FEBRUARY 1994: VOLUNTEER, 93, AIDS QUAKE RELIEF EFFORT.Byline: Dennis McCarthy Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
Diana Peplow smiled as she looked at herself in the mirror - liking what she saw. ``Still fits like a glove glove, hand covering with a separate sheath for each finger. The earliest gloves, relics of the cave dwellers, closely resembled bags. Reaching to the elbow, they were most probably worn solely for protection and warmth. ,'' the 93-year-old Studio City woman said to herself, smoothing out a few wrinkles wrinkles See bells and whistles. in the old blue-gray Red Cross uniform that had been in mothballs for almost 50 years. Peplow straightened the buttons on her hat, stepped over the broken, scattered Scattered Used for listed equity securities. Unconcentrated buy or sell interest. furniture in her home and walked outside - ready to report for duty again in the immediate aftermath of last month's earthquake. It was only 100 yards from her front door to Studio City Park, where the Red Cross had set up a disaster relief tent shortly after the earthquake. One hundred yards, and 50 years of memories. In 1944 and 1945, while her son fought overseas in the Air Force, Peplow's contribution to the war effort at home was to drive an old ``Woody'' Red Cross ambulance down to the Wilmington docks every day to pick up wounded servicemen and transport them to local veterans hospitals. That was her volunteer day job. By night, she pumped gas at a Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades. service station to pay the bills. ``After the war, I put the uniform away in mothballs in a beautiful, old cedar English chest I own,'' she said Monday - her first day off in two weeks because she was feeling a little under the weather. ``I never thought I'd get the chance to wear that uniform again - especially not at my age,'' she said with a laugh. But Peplow has worn it again, starting a few days after the earthquake when she walked down Landale Street in Studio City - head held high, back arrow straight, ready to report for duty again as a Red Cross volunteer. She walked into the disaster relief tent and was met by the incredulous in·cred·u·lous adj. 1. Skeptical; disbelieving: incredulous of stories about flying saucers. 2. Expressive of disbelief: an incredulous stare. stares of Red Cross workers looking like they had seen a ghost from the past. ``She walked in and announced it was time for her to `show the flag again,' '' said Wayne Tripp, Red Cross service center manager for the Studio City site. ``We all just kind of stopped what we were doing and stared,'' Tripp said. ``It was as if a woman who had worked with Clara Barton Clarissa Harlowe Barton (December 25, 1821 – April 12, 1912), better known as Clara Barton, was a pioneer American teacher, nurse, and humanitarian. She has been described as having had an "indomitable spirit" and is best remembered for organizing the American just walked in.'' Clara Barton, a nurse, organized the American Red Cross American Red Cross: see Red Cross. in 1881 - so Tripp was only off by about 60 years. ``Everyone was so excited,'' Peplow said. ``They had all seen pictures of these uniforms from the past, but none of them had ever actually seen a volunteer wearing one. Now I think they only get a jacket with a patch on it. ``It made me feel good, having all the volunteers come up and ask to have their picture taken with me,'' Peplow said. But there was work to be done, and that's why Peplow was there. Not as a ghost from the past, but as a woman from the present who wanted to help. If the Red Cross volunteers thought her presence that day was only for show and memories, they were dead wrong. ``She comes in every day at 9 a.m. and doesn't leave until 5 p.m.,'' Tripp said. ``She serves food, buses tables, straightens chairs for the next meal - anything and everything to help. ``This is one great, dynamic woman,'' he said. George Shea
George Edward Shea (1851 - 1932) politician. Born in St. John's, son of Gertrude (Corbett) and Edward D. Shea. Educated St. John's; Ampleforth College, England. laughed. ``Yes, she is certainly that,'' said Shea, Peplow's former next-door neighbor. Shea has been kind enough to drive Peplow after work some days these past few weeks to unwind Unwind 1. The closure of an investment position. 2. The reconciliation of an error previously unseen by a brokerage house. Notes: 1. Sometimes referred to as closing out a position. at her favorite watering hole, the Robin Hood Robin Hood, legendary hero of 12th-century England who robbed the rich to help the poor. Chivalrous, manly, fair, and always ready for a joke, Robin Hood reflected many of the ideals of the English yeoman. Pub in Van Nuys. ``She walks into the place in that uniform and pretty soon, people are walking up to her asking for an autograph autograph Any manuscript handwritten by its author; in common usage, a handwritten signature. Aside from its value as a collector's item, an early or corrected draft of a work may show its stages of composition or “correct” final version. and if they can buy her a drink,'' Shea laughed. ``This woman is for real. It's no show. She's been working hard for people who have lost a lot during the earthquake. ``She walks into that tent in full uniform, and the looks on people's faces is like they've just seen an angel of mercy come to help them,'' Shea said. Peplow says she's counting the days until things get back to normal in the Valley and she can put her uniform back in mothballs and walk over to Studio City Park - not as an angel of mercy, but as just another senior citizen enjoying the amenities of the senior center there. ``These past few weeks have brought back a lot of memories,'' she said, looking forward to a party in her honor at the disaster center Friday to celebrate her 94th birthday. ``I was born in London in 1900, and when I was a young girl during the war, we had to go down in the bomb shelters every night,'' Peplow said. ``I thought of that during the earthquake as I crawled over the broken glass and furniture in my house.'' Thought of it again, she said, as she went to her old cedar chest to put on her old Red Cross uniform and show the flag again. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Diana Peplow, 93, volunteered for the Red Cross during World War II and helped after the Northridge Quake Quake - A string-oriented language designed to support the construction of Modula-3 programs from modules, interfaces and libraries. Written by Stephen Harrison of DEC SRC, 1993. . Daily News |
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