Judy Anttonen has been named the 2009 Outstanding Volunteer by the Lancaster County chapter of the Pennsylvania Association of School Retirees.
Judy Anttonen didn't want to be bored when she retired from teaching.
"I get bored easily. I'm not a stay-at-home person," Anttonen said.
Anttonen had taught in Intermediate Unit 13's special education program, teaching in nine different schools in 11 years before going to Conestoga Valley School District in 1987. She retired in 2006.
During her years of teaching, Anttonen had volunteered to teach tae bo and Jane Fonda exercise tapes at the schools and had been in the teacher singing group, SRO.
While she previously worked on her education in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, she also volunteered with gymnastics and swimming classes.
So Anttonen figured volunteering for numerous organizations would take care of the boredom of having too much time on her hands during retirement.
Since 2006, Anttonen volunteers twice a week with the National Watch & Clock Museum in Columbia as an archivist in its library. Anttonen takes digital photos of the timepieces and puts them in a database.
She said the job as archivist is a quiet one, which she appreciates. And because she is tech-savvy — she had been the tech support teacher for Fritz Elementary — it is a good fit for her, she said.
Until Sept. 30, when the service was discontinued, Anttonen read for the Susquehanna Association for the Blind and Vision Impaired's radio reading service. She read the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era and for the book hour.
For a while, Anttonen had been a member of the Millersville Community Choir, but that group, too, has since disbanded, she said.
Every Saturday from 4 to 7 p.m., Anttonen can be found working as a disc jockey at Millersville University's student-run radio station WIXQ, playing the oldies. Her husband, Ralph, is the radio station's adviser. "He's got this show and you become the engineer," she said.
About 5 percent of the show's audience calls in, with about 15 to 20 people calling on a regular basis, she said.
"It's fun because it's online," she said.
Anttonen also has been the DJ at Smoketown and Fritz elementary schools' fairs. "They taught me to hand jive," she said.
Anttonen also works with her husband officiating at athletic events, she said. At first, they volunteered their time, but are now paid PIAA officials. "We're one of the few couples who do it together," she said.
Anttonen officiates at cross-country races and is the scoreboard operator for volleyball and basketball games at Millersville University.
For herself, Anttonen exercises daily or even twice a day. She swims every day but Sunday and she walks with friends and plays golf. She also plays shuffleboard and bocce with Lancaster Recreation Association.
For the past 13 years, Anttonen also has participated in the Lancaster Senior Games in 20 different events. She also goes to the state Senior Games and went to nationals in 2007, competing in the 500-meter and 50-meter freestyle swimming events.
For 23 years, Anttonen has directed the Millersville Mile, which runs down George Street to the Millersville University campus.
When her house burned down in 1988, she found out that insurance doesn't pay volunteer fire companies for their equipment. "I thought that's not right," Anttonen said.
So she decided that the Millersville Mile would raise funds for the Millersville Fire Company. It takes six months to prepare for each race in which 130 or so people participate, including children in the quarter-mile run. To date, more than $25,000 has been raised for the fire company, she said.
For 30 years, Anttonen's husband also played Santa, riding the fire truck to Millersville Square each first Friday in December. For the last five years, Anttonen has been Mrs. Claus.
"They have a sleigh for us to go in. We go up to the churches and turn around. There are usually about 200 to 300 kids. Santa sits in the sleigh and I hold the crying babies," she said.
She recalled one year it was so cold and they had to "tromp" through the snow to get to the tree. Another year, she said, the lights didn't come on at all.
For all her work, Anttonen has been named the 2009 Outstanding Volunteer by the Lancaster County chapter of the Pennsylvania Association of School Retirees. She will be honored by the group in November.