Joe & Marion Ward

Sometimes it’s the little things that matter most. To Joe and Marion Ward’s neighbors and family, their little acts of kindness count for a lot.

It’s the Christmas cookies they take to their friend’s house. The gutters they clean for their friends who can’t do it any more. The oatmeal and cream they took to their friend in the hospital because he had to have it every morning. The time they rushed to help a caretaker whose friend had fallen out of bed. Their Monday visits to Samaritan Health Center, just to talk to the residents. The medical appointments they take their friends to.

“There is hardly a hospital we don’t know,” Joe says.

Then there’s the food they stored when their neighbor’s refrigerator broke. The list could go on and on.

But to Joe and Marion, their actions are just “common sense.”

“Those are just little things,” Joe says. “That’s nothing.”

“That’s what people do,” Marion says.

That modesty, as well as their devotedness and sense of humor, is what their neighbors and family appreciate. This couple of 47 years has traveled to all 50 states, but it is their actions in their own backyard that have touched so many.

“I don’t know anybody that is always there helping like they do,” one neighbor says.

Everyone seems to agree. As another friend says, “Joe and Marion are truly a caring couple who have always gone out of their way to help others.”

“The good Samaritan work they do for me and many others is greatly appreciated,” another friend says. “It comes from their heart.”