Retirement might not be Barbieri's strong suit, but her dedication to Sunnyvale Community Services, both as an employee and volunteer, has earned the irrepressible 81-year-old, who walks three miles every day, the nickname Saint Sue.

Barbieri's colleagues unabashedly gush when they talk about her--especially when the modest woman is out of earshot. Although they use words like "compassionate," "generous," and "inspirational" to describe her, they also say Barbieri's character defies description.

"She started the volunteer program and made it what it is today," says Marie Barlahan, community services' director of volunteers and operations. "She really is the backbone of this agency."

"She relates so well to absolutely everyone," says Nancy Tivol, the organization's executive director. "She helps people without intention because she thinks it is the right thing to do."

Barbieri's motivation may have to do with her own life experience.

Rather than viewing the agency's low-income clients from aloft, she sees herself as one of them. She understands their struggles. At age 47, the stay-at-home mother of seven entered the workforce when her husband became too ill to work. He died eight years later.

"My husband and I had goals, but circumstances came into our lives, and we had to change our goals," Barbieri says. "Who better than myself to understand the people that come into SCS? It's not easy to ask for help. I see people working two or three jobs just trying to help themselves, and it drives me to help people."

Barbieri got a job at Crocker Bank, now Wells Fargo Bank, as a clerk. With only a high school degree from night school, she worked her way up to vice president and bank manager.

"I will never forget that someone gave me the opportunity to work," she says. "Here I was, a housewife for 23 years, and someone understood that need."

Barbieri retired from Crocker, but came back to work part-time during the bank's transition to Wells Fargo until 1985. In 1986, she took a position with community services. Her first experience with the organization was the Christmas program for low-income families.

"I could see the important role the agency had in the community," she says.

Barbieri says she quickly found a home away from home at the organization.

"The agency is such a caring, cheerful place," she says. "They are so nice to the volunteers.

Although she deflects credit for her accomplishments to everyone else and shuns recognition of any kind, Barbieri's commitment to residents in need did not go unnoticed. She's won 15 local and national awards for her service, including the 1993 First Lady of California award, in the senior volunteer category, and she had the honor of being an Olympic torchbearer in 1996.

Tivol says when Barbieri showed up to train as a torchbearer, the instructor told her she needed to slow down when she ran with the torch. Even in her 80s, Barbieri eschews owning a car and walks three miles a day.

In 1997, Barbieri retired from Sunnyvale Community Services to visit family and serve as a Eucharistic minister for St. Cyprian Church of Sunnyvale. She later accepted a part-time position in Hewlett Packard's credit union.

Barbieri returned to community services as a part-time employee and part-time volunteer in 2001. She helped the establish its volunteer base that today consists of some 700 people.

Barbieri says, "Volunteers enable Nancy to use the money for clients." She says seniors like herself can benefit from lending time to a good cause.

"It's important for seniors to remain open," she says. "Once you get into the mode of being older, you can stifle yourself."

Now that she is retired--again--Barbieri plans to pursue her passion for walking, visit her nine grandchildren and devote herself to church work. A devout Catholic, she rises at 6 a.m. every morning to attend Mass.