by Rachel Witkowski
Staff Writer
The first time Karen Read saw her future husband, she described him as a hippie with a Fu Manchu moustache who lived across the street.
Little did she know that the man, whose yard she was cutting through to get to the beach, was Don Wolfson of Wolfson Children’s Hospital — who would eventually lead her on a path to become the president of the Women’s Board for the hospital and a Beaches community leader.
“One day I decided to cut through his yard. I didn’t think he was home,” said Karen. “Unknown to me, he had been observing me and he came out and said, ‘Oh, you’re trespassing.’”
Fortunately, she ended up talking to Don, rather than the police. She claims they were both secretly stalking each other as neighbors and it was not difficult to stay in contact and eventually, fall in love. Twenty-seven years of marriage and three children later, the Wolfsons have set the bar on service to the community. In fact, Wolfson’s life has become busier since retirement.
Wolfson has been a volunteer at the 300-member Women’s Board for 19 years, thanks to her Wolfson in-laws that got her started.
“My first job was to put out posters, so I would take our
1-year-old in the car and put up posters all over the neighborhood,” she said.
From placing posters to serving as chair of the Arts & Antiques Show in 1993 and chair of the Florida Forum in 1999-2000, Karen has worked her way up to president of the Board without making a dime. She was appointed in January as president for a two-year term.
“We take our mission very seriously. We have a great time doing it but we need someone who can be committed and dedicated,” she said. “Not only in your heart, but in your (monetary) treasures.”
Since the Women’s Board was created in 1973, more than $15 million has been donated to Wolfson Children’s Hospital through fundraisers and personal donations from the Board. Wolfson said she wants to focus more on the children and less on the fundraisers during her term.
“The main, number one goal I have is for us to really rededicate ourselves to the mission of children in the hospital,” she said. “The real reason is for us to focus on the children and their families and help impact the health of the child.”
Wolfson’s dedication to helping children comes naturally. She has been a teacher, primarily in comprehension and reading, since 1968. But what she has enjoyed most while teaching was helping children, teenagers and adults learn how to read and write.
“I love working with kids who have special needs,” she said.
With a bachelor’s in English and a minor in speech and journalism from the University of Florida, Wolfson began as a classroom reading teacher in 1968 at an all-black high school in Knoxville, Tenn. Despite being a minority and only 22 years old, Wolfson said she really enjoyed her first job out of college.
“It was very challenging but I enjoyed it,” she said. “I am someone who doesn’t walk away from a challenge.”
Two years later, Wolfson moved to Memphis, Tenn., where she taught English at Elvis Presley’s high school, Humes Junior High. Wolfson received a master’s in English and eventually ended up teaching at her alma mater — Fletcher High in Neptune Beach. While there, she met Don. Wolfson continued her career as a full-time professor and then adjunct professor at Florida Community College at Jacksonville. She retired in May 2005, sparing no time to relax.
Today Don is the mayor of Atlantic Beach and Karen works practically full-time at the Board coordinating two programs she founded: the Back to School with BEAM (Beaches Emergency Assistance Ministry) and Put a Smile on a Child. The BEAM program donates school supplies and clothing to an average of 900 children in the Beaches area for one day, a weekend before school starts. The Put a Smile on a Child is a dental program through BEAM, where a dental bus provides service during the summer to children at the Beaches who are not covered by Medicaid.
“I just love children. I believe that they don’t really have a voice unless adults help give them that voice,” she said.
This summer is the busiest time for Wolfson as she voices her mission with the Board and Beaches program. She’s out of bed by 6 a.m. to start her voluntary work and will often stay at the Women’s Board office late into the night. She relaxes by pulling weeds or reading.
Wolfson said she would eventually like to teach reading at Raines or Andrew Jackson high schools once she completes her term as president of the Board, but she will always remain a member.
“I believe that people, individually, need to develop a personal mission,” she said. “But you don’t ever do anything alone — it’s the people who work with you.”