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Shumaker named Big Run's Citizen of the Year |
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Local Content -
Local News
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Written by Tom Chapin
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Monday, 23 March 2009 |
Brenda D. Shumaker thanks the audience Sunday after she was named the 2009 Robert L. "Bobo" Davis Citizen of the Year while Mayor Joe Buterbaugh (right) looks on. (Photo by Tom Chapin/The Punxsutawney Spirit)
BIG RUN - She wasn't born in Big Run, but she has made the tiny borough her home for several years and contributed to its local organizations and community spirit.
Thus, during Sunday's annual Peepers Banquet, Big Run residents saluted Brenda D. Shumaker as the recipient of the Robert L. "Bobo" David Citizen of the Year Award.
"How many funeral directors do you know who cry at every funeral service they have," Mayor Joe Buterbaugh said about Shumaker, who founded the Brenda D. Shumaker Funeral Home in 2003.
"It's a wonderful community," Shumaker said after receiving the award.
In introducing Shumaker, Buterbaugh explained that she was actually born in Buckhannon, W.Va.. the eldest of four children. She said that when she was five years old, the family moved north, and she was raised in Timblin.
A 1982 honors graduate of Punxsutawney High School, Shumaker attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh Institute, where she graduated cum laude in 2000.
After her funeral internship, she and her husband, Randy, extensively remodeled where the Brenda D. Shumaker Funeral Home stands today, and expanded the business into Brookville in 2007.
Shumaker is a member of Big Run's Beta Sorority, the VFW Post 9044 Auxiliary and a social member of the Big Run Area Volunteer Fire Company.
She has also been a committee member for beautification projects in the borough, and is also a member of the Martha V. Conrad study group, the Brookville Civic Club, Kiwanis and St. Phillips United Methodist Church in Big Run.
Buterbaugh noted that her first love is serving local families in their time of need.
"Brenda puts her heart and soul into every service, and personally feels the loss of each person," he said. "Brenda guides families through one of the hardest tasks of their lives, and she leaves them feeling at peace and comforted.
"Brenda has always stated that it takes a special person to work in her field," Buterbaugh said. "And she is right: Brenda is a very special person."
Shumaker also has two children, Derek Young, a seven-year U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and as a crew chief on the UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter, and Erin Young, who has served in the U.S. Air Force in Kuwait as a TCN escort.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 24 March 2009 )
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