Willow Glen Resident
News
Photograph by Rick E. Martin, Knight Ridder
Lasting Memory: President Bush honored Willow Glen resident Joe Russo with the President's Volunteer Service Award. Russo helped establish the SeniorNet program at the Willows Senior Center.
Joe Russo is given a small pin that carries a vast meaning
By Alicia Upano
President Bush may have spent only one day in Silicon Valley, but it was long enough to bestow a once-in-a-lifetime honor on Willow Glen resident Joe Russo.
Not only did Russo get to meet the president during Bush's April 21visit, but he also was honored with the President's Volunteer Service Award.
Russo, 68, waited behind Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and various city mayors to shake hands with the commander-in-chief.
"He said, 'I got a little present for you,' and gave me this," Russo said, pointing to a pin neatly clasped to his collared shirt. The pin, about the size of a quarter, reads, "The Presidential Call to Service Award."
It's a small pin for a large achievement.
Russo volunteers at SeniorNet, a program at the Willows Senior Center on Lincoln Avenue. He and nearly 30 other IBM retirees began teaching computer classes to seniors 12 years ago. Though he continues to teach, Russo is now the program's coordinator at the Willows, clocking 700 hours of service each year.
SeniorNet is a national program run by Santa Clara-based executive director Kristin Fabos. The White House contacted Fabos to nominate a volunteer before the president's visit, and Fabos picked Russo.
"He's incredibly dedicated to the mission of the organization," Fabos said. "He really is an exceptional volunteer."
Russo knew his name was submitted to the White House but thought nothing of it. When he returned home from an Easter weekend with his family, however, a message from the White House awaited him. He had been selected.
"I didn't think I'd get it. There's too many good volunteers in the city," said Russo, reeling off the area's worthy organizations and SeniorNet colleagues who were more deserving.
But Fabos said this humility is even more reason why Russo was a good fit.
Russo first moved to Willow Glen with his parents in 1952 from Nebraska. In 1959, he married Connie, and began working for IBM. In his 33-year career, he lived in Almaden and for six years in Tucson during the 1980s. When he and his wife returned to San Jose and their two daughters, Pamela and Rosanne, left home, they decided to move to a smaller home in Willow Glen.
Russo retired in 1992, joining the IBM Retirement Club. Other IBM retirees, Phil Carnahan and Bill Souza, helped create the first SeniorNet in the area and recruited their former colleagues to make the program a success. Russo is part of this founding group.
"We felt we had to do something more for the community, and we had to do something for our retirees and get them active again," Russo said.
He and the other teachers at SeniorNet found themselves easily relating to students ages 50 to 80, who wanted to keep active.
IBM helped establish the program, donating seven computers and furniture. In those first years, demand was high. Each time SeniorNet registration came around, there was a backlog of hundreds of seniors who wanted to take the classes. Many didn't have home computers and frequently used the program's computer lab to practice their new technology skills.
Today, SeniorNet offers everything from beginning computer skills to advanced word processing and graphics classes. Seniors can also take classes on virus protection, and how to buy their own computers.
Russo teaches a class on Family Tree Maker, a software program that allows students to track their genealogy. Russo admits to being "hooked" on researching his own family tree.
In several weeks, Russo will have another keepsake for his own personal history--a signed photo of him and the president.
"It was exciting," he said.
