Driven to help others Volunteering duo delivered meals for three decades BY EMILY AYSHFORD eayshford@kenoshanews.com
Louise does the driving, while Bea does the navigating. They chat about which old friends they’ll be bringing meals to today while occasionally making the wrong turn or popping the trunk instead of unlocking the doors. It has been their Tuesday routine for 25 years, but these gals delivered their last Meals on Wheels packages Tuesday. Louise Bishop, 91, and Bea Lundgren, 88, decided it was time to retire from volunteering. They knew it was time, Bea said, when they looked at each other and realized that they were older than many of the people who received meals. “It just seemed like a good time (to retire),” Louise said. They met at church nearly 30 years ago after Louise moved to Kenosha from Chicago. Louise had already begun volunteering at the Kenosha Area Family and Aging Services as a Meals on Wheels driver who brought meals to elderly and disabled people who couldn’t cook for themselves. “I didn’t want to be enclosed,” Louise said. “I wanted to be out in the community.” Once Louise and Bea became friends at church, Bea started helping with the route. “And I just followed her,” she said. “Volunteer work is the tie that binds.” So every Tuesday they set out, delivering meals to as many as 14 people a day, giving a smile and saying hello to residents who might not get much other interaction. “They’re the extra set of eyes and ears to see if they’re OK,” said Meals on Wheels coordinator Barb Lassen. “Bea and Louise are the epitome of dependability.... They will be missed by our facility as well as by their Meals on Wheels clientele.” Throughout the years, clients came and went, and Bea said she was sad that she never knew how some of them ended up. They got to know which clients liked what, like the woman who likes her meal left outside, or another woman who wanted them to put the meal directly in the freezer. On Tuesday, the ladies received gifts and smiles from clients as they did their farewell tour. Client Dorothy Watts, whom the ladies know from church, asked why they couldn’t stay longer. “Seeing your faces makes me feel 10 times better,” she said. After their route, they planned on going out to lunch, which is part of their Tuesday tradition. “We treat ourselves,” Bea said. And though they won’t be delivering any more meals, both women said they planned to get together for a meal every Tuesday. “We’ll still be eating out on Tuesdays,” Bea said with a smile.
Bea Lundgren checks the food as Louise Bishop gets a hug from Shirley Knapp Tuesday Hospitality Manor. Lundgren and Bishop, longtime volunteers for Meals on Wheels, retired on Tuesday.
Dorothy Watts, right, gives Bea Lundgren a hug as Louise Bishop holds her food during a Meals on Wheels delivery Tuesday. It was the last delivery for Bishop and Lundgren, who retired from their volunteer duties Tuesday.
Louise Bishop and Bea Lundgren drop off a meal to Fred Korhn on their Meals on Wheels route.
