Honoring Our Jubilarians

Each year at Evening for Hope, we honor a few of our dedicated Jubilarians. This year we honored Joe Grno, Annie Marie Johnson and Bob Spaeth.

 Joe Grno
Joe Grno and his wife, Mary, are founding members of the Immaculate Heart of Mary parish which began in 1959. In the following years, a local conference of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul was formed. Joe was not an original member, but he began making home visits as early as 1966. He even took along his eldest son, who was 8 years old at the time. At that time, there were few Catholic
parishes and Conferences, so IHM covered a very large area. Joe also served as one of the first Conference secretaries.

 After his retirement from Western Publishing Company in the late 1980’s, he devoted even more time to the Society by serving as Conference President at IHM from 1990 to 1999. During this time, he also served as the chairman of the Thanksgiving and Christmas program which provided meals and gifts to families in need.
 
When asked what he enjoys about the Society, he says, “The Good Lord said that we need to help the poor andthat the poor will always be with us. After 43 years they still are, but I really enjoy helping people.” The biggest challenge Joe has faced is when he encounters families who are unable to get help from our government or other agencies. In those cases, St. Vincent de Paul is their last and only hope, and that carries a great responsibility.
 
Annie Marie Johnson

Annie Marie Johnson and her husband Mason have been members of St. Paul of the Cross for over 40 years. Annie can be found at almost every event taking her familiar role as “worker bee.” She is a small woman with  an enormous heart and unyielding desire to work for her church and community.
 
She has distributed food and clothing to members of her local community as well as prepared and served food at Atlanta homeless shelters. As a member of the Hunter Hill Community Club, she worked diligently with youth, including sponsoring field trips to educational places such as the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga.
 
When asked about any cases that stand out in her mind, she replies, “There are so many.” But then she spoke of one case when she, uncharacteristically, went out on a case by herself. Her trust in the Lord brought her to a section of town that had a lot of poverty and a good deal of crime. When she told her Conference President about it, he made her promise that she would never go out alone again. She agreed.
She encourages young people to join the Society because there are so many people in need, many more now than when she first started. Young people have so much enthusiasm that they can share with people who are struggling. A smile, a listening ear and a warm handshake can make a big difference in someone’s life.
 
Bob Spaeth

 Bob Spaeth and his wife, Norma, were members of Annunciation Church in Hollywood, Florida. The
pastor of the church, Fr. McCormick, was very supportive of the Society. In fact, the pastor’s father was
president of a SVdP credit union in Ireland. He encouraged everyone to get involved in the parish, especially SVdP. However, he would interview everyone before they could join SVdP. Bob “passed” and
joined the Society in 1962 where he was a member until he moved to Dalton, Georgia in 1984.
At St. Joseph in Dalton, there were only two members in the SVdP Conference. Then one day Bob
mentioned his involvement in SVdP in Florida and their eyes lit up. He immediately became an officer
in the Conference.
 
The best part of SVdP for Bob is meeting a lot of new people, both members and people that he helps. He says that many people don’t understand what SVdP does. He has been asked, “What do you do with all that money you get?” He says that as soon as the money comes in, it goes out to someone who needs it. 
 
“When you go on a home visit,” he said, “it’s a feeling you’ve never had. You feel like you’ve donesomething really good.”