Volunteer Spotlight: Dolores Ranum, Chehalem Senior Center
BY ISAAC ARTHUR
“I think it’s just wonderful helping people, doing things together, and being friendly with everybody. I try to help them out in every way I can.”
Dolores Ranum likes to stay busy, and she hasn’t grown “weary of doing good” as the saying goes. She has a history of volunteer work that spans over decades and across the globe. A Newberg resident since 1997, Dolores has been a mainstay at the CPRD Senior Center for the last 15 years, where she helps in the kitchen, sings in the Senior Choir (music is a big part of her life, including the annual Portland Singing Christmas Tree and local hymn sings), helps with bingo nights, volunteers during senior trips, and teaches/leads the Mahjong club and line dancing. “You retire and you’re busier!” she laughs.
But before all of this, Dolores was a little girl, the youngest in a Filipino-American military family growing up in Oahu, Hawaii, where her father was stationed. In fact, she was there on the day of the fateful attack on Pearl Harbor: “I always say I was born in a barracks. … I remember my brother and I were playing, and I remember we heard the bombing and the feeling of that. We ran in and told my dad, ‘Hey, it’s war!’ and he says, ‘Nah. It’s only a maneuver.’” The family soon evacuated to Honolulu, where they stayed with relatives.
After the war, in 1946, her family went to the Philippines, where she witnessed firsthand once again the devastating effects of the second World War. As an adult, Dolores traveled to Europe, and she spent almost a decade with the Red Cross, first in Germany, then in Greece, and finally in England. She worked as a staff assistant, an administrative assistant, and then eventually became the Executive Secretary to the European Director.
“That’s where I first got involved with volunteers,” Dolores recalls. She even led tour groups through Europe, from London to Amsterdam, a skill that would come in handy when she began volunteering for the senior center’s monthly daytrips to Astoria, Newport, Seaside, Depot Bay, and other destinations around the state of Oregon.
Mahjong, the domino-like tile game (you might have seen Constance Wu and Michelle Yeoh play this in a recent movie), is one of Dolores’ many contributions to the senior center. Every Thursday, she heads up the club in learning and playing the game, and they now have about eight regular members.
“We have a good time,” she says.
With the community and activities offered at the senior center being such a big part of her life, the pandemic was a difficult adjustment for Dolores. For a while, she couldn’t go anywhere, and that was hard. But now things are starting to open up again, and she’s ready for more.
“Let’s get things going. That’s what I’m looking forward to - to go full force here!”
If you are interested in joining any of these activities, finding out more about what Chehalem Senior Center has to offer, or would like to volunteer, please visit www.cprdnewberg.org or call (503) 538-1490.
