front&center Gayne Schmidt

Augusta volunteer wants to leave things better than before

By Amy Widner

LITTLE ROCK — Try not to fall asleep.

Gayne Schmidt has been named Woodruff County Business and Professional Women’s Woman of the Year.

At the reception celebrating her award, one well-wisher said she nearly dozed off trying to read Schmidt’s long list of community projects.

Schmidt’s efforts are spread far and wide and indicate an amount of energy that, at 75, shows no signs of waning. Schmidt has never stopped learning about the changing challenges facing society. She is on top of issues like protecting the environment, working for racial equality and revitalizing the Delta’s struggling economy.

“I don’t feel like I’m 75 years old, except when I try to get out of the chair and my legs are stiff,” Schmidt said. “But I think mentally, I’m still young. I read all the time; I don’t have time to watch TV; and I listen to the radio. I keep up with things.

“This world, it belongs to the younger ones. If I don’t do my part to make them aware of what they’re doing to themselves - the smokers and the druggers and eating all those packaged foods. I need a clone. I can’t do all that I want to do.

“I have grandchildren; I even have five great-grandchildren and one on the way. Somebody has to clean up the path for them. If I don’t do my part, and I’m lying on my death bed, I’ll have to say, ‘shame on me.’ That’s the bottom line. I’m doing it for the future generations.” Schmidt isn’t sure where her community spirit comes from, but thinks it has something to do with the peacefulupbringing her parents gave her in Augusta, where her grandparents first settled in 1908. She feels close to the place and wants to write a book about the town’s history.

But when she was 19, Schmidt couldn’t resist the call of nearby Memphis and moved back and forth between Augusta and Memphis for much of her life.

“When in 1987 I came back to Augusta again, I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to right some wrongs. This isn’t the town I thought it was,’” Schmidt said.

One of her areas of focus has been the environment, especially endangered species, trees and climate change.

She has been White River Conservancy president since the group’s 2002 beginning, when it formed as an Arkansas Wildlife Federation affiliate to opposes plans to develop the White River for river commerce. She also works with the Arkansas Wildlife Federation as director of the board’s second district. She is the alternate representative for the national federation and has been to Washington, D.C., several times with the group.

She has worked to protect Augusta’s old trees, sometimes to the annoyance of other groups, but with the reward that Augusta is now listed as a Tree City USA.

Last week Augusta was also given one of six Arkansas Shine Awards, which recognize cities that are working toward environmental sustainability.

She said some highlights over the years have been the nearby ivory-billed woodpecker sightings and seeing an increasing number of government officials take climate change seriously.

“It’s rewarding when you see people that are inter-ested in saving the White River,” Schmidt said. “The disappointing thing is that people don’t understand that we have to do something right now about climate change. With all the water Arkansas has and the rest of the United States wishes it had, we have to protect what we’ve got.”

Race relations in Augusta have been another major concern for Schmidt, who said she is thankful for her ability to bring people together. She has worked to include blacks in whatever she does.

“They have the same rights we do,” Schmidt said. “They always have. ... The original Legion charter from ’57 said no blacks were allowed. That bothered me. I started talking to other peopleabout it. [Black service men and women] fought overseas just like anybody, and they deserve services, too,” Schmidt said.

She said the Chamber of Commerce, which she helped organize in 1999 and now leads as president, is another place where she’s fought a sometimes unpopular battle to see black representation.

Virginia Boyels, who has volunteered alongside Schmidt in many projects, said Schmidt has worked hard to bring Augusta’s races together.

“We have taken what was really two towns and merged them into one where all the citizens work together,” Boyels said. “To me, that should have happened a long time ago, and Gayne has played a big part in that.”

Schmidt has also worked toimprove Augusta’s economy. In addition to helping start the Chamber, she is the only charter member left in the Augusta Improvement Club, where she has held just about every office. She is in charge of upkeep for two downtown pocket parks, although she and the rest of the members of the Augusta Improvement Club are getting too old to do as much of the physical upkeep work as she would like. She also takes care of the Heritage Center, the old Presbyterian Church were Woodrow Wilson is said to have worshiped as a child. The city has renovated the building with the help of grants and hopes to make it a cultural attraction and community center. She is a member of the Business and Professional Women’s club and the Crossroads Coalition, a regional group that works to improve economic opportunities in the Delta.

Then there are her real jobs: Monday/Wednesday/Friday at her alteration shop, Gayne’s Garments and Goodies, in downtown Augusta; Tuesday/ Thursday afternoons as an instructor at the Crowley’s Ridge Technical Institute mobile unit in Augusta, which offers freecomputer tutorials on a couple hundred subjects; and mornings as financial secretary/administrative assistant at the First United Methodist Church, where she is a member, sings in the choir and has been working for nine years.

She is the local auxiliary president for Augusta’s American Legion Post and is also the state sixth district president. She has been president of the local United Methodist Women’s group and is communications coordinator for the church’s state north east district.

Boyels said that Schmidt has had a big effect on the city, both from doing projects herself and helping inspire others with the spirit of volunteerism.

“Gayne is the type of woman that if you have a problem and you need a helper, she’s always willing to volunteer,” Boyels said. “She’ll help you do anything, from helping cook a wonderful dinner to cleaning up a park. She’s willing to try to make her town better and get out there and work to make it happen.”

These days, Schmidt said she’s having to learn to slow down and delegate. But at the same time, she fears the next generation isn’t going to take up the torch. She looks around at church and at club meetings and sees a lot of gray heads. She sees potential, but she doesn’t see initiative, and that’s disappointing, because to Schmidt, Augusta is worth the work.

“I guess everybody feels that way about their hometown,” Schmidt said. “It’s a special place. My ancestors were all up and down the White and Mississippi rivers, and they thought it was a special place, too. ... I don’t know why I do this. My husband was that way, too. We just wanted to find the path to progress and leave things better than they were.” - awidner@ arkansasonline.commatter of fact

Birth date: Jan. 19, 1933

Occupation: Depends on which day it is: “Jack of All ... , Master

of None”

Family includes: Toby the cat at my home; three daughters:

Patti and her husband, Chris, in Augusta; Anne in Memphis;

Ambr and family (Billy, Nick, Bill, Brooke and baby Haiden) in

Bald Knob; and grown grandchildren: Vicki and family in Augusta,

Brynn and family in Searcy, Dale and family in North Carolina and

Josef in Baton Rouge

Hobbies: I like to cook, sew, read, garden, write, bird watch and

listen to Pavarotti

My name comes from: My paternal grandmother, Gayne Laura

Avey Preller

Most people don’t know I’m: At peace with my surroundings

I cannot live without: My faith in God

When I was young I wanted: Prince Charming, a big white

house, many children - and to live happily ever after

What makes me mad: Prejudice, in any form

The person I admire most: My brother, Minnert Preller

My favorite memory is: When I moved to Memphis at 19,

thinking I was grown

The world would be a better place if: We were better

stewards of the Earth’s natural resources, especially the

nonrenewable ones

Three Rivers, Pages 121, 122 on 11/09/2008