Nine inducted into Barrington Senior Citizens Hall of Fame

Nine Barrington-area senior citizens were inducted into the 13th annual Barrington Area Senior Citizens Hall of Fame at a recognition tea at Lake Barrington Woods.

The Hall of Fame, sponsored by the Barrington Area Council on Aging, honors outstanding older adults from the Barrington area for their service to enhance the quality of life in the community. Seniors are nominated by local service organizations for their contributions, activities and achievements.

This year's honorees are:

• Pat Houlihan, Good Shepherd Hospital Communications and Media. Pat Houlihan's volunteer work has served Good Shepherd Hospital in a wide variety of areas-from rehabilitation services to building a Halloween haunted house.

Houlihan has volunteered for Good Shepherd for 18 years, working in the Pear Tree Cafe, in the surgery waiting room and in rehab services. She has also given her talents and energy to fundraising activities.

• Dr. Lowell Johnson, Friends of the Barrington Area Library.

After moving to the Barrington area eight years ago, Dr. Lowell Johnson, a retired MD, joined the Friends of the Barrington Area Library. He has been an integral part of the organization ever since. He's currently director of membership, and besides maintaining membership records, he recruits and welcomes new members and volunteers-of several generations.

• Clyde McComb, Barrington High School Athletic Department. Although he has no children or grandchildren attending Barrington schools, Clyde McComb is a constant at Barrington High School athletic events - even out-of-state tournaments. He's there taking pictures, which he then prints and brings to the school's coaches to share with the athletes.

McComb, who's been a Barrington-area resident for 44 years, has been involved in other community activities as well. He's served as a 4-H leader, as a member of the Fourth of July Parade Committee, and as a Little League Board member.

• Ed Mosteig, Barrington Area Library. Anyone researching local history at the Barrington Area Library is likely to come across Ed Mosteig's work. Mosteig has volunteered for the library since 2005, doing onsite work for the library's local history collection, that's available online. He has photographed more than 3,000 headstones at Evergreen Cemetery, as well as headstones in Salem, Wolfrum, White and Barrington Center Cemeteries. He's also taken photographs of natural sites in the Barrington area and has scanned in historical photos provided by local organizations.

• Douglas Saylor, Barrington Area Council on Aging. The Barrington Area Council on Aging's mission is to serve seniors, family caregivers and the community. It's safe to say that longtime volunteer Douglas Saylor, BACOA's nominee, has done a good job of serving that mission.

Since retiring five years ago, he's been a reliable backup driver for BACOA's Meals with Wheels program and has served meals at the weekly Senior Lunch and Activity program He also helped develop and coordinate BACOA's monthly Brain Aerobics program. Saylor, a 30-year resident of Barrington, has worked with other local organizations as well. He was on the founding board of the Stillman Nature Center, and has helped with fundraisers and prairie burns for the group; more recently he's helped develop Stillman's Web site.

• Bob Southard, Willow Creek Community Church. Bob Southard, and his wife, Marie, are active members of Willow Creek Community Church, which nominated Southard for this year's Hall of Fame. Since 1978, he and Marie have spent two weeks a year working at three orphanages sponsored by Foundation for His Ministry in Mexico.

Since 1980, the couple has also participated in a program designed to train leaders for small groups within the church. Southard's service also extends to Lake Barrington Woods, where he and Marie have lived for the last three years. Besides serving as a chaplain, he is also the gardener for Lake Barrington Woods' indoor plants.

• Marie Southard, Lake Barrington Woods. Along with their travels to Mexico, Marie Southard and her husband Bob, have also worked with the Luther League, taking children from area Lutheran churches to a ranch in Custer South Dakota for a summer program of study and fun.

Both Marie and Bob are trained chaplains, and the couple conducts weekly Sunday worship service ay Lake Barrington Woods for residents of the assisted living community.

• Meredith Tucker, Citizens for Conservation

Meredith Tucker has restored her one-acre yard in Inverness to native trees, shrubs and grasses, and does all her own landscaping and maintenance. But Tucker's garden extends far beyond her own lot lines.

Tucker was nominated for this year's Hall of Fame by Citizens for Conservation, where she has been an active volunteer for eight years. She has served on CFC's board of director for six years-and is currently the vice president-and co-chairs the group's Adult Education Committee. Among her many other duties, she also a writes and copy edits for CFC News, the group's quarterly newsletter; created CFC's policy manual, writes grant applications and represents CFC at Chicago Wilderness and other environmental consortia.

• Ann Tuszynski, Good Shepherd-Volunteer Services. Ann Tuszynski has volunteered to make Good Shepherd Hospital a better place for 16 years, in whatever capacity she could find to serve. In fact, since 1992, Tuszynski has volunteered more than 11,000 hours of service to the hospital. She works at the Pear Tree Gift Shop, assists staff in pre-admitting, and helps patients and family members in the surgery waiting room. She puts her creative talents to work knitting baby hats for the newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit and toe warmers for orthopedic patients, and creates tray favors for patient trays through the LUV-EWES project. Tuszynski is also active in St. Ann's Parish; since 1990.