Think of Gene Anderson as one of the George Baileys among us.
Like Jimmy Stewart’s character in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” he hasn’t been the out-loud hero, the guy with the awards and accolades. He’s been the person who, by actions so natural as to be unnoticed, has made great things possible.
After 33 years with The Boys & Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound, Anderson on Friday left his position as director of its D.A. Gonyea Branch. The organization is consolidating its director positions, and Anderson was not hired for one of them.
He has handled that leave-taking with exemplary grace, said the Rev. Billy Sarno of Tacoma Foursquare Church. They met this fall when the Boys & Girls Clubs here were reorganizing. Sarno was planning a jazz fundraiser and stopped in at Gonyea to consider it as a venue.
A month later, Anderson learned he would not be director of the Gonyea and Al Davies clubs, and would be unemployed come Christmas.
He showed neither bitterness nor anger, Sarno said.
Because Anderson asked, the pastor and his church members plan to volunteer at Gonyea.
Because of Anderson’s grace, they made the Dec. 17 concert fundraiser for the club in his honor.
To make it sing Anderson’s story, Sarno’s team went looking for lives made fuller though his work.
They started with his.
Anderson, 56, of West Tacoma was the oldest of the five children of an Army medic who served three tours in Vietnam. Money was sparse, and, come summer, the kids and their mom picked produce in Fife.
As so many kids have, Anderson turned to the South End Boys Club for sports, after-school activities and leadership skills.
“The promise my mother made to me was that I would be the first in our family to go to college, and use that to better myself and future generations,” he said.
He earned a degree in recreation administration at Eastern Washington University, and, in 1979, earned a job at the East Side Boys Club.
By 1981, he was program director at Gonyea, and by 1992 he was director, part of the team helping kids to see and be their best selves.
Some came angry.
Anderson remembers calming Jason Watson out of rages and guiding him into sports and leadership programs. Watson earned a football scholarship to Yale University, where he struggled his first year.
Even though this boy was now a young man, Anderson stayed involved.
“At the end of his first year, his coach said ‘I’m sending him back to you to work at the Boys & Girls Club where he started. Then write me a letter as to whether he can come back to college.’” Anderson recalled.
“I wrote a letter to his coach, and he went back to Yale,” Anderson said.
Watson succeeded academically, graduated and has a career in politics.
Some came wounded.
Sheely Mauck’s parents adopted her from India, where, because her legs were paralyzed, she’d been abandoned. At the club, she found her body’s freedom in the pool. She became a lifeguard, swimming instructor and Youth of the Year.
After college, she came back to the clubs to work. She and a group of techie friends from the clubs left and founded their own business, which is thriving.
Anderson found the right people to help kids make the most of their interests, said Marie’ Sakai, who ran a Gonyea art program.
“The Boys & Girls Club kids adored him and would come to him for advice,” she said. “He would talk to them as if they were his own children. He has made a difference in my life, as I am still teaching children art.”
To multiply the services the club can deliver, Anderson built partnerships with police, parks, schools and volunteers, said Michelle Pizzo, a club volunteer.
“Gene gives and gives and gives and makes it look effortless,” she said.
“His impact in our community can’t be measured,” Pizzo said. “He’s a true inspiration and Tacoma treasure. It would probably only take about another 20 Gene Andersons to fix just about everything that is wrong with the world.”
Like the man in the movies, Gene Anderson has hit a rough patch. But his is still a wonderful life.
Kathleen Merryman: 253-597-8677
kathleen.merryman@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/street
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