A beloved 88-year-old volunteer shows there’s power in reading to children and her giving ways are an example for all ages.
Barbara Proctor – known affectionately as GG, which stands for “Gorgeous Granny” – is like a star who lights up an elementary school classroom when she enters to shouts of “GG” from students.
“I get great joy from reading to the kids,” Proctor said.
The 88-year-old volunteers reading books to Celeste Nava’s second-grade class at Valley View Elementary in Pleasanton. The weekly visits have been a highlight for more than a dozen years.
“If it’s GG time, it’s fun time,” said Nava.
GG reads two books in her 45-minute session, including The Giving Tree, a favorite of hers and her mother’s. In fact, her mother is the root of GG’s heart of service.
“As my late mother, who lived to be almost 107 said to me, ‘Volunteering is a gift you give to yourself,'” Proctor said.
She’s volunteered in various capacities since the 1940s. Her volunteerism has included the Pleasanton Library Bookleggers, Meals on Wheels, Tri-Valley Women’s Haven and more.