Hide Article Text (OCR)
canAssocia- gei DacK in uruo, ArmDruster saia. I liked said. Maybe that s why I m living today.'Sally Hoelzer's Retiring As Blood Program DirectorBy DON MEADOWSStaff WriterAt the age of 70, Sally Hoelzer has decided it’s time to retire as blood program director for the Firelands Chapter of the American Red Cross.I’ve retired a couple of times already, but it didn’t work,” Mrs.Hoelzer said. “Maybe it won’t work this time, either. ”She has been director of the program since 1969. During the ensuing years, Mrs. Hoelzer has increased the number of units collected by the local Red Cross from 1,675 units the first year to about 7,200 units this year.“We used to think we were fortunate if we got 125 units during a blood drive,” Mrs. Hoelzer said. “Now we get 175 to 250 units per visit,” she said.The number of blood drives has also increased over the years, along with the population. When Mrs. Hoelzer first started, the chapter conducted 16 blood drives. That number has increased to 34, she said.“It’s been very gratifying,” Mrs. Hoelzer said. It’s also been a lot of work. ‘ You feel like you’ve washed an elephant,” she said.“I hate to see her go,” said Mark Weaver, executive director of the chapter. “But, as she said, when you reach that age, you need a little more sun on your body. ’ ’She has set some standards the next person will have to set a fast pace to keep up with,” Weaver said.That next person” is Mrs. Ixirene Sheldon, Huron.A former teacher in the Huron and Berlin-Milan school systems, Mrs. Sheldon has been involved in the Heart and Cancer Fund drives, along with many civic and service organizations.“The job appealed to me,” Mrs. Sheldon said. She has been a blood donor and liked the idea of helping people and the contact the job would involve.It’s like you’ve helped the whole world,” Mrs. Hoelzer noted, “especially when someone says they need 100 units of blood and you are able to supply them with it. ”How do you keep people coming back time after time to give blood''“You just keep jumping down their necks,” Mrs Hoelzer said. The Red Cross uses a calling system which uses a rotating file of previous donors.About 600 donors are contacted before each bloodmobile, Mrs. Hoelzer said. The chapter has also been lucky to have several blood-mobile sponsors who host drives each year.The Red Cross is in the process ofarranging a bloodmobile with a new sponsor, McDonald’s, which will probably be scheduled for February at a public location.“I’ve found that people are very lovely ... just great,” Mrs. Hoelzer said, thinking back over the years she has been with the Red Cross.Mrs. Hoelzer has had as many as 100 volunteers working with her, devoting their time and effort without pay.Bom in Huron and raised in Cleveland, Mrs. Hoelzer spent the years before her marriage in Detroit. Her mother was costume designer for “Amy’s Irish Rose,” which played at the downtown Civic playhouse for many years.Sally said she could see any of the shows she wanted and met many of the actors and actresses, but there were so many, she couldn’t remember their names.Mrs Hoelzer’s first husband was Herbert Catri, brother of former prosecutor Peter Catri. They were married in Detroit when she was 18 years old, then moved to Sandusky where he worked for the Penn Central Railroad as a yardmaster.The couple later moved to Chicago. They were there nearly a year when Catri suffered a heart attack in 1939 and died at the age of 37.Mrs. Hoelzer moved back to Sandusky then, and in 1942 began work at Memorial Hospital as a nurse.“I had to do something to occupy my time, and I enjoyed it,” she said.She worked at Memorial Hospital until 1956 and married Herbert Hoelzer, now vice president of Sandusky Packaging Corporation, in 1949Mrs. Hoelzer had two daughters by her first marriage and has added a stepson to her family since she remarried.Each year at Christmas Mrs. Hoelzer goes to California to visit her two daughters. “But, I wouldn’t think of moving out there,” she said. “I like it here; I like the seasons; I don’t care how much it snows.”Mrs. Hoelzer said she has travelled all over the United States, but has been most impressed by Myrtle Beach, S.C. “It has a golf course you wouldn’t believe,” she said.Golf is one of Mrs Hoelzer’s favorite pasttimes. It’s how she met her second husband. “I picked him in a golf tournament, and we won,” Mrs. Hoelzer recalled.During summers, the couple would spend entire days golfing. They still do when they get a chance, Mrs. Hoelzer said. They are also avid bowling enthusiasts.“My husband and I used to go on bowling tours,” she recalled. “We used to bowl every night of the weekLORENE SHELDON...new director.and Saturday and Sunday all day,” she said.“We won the His and Hers tournament in Toledo, but that was a long time ago,” Mrs. Hoelzer said. She said they used to travel all over the street to participate in tournaments.For about 15 years, Mrs. Hoelzer bowled with the Caryl Crane team. “We were champions for as long as I bowled with them,” she recalled.Surgery on her spine to remove a tumor about six years ago eliminated much of Mrs. Hoelzer’s bowling activity until recently Her scores are nothing like they used to be, she said.Included in Mrs Hoelzer’s plans for retirement is travel Sometime in the future, she and her husband plan to travel to Switzerland and tour that area of Europe.“I understand they have a terrific blood program there (in Switzerland),” Mrs Hoelzer said.SALLY HOELZER...she's retiring.
Newspaper Details
Sandusky Register
Sandusky, Ohio, US
Thu, Nov 23, 1978
Page 10
Full Page
Clipped by
Sandusky P.
OH, USA 06 Feb 2025
Other Publications Near Sandusky, Ohio
Sandusky Register
Daily Commercial Register
Sandusky Clarion
Sandusky Daily Sanduskian
Sandusky Star
