By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
She turned 92 Mother's Day and has long been retired from Dowagiac teaching, but Muriel Clark's desire to help children remains undimmed.
The 34-year first-grade teacher lives at Cameron Woods in Angola, Ind., where she has earned a considerable reputation as a "bag lady."
Clark, who taught at Patrick Hamilton and Sister Lakes schools in Dowagiac, has played a major role in a volunteer recycling project with Fremont Elementary School, for which she recently received national recognition.
Clark became aware of the need for a volunteer in November 2002, when Fremont Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) member Jamie Bryant contacted Cameron Woods to ask if any residents might be interested in helping with a fundraiser for the school.
Muriel's part in the project is taking plastic shopping bags from Meijer collected by students, spreading them flat, sorting them into stacks of 50, rolling those piles into logs and tying them up using two more bags.
Logs are then transported back to school for recycling into black trash bags that can be purchased at Meijer.
Fremont Elementary School makes money recycling the plastic.
Clark, in an interview with the Angola paper, credited the recycling project with keeping her "healthy and active."
Progressively losing her eyesight to macular degeneration dealt a devastating blow to a woman who counted reading and writing among her favorite activities.
Lucille Timmons of Sevierville, Tenn., who worked with Muriel at Sister Lakes School, keeps in touch with her longtime friend by making audio tapes they exchange each week.
By December 2004, Clark had not only rolled 81,016 bags into 1,558 logs for Fremont Elementary School, the recycling bug bit two other local schools.
Clark additionally rolled 13,312 bags into 256 logs for Pleasant Lake Elementary and 147 logs for Hendry Park.
In all, Muriel rolled 101,972 bags.
Other Cameron Woods residents are involved, but to a lesser degree than Clark.
After retiring in 1976, the Michigan native moved to Florida.
She worked in a dress shop until its owner died in 1987.
Clark's quest for ways to fill her days and to keep busy led her to seek out volunteer opportunities, such as putting in 40-hour weeks as a volunteer for 14 years at Palms of Pasadena Hospital.
She moved to Cameron Woods on Dec. 16, 2000, to be closer to her family.
There she helps out in the dining room. She clears and sets tables, changes menus and rolls silverware into linen napkins after every meal.
Cameron Woods is an assisted living facility in Steuben County.
March 25 Sanborn was notified that the Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA) in Fairfax, Va., selected Clark for its $250 "2005 Hero Award" in the volunteer category.
ALFA absorbed the tab for her hotel accommodations. Cameron Memorial Community Hospital paid her airfare so she could accept her plaque in person.
The award was announced during a national conference May 4-6 in Atlanta. "Thank you for nominating this special person," ALFA thanked Sanborn, who accompanied Muriel to Georgia.
Back in Angola, Fremont Elementary School students signed a huge thank-you card that was presented by Bryant during a party in her honor. A Hendry Park teacher presented Clark with a gift basket.
Children decorated the Cameron Woods dining room in a Florida theme while Clark enjoyed a limousine ride.