VISION AWARD KATHERINE GARCIA Decades of hard work blend into years of volunteerism

Story by Felicia Frazar

Photos by Felicia Frazar & courtesy Katherine Garcia’s family

For nearly four decades, Seguin resident Katherine Garcia worked to ensure that area seniors were taken care of.

Her care for her neighbors continues well after her retirement and earns her recognition as one of the Seguin Gazette’s VISION Award winners.

“I was surprised,” she said. “I’m sure there is somebody more worthy than I am. I just enjoy working with the senior citizens and people.”

The newspaper presents VISION (Volunteers in Service in Our Neighborhoods) Awards annually, along with the Mary Lee Roberts Citizen of the Year Award. The awards celebrate the best and brightest of the community.

More than half of the 91-year-old’s life has seen her lending a helping hand to the community.

Born in Gonzales County, Garcia moved to Seguin with her family when she about 4 or 5 years old. She is one of nine children.

She attended Ball High School and graduated in 1950. Shortly after that she married.

When the U.S. Government drafted her husband into the war, Katherine stayed home to raise their three children.

“I stayed at home and my husband went off to war,” she said. “Not that it was his idea; he had to go.”

Her children grew up in Seguin, graduated high school and headed off to college.

Eventually, she began working at a local kindergarten, and she had a short stint at the tax office, but it was her almost-40 years of work for Community Council of South Central Texas that started her generous path.

“I worked in the Community Council South Central Texas Aging Program, but first I worked with the younger people,” she said. “When the aging program started, we had to keep the budget, keep the vans running, deliver the food to New Braunfels, Sweet Home, Schertz, Marion. We would prepare 300-something meals a day to get out. I enjoyed working everywhere. If the driver didn’t show up, I had to drive, if the cook didn’t show up, I had to cook.”

Katherine worked for Community Council of South Central Texas for 38 years before she decided to call it quits in 2010. However, she wasn’t done helping people.

A partnership with a local program started Katherine on her path of volunteerism.

“I started volunteering because of Stephen Doerr with the RSVP Program,” she said. “All of the seniors I had been working with the meals program, I got them into the RSVP program.”

Doerr looked to Garcia when she worked for CCSCT for help recruiting seniors into the volunteer group and when she retired, she joined them.

“When I quit work, he asked me to start volunteer. I enjoyed working with the people,” she said.

At one point, Katherine said she volunteered for some time with the Guadalupe Valley Family Violence Shelter and the Cranny.

A dozen years ago, she lent a hand at the Salvation Army and that’s where she spends most of her time helping today, Katherine said.

“I’ve been there for 12 years and I enjoy working with the people and everything and trying to help them,” she said.

Katherine is a life-long member of Greater Pilgrim Baptist Church, where she used to teach Sunday school. She is a member of the Seguin chapter of the NAACP and the MLK Day Committee.

Helping others is what she enjoys doing, Katherine said.

“You feel good, because you are helping somebody have a better life,” she said. “Everybody says God has a plan, but I don’t know what it is. I enjoy volunteering and get up and go sometimes when I don’t feel like going because I know they depend on me being there.”