THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 18, 1995 TAG: 9506160214
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 24 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALLISON T. WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
THELMA LANE grabs the stack of tests from the copier at John F. Kennedy Middle School and hurries down the hallway as though late for a critical appointment.
For Lane, it is important. She wants to deliver the tests to teacher Gloria Colbert and see if other teachers on the sixth-grade hall need a hand. And on the way back, she plans to check on a seventh-grade teacher who's been out sick.
``We're used to waiting two or three days to get our copies,'' Colbert said. But when Lane delivers them, she said, they're still warm from the copier.
Copying and delivering tests is among many things that Lane, 42, does as a volunteer. For the last two years, the Whaleyville woman has worked at the school eight hours a day, three to five times a week.
``I just do whatever needs to be done,'' Lane says, twisting in a wooden chair as if she would be more comfortable in front of the copier. ``I'm a person who has to stay busy,'' says the Ahoskie, N.C., native. ``Since I have to come into town to bring my husband to work every day, I thought I would just make myself useful while I'm here.''
Teachers say the quiet, kind-hearted Lane has proven indispensable. With Lane taking on many time-consuming tasks, teachers are able to spend more time teaching.
``We don't have enough time in the days to do everything we have to do,'' said Suzanne Rice, a seventh-grade English teacher. ``Any volunteer is good, but Mrs. Lane . . . is more than a volunteer. She's a part of the Kennedy family.''
Lane would do anything to help anybody, said Arretha Rumper, a special education teacher at Kennedy.
A scar on her left leg reminds Rumper of her first meeting with Lane. When Rumper got a six-inch splinter from a student's desk in her leg, Lane drove her to Lakeview Medical Center. And when she was sent to Obici Hospital for surgery, Lane waited until she went into the operating room.
``She probably stayed with me for four hours that day,'' Rumper said. ``Then she called me at home for the next two days just to see how I was doing. I don't think I even realized what her name was until I got back to school three days later. Since then, we've become great friends. Everybody here at school loves her.''
Lane began volunteering in Suffolk schools when her children, Joey, now 19, and Kimberly, now 16, were in school, first at Robertson Elementary School and later at Kennedy. But when her children moved on to Lakeland High School, Lane stayed at Kennedy.
``I love it here,'' Lane says. ``I don't do this to get credit.
``I just do it because it makes me feel good. God wants us to help people, and I like to feel like I am making a difference for the children who go to this school.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Thelma Lane enjoys volunteering at John F. Kennedy Middle School.
by CNB