Photo by Wes Kroninger
It is likely if you have lived in, worked in or simply visited the Tri-Village area that Dan and Mary Ludlum have impacted your experience there in a positive way.
Their long careers – Dan as an Upper Arlington High School teacher and coach, and Mary as director of the Grandview Heights Public Library – have given way to retirement, but theirs isn’t the type of retirement that comes with palm trees and sea breezes. To Columbus residents Dan and Mary, retirement is their time to give back, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
The Ludlums’ reasons and motivation for this are simple.
“You’ve been gifted. Find those gifts. People need them,” says Dan.
Mary agrees, and she believes it is easy to get involved serving the Tri-Village area.
“Look around for what excites you,” she says. “There are needs in the community. Just jump in and help. Just do it.”
Dan and Mary met while attending Capital University, where Dan’s father had been a professor and dean. In what would become a theme for their life together, the two met on a retreat while preparing to serve others as resident assistants/counselors at the university.
Dan was a year ahead of Mary, so the couple married after Mary’s graduation. They moved
Photo courtesy of the Ludlums
swiftly into the teaching and library jobs that would form their careers and foundation for their Tri-Village impact.
Dan spent 35 years teaching social studies and speech at UAHS. He also coached track, girls basketball and the speech and debate team during that time. Dan points to the award-winning Youth in Government program – for which students shadow local government officials to gain firsthand understanding of their roles, and which he started – as his favorite achievement.
Mary retired from her directorship of the Grandview library after spending a 32-year career there. Of her many impressive achievements, Mary cites the Music on the Lawn summer outdoor concert series, now in its 30th year, as her favorite.
“It’s very important to the community,” she says. “It’s just a good neighborhood feel, and it very much helps create the feel of Grandview.”
The Ludlums’ main launching point for their community service is their church, Atonement
Photo courtesy of the Ludlums
Lutheran Church, where Dan is the head elder and Mary is co-chairwoman of the community service board. Additionally, they volunteer with the food pantry and Habitat for Humanity.
Most importantly though, the central project the Ludlums share is working with the church’s comfort dog, Rosie. Rosie was purchased by Atonement Lutheran a year ago and, since then, according to Rosie’s dedicated page on the church’s website, she has comforted people on more than 1,000 visits.
Helping out with Rosie incorporates the skills Mary and Dan have from their careers. Dan serves as a handler for Rosie, coaching and teaching her and the people she visits about the proper ways to interrelate. He completed a training course with Rosie to be able to properly hold her leash, protect her and give her commands during visits. Mary serves as a visit helper, known as the Top Dog, for which she facilitates the visits and interacts with the person or people Rosie is comforting, allowing Mary, Dan and Rosie to form quite a team.
The results of the visits are what keep Dan and Mary so involved with Rosie. Whether it is
Photo courtesy of the Ludlums
greeting schoolchildren getting off the school bus, comforting a family after a house fire or hearing a child refer to herself as “happy” for the first time after spending time with Rosie, the Ludlums know they are putting their time and skills to good use.
In addition to his work as a handler with Rosie, Dan also volunteers with VOICEcorps, a radio station aimed at bringing printed news to people who, due to a disability, are unable to read standard print media. Dan reads live twice a week. On Wednesday mornings between 7 and 8 he and a partner read a variety of local and national news.
The station has more than 300 subscribers and can be accessed through a special partnership with WOSU and by streaming online at www.voicecorps.org. With a voice and delivery made for radio, Dan finds VOICEcorps to be the perfect fit.
“It’s great fun,” he says. “It’s an incredible group of volunteers.”
When the Ludlums aren’t busy with their packed service schedule, they can be found visiting their son, Stephen, in Louisville, reading Lee Child mystery novels or occasionally enjoying what they think might be the Tri-Village’s best kept secret: the cinnamon sticks at the Original Goodie Shoppe.
The Ludlums don’t think what they do is special because they believe they’re surrounded by people in the Tri-Village area who share their spirit of giving back.
“When you think about the Tri-Village area, there are so many unappreciated people. Whether it’s a math teacher, the police and firemen, there are a lot of working people in Upper Arlington, Grandview and Marble Cliff that really are heroes because of the way they do their jobs, the way they balance family, work and community,” Dan says.
Mary agrees and professes a love of community and the relationships that can result.
“Those strong connections are just wonderful,” she says. “All three communities have people who are passionate about their neighborhoods that will step up and serve, whether it’s the Arts Council, or the Friends of the Library, or the historic society, or the library foundation, helping to support to make sure the community is strong. They’re doing it because they love where they are and want it to continue. The people make the Tri-Village area a special place.”
Bob Valasek is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at ssole@cityscenemediagroup.com.
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