(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Vivian Kelby turns 98 years old this week, and she continues to volunteer for Franciscan Health Crown Point in northwest Indiana.
“I like to be with other people. And, I like to work. I cannot sit and do nothing because it bothers me more,” she tells WBBM Newsradio.
Kelby was a welder during World War II and dropped out of a nursing program when she was younger -- something she’s still sorry about.
In her 47 years of volunteering at the hospital, though, she has put in more than 37,500 hours, not including her work for Franciscan Health away from the hospital.
Kelby lives on her own and was driving until about a month ago. She has no plans to ever stop volunteering.
“They wanted to know if I wanted to go in a home. I said, ‘You won’t get me in a home because I know how to get out.’”
Hospital spokeswoman Lauri Keagle calls Kelby an inspiration.
“Just a caring, giving spirit. A servant’s heart,” she said.
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