Mary Kattenhorn pays it forward to Nationwide Children’s Hospital by annually volunteering at the Memorial Tournament. At 91 years old, she is probably the oldest among the hundreds who donate their time at the event each year.

 

A widow for 30 years, the longtime Dublin resident is a fixture in the main pavilion for a dozen hours during tournament week, helping do “whatever they want me to do,” she says.

 

That usually involves serving customers pre-made sandwiches or other food or beverages during three four-hour stints Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. After 25 or 30 years volunteering (she has long since lost count), Kattenhorn knows the rules: she often explains what she calls “Jack’s law:” no napkins, straws or condiment packets that could create probable litter on the course.

 

Kattenhorn began volunteering because her daughter, Nancy Mapes, now of York, Pa., also volunteered at the tournament. Kattenhorn’s first tournament job was returning to dealers the new cars assigned to players and event officials during the week. That lasted three years.

 

“I gave that up,” Kattenhorn says. “They had a bunch of younger ones who were driving too fast (in a group of vehicles). You would get lost from them.”

 

After that, Kattenhorn, who had cultivated a customer-friendly demeanor as a restaurant waitress and occasional bartender, worked in a concession stand near the 15^th tee. At some point – she’s still not counting – she was assigned to the pavilion.

 

Her supervisor, Joyce Williams (Volunteer of the Year in 2005), has nothing but praise for Kattenhorn’s attitude, dedication and proficiency.

 

“When we get someone new, I’ll put them with Kattenhorn and tell them, ‘See if you can keep up,’” Williams says.

 

Kattenhorn says she’d like to return to a stand on the course, but Williams won’t let her, calling her “an inspiration” among the pavilion’s volunteer force, which includes several volunteers in their 80s.

 

“Kattenhorn’s an example that you’re never too young to volunteer,” Williams says.

 

Kattenhorn continues to volunteer mostly because of the tournament’s – and her personal – connection to (the now-Nationwide) Children’s Hospital. In 1955, she had a son, Robert, who was born with an incurable malady affecting the bile duct to the stomach.

 

She and her husband Wilbur were referred to Children’s. Robert went there often for treatment that kept him alive until he was 5. Kattenhorn praises the hospital for its dedication to patient care and the fact that “no child is ever turned away.”

 

Kattenhorn’s shifts at the tournament indirectly raise money for the hospital: concession volunteers’ work earns an hourly pay that the tournament gives to the hospital.

 

Volunteers also earn free admission to the tournament. Kattenhorn says she doesn’t go on the course to watch. Once, she and a friend stood in the rain on the 14^th hole awaiting Tiger Woods, but play was postponed just before he arrived. And, although she didn’t see him play, Kattenhorn says she “always liked Lee Trevino” because of his friendly attitude.

 

Kattenhorn enjoys volunteering for other reasons, as well.

 

“It’s a chance to see people you don’t see often,” she says. “If you sit at home you think about everything. If you get out and see people, it keeps you going.”

 

She says there are humorous pitfalls to tournament work. Last year, Kattenhorn showed up the first day wearing the traditional white T-shirt, only to find the color had been changed to yellow.

 

“Nobody told me,” she says with a chuckle. “They allowed me to wear it all week, probably because I’m so old.”

 

Volunteering at the tournament is only a small part of Kattenhorn’s active life. Twice a week, she helps with a pre-school arts program at the Dublin Recreation and Community Center. In the summer, she’s on duty at a camp at the center for kids of a similar age. And, whenever she’s needed for an Abbey Theater production, she helps there, too.

 

Kattenhorn has other volunteer commitments, as well. On election days, she works at a polling place in southwest Dublin. Annually, she also volunteers at the Dublin Irish Festival.

 

Kattenhorn and her late husband, Wilbur, lived on Riverview Street in Historic Dublin. It was her home for 48 years until she sold it and became an apartment dweller. They had five children, and two daughters and a son are living. Besides Robert, another daughter died four years ago after complications from surgery.

 

Among other things, Kattenhorn and a friend belong to Still Going Strong, a travel club that meets monthly at the Church of the Messiah in Westerville and makes several trips a year. She drives to the meetings and various other places – she renewed her license last year for four more years – although she doesn’t make long trips alone.

 

As she has for years, Kattenhorn plans to go to the Dublin Independence Day concert at Dublin Coffman High School, but not as a volunteer. Kattenhorn will be a special guest – she is the grand marshal of the Independence Day parade.

 

Duane St. Clair is a contributing editor for Dublin Life.