SGVHFH Board of Directors honored the two volunteer construction managers at a special dinner Nov. 19.  The other “regulars” at Pacific and Elk Street also dined at a Pasadena restaurant and were recognized by the board.

George Garfield, board president, made the presentations, which included SGVHFH’;s “Build A Miracle” T-shirts and a certificate of appreciation given to the volunteers.

“I always thought a ‘hero’ was somebody who saved somebody’s life from drowning – or (did something) in war,” Kruse said later.  “I never thought building houses made you a ‘hero’.”  He stated, “I’m just not comfortable with that term.  It was a team effort.”  The former LA Dept. of Water & Power planner of “big water works projects” added, “It’s not just me and the regulars.  It’s everybody, including all the volunteers.”

Kruse, a civil engineer, retired in 1998 after 33 years at DWP. He e-mailed long-time board members to thank them for the dinner.  He wrote, “The hero award was nice but unnecessary.  I don’t feel I am a hero. I just stepped forward to do a job on an interim basis as did Wally.”  Then Kruse listed other regulars

Virgil Graf and Victor Suman did most of the electrical work.  Bill Wofford and Tom Lynn put up most of the solar electric system on the roof and did other “high up” jobs.  They also helped follow up so as to be certain that all construction work was done correctly.

Bill Boyd directed volunteers in digging trenches and moving lots of dirt, as well as much of the “drywall installation, mudding and taping, and interior painting.”  Kruse cited Dick Seeley for the landscaping and irrigation system.  The manager wrote that Bob Ruhl saved SGVHFH thousands of dollars by arranging many Gifts- in- Kind for the landscaping and adjacent concrete.

Kruse estimated that more than a thousand volunteers worked at the Pacific Avenue homes at some time during the 15 months they were being built.

Anderson asserted that Clarence Treat, a retired fireman, “deserves a special mention.  He was a jack of all trades.  He did the heating – and drywall.”

Anderson added, “Oh, yeah, there’s so many guys, you couldn’t mention them all.”  He continued, “Those volunteers are an inspiration to me.  My wife says, ‘Why do you go down there six days a week?’  I tell her it makes you feel so good to see all those volunteers!”

He said, “These Habitat families give me the same feeling.  It’s a good, warm feeling.”

Anderson, who will be 80 years old in February, 2006, retired in 1982 from designing and building hundreds of custom homes in the La Canada and La Crescenta Foothills.  He’s been a SGVHFH construction volunteer for 15 years and served as construction manager for 11 previous Habitat homes built in Glendale.  The life-long Mormon has been a lay minister in his church for “many, many years.”

He stated, “I didn’t do anything heroic.  It’s been a life of service in the church…The work of Habitat came very naturally to me, a chance to serve other people.”

But he admitted that the families in the homes for which he supervised construction do consider him a  “hero.”  He said, “It’s kind of a nice term to use…They get to be like family almost.”

Anderson said his own extended family numbers “about 150 or so,” including his six children, 31 grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.  The extended family gets together for potluck dinner each December two days before Christmas.

Kruse said he was looking “for something to fill my time” after he retired.  Through friend Norm Johnson at St. Bede The Venerable Catholic Church Kruse became a volunteer for SGVHFH.  Kruse talked to City of Glendale officials about sites on which to build houses for low-income first-time buyers, and “after a few months I found myself chairing the Committee on Site Development,” he recalled.

Then he joined the Board of Directors and served five years from 2000-2005.  The Construction Committee interviewed  and recommended hiring Gary Schelvan in 2004, but the new construction manager for Pacific Avenue resigned last March.  Construction delays already had been exacerbated by last winter’s rainfall, the second most ever recorded.  Because of the rain, Kruse asserted, “We lost a month there, for sure.”

Sonja Yates, executive director of SGVHFH, earlier had re-convened the Construction Committee, Kruse explained, “And Wally said he’d be vice-chairman if I’d be chairman.”  They and most regulars began working Mondays through Saturdays, trying to get Pacific Avenue back on schedule.

“If Wally and I are heroes,” he wrote in boldface in his e-mail, “we had a few angels looking after us.  It certainly was a team effort."