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Washington Evening Journal
111 North Marion Avenue
Washington, IA 52353
319-653-2191
Remembering an everyday hero of Fairfield: Darlene Vorhies
Fairfield resident Darlene Vorhies was a special lady, contributing much of her life to bettering the lives of special needs children and adults. In 1973, she was one of the founding leaders of The Arc (now designated as The Arc of Jefferson & Nearby Counties). The Arc supports individuals with special needs of all different ability levels and their families.
Through the many years as an officer and board member of The Arc, she headed fundraisers to help the special needs children and adults to attend camps. Some of her better-known fundraisers were:
- The Super Skate (Skate-A-Thon) that hosted over 1,300 skaters during the 1981 to 2012 tenure of the event.
- The Silent Auction at the Greater Jefferson County Fair, selling items donated by various merchants in Jefferson, Van Buren, Wapello and Henry counties. She helped to collect many of the silent auction items, cataloged them, took pictures of the items and made up the bid sheets.
- She was also an organizer of the items from merchants for the annual raffle ticket sales to help offset the cost of sending persons to Camp Courageous in Monticello, Iowa. The camp is run on donations, formal sponsorships and paid fundraisers. They do not accept any government funds, which allows the camp to provide unequaled activity for their special needs campers.
- She helped coordinate selling Tootsie Rolls for the Knights of Columbus, which has donated over $50,000 from the Tootsie Roll drive since its 1974 inception with The Arc.
- Darlene was also the local contact for sale of fruit cakes made by Camp Courageous. The Arc received a portion of the price for their help in promoting the fruit cakes.
The Eyeopener, The Arc’s tri-annual newsletter, was compiled by Darlene. She filled it with news of The Arc’s members and upcoming events to be sponsored by The Arc; and meaningful information to supporters and family members of persons with special needs.
Special Olympics was another event that Darlene helped to begin in the Fairfield area. For many years, she was a coach and coordinator for the area. Unfortunately, the event became too managed by governmental regulations and she was unable to continue to the end; however, she was always there to be of help in any way that she could.
Darlene made sure that special needs classrooms received Christmas gifts each year from The Arc. The Arc of Jefferson & Nearby Counties later included Fairfield, Van Buren, Cardinal, and Pekin school districts. The Arc also gave scholarships for continuing education in the I/DD courses for seniors each year.
Darlene amassed a truck-load of information regarding The Arc from its beginning to the time of her death in January 2021. There were books of newspaper articles, pictures, and records of the local Arc activities.
Darlene was an incredible advocate and trailblazer for those with special needs and an inspiration to all who knew her. If anyone wanted help and/or direction regarding a special needs person, she was the person they always contacted. The words, “No, No I can’t, and/or No I won’t” were not in her vocabulary. She always gave produce from her and Merle’s large garden to numerous people. Their sweet corn was absolutely delicious. Nothing ever went to waste from their garden or their fruit trees. To know her was to love her.
Darlene was a long-time member of the American Legion Auxiliary Unit #47, and most recently as secretary. She was the coordinator of the Poppy Days fundraising each year. She also gave a generous amount of her time in getting The Wall That Heals (a replica of the Vietnam War Wall) to Fairfield. This was a monumental task that required a number of volunteers to get the wall from its starting location to the Greater Jefferson County Fairgrounds. This was a massive display honoring the thousands of service men and women who gave their lives for their country.
Darlene Vorhies (1933-2021)
