AUBURN – After more than 30 years of being a SEARCH program volunteer and Advisory Committee member, Irene J. Coady has retired from her volunteer service.

On Sept. 10, officers of the Advisory Committee and program staff treated Coady and her husband, Jack, to lunch at DaVinci’s. Chairman Larry Lachance presented her with a gold charm in the shape of a rocking chair – the symbol of the SEARCH program.

On Sept. 12, Coady was honored at an Advisory Committee meeting and presented a certificate of appreciation from Catholic Charities Maine, a plaque from the SEARCH program and a special cake.

Toward the end of January 1977, an article appeared in the Sun Journal that SEARCH was going to have an indoor garage sale. The article requested items and volunteers to work at the sale.

Coady had many things to donate and recruited her son, Larry, to deliver the items to the SEARCH office. She furnished the paper products for people to use for eating goodies they bought. She spent 72 hours making a sugar house with a roof that opened, and that was the raffle prize. She worked at the sale and then joined SEARCH as a visitor volunteer. She also helped do filing and other things at the office when Tina Gilbert was program director.

Her first clients were a husband and wife who lived on Blake Street. She visited them for three years before the wife died. She continued to visit him, but stopped when he went into a nursing home. Her last client was David Harlow, a stroke survivor, with whom she played cribbage.

Lachance asked Coady to join the Advisory Committee in January 1983 and she served as co-chairwoman for a couple of terms. She participated in United Way kick-off campaigns and other meetings.

Because of multiple surgeries during the past several years, Coady has lost some of her energy and doesn’t want to be committed to a schedule or obligations. In reflecting about her 30-plus years of volunteering, Coady said, “The pay was OK, but I’ll never lose the benefits. You always learn from talking with people and especially with the elderly.”

Coady was born in Salem, Mass., and moved to Maine in 1955 because of her husband’s job as a firefighter in Auburn. They had three boys and one girl, all of whom live in Maine, and she has eight grandchildren. She was widowed in 1977 and married Jack Coady in 1982.

She worked as a cashier at Shaw’s and Shop and Save in Auburn and as a food promoter/demonstrator for Karlene’s Food Promotions in Maine and New Hampshire.

Coady is a member of the Auburn Catholic Community (St. Philip’s), where she was a eucharistic minister and was involved in Christmas fairs and the CCD classes for the children.

She played the organ at funerals for more than 20 years. She was assigned to the Promenade Health Care Facility in Auburn and conducted the prayer service and communion for more than 14 years. She is president of the Golden Age Club at Sacred Heart Church and past president of the Philippian Seniors at St. Philip’s Church.

She is a self-taught musician: accordion, piano, harmonica and organ. She formed groups called the Happy Wanderers and the Memories. They eventually disbanded due to illness. Prior to that, they went to nursing homes to entertain the elderly residents. Now she belongs to a group called the Golden Nuggetts and plays accordion.

Hobbies include cooking and baking, sewing, and artwork. She loved bowling and music. The Coadys visit his mother, who will be 102 in October, at d’Youville Pavilion.