Relay to honor committee volunteer

STAFF REPORT

AUSTINTOWN — The late Louise Stovall will be honored at the American Cancer Society 2009 Austintown Relay for Life this Friday and Saturday at Austintown Fitch High School Stadium.

Stovall, a past Relay committee member and longtime community volunteer, will be remembered by her teammates on “Team Weezie,” and recognized for her involvement with the “Thursday Night Ladies Club,” a local women’s cancer support group.

Stovall, who died of breast cancer Jan. 8 at age 59, had also volunteered as a patient navigator and with support groups for the cancer society, was instrumental in securing corporate sponsors for the Relay, was a team captain for eight years and organized many Relay activities, cancer society officials said.

Pictures of Stovall will be shown on a big screen on the track, and there will be a banner with her name on it. Her former supervisor, Brenda Rider, of Glorious Homes, will share her memories of Stovall during the Relay.

Additionally, there are plans to install a bench in Austintown Township Park in her memory; and two scholarships to Youngstown State University have been established in her honor for Fitch graduates who have a family member fighting cancer.

Besides the Relay for Life, Stovall volunteered for other community organizations, including the March of Dimes, the American Heart Association, the Austintown Lioness Club and Austintown Parent-Teacher Association.

Stovall was a graduate of Hammal Business School in Akron, a 1967 graduate of Hudson High School and attended Kent State University.

She was employed as a secretary for Roth Brothers and worked for Glorious Homes.

For more information about the Austintown’s Relay For Life, call Francesca Kostek toll-free at (888) 227-6446, ext. 2214, or Mike Griffin, volunteer public relations chairman for the Austintown Relay, at (330) 502-9277.