|
|
|
|
After 60 years, Punxsy native continues to make a difference throughout community |
|
|
|
Written by Julie Ciaramella
|
|
Monday, 08 September 2008 |
Charlie Hoeh mopping the floor at the Pine Street Senior Center in Punxsy. (Photo by Julie Ciaramella/The Punxsutawney Spirit)
PUNXSUTAWNEY — Every day, Charlie Hoeh travels all over Jefferson County for his job, but at night, he comes home to the same house in Punxsutawney where he was born and raised.
Hoeh has had plenty of opportunities to leave Punxsy, he said, but he chose to stay here because he enjoys the "versatility of the community" and his work at the Jefferson County Area Agency on Aging.
Five days a week, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Hoeh does commercial maintenance and janitorial work for every senior center in the county, traveling between Punxsy, Brookville, Brockway and Reynoldsville. He is approaching his 15th year working for the agency.
"I figured I'd just stay where I was because I enjoy what I do. I like the maintenance end of what I do, repairing and fixing things, hands-on stuff," he said.
On a recent afternoon, Hoeh was at the Pine Street Senior Center in Punxsy, working past his quitting time because of a plumbing emergency he had to take care of at the senior center in Reynoldsville.
Even though he'd had a day that was longer and more stressful than usual, Hoeh was cheerful as he cleaned the senior center, talking about the weather — one of his passions — and how he and his wife of 39 years, Carol, would be parking cars for REACT at the football game that Friday.
Hoeh, the current president of REACT, has been involved with the organization since it began in 1976, parking cars at football games and graduations, helping borough police with traffic control and organizing safety breaks for motorists on Memorial Day. The group also helps with community parades, the Groundhog Festival, Old Home Week and Groundhog Day.
He recalled the night when he won the Man of the Year Award in 1992, he was helping REACT by parking cars for the Groundhog Banquet with his wife. Hoeh had no idea he was going to receive an award that night. Although everyone kept telling Hoeh that he was needed inside, he refused, saying he wasn't going inside in his work clothes when everyone else was wearing dress clothes.
"I said, ‘I'm not going in there and wasting my time.' But Carol asked me to stick around long enough to see who would be man of the year, so I went inside with her."
Carol, who knew beforehand that her husband would be receiving the award that night, said, "I had said to Bill Deeley — because he told me the award was going to be presented to Charlie — ‘Bill, do you want him dressed up? Because we're going to be parking cars.' He said ‘no, let him come the way he is, because that's the way that people know him.'"
People around Punxsy know Hoeh for his hard work and dedication to his community, but Hoeh was still in shock to be named Man of the Year.
"I didn't think I deserved it," he said.
"It took me several months to understand it, then the cards were coming in from people telling me congratulations. That's when it started to hit me — when I started receiving all of these cards and people were recognizing me and thanking me for the things I did in my community," he said. "I actually don't look at it like I did anything in my community because I do things that I have fun doing. If you don't enjoy doing it, it's a drag, but I try to do things that I really enjoy doing for my community and hopefully make it a better place for everybody by the things that I do."
Tracy Smith, director of the Pine Street Senior Center, has known Hoeh for four years and sees his love for his hometown and his job on a daily basis.
"Charlie is one of the kindest, most giving people I've ever met. He would do anything for you. He never gets mad, and both he and his wife will help you out with anything. I have never heard a bad word about him," Smith said.
One of the many ways Hoeh makes Punxsy a better place is by serving as a volunteer firefighter for the Elk Run Volunteer Fire Company. He has been a firefighter since 1976, and he was chief from 1990 to 1991. As a child, he would run outside to watch fire trucks leave the firehouse every time the whistle blew.
"I only lived two to three blocks from the firehouse, so I'd listen to the whistle and watch the fire trucks go. Then I'd hang out and wait for them to come back and watch them put the hose back on the truck and talk to some of the guys who were around," Hoeh said.
In high school, he joined a program to be a forest firefighter.
"The reason I joined that is because you got out of school," he said, laughing. "If there was a forest fire and they needed you to fight it, it was announced over the P.A. at school and you'd get out of school to go fight it. After I was in that for a few years, I was made crew chief and was more or less in charge of all the guys."
He said he lost his interest in firefighting for quite a while — as young man, his father passed away, and with a brother in the military, Hoeh had to quit school to work full time so his family could keep their house and he could provide for his mother. He began working at Bells Mills Bottled Gas Plant, and over the years, moved on to other jobs. One day, a friend suggested that they join the fire company.
"I said, ‘Oh, they won't take me. I'm just a common, ordinary person, and they're all big shots in the fire company. They won't want me,'" Hoeh recalled.
Both Hoeh and his friend put in applications and got accepted as volunteer firefighters, and Hoeh has been a firefighter ever since.
He is also the emergency management coordinator for the borough, a job he's held for more than 35 years. He said he "stumbled into" the job, and was recommended for it because he was a radiological monitor for civil defense equipment.
Hoeh has a long history of serving in emergency and disaster situations — he also served as a volunteer for the American Red Cross many years ago, he said, and was disaster chairman for the Red Cross for 20 years.
Another of Hoeh's jobs isn't an every day job, but it's also important to him — he has been a reverend at the Church of Jesus Christ — Punxsutawney Restoration Branch since 1972.
"I take care of the physical needs of the church, making sure the people are comfortable and the church is kept clean. If they have questions about religion, I can answer them," he said, adding that he is very active in the congregation and preaches once a month.
With his day job and other activities, Hoeh said it gets "really wild" trying to balance his schedule. At 63, he said he has done a lot of thinking about retiring in the next few years, but noted that even when he's retired, he won't stop serving his community.
"When I retire, I'm not going to give up. I'm going to keep going," Hoeh said. "Retirement will be just another stage in life to go through. It'll just change that I'm going to have more time for my community when I retire because I don't have to work eight hours a day, five days a week. I'm going to have that time that I can divert to my community, helping out and doing things. As long as my health will let me do it, I'll keep doing it."
Hoeh said he plans to work part-time at the senior centers a few days a week during his retirement.
"I don't want to lose all the senior friends I've made over the years at the senior centers."
When Hoeh has time to spare, he enjoys hunting, collecting knives, keeping up with the weather that's going on all over the world, and spending time with his wife.
"There are times I'd like to strangle him," Carol said, laughing, "but I wouldn't trade him for the world. He has the patience of Job, much more patience than I do. He's very calm, cool and collected."
Hoeh said his parents, George and Juanita, were his biggest influences and they taught him the values that have stayed with him for his entire life.
His parents' example enabled Hoeh to pass on those same values to others, especially young children in the Head Start program held at the senior center.
"I sure hope I have made a difference in people's lives," he said.
"I hope I've helped some of the younger people that I'm around, maybe helped them make a decision that steers them in the right direction, on the straight and narrow path."
Hoeh might have also taught those children some other lessons: Dedication and service to community, the value of hard work, humility, and the importance of never giving up.
"They remember me. Some of those kids who are now adults with their own families see me on the street today and still call me Mr. Charlie."
|
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 09 September 2008 )
|
|
|
|
