Community Corner
Hometown Hero: Patricia Myers
Patricia Myers has volunteered countless hours of service to the community through her work with numerous civic organizations.
Patricia Myers said she was very surprised when she was named the 2011
“It’s kind of humbling in a way,” she said. "You don’t start out volunteering and anticipate receiving an award in 30 or 40 years. You just do your thing.”
Myers has been an active volunteer in Southampton since she joined the community nearly 40 years ago. Whether it’s raising money for the library, sitting in on meetings with the Parks and Recreation Board, or writing for Southampton Days, it seems as if there’s always been work for her to do.
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Myers and her husband (who serves alongside her on the Southampton Days Committee) moved to Southampton in 1972 and have since worked tirelessly to increase the quality of life in their adopted hometown.
“It’s a really nice community to live in,” said Myers. “The people are great, very friendly. So many people in town get involved with things.”
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Through the years, Myers has been affiliated with a slew of township organizations, but her primary work though has come through the Parks and Recreation Board, the Southampton Days Committee and the Friends of the Library.
“She’s just a phenomenal person.” said Patrick Miller, who serves alongside Myers on the Southampton Days Committee. “She’s 100% dedicated to the parks and to the community.”
But for Myers, who originally hails from New Jersey, it’s the work she’s seen her all her friends and neighbors contribute that gives her the most pride.
“Upper Southampton runs on volunteers,” said Myers. “The entire community is built on [volunteerism]. Everything depends so much on all the parents and coaches that help out to make all of the programs run. I just have so much respect for all the people who have done so much more than I have in certain areas.”
Myers was hesitant to name names for fear of leaving someone out, but said the great amount of friendships she has formed through her work has been its own reward.
"There are just so many people with really big hearts and so many dedicated people [in Southampton]," she said. “I have very close ties with a number of the people I’ve met through these organizations You form really good bonds with them."
Still, she said none of this would have been doable without her loved ones. A mother of two and now also a grandmother, Myers said all her work would have been impossible if she did not have such an understanding family.
“They’ve just put up with me going to all these meetings, fretting over all these issues," she said. "They’ve been my great support system over all the years I’ve been volunteering."
Although she’s also had her own life to live since coming to Southampton, Myers, an avid tennis player, has always found the time to contribute. She says she puts in anywhere from a couple to as many as ten plus hours a week doing volunteer work. It’s all just a matter of what needs to be done when.
“It’s whenever you’re needed,” said Myers of how often she volunteers her service. “That’s the bottom line. Whenever you’re needed, you respond.”
While this is not the first time Myers was recognized for her service to the community (she also received the Lay Honor Award in 2003 from the PA Recreation and Park Society), she said the Citizen of the Year award is still very dear to her heart.
“I’m very proud of receiving this award,” said Myers. “I’m certainly in some very good company.”