Harvey County woman dedicated
life to volunteerism
Edith Loewen had her own
small office in the Harvey County Courthouse - where she volunteered with the
Retired Senior Volunteer Program.
She helped program
co-ordinators log volunteer hours, and she also volunteered at 11 stations the
program serves.
'She was a faithful
volunteer,' said Barb Smith, director of RSVP. 'Edith did volunteer work on
Monday the week she died.'
Edith Loewen passed away on
Nov. 1 with more than 5,440 hours of volunteer work credited to her.
In her own little office -
just off the Harvey County Interurban Office - she tallied time sheets and
prepared reports for office staff to input data into computer systems.
During her watch, which began
in 1991, RSVP volunteers logged more than 1 million hours in Harvey County.
It's a number so large the
computer software can't print it.
'It goes to 999,999.90,'
Smith said. 'I called our software vendor and told them to fix it - we want to
print that million.'
That's the equivalent of 500
years of working 40 hours a week - with a two week vacation.
'The reason we looked that up
is we wanted to know how many hours Edith had to deal with,' Smith said. 'She
did all the paperwork and put everything in order. She tallied everyone's time
sheets.'
Edith alone accounted for
nearly three of those years.
'It's impressive,' Smith
said. 'People like Edith inspire me. ... She has been important to people all
over town.'
Edith's career as a volunteer
began with Mennonite Central Committee at its head office in Akron, Pa. There
she met her future husband, Henry R. Loewen from Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada,
who also was volunteering with MCC.
After marriage, the couple
continued MCC work in Basel, Switzerland, from 1950 to 1952, Edith as an
administrative assistant to MCC leaders.
When they returned to Kansas,
they resided first in Buhler and then in Wichita, where she volunteered at the
Wichita Public Library. They moved to Hesston, where they raised their family.
After her husband's death in
1984, Edith continued to work for MCC for two summers in Montreat, N.C., where
she clerked in a Self Help shop.
Following her return to
Kansas and until her illness in spring 2008, she volunteered her services in
Newton at the MCC Center for 27 years, Et Cetera Shop, Ten Thousand Villages
store (formerly Self Help), RSVP and Big Brothers/Big Sisters, since these were
organized in Harvey County, and weekly at Shalom Mennonite Church, where she
was a member.
She is a former RSVP
Volunteer of the Year.
Edith chose to donate her
remains to medical research at The University of Kansas Medical Center,
requesting her memorial service be an informal time of sharing and fellowship.
That service will be at 10 a.m. Nov. 22 at Shalom Mennonite Church, 800 E.
First St. in Newton.
