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Weston and Patty Burgess Receive The I. Ruth Martin Award
by Keith Watkins
Wes and Patty Burgess with President Dan Lunsford (left)
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Weston and Patty Burgess received the "The I. Ruth Martin Award" on April 13 for their contributions to the community.
According to Assistant Chaplain Debra Huff, The I. Ruth Martin Award is for "A Christian individual who has served faithfully without any spotlight recognition." President Dan Lunsford gave a long list of their accomplishments during the Community Service Convocation.
Weston is a counselor for the Student Support Services Program, and Patty is self-employed with her own cleaning business, "Perfection Cleaning Service."
The couple baby-sat an infant for a semester for a Gamma Chi Epsilon Sorority sister so she could take a night class to complete her degree. They also took a student into their home who came from an abusive background. They included him as part of their family and taught him the basic social skills.
The Burgesses also helped a Spanish-speaking family adapt into the community and helped a mentally-challenged young man by picking him up at his group home and bringing him to church. The young man spent time in their home and ate meals with them as well. They invited two basketball players who could not go home at Thanksgiving to eat Thanksgiving dinner at their home.
The Burgesses helped an elderly lady named "Rose" relocate to Chicago. Patty flew with Rose to Chicago and helped her settle into a retirement home. Rose is 88 years old and is still getting around very well
Patty met a young lady at church who had just lost her 43-year-old husband to a heart attack. The woman has an infant and two 3-year-olds ten months apart in age. Patty helped move her from Massachusetts, helped her with the children and also helped the mistress clean the house that she is renting.
Weston and Patty are members of Woodland Hill Baptist church. They have participated in mission trips to Honduras and Alaska. Just last year Weston led the Alaska mission. Patty teaches the Junior High Sunday School Class.
Weston was the project chairman for the track-resurfacing project at North Buncombe High School. He and Patty have worked endless hours to help raise money to resurface the track. Weston has served as advisor to Gamma Chi Epsilon for fours years and has been awarded the Inter-Greek Council's Advisor of the Year Award for two years. He is also an active member of Weaverville Rotary Club.
"We never realized we were ever doing anything special," Weston said after the convocation. " People just came into our path, and we were doing what we thought we were suppose to be doing." They apply the golden rule in their every day lives, doing to others as they would have done to them.
"We've received a lot of blessings in everything we've done." said Weston. "We enjoy doing it." Patty "has never met a stranger," he said. "She is very out-going."
Wes at work
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He added that they have "made some life-long friends through all of this." Their son is now in the Navy and will be graduating in June of this year, and when they go to his graduation, they will visit with "Rose", the elderly lady whom they helped move to Chicago. The people in the retirement home ask the Burgesses every time they visit when they are going to be returning to Chicago.
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