The recipient of Warren County’s 2008 Mary Louise Christine Outstanding Senior Citizen Award is the resident responsible for developing a program that matches volunteers with seniors who need assistance with minor home repairs.
Scott Evans, 77, of White Township, was chosen for special recognition for his dedication to the Chore Corps and other issues affecting Warren County’s elder residents.
The Chore Corps started by Evans “is just fantastic,” Freeholder Everett A. Chamberlain said as Evans’ selection as this year’s outstanding senior was announced at a special meeting and reception of the Warren County Senior Services Advisory Council.
“I’m really glad he’s being recognized,” Chamberlain said of Evans, adding that the Chore Corps “has provided tremendous benefits to the county’s seniors.”
Evans was unable to attend the announcement but Susan Lennon, Director of the county’s Division of Aging and Disability Services presented him with his Outstanding Senior Citizen plaque and a framed resolution from the New Jersey Assembly the next day at the home he shares with his wife of 54 years, Margaret.
“It’s really overwhelming,” Evans said of the award, pointing out the many worthy seniors who were nominated and who have been recognized in the past.
“Scotty,” as Evans is known, and his wife moved to the United States from Scotland in 1956. He lived in Morris County, working as a butcher, before retiring to Warren County. Lennon recalled how the couple came to her office after they moved here, noting, “I was taken first and foremost by their Scottish accents – I was charmed.”
But she quickly pegged Evans as “a smart, intuitive guy who really wanted to help people.”
Richard Grabowsky, who serves with Evans on the senior services advisory council and nominated him for the award, noted it was around 2001 that Evans “single-handedly conceptualized, developed and established” the Chore Corps program that is part of the county Division of Aging and Disability Services. “To this day, the Chore Corps is a program that continues to match volunteers with senior residents who need assistance with minor home repairs,” Grabowsky noted. “Since Scotty began the program, the Chore Corps program has consistently completed about 100 jobs per year for senior residents.”
In his letter nominating Evans, Grabowsky wrote that “Despite several disabling health conditions, any one of which would incapacitate most of us, Scotty has been a relentless advocate for seniors in his pursuit to fill gaps in the formal service system,” with the Chore Corps being just one of the areas where he has been involved.
Evans also was active as a volunteer with the Warren County Board of Elections in examining the accessibility of voting sites, and volunteers with the board of the United Way of Warren County. |
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Scott Evans and his wife, Margaret, in their White Township home after he received Warren County’s 2008 Mary Louise Christine Outstanding Senior Citizen Award.
Scotty and Margaret Evans raised three children and have eight grandchildren. He urged seniors to remain active and involved, adding, “I think more of them should be. It keeps them healthier, for a start.”
The county’s award to an outstanding senior citizen was renamed by the Freeholder Board last year to honor Mary Louise Christine of Washington Township, who served on the county Senior Services Advisory Council for 20 years and was active in other senior issues. She passed away at age 85 shortly after the award was renamed for her.
Eight of the 11 nominees for the award attended the advisory council event, where their nominations were read and they received congratulations from Chamberlain and Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow. The nominees were Jeannette Ferrara of Allamuchy; Donald Fohr of Greenwich; Joseph Gigliotti of Washington; Frank Gomez of Knowlton; Winifred "Winnie" Friese of Washington; Emma Kimble of Franklin Twp.; Betty Jane Lindsay of Hardwick; Ruth Skirbst of Harmony; Alice Thompson of Washington; Robert Walter of Independence; and Evans.
“There’s a tremendous amount of commitment here, a tremendous amount of hours of service,” Chamberlain remarked.
“I think there’s a host of people in Warren County that quietly help each other. Most of those people will never be recognized with an award,” Senior Services Advisory Council Chairman Wilson Woolf noted, but added, “We appreciate them all.”
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Nominees for Warren County’s 2008 Mary Louise Christine Outstanding Senior Citizen Award were honored at a recent meeting of the county’s Senior Services Advisory Council. Pictured (l-r) are county Division of Aging and Disability Services Director Susan Lennon, nominees Winifred “Winnie” Friese, Betty Jane Lindsay, Jeannette Ferrara, Donald Fohr, Emma Kimble, Frank Gomez and Alice Thompson, Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow, Warren County Freeholder Everett A. Chamberlain, and nominee Robert Walter. Not pictured are Joseph Gigliotti, Ruth Skirbst, and Scott Evans, who was selected as the county’s 2008 outstanding senior. |