(WHITE TWP.) – Warren County’s annual “Outstanding Senior Citizen Award” has been renamed in honor of Mary Louise Christine, a longtime volunteer on senior issues, the Warren County Board of Chosen Freeholders announced.
Christine, 85, of Washington Township, served on the county’s Senior Services Advisory Council for 20 years, was a member of that board’s executive committee, and was founding director of the Washington Area Meals on Wheels Program.
3-19-2007-annual-senior-award.html The freeholders at their February 14 meeting voted unanimously to award a Certificate of Merit to Christine and to rename the senior award for her. On February 22, Freeholder Director Everett A. Chamberlain presented the certificate to two of Christine’s children during a special reception at a Senior Services Advisory Council meeting. She passed away the following day.
“When an individual gives so much of themselves, it’s just a real credit to their character, and we certainly appreciate all Mary has done,” Chamberlain said during the reception.
Her son, Robert Christine, also of Washington Township, explained that his mother was gravely ill and could not be there to personally accept the award. However, she received a letter from the freeholder board a few weeks earlier notifying her of the honor and she was happy to hear about it, he said, adding his mother “would be humbled by this award.”
Christine retired from the Warren Hills Regional School District, where she was the head of the Business Education Department for many years. She was the mother of a son and three daughters.
Chamberlain told Christine’s family members that the freeholder board was pleased to pass a resolution honoring her and renaming the senior citizen award. Calling her “an innovator” who “mentored and counseled people,” he added, “She made things happen.”
During the freeholder meeting, Freeholder Richard D. Gardner said it was fitting for the county to bestow the honor on “such an outstanding individual,” adding, “She has given so much of her quality time to everyone else.”Freeholder John DiMaio said he was happy to support the move renaming the award in honor of all the years of service to the community that Christine has given. According to the resolution, “Throughout her life, a wife, a busy mother of four, now a grandmother, Mary Lou Christine continually made time to give of herself to the community, and she does so with sophisticated simplicity and unconditional compassion to all who know her.”
The annual senior award, given each year since 1984 to an older adult who typifies the true character of an outstanding senior citizen, is usually presented in May during Older Americans Month.
Members of the Senior Services Advisory Council used the presentation during their meeting to praise Christine and offer their memories of her. “We were fortunate to have Mary Louise on our board” for 20 years, Chairman Wilson Woolf said, calling her “a delight.”Betty Adams, the council’s vice chairwoman, remarked, “I feel fortunate to have had her in my life.” Renaming the award for her “is a small way to show how we hold her in the highest esteem.”Karen Kubert, Director of the Warren County Department of Human Services, told Christine’s family that she was sorry for their mother’s illness and all that Christine and her family are going through now, but added they should “remember she did so much good.”Kubert recalled, “Besides being a beautiful woman, and elegant, she knew how to kick butt in a way that was so effective.” |
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Warren County’s annual Outstanding Senior Citizen Award has been renamed to honor longtime volunteer Mary Louise Christine. A resolution and certificate of merit from the Warren County Board of Chosen Freeholders were presented to Christine’s family. At the presentation were (l-r) Freeholder Director Everett A. Chamberlain, Senior Services Advisory Council Chairman Wilson Woolf, Christine’s daughter-in-law Sally Christine, Council Vice Chairwoman Betty Adams, Christine’s daughter, Nancy Sabada, son Robert Christine, Warren County Senior Services Division Director Susan Lennon, and county Human Services Director Karen Kubert. |
Robert Christine said he had no idea how involved his mother had been in the community over the years. “She didn’t toot her own horn,” he said, while his wife, Sally, added, “She just said she had some work to do.”
Also at the presentation was Christine’s daughter, Nancy Sabada of St. Louis, MO, who recalled how her mother always says how “blessings are very important.
“You put them in the bank, and when you’re having a difficult time, you can draw on them,” Sabada said, adding, “You gave her a tremendous number of blessings by having her a part of this group.”Robert Christine said that as the Mary Louise Christine Outstanding Senior Citizen Award is given annually, it will provide “another opportunity for everyone to remember her” as the years go by.
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