Kay Yotz receives top honor from Geneva Chamber for leadership, volunteerism

She once admonished her priest for sending her a thank-you card because she didn't think he needed to thank her.

She was asked to donate a bottle of wine for a fundraiser, and she delivered a case.

She was asked to bake a meatloaf for Hesed House, and she delivered a dozen.

The 2021 recipient of the Geneva Chamber Wood Award, Kay Yotz, is known far and wide among local groups as a volunteer's volunteer.

"Kay was there when no one else would volunteer," chamber board Chairman Scott Lebin said at the annual awards dinner Thursday night at Riverside Receptions in Geneva.

"When Kay takes on a job or offers to do something, there's a sigh of relief in the room," Lebin said. "Because organizers know the job will get done."

Yotz provided leadership in more than 70 volunteer positions, he said.

"'No' is a word that is not in this person's vocabulary," Lebin said. "When help is needed, this person is there."

When Yotz went up to receive this year's Wood Award, the 160-plus crowd in the banquet room gave her a standing ovation.

"I'm a woman of few words, so don't expect a lot," Yotz said, once the clapping and cheering subsided. "This means a lot to me. I thank everyone.

"To be included among those who won this award before," she said, "it's so hard to believe because I look up to them."

Yotz and her husband, Ken, moved to Geneva 40 years ago, raised four children and now have six grandchildren, Lebin said.

She has been a cake decorator, childcare provider, and in 1995 she worked at St. Peter Catholic Church as a bookkeeper and secretary. She then worked at Rempe-Sharpe & Associates in Geneva as a secretary until retiring in 2018.

Even while working outside the home and raising her family, Yotz always found time to volunteer, Lebin said.

Yotz volunteered with various organizations and causes, including Geneva Community Chest, Swedish Days, Geneva Beautification Committee, Festival of the Vine, Granquist Music Competition, sports boosters, magazine sales, spaghetti dinner, corn boil and Geneva Academic Foundation.