Sunday, January 16, 2000

102-year-old volunteer remembered

   No one can remember exactly how many years Clyde Jenkins volunteered at the Alice Food Pantry. Those who worked alongside him were many years his junior, and because Jenkins never bragged about his tenure, it was understood that some things were simply best left to generalities.
   What his colleagues did know about Jenkins was that he came in every Wednesday to help sack canned foods and other items for distribution to the needy. Although he was 102, he acted more like 52. His mind was as sharp as a tack, and his good health was the envy of many.
   In all his years, Jenkins never said a word about quitting. Which is why many say that had he not been killed last year in a car accident, he would to this day still be at the food pantry, making a difference in his community.
   "He was a wonderful man, an example for all of us who worked with him," said Ester Gonzalez, 73. "He was always so proud that he could still come here and volunteer."
   Jenkins died the morning he’d gone to his church to pay his monthly tithing, said Robert Dietz, a member of First United Methodist Church in Alice and the secretary/treasurer of United Methodist Men, an organization of which Jenkins was a member.
   After church that day, Jenkins went to a hospital cafeteria for lunch; when he was leaving the cafeteria, his vehicle was struck by another as he attempted to cross State Highway 44, which cuts through the city of Alice.
   Remembering
   It’s been four months since Jenkins’ death, but Alice residents who knew him and volunteered alongside him can’t - or won’t - forget.
   The Alice Food Pantry feel so indebted to Jenkins that members have added his name to an honorary plaque that hangs at the facility.
   "He was a real independent fellow with high morals," Bud Smith, director of the Alice Food Pantry, said. "He was a real asset. He carried his own weight and never asked anybody to wait on him."
   Jenkins, Gonzalez said, always had a smile for everyone and charmed many with yarns about the train trips he took during his youth to New Mexico and up north.
   "He’d tell us these wonderful tales about his travels," Gonzalez said. "But he’d always say that it had been a hard life."
   Not wanting to forget
   What Jenkins wasn’t forthcoming about for decades was his age. That is until he became a centenarian.
   "He was so proud of that that. From then on, he’d talk about his age to just about anybody, anytime," Smith said.
   When roll call for the United Methodist Men is taken during every monthly meeting, everyone knows Jenkins is no longer there. But their hearts tell them differently, Dietz said, explaining that Jenkins’ name has yet to be taken off the membership list.
   "It’s too hard to take him off our roster," Dietz said. "His is a memory most of us will always have. We don’t want to forget him and we won’t. We know he’s still there among us."
  
  
 

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