October in the Gardens
We had an opportunity to meet with one of our longstanding volunteer docents, Helen Muterspaugh. Helen came to the Puget Sound area from Colorado, where she was also active as a volunteer. Says Helen: “I had been a volunteer in several places including Rockland Ranch, a historic site in Colorado Springs. It was one of Colorado’s first homestead sites, right by the Garden of the Gods.” So, after Helen retired from her over 20-year-career with Hewlett Packard and moved to be closer to her daughter, one of her first decisions was to seek an opportunity to give back as a volunteer. Her search soon took her to Bloedel Reserve. Says Helen, “I love gardening and I love history, and so Bloedel Reserve was a natural fit for me. And they make it so easy to volunteer with their online calendar and helpfulness. The people at the Reserve are totally kind to their volunteers, so appreciative of our time. You just feel valued. As you get older, it is so important to have a purpose and to feel valued. At Bloedel Reserve, you just feel valued.”
As a volunteer docent, Helen loves to spend time in the Residence, particularly Saturday and Sunday mornings before the visitors arrive. Says Helen, “It is just so pleasant being inside of the Residence, and I feel I have it to myself. I tell people: ‘I could live here easily. So easily.’ There is a sense of peace. I sit in the living room, read the books in the office, sometimes even play something on the piano.” Reserve visitors also like to play occasionally the piano in the Residence, sometimes with surprising results. Says Helen, “The ones who are the shyest asking me to play often turn out to be the ones who can really play. This little ten or twelve-year-old child comes up and asks me quietly, ‘May I please play the piano?’ I usually respond, ‘Well, it is a concert style piano, and we want it to be played well. If you have a piece memorized, you can.’ Then the child starts playing, their hands start flying across the keyboard, and the music coming out fills the room with beauty.”
But ask Helen what she most appreciates about being a volunteer docent, she will respond: “The people I encounter as a docent. They are some of the most delightful people I have known. I have seen several times when someone has left a wallet or a purse somewhere on the ground, visitors will bring them in to me and say, ‘Call the gate. Tell them that we have the camera they left by the pond.” I believe being out in nature brings out the best in people. And if the people who visit the Reserve don’t arrive at their best, once they start their walk, they wind up being better.”
Bloedel Reserve in a word, according to Helen: Tranquility.
Photos and content provided by Seattle University winter quarter students.
