More than 100 people attended the Fanwood-Scotch Plains Rotary Club’s annual Carol Wood Memorial 2011 Volunteer of the Year Dinner and Dance, which was held Wednesday, April 13. Each year, the event, first held in 1996, honors Scotch Plains and Fanwood residents for their volunteerism. This year, the club recognized Ellie Kramps, 72, and Joe Nagy, 88.
Kramps, a Scotch Plains resident, has volunteered in the Scotch Plains-Fanwood School District for nearly 40 years. “I believe in education, and young people. I can’t think of anything more important,” she said in a telephone interview (all interviews for this piece were conducted by phone).
In 1972, she started out as a volunteer at the Coles Elementary School library, then moved on to the libraries at Terrill Middle School and Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School. She served as PTA President at both Terrill and the high school, and subsequently became president of the PTA Council. She was also president of the high school’s Music Boosters Association and held a seat on the Board of Education. She said her most memorable experience, however, has been serving for 24 years on the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Scholarship Foundation, which she led as president for 19 years.
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“It was very rewarding to get to know those young people going off to college and getting local scholarships,” Kramps said. “I’ve gotten letters saying how they felt lucky and how other districts don’t have this.”
Ellie and her husband, Fred, were also part of the Cub Scouts, Pack 98 and the boy Scouts, Troop 33. Meanwhile, their two children, Ronald and Heidi, have upheld their parents’ legacy of volunteerism. Ronald, who is a commander in the Navy, also takes time to volunteer while deployed. Heidi, a teacher at Basking Ridge High School, volunteers at the school and at her church.
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Similarly dedicated and motivated is Joe Nagy. Born in Fords to Hungarian immigrants, he served in World War II, held a commission as a second lieutenant at Fort Knox and remained in the Army for 23 years.
After leaving the service, he became vice president at Bamberg/Macy’s, and co-founded the Macy’s retirement organization, also known as Macy’s Dinosaurs.
“Volunteerism is divinely inspired,” Nagy said. “It’s a special gift you receive when you serve than having to be served. It’s a special blessing.”
Nagy has given his time the Boy Scouts, the Interracial Council for Business Opportunity in Newark, the CCD program at St. Bartholomew’s Church in Scotch Plains, Fanwood’s TV-35 and Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, where he served as PTA President.
Like Kramps, Nagy said that his most rewarding volunteer experience was with the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Scholarship Foundation. In his 29 years with the organization, he helped provide more than 2,000 scholarships to local students.
Nagy, himself, is also a scholar. He possesses and abounding enthusiasm for studying history, which helped him become the Town Historian of Fanwood and a member of the Historic Preservation Commission.
“We are standing on the shoulders of generations before us,” he said. “It gives a greater appreciation, a greater perception of how we got here. It creates a fondness of this country’s strengths and weaknesses. I collect all kinds of historic facts, and it gets young people interested.”
Nagy and his wife, Claire, have three children – named Susan, Dennis and Lawrence – all of whom volunteer. Susan, Nagy said, gives time to her church; Dennis volunteers with the Boy Scouts and Lawrence serves on the Historic Preservation Committee.
Both Nagy and Kramps advised future volunteers to give where it counts. “Try to pick something where you have some special skill to offer. And go into it full boar,” Nagy said.
Kramps added, “Unless there’s a personal connection, it won’t make a difference.
