The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Couple shares love of volunteering
Couple’s love of volunteering keeping them on the go
When attempting to contact Francis “Fran” and Marilyn Raishart, it’s become common knowledge in certain circles to generally wait until after 3 p.m. on any given day.
“That’s because they’re too busy volunteering,” said Cristen Kane, director of RSVP of Lake County/Lake County Citizen Corps Council, where, you guessed it, the Kirtland residents donate their time facilitating with one-day events, from teas to fundraisers.
The Raisharts also volunteer together at Mentor Meals on Wheels, the Holden Arboretum, the Kirtland Service Council and Hospice of the Western Reserve. Fran is also “Mr. Fix It” for Forbes House and participates in Meals on Wheels (Kirtland Route), where he serves up to 18 clients.
Marilyn also spends time in Cuyahoga County at Cleveland Botanical Garden.
In addition, Fran and Marilyn serve as members of Kirtland Kiwanis and Kirtland Area Service Council, respectively. Marilyn is also involved with Garden Club of Kirtland. And they are both founding members of their church, Divine Word Catholic Church, in Kirtland.
The couple, who have three children, Andrea, Amy and Mark — and seven grandchildren — will celebrate their 51st wedding anniversary in June.
“We’re never bored,” Marilyn said. “If it sounds interesting, we say, ‘Sure.’ We’re never usually home. We love to be out and about doing what we can, and we feel blessed to do so, truly. I love the stories, I love hearing them, listening to them. We meet so many people and we appreciate so many stories from so many different people.”
Fran, a United States Air Force veteran who worked as an engineer for 20 years for Eaton Corp., also participated with REV’d UP — Retirees of Eaton Volunteering to Do Useful Projects — a group who year after year helped lay out and set up the life-sized “Candy Land has Gone Wild!” exhibit at Penitentiary Glen Reservation in Kirtland.
“We’re still carrying on,” Fran said, though he noted the group no longer goes by the name as they’ve passed the baton to another organization when it comes to the Candy Land display. “But we are staying together as a group.”
The Raisharts love of volunteering began in the early 1990s, Marilyn, said, though it’s difficult to pinpoint when the actual seed was planted.
A retired nurse from Cleveland Clinic, where she worked for 49 years, she used to travel on medical missions to Honduras.
“I’ve gone on five (of them),” Marilyn added. “It was always the first week of January with the church. We’d go down to aid people who were declined medical care. There were physicians, dentists, physical therapists, optometrists, you name it. It was a great experience, everyone should do it. You come back a different person.”
Outside of a medical or professional capacity, Marilyn notes she and Fran really took up volunteering in the community through their son Mark.
“We started in the early 1990s when he was 12,” she said. “Signed up through Lake County Council on Aging and continued on as he went to college. We wanted to do more as the kids grew up and moved out.
“We really believe that through volunteering, you get back more than you give. We love to give back to the less fortunate. It’s fulfilling. It’s more rewarding than money. We love doing what we do. We’ve never had an experience where we said, ‘We’ll never do that again.’ ”
Even a visit to Yellowstone National Park had the Raisharts combing their love of volunteering, albeit on a limited schedule, with their love of “the big outdoors.”
“We volunteered to help paint a cabin there, it was about promoting beauty,” Marilyn said. “But eventually it became too time-consuming and we were there for the park, obviously.”
The couple believe their benevolence has enhanced through the years living in Kirtland, where they built their house in 1975.
“At Christmas, members of the football team help deliver baskets,” Marilyn said. “The kids really get into it. (Kirtland football coach) Tiger LaVerde is a very good example for those young men.
“It’s another example of how Kirtland is such a great community. There are so many nice people, we love it. It’s a country-type atmosphere, but we’re also close to cities.”
Originally from Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Fran moved to the area to pursue a job opportunity. Marilyn, a Cleveland native, met him in a backyard.
“He smiled at me and I waved back,” she said. “That was it, love at first sight. He later said to a friend I was the type of girl he wanted to marry. The rest is history. And we complement each other well.
“We’ve done a lot over the years, and we’re going to continue because there are so many wonderful things to do.”