Barbara A. Green, a Blairstown resident with a long history of volunteerism, is the 2018 Mary Louise Christine Outstanding Senior Citizen of Warren County.

Green’s award capped the Older Americans Month celebration by the Warren County Division of Aging & Disability Services and the county’s Aging Services Advisory Council held at the Independence Township Senior Center on May 24, where she and nine other nominees were honored.

Freeholder Deputy Director Jason J. Sarnoski and Freeholder Richard D. Gardner presented the award to Green as she and other nominees were recognized. The others included Candy Church of Allamuchy; Carol Cimosz of Hackettstown; Eileen Larkin and Peter Larkin, a married couple from White Township; Andrew Mark of Belvidere, Ernest Maso of White Township; Laura Randazza of Hardwick, Ann Rogers of Belvidere, and Eleanor Scott of Columbia. All of the nominees received a Citation of Recognition from their state representatives in the 23rd and 24th Legislative District, respectively.

“It’s really the seniors who are the backbone of our community,” Sarnoski said as he congratulated all of the nominees, noting that older residents fill many of Warren County’s advisory boards and other volunteer positions.

The theme of this year’s Older Americans Month is “Engage at Every Age”, which means “it is never too late for our seniors to engage and enjoy life,” said Warren County Division of Aging & Disability Services Executive Director Lakshmi Baskaram. “One is never too old to participate in ways to enrich themselves and the lives of others around them,” she said, adding that it is “never too late to eat healthy, to be well, to get involved, to find something that would interest you, to reinvent yourself, to care for yourself, to travel, to challenge, to ask for help, to ensure your security, financial and otherwise, and above all, to give back.”

Each nominee was introduced and applauded, with Sarnoski, Gardner, Baskaram and county Aging Services Advisory Council Chairwoman Robin Ennis taking turns reading their accomplishments, then presenting them with certificates from the freeholders and from the county’s state legislators.

Accepting the award, Green said that in hearing about the accomplishments of all the nominees, “I’m proud to be in their company.”

Referring to this year’s theme of “Engage at Every Age,” Green, 80, recalled how as a five-year-old Kindergarten student in 1943, she joined other schoolchildren throughout the nation in collecting milkweed pods to be used for filling life preservers and life vests for sailors and aviators fighting in World War II. The substance that had been used – kapok, a cottony fiber extracted from the pods of the ceiba tree grown in Indonesia – was not available because the island it came from had fallen into the hands of the Japanese military.

“That was my first volunteer experience,” Green said. “I guess it proves you can never be too young or too old to volunteer.”

Green’s nomination, submitted by the Blairstown Township Committee as well as several civic organizations and friends, notes that she has been involved in the Blair Womens Club, Blairstown Historic Preservation Committee, Blairstown Board of Adjustment, secretary of the township’s Land Use Board since 2012, and transportation coordinator for Blairstown Seniors.

Green also has been active with the Domestic Abuse and Sexual Assault Crisis Center of Warren County since 1985, as a call center counselor and incoming family coordinator, and the Warren County Aging Services Advisory Council since 2008. She also is active with the Daughters of the American Revolution, General William Maxwell Chapter, and is currently the group’s chaplain.

“She is not someone who sits around, wondering what to do next,” wrote Janice Hunold, DAR chapter Regent, in the nomination. “She told me recently that she probably spends over 500 hours a year in volunteer work, but I think it must surely be more than that,” Hunold wrote.

“Barbara Green is a wise, resourceful person,” wrote Christine Beegle, who chairs the Blairstown Historic Preservation Committee and was one of several Blairstown residents attending the county event. “Barbara always has the best interest of the community at heart,” she added.

The award has been given since 1984 but was renamed in 2007 to honor Mary Louise Christine shortly before the 85-year-old community activist from Washington Township passed away. The Warren County Division of Aging and Disabilities Advisory Council conducts a search and identifies one older adult who characterizes the true spirit of the award. Nominations are accepted in the Spring each year.

Photo: The nominees for the 2018 Mary Louise Christine Outstanding Senior Citizen of Warren County join Freeholders Jason J. Sarnoski and Richard D. Gardner (back row) at the county’s Older Americans Month celebration held at the Independence Township Senior Center. Pictured left to right are nominees Pete Larkin, Eileen Larkin, 2018 Outstanding Citizen Barbara Green, Laura Randazzo, Ann Rogers, Eleanor Scott, Candy Church, Carol Cimosz, Warren County Division of Aging & Disability Services Executive Director Lakshmi Baskaram, county Aging Services Advisory Council Chairwoman Robin Ennis, Kathy Maso, wife of nominee Ernest Maso, who was unable to attend, and Andrew Mark.