NORTHFIELD — Genevieve Clark, 93, looks back fondly on a lifetime of helping children. But she’s now slowing down, either.
Even today, she makes friends with kindergartners through the Northfield Senior Center’s Generations of Fun program, which brings the generations together once a month for a project and a snack. And she still donates to the Greenfield Recorder’s Warm the Children program.
“I’ve always worked with children and I don’t want to give that up,” Clark said.
It all began with babysitting, “which all teenagers did,” Clark recalled. After graduating from high school, she had a chance to go to the Wellesley Convalescent Home for Children, which had a nursing program. That was back when conditions such as polio and rheumatic fever meant long recovery times for children.
“Some of them were there for a year or more, so you got to know them,” Clark recalled.
“From there, I got married and I had my own children to take care of. Before Kathy, my youngest, went off to school, I did Cub Scouts for about seven years. Eight to 10 boys came running in from school once a week. It was lots of fun but it was kind of crazy at times. I still hear from some of those young men — well, they’re getting up there, now — and they all remember those things that we did.”
After her youngest daughter started kindergarten, Clark thought she might get a job working in a hospital. But a doctor she had worked for in Northampton wanted her for a program, ARC (originally, Association for Retarded Children) to work with children ages 3 to 8.
“I did that with another teacher for about five or six years. We had one child from Northfield, and three from Bernardston that I transported,” she said. “I think about it today, with no seatbelts, no car seats — it’s kind of crazy. But we did it because that’s the way it was done at that time.”
Meanwhile, educators George and Penny Hayes had launched Linden Hill School in Northfield, specializing in teaching children with dyslexia.
“My older son had a lot of problems with dyslexia, so I went up and met the Hayes and talked to them and they said, ‘Why don’t you sign up?’” Clark said.
Her gradual involvement saw her learning what the children were taught, and helping with their education for 20 years. Then the next chapter of her life started with grandchildren and later great-grandchildren.
Along the way, Clark met children in need.
“I did some work for Visiting Nurses, too, and visited families where there wasn’t much,” she said. “I know it means a lot to kids to have things like other kids have; they want to fit in and feel good.
“I had a boy in Cub Scouts, right in town here,” she continued. “They lived in a house — it wasn’t even a house, it was more like a shed — and we made some little things in one of our meetings. Anyway, he said to me, as he was taking it home, ‘This is the first thing I ever owned that was my own.’ … I think there is lots more of that type of thing than we know.”
Clark herself grew up during the Depression — first in Florida (Mass.) and later in Holden — and she remembers cold winters.
“I remember living in a house that, when it snowed, we’d get up in the morning and there’d be streaks of snow on the floor where the cracks were,” she said. “We didn’t have a lot of extra clothes, but it never bothered me a whole lot. I always envied one cousin (who) had an actual snow suit. We never had those things.”
Clark knows that when she gives to Warm the Children, each child will get a full set of warm clothes.
Warm the Children was started by the Greenfield Recorder in 1993. The event helps families in need avoid spending money every year on things children need, such as warm clothes. The Recorder coordinates the fundraising drive which, along with the work of volunteers, fuels the charity.
Wilson’s Department Store arranges purchases of winter clothes for children up to age 12. Community Action Pioneer Valley works with several local service agencies to screen eligible families and set up shopping appointments during the three days when the “shop” is open at the Franklin County Fairgrounds.
To donate to next year’s fundraising goal of $90,000, please send a check to: Warm the Children, c/o The Recorder, P.O. Box 1367, Greenfield, MA 01302. Also, new clothing may be dropped off at the Greenfield Recorder, 14 Hope St., between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Reach Chris Harris at
413-772-0261, ext. 265 or
charris@recorder.com.