Ethel Lee Lawson recently celebrated her 96th birthday. She is nearly deaf and recovering from both heart surgery and a hip replacement. She is unsteady on her feet and requires a walker. None of these impediments slow her from using her time in service to others. She has spent her whole life in service to others, so now she does what she can.

She is a member of a quilting club that works all year long in anticipation of their annual “Quilt Faire” which allows them to make significant donations to local charities (hundreds of quilts, handcrafted items, and home-cooked goodies. A friend picks her up each Wednesday to take her to the meeting, where she is considered the “Queen”. Beside here work there, she also works all week long at home in her chair.

Charities are given quilts (new moms in hospitals, homeless moms, pregnancy center moms, elderly in care centers). Funds received at the quilt fair were donated last year to: Boys and Girls Club, Lodi House, Grace and Mercy, food for homeless, Salvation Army, Pregnancy Resource Center, Hume Lake Christian Youth Camp, Village Community Outreach, Directions Medical Clinic, Upward Sports, Lowell Center, 180 (after school program for disadvantaged youth), Care Lodi, and The Village Community Center.

At least 20 hours a week are posted to Ethel’s Service to America hours. Her daughter, Ann Taylor, is also a member of Sierra Amador Chapter. Sierra Amador Chapter rejoices in Ethel’s many years of service and is an inspiration to others.