteering?
I enjoy listening to music, watching television, going to movies, reading and being with family.
What might someone be surprised to know about you?
Even though my voice began to get much deeper when I was about 12 (my mom took me to an ENT doctor fearing the worst), I could still sing all five parts of The Temptations (though not simultaneously) using a falsetto soprano until I was well into my 50s.
