The Sertoma Club could not have chosen a more deserving couple than Joanne and Ron Hurst for its latest Service to Mankind Award. The Hursts have devoted not just years, but decades, to doing good and meeting needs for our community, and serve to remind us of the many accomplishments of local volunteers.

Joanne and Ron have volunteered frequently, with no interest in gaining credit or remuneration, for countless worthwhile ventures in our community. At the same time, they have held responsible and productive jobs of merit to our city, county and state.

Joanne worked for former governors, John Carlin and Joan Finney, and helped to establish the Children’s Hour Nursery School and the Holcom Park Recreation Center. These are just two of the important agencies in which they have been active and involved. Joanne also has given eight years of service to the Lawrence Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees and was a part of planning for the current expansion of the highly regarded hospital and its personnel.

Together, the Hursts have worked for more than 40 volunteer organizations, an astounding accomplishment to people who feel they have done well to help in four or five such groups.

Ron worked at Kansas University’s civil engineering and physics departments for 39 years, but he also has been president of the vital Bert Nash Mental Health Center and the Lawrence NAACP Chapter.

What the Hursts have achieved is tremendous enough, but we need to keep in mind that there have been times when, as African-Americans, they encountered hurdles and barriers that non-minority citizens did not. Ron was an outstanding football halfback at Lawrence High in the days when integration was not as accepted as it is now. Yet he and Joanne have always managed to muster the character and dignity to overcome any such problems with style and grace.

There is even more good news about the Hursts. They say they do not plan to decrease their community involvement. That means they will still be active in pursuing the Sertoma Club’s noble and notable goal of service to mankind. These are two of so many fine residents who have done so much to make Lawrence a tremendous place in which to work and live.

The Hursts’ latest honor is richly deserved.