Willow Glen Resident

Community

Photograph by Vicki Thompson

Stop to Chat: Jay Pellmann (left), who volunteers at the Willow Glen Library and the Willows Senior Center, was honored as 'Volunteer of the Year' on May 20 at the Willow Glen Public Library.

Jay Pellmann finds pleasure and comfort in helping others

By Lynn Crocker

Every Monday and Friday for the last six years, Jay Pellmann walks to the Willow Glen branch of the San Jose Public Library on Minnesota, hangs up his hat and gets right to work shelving books or doing whatever is needed that day.

For his continuing dedication, Pellmann was honored by the library staff on May 20, where he received the "Volunteer of the Year" award. Pellmann, who is developmentally disabled, received the award with characteristic humility. Yet when asked, Pellmann admitted he was proud of himself for the service he provides.

"Jay is as reliable as clockwork," said volunteer coordinator Linda Webster. "We are very fortunate to have such a dedicated volunteer."

Co-worker Don Schwarzenbach agrees.

"He just comes right in and does his thing," he said. "He is very dedicated, and I can always count on him."

In addition to his volunteer duties at the library, Pellmann helps set up tables and serve lunch at the Willows Senior Center. He also occasionally volunteers at the San Jose Animal Services Center, where he plays with the cats and keeps them company.

Pellmann offers his time freely because he likes helping others and it gives him something to do.

"We are really proud of him," says Pellmann's mother Marge, who along with his father Don, his brother Jim, Jim's partner Mike Sellers and family friends Anne Hart and Pam Rissmann were on hand at the library to help Pellmann celebrate his award.

"He has his father's energy and always has to be doing something," said Hart. "He's very compassionate and doesn't say much, but when he does speak I am sometimes very surprised by what he has to say."

Pellmann grew up in Wisconsin and attended special education classes where he earned his high school diploma. He then moved to Arkansas with his parents and spent the next 30 years working in various workshops and a recycling facility; while volunteering at the local senior center. He also played a big part in keeping his neighborhood litter-free.

"We lived out in the country in Arkansas and every day he would take a garbage bag to pick up trash," Marge says. "Several neighbors wrote letters to the paper saying how wonderful it was to have everything so clean."

In February of 2000, Pellmann moved from Arkansas to California and lives in a cottage behind his brother's and Seller's house in Willow Glen. He shares his home with his 11-year-old, black and white Manx cat, Max.

When he is not volunteering. Pellmann enjoys reading about history and trivia. According to his brother Jim Pellmann, Jay regularly wins at Trivial Pursuit.

"He reads encyclopedias cover to cover," Hart says, "and when I say that I don't mean he just skims them, he reads them."

Sellers says Pellmann often comes home with a stack of books to read and frequents yard sales looking for books.

Animals are also a comfort to Pellmann. When he is not at the Willow Senior Center, library or animal shelter, he is often found walking along Lincoln Avenue petting the dogs.

"I'll bet he walks 10 miles a day," Hart says.

Whether it's shelving books so people can make use of the library, serving lunch at the senior center, or just keeping a dog company while its owner grabs a cup of coffee, Pellmann's approach to life is summed up in a Winston Churchill quote: "You make a living by what you get; you make a life by what you give."