Even after Ravenna resident Clyde Adams’ six children grew up and ventured out on their own, her work was not done, working as a Foster Grandparent for the AmeriCorps Senior program. AmeriCorps honored Adams for her 20 years of service at a retirement party last Thursday afternoon at Axess Family Services in Ravenna.
“I just like to see people laugh,” Adams told The Weekly Villager. “It is not because I am making them laugh, it is because I enjoy it. I just like people.”
For the last five years, Adams, 97, has exclusively worked as a Foster Grandparent at Willyard Elementary School, where she has volunteered her time with first and second grade students and mentored, tutored, and played with the children.
According to Willyard Teacher Angela Kohl, Adams has had a massive impact on her students.
“They all love her and are amazed at how old she is,” she noted. “She loves them, and they love on her when she comes in with the Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority Bus, the kids would wait and storm the bus and walk her in carefully. She would sit and read with them.”
Adams, a Cleveland native, moved to Portage County in 1991 and said she was taken in by how quaint the community was.
Although she signed up for the AmeriCorps Senior Foster Grandparent program in 2006, she had plenty of volunteer experience under her belt, having volunteered at several different hospitals.
Adams noted that it was how she was raised, everyone in her family wanted to help people whether they asked for help or not.
After retiring for several years, Adams said that she was not one to sit around idly in her twilight years and wanted to remain active, leading to her signing on with AmeriCorps Seniors.
When she first signed up, she worked at the Portage Learning Center in Streetsboro for 16 years, then devoted her time to working at Willyard Elementary School shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic subsided.
While working at Willyard Elementary, Adams said that one of the most important lessons she taught the children was the meaning of respect, including respecting the elderly.
Kohl acknowledged that most of the children had not spent much time with the elderly, so being around Adams was a new experience for them.
“She did a lot of good for them,” Kohl added. “She has been coming to my room since 2022. It has been great. She has been the pillar of the Foster Grandparent Program.”
Kohl also noted that the children developed such a deep affection for Adams that they would frequently ask when it would be time for Adams to come visit with them, as they always yearned to see more of her each time she had to leave after her time with them had ended.
Over the years, Adams has not only left lasting impressions on the children she worked with but also has left a mark on the AmeriCorps Senior Foster Grandparent program, recruiting several volunteers over the years.
Doris Guiffre, one of Adams’ recruits, spoke glowingly about how much she learned from Adams after being recruited when they first encountered each other while riding on the PARTA bus.
“A lot of the things I do, I did for years however,” she acknowledged. “Meeting her put a different perspective on the fact that the kids love her. She is just a delightful person and I have learned a lot of things.”
Shannon Lehn, the AmeriCorps Senior Foster Grandparent Coordinator, said that one of the most impressive things about Adams while watching her work was simply how full of life she was.
“She is amazing,” Lehn noted. “She is a force of nature. The positive effect that she had had on the children in the Ravenna community has just been immeasurable. I am sad for her to retire but it is also time for her to rest.”
Lehn also highlighted the positive impact Adams has made on the children, as they have been inspired watching someone at Adams’ age still have so much energy and conviction.
“I think them seeing someone — an older person — not having fear or not having apprehension or seeing someone who is different than them, I think that it is a huge thing and very beneficial for them,” she added.
