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Relentless dedication leads to state recognition for Valley senior
Valley volunteer inducted into seniors HOF
WARREN
Jean Marie Schlecht of Warren says she loves volunteering.
During her more than half-century of volunteering, she met hundreds of children as a longtime volunteer preschool teacher at Christ Episcopal Church in Warren, helped many people during the ends of their lives as a hospice volunteer, and met Mother Teresa on one of her missions in Third World countries.
At 83, after having both knees replaced and back surgery, she said getting off the couch can be a process.
But, said Schlecht, who recently was inducted into the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame, “if you sit at home, you don’t meet anybody new or learn anything new. You’re never too old to learn.”
She was among 19 Ohioans recognized May 26 by the Ohio Department of Aging for achievements and contributions to others after 60 or for continuation of efforts begun before that age, the agency said.
Schlecht, a 1949 graduate of St. Luke Hospital’s School of Nursing in Cleveland, is perhaps best known as co-founder of Trumbull Mobile Meals (TMM) with Patricia Venetta in 1970 and helping the Visiting Nurses Association launch Hospice of Trumbull County in 1982. Venetta’s husband was a surgeon at St. Joseph Riverside Hospital. Schlecht’s husband was chief of radiology at Trumbull Memorial Hospital when he died in 1978.
Trumbull Mobile Meals started as a six-month pilot program and incorporated with 18 subscribers. During TMM’s more than 40 years of existence, Schlecht has served as board president, finance chairwoman, driver, packer and scheduler. She has provided leadership in program planning and implementation, is a member of the TMM Board of Directors and chairwoman of the TMM Basket Extravaganza, which she calls “my baby.”
In 2010, the Basket Extravaganza, which takes place annually at W.D. Packard Music Hall, raised $27,000. This year’s event, Nov. 5, will include a $6,000 diamond ring donated by Warren jeweler Thom Duma, which will be placed in one of 100 baskets to be auctioned off giving bidders one chance in 100 to win the ring, she said.
She was the co-chairperson of the original planning committee for a hospice program in Trumbull County and also graduated in the first class of hospice volunteer trainees for direct patient care.
“I love volunteering. It’s a good time and it’s fulfilling and satisfying, even hospice. With families today far-flung, when there is a need, Hospice can fill that void,” she said.
“I consider it a real privilege to be part of a family at that time and know that I am helping, not just the patient, but the entire family,” said Schlecht.
As a member of the Trumbull County Medical Society Alliance for 50 years, she was involved in its many social and philanthropic programs. She always wanted to ensure that all who needed assistance could maintain their dignity and peace of mind by remaining in their own homes and receiving affordable help, according to her nomination submitted by Sandy Matthews of TMM.
Schlecht attends St. Luke Episcopal Church in Niles but remains a member of Christ Episcopal in Warren, where she was a preschool teacher for 50 years.
“It was one of the most fun things I ever did. Those kids, I don’t know who learned the most, them or me. They are so perceptive and honest,” said Schlecht, who loves children.
She recalled a Christmas pageant in which a 4-year-old girl playing an angel talked to the shepherds.
“She had heard me tell the story of the birth of Jesus, and so she told the shepherds, ‘Now you listen to me,’ shaking her finger at them, ‘I’ve got something important to say.’ My sides ached from trying to keep from laughing ... you couldn’t, you know.”
Schlecht made pilgrimages to Nicaragua, El Salvador, Brazil and India, where while working in an orphanage met and spoke with the late Mother Teresa.
“That was a wonderful experience. Mother Teresa is definitely a Saint. She emanated spiritual wholeness. She was short and tiny and no youngster, but she had such optimism,” she said.
“I think the whole thing runs by prayer power. They don’t have the equipment or the facilities, but the kids get better. I think it is on account of the nuns praying,” she said.
The Hall of Fame is not Schlecht’s only public recognition. She received the Trumbull Leader Award in October 1986 from the Tribune Chronicle, the L.B. Jim Taylor Award in 1983 and the TMM Volunteer of the Year award in 1982. Most recently, she received the Community Good Neighbor Award from SCOPE of Trumbull County and the Valley Legacy Award from Shepherd of the Valley.
Schlecht followed her late husband, Dr. John S. Schlecht, originally from Girard, from Cleveland to Warren when a job opened up for him at Trumbull Memorial Hospital, and became chief of radiology. She quit nursing to raise their family, which includes three daughters, Kathy Schlecht in Massachusetts, and Sandy Schlecht and Beth Pearson, both in Phoenix, Ariz., and a son, John of Andover.
To her delight, she has four grandchildren and another one on the way.
“I’m tickled. At 83 it’s fun. It’s like being young again,” she said.