THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 23, 1997 TAG: 9701220135
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 170 lines
ON A MONDAY near mid-January, Sarah J. Walden was properly surprised when she got a call from the Suffolk Division of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce telling her that she had been selected to receive the organization's coveted Athena Award for 1997.
Had she known, she said, as she sat at her kitchen table, chuckling and cupping her chin in the palm of her hand, she would surely have taken down her Christmas decorations.
``Oh, I just wasn't ready for this,'' Walden said. ``First, I laughed; then, I cried. It's a really nice surprise. But, if I'd known, I would have had everything down.''
And then she explained why the decorations were still up.
Family tradition calls for continuing the display through ``old Christmas'' on Jan. 6, and, since she had a stomach virus during the height of the holidays, she simply wanted to enjoy the colorful flowers and ornaments spread through her 75-year-old farmhouse near Holland a few days longer.
Walden was doing things her way - a little more elaborate than some, somewhat longer than most, but with a determination and purpose she was quite happy with.
``When I get involved in anything, I am in it all the way!'' she said, smiling.
From her career with the Extension Service that spanned 29 years to her kitchen filled with sunflowers, Walden, 63, devotes her full attention to whatever she does.
That's just one reason that the retired Southampton County Virginia Tech extension agent, currently coordinator for senior volunteers for the Southeastern Virginia Areawide Model Program (SEVAMP), was named the Athena winner.
The award honors a woman who has distinguished herself in her profession and also in civic duties. It personifies the highest level of excellence.
The Suffolk Chamber of Commerce - onle of only two local chamber divisions to bestow the award - honors Walden tonight for all of the good she's done in both her careers and her personal life.
Wes Alexander, agricultural extension agent in Southampton, called Walden a woman he could ``always respect.'' Walden was Alexander's supervisor during her extension years.
``She's most deserving of the award,'' Alexander said. ``She has always been very fair.''
Ruby Walden, an Athena winner in 1992, said that sister-in-law Sarah is a ``great, great person.''
``She's a person who, over the years, has gone over and beyond her regular duties in her profession,'' she said. ``She's started beneficial programs. She volunteers - gives time and money. She is a person who reaches out and helps others whenever she can.''
The Athena winner was born in Surry County, near the Bacon's Castle area. She received her bachelor's degree from Virginia State University and later her master's in adult education and administration from Virginia Tech.
Walden's first extension job was in Mecklenburg County and, from there, she was transferred to Southampton County. In Southampton, she stayed with her college roommate's brother's family. That's where she met her husband, Fletcher, a brick mason and farmer. Later, the Waldens took up residence in an old farmhouse that, when the young couple first bought it, had a fireplace in every room and was infested with termites.
``I love this house,'' Walden said, as she glanced around the sunny kitchen. ``But - all the money we put into it - we could have built a brand new home.''
The Waldens had three daughters - twins, Pamela and Karen, who live just a few blocks from each other, in Laurel, Md., and Marita, a kindergarten teacher at Windsor Elementary School.
To her grandchildren, Walden is ``Mema,'' a plaque on her kitchen door declares; to other friends and family members, she is ``Mama Jean,'' taken from her middle name.
In her 29 years with the extension service in Southampton County, Walden eventually worked her way up to supervisor of the office. She received the Distinguished Service Award of Home Economics Outstanding Agents and the Grace Frysinger Fellowship Award for outstanding agent. She was president of the Virginia Association of Extension Agents. She was selected outstanding volunteer for the Rural Infant Care Project and was recognized for 18 years of work with the Expanded Food and Nutrition Program.
``We did a lot with children, a lot of child care, infant nutrition and infant care,'' she said.
And, during her extension career, Walden was recognized as the outstanding agent working in the 4-H leadership program.
``I'm probably the only adult around who went to summer camp for 15 years of my life,'' she said, laughing. ``I was director of the 4-H camp in Wakefield. I've done a little of everything in extension except agriculture.''
Walden was an active member of the Virginia National Extension Home Economics Association, a member of the Virginia and American Home Economics Association and a member of the Virginia Association of Extension Agents.
Walden's extension career came to a close in 1991, when the state offered her an early retirement package she couldn't resist. Looking back, she said, she almost wishes she had resisted.
``I wasn't ready for retirement,'' she said. ``I didn't have time to wind down. I really loved my extension work. It will always be with me.''
For six months Walden fidgeted, longing for something to do. She soon started volunteering at the extension service. Then, she heard about an opening for a senior volunteer coordinator at SEVAMP.
When she took the part-time job in Suffolk, there were about 60 active volunteers over the age of 55. Today, Walden has nearly 250 senior volunteers working for Meal on Wheels, local libraries, museums, the Salvation Army and Obici Hospital.
``I've been able to build it up with various agencies assisting me,'' Walden said. ``People enroll as they hear about the program. The program is about 10 years old in Suffolk. I've had two years to build it up, and I'm still building.''
Success in her second career is exactly what former co-worker Hattie West expected.
``She is a very dedicated worker in whatever she does,'' West said. ``When she begins a project, she carries it through to the best of her ability, and everything is always of the highest quality.''
Walden has been just as enthusiastic with her civic endeavors as she has with her professional.
She's an active member of Mt. Sinai Baptist Church, secretary of the Christian Education Committee, a member of the missionary circle and of the senior choir.
``Sometimes, I sing solo parts,'' Walden said, with a hint of a blush and a little pride. ``Everybody doesn't know that.''
Ivery B. Knight, president of LINCS Inc., a social and service club Walden belongs to, praised the Athena winner for her ``concern for people in general.''
``She is a dedicated committee member,'' Knight said. ``When you give her a job to do, you know it will be handled well.''
Walden is chairman of club operations for the Suffolk Pilot Club.
In early December 1994, when her husband was killed in an automobile accident just a short distance from their home, the true meaning of at least one of her civic involvements touched her own life
``The Pilot Club does the safety tree every Christmas,'' Walden said. ``The green lights are for safety during the holidays. When somebody gets killed, we put a red light on the tree. That year, the first red light was for Fletcher. The children wanted to go see it. It wasn't easy.''
The Athena celebrates the ``wisdom, courage, strength and enlightenment which are inherent in its recipient. The crystal prism symbolizes the multi-faceted personality and the light projecting from it, prerequisites for true self-fulfillment and success.''
From her very first job with the local extension service, to her life as wife, mother and community servant, Walden has found that self-fulfillment and success.
And even beyond that - from leaving her Christmas decorations up a little longer than might be expected to the sunflowers in her kitchen, she projects the light that would be expected of an Athena.
``These sunflowers bring sunshine into my heart,'' Walden said, gazing around her kitchen once again, her eyes stopping on a Tiffany-style lamp with a sunflower design above the kitchen table.
``I really searched for this one,'' she said, laughing. ``It's a long-term investment.''
As is most everything is Sarah Walden's life. ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Sarah Walden
Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Sarah Walden is being honored for her work as a Southampton County
extension agent and as senior volunteer coordinator at SEVAMP.
When Sarah Walden took the senior volunteer coordinator job at
SEVAMP, there were about 60 active volunteers over the age of 55.
Today, there are nearly 250.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
1988 Joyce Trump
1989 Fan Panton
1990 Lula Holland
1991 Gail Pruden
1992 Ruby Walden
1993 Pat Williams
1994 Dr. Margaret Reid
1995 Peggy Wade
1996 Fran Alwood