Volunteer gives new meaning to endless energy

Darleen Sheldon’s 5-year-old grandson says, “Grandma lives a lot,” and that seems to be a perfect description of her.

Sheldon has just wrapped up another successful American Association of University Women Used Book Sale. She has participated in 20 of the 54 book sales that have been held in Coeur d’Alene over the years.

Sheldon’s energy seems endless as she volunteers at the Worley Senior Center, has served 12 years on the Kootenai County Historic Preservation Commission, is a member of the Worley Town and Country Club, and has been a member of the Grange for the last 51 years.

Sheldon also volunteers at the Museum of North Idaho two days a month. She works in the gift shop, greets visitors and answers questions. She considers herself a “history buff” and loves to sort and catalog old pictures and newspapers.

“I do a little bit of everything,” Sheldon says, “but I don’t do computers.”

Sheldon, a retired schoolteacher, taught primary grades at the Coeur d’Alene Tribal School. She also was a K-12 substitute teacher in the Worley, Plummer, and Coeur d’Alene school districts before retiring in 1983.

Sheldon attended Worley School, graduated as a member of the Class of 1963, and still lives in Worley.

“Five generations of my family have lived on our 300-acre family farm on the Kootenai Benewah County line east of Worley,” Sheldon says proudly.

AAUW chapter members sort more than 1,000 donated books to prepare for the popular two-day fund-raiser. Money earned from the book sale gives the Coeur d’Alene chapter an opportunity to work toward the aim of the AAUW, which is to encourage higher learning by providing scholarships to North Idaho College sophomore women.

“We usually average around $2,000, but our all-time high was $2,300,” Sheldon says.

AAUW was founded in 1881, according to its literature, when a group of women graduates organized to support each other and the next generations of women in higher education.

AAUW’s national network of 160,000 members and 1,600 branches is “dedicated to tearing down barriers to equality and creating opportunities to help women and girls reach their full potential.”

“Education is our primary focus, and the Coeur d’Alene chapter does what it can to make a difference,” says Betty Brabb, chairwoman of the education foundation fund. “Over the years we have given about 100 scholarships.”

Brabb has been involved for 14 years. Brabb’s son, Lloyd, and Sheldon’s husband, Bud, spend countless hours loading and hauling boxes for the sale. Non-AAUW members Sharyn Brown and Elaine Hankinson also help sort, box, and label all the books.

Brabb tells the story of a book donor who called to tell her that she had a “huge” amount of books to donate. Brabb took Lloyd with her to pick up the books, thinking there would be lots of heavy boxes.

“Come to find out the huge amount of books fit in a grocery sack,” Brabb says with a chuckle.

“We do appreciate all our customers that come back every year, and we do appreciate every single book donated.”