GALION — Volunteering at Galion Community Hospital comes second nature to Adeline “Ad” Sipes. But then it should.
Sipes, 91, has been a fixture at the Portland Way South facility for more than 50 years, both as an employee and, more importantly, as a dedicated volunteer.
“I just enjoy it and I just like meeting people,” she said matter-of-factly. “Everyone is so friendly.”
These days, she’s a regular at the Outpatient Surgery Desk, where she shows up faithfully at 5:30 a.m. for her five-hour shift. But she also racks up thousands of volunteer hours at home sewing lap robes and crocheting colorful afghans for patients.
Sipes, who was born in Streator, Ill., became a hospital volunteer back in the summer of 1966 when she and her husband, Glenn, moved to Galion. She joined TWIG 8 of the hospital auxiliary (now TWIG 4) and became active instantly, holding every office since then.
In those days she was Ad Park (Glenn died in 1995), and she was a regular – stocking the Comfort Cart, making hard tack candy for the holiday bazaar, greeting visitors at the front lobby desk and ringing up sales at the auxiliary’s Nearly New Shop, a resale store in uptown Galion.
In January 1977, she assumed yet another role as a secretary in administration.
“I turned 50 and I said life can begin at 50. I quit dying my hair and I got a job at the hospital,” she said. “I worked there for 12 years and I still volunteered there at the desk after I got off.”
She was also busy raising three children – Val, Jeff and Brian – but found time for bowling, boating with her family on Lake Erie and golfing in several leagues at the former Galion County Club. Her family has grown to include two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
When the hospital’s new mammography center on Ohio 598 opened in 1996, she became its first volunteer, assisting office staff with paperwork and phone calls as well as sending reminder letters to patients about their upcoming mammogram appointments.
These days, when she’s not wearing her blue volunteer vest, she’s at home on her sewing machine stitching walker bags, 40-by-40-inch quilts and “tummy tucker” pillows for patients who have coughing spells following surgery. She’s also the treasurer and sunshine chairman for her TWIG.
Sipes, who lost her second husband, Maurice, in 2015, has logged thousands of volunteer hours during her tenure. She received the auxiliary’s prestigious Adelaide Vergon award in 2002 and has been recognized with the Volunteer of the Year award at the organization’s annual birthday party.
“Oh, it’s unusual these days because most people come and go so fast anymore,” said Lori Brubach, volunteer coordinator for Avita Health System. “This has really been a big part of her life. Ad really loves this place. She’s a pretty neat lady.