Longtime Red Cross volunteer left quite a legacy

 It’s not often an organization gets a volunteer who commits 70 years of service to that cause. That’s an extraordinary effort.

Toni Wells was extraordinary on so many levels.

She committed a lifetime of service to the American Red Cross. Wells’ death on Nov. 12 at age 88 has left a huge hole in the hearts of Red Cross workers who knew her, worked with her, admired her.

They’re hoping her story of dedication to the organization will be a springboard to get others involved with the nation’s premier emergency response organization.

Serendipitously, the American Red Cross of Montana featured Wells in a promotional article it presented in April as part of American Red Cross National Volunteer Week. Mackenzie Reed, a Montana State graduate and intern at the National Science Foundation, made a short film (http://vimeo.com/16379183) that highlights the other operations of the Red Cross besides blood donations, and Wells is featured prominently in it.

Her legacy will live on.

Wells made her first connection with Red Cross at age 17 when she began working as a water-safety instructor. Later stationed overseas, she helped servicemen connect with their families, both on the tiny island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and in Japan, and through the Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces program, according to information supplied by Allison Hupp, chief operating officer of the Red Cross of Montana.  

During her years of service to the Red Cross, the multi-talented Wells, who also was a skilled theater performer, was cast in many service roles overseas, Hupp said, including working with service personnel on bases where her husband was stationed, or helping others recover their lives after disasters.  

Whether it was hurricanes, floods or other disasters, Wells was ready and willing to help. In 1969 she worked with victims of Hurricane Camilla, and wrote a series of letters about resident life in the disaster zone, many of which were published by the Daily Inter Lake.

When interviewed by the Red Cross earlier this year, Wells couldn’t recall the number of lives she’d touched over the course of 70 years, but said it’s the indelible mark volunteering had left on her own life that made up the stories of her life.

“It’s just a very mind-broadening experience,” Wells said in April. “But it’s also the friendships she says she has made along the way — in the places life wouldn’t normally take you.”

The Red Cross wants to continue to tell Wells’ story as a way to encourage other volunteers to get involved with the service organization.

The Red Cross blood donation program is one of its most recognizable projects, but the American Red Cross of Montana also helps with local disasters, including disaster response at home fires, relief aid on wildfire lines, lifesaving health and safety courses, and aiding service men and women and their families through the Service to Armed Forces program.

And it’s volunteers who make it all possible.

If you’re interested in Red Cross work, contact community support director Lori Grannis by e-mail at GrannisL@usa.redcross.org or call 1-800-ARC-MONT (1-800-272-6668).

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com