Avid volunteers shy about role in parade

Donna and Ray Houser are very good at being active in their community, helping people and representing Iola.
The one thing at which they’re a little rough, is receiving recognition.
The Housers have been selected to represent the city of Iola as parade marshals for this weekend’s 41st annual Farm-City Days.
“I’m at a loss for words, which if you know me at all, is very rare,” said Donna of the honor.
Ray echoed her sentiment by saying, “It’s an honor, but we are not very good at receiving honors.”
If someone were to look at the Housers’ list of achievements, it wouldn’t be hard to see why they were selected to lead Saturday’s parade. Since moving to Iola in the 1960s, the Housers have been involved in almost every aspect of the community.
Shelia Lampe, executive director of the Iola Area Chamber of Commerce, said the parade marshals represent the best of Iola and its farms, and the Housers were a good choice for the responsibility.
Donna worked as a dental hygienist, graduating with a dental hygiene degree from Temple University, before becoming an English teacher at Allen Community College and Iola Middle School. Ray was the head football coach at Iola High School, as well as a history and social science teacher.
While they share many things in common, Donna said she and Ray are complete opposites when it comes to how they work. Donna is a self-proclaimed “workaholic,” describing her comfort zone as being busy all of the time. In the Allen County Historical Society’s annual report, Donna was the only volunteer who didn’t have a specific amount of hours listed for the year — her amount just read “1,000-plus.”
Ray openly described himself as someone who likes to relax when possible. However, Donna described him as someone who works very hard behind the scenes.
“I don’t particularly like to be on the front page,” Ray said. “Donna just happens to end up there all of the time.”
While they have different approaches to achieving their goals, the Housers are the type of people that have helped make Iola what it is today. The Housers have worked to “beautify” the square, renovating windows and store fronts. Ray has been a docent with the Bowlus Fine Arts Center for several years. Both Donna and Ray tried to list from memory all of the groups there are involved with, and it seemed to be a strain — they both ran out of fingers to count on.
They said they have always worked well together, especially when considering how different they are in their approaches to being involved in the community. When teaching at the middle school, Donna and Ray taught joint classes in history, social science, math and English. Ray said it gave them the chance to cooperate and link the subjects together for a better understanding of the subjects for the students. He said he always thought it was important to be a “good role model for the kids,” and he and his wife’s teamwork served the purpose well.
Since Donna retired in 1999 and Ray retired in 1997, they have taken advantage of their free time to travel. The couple, now married for 53 years, have been to every state and have also been on six continents — they both agree they are going to avoid Antarctica.
As for Farm-City Days, Ray and Donna both agree it is an essential part of Iola, and it helps bring recognition to a city that has qualities that are “often overlooked.”
“We have a lot of things going on in Iola,” Donna said. “We just need to learn to brag about it.”
Both Donna and Ray said Farm-City Days is not just about Iola, but it helps promote business in the entire county. Ray said if people don’t include the entire county in their way of thinking, it will feel the effects as a whole.
When asked what car they would be leading the parade in, Donna and Ray laughed and said they hadn’t even had time to think about enjoying the weekend’s festivities, since they have been so busy in recent weeks.
Donna repeated her stance on acting as a parade marshal with her husband.
“We don’t want the credit,” Donna said. “We just want the town to grow.”
The Housers may not be very good at receiving recognition or leading a parade, but it looks like they will have to learn before Saturday.