Margie Ogilvie volunteered for the American Red Cross for more than 50 years -- 38 of them at Fort Belvoir -- before retiring last week.
To her, it was a privilege to give back to a military community she loved.
"I think that I got as much out of it as I put in," said Ogilvie, who worked as a nurse's aide at hospitals around the world. "It just was an honor for me to really work with such dedicated people and I made so many wonderful friends along the way."
On Jan. 15, the Fort Belvoir American Red Cross and Fort Belvoir Community Hospital staff recognized Ogilvie's service in a farewell ceremony at the hospital, days before Ogilvie and her husband moved to Fort Myers, Fla.
"It takes a special kind of person to have this kind of commitment," said Jason Marshall, station manager for the American Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces on Fort Belvoir. "We rely a great deal on volunteer help; in fact, we wouldn't be able to do half the programs that we offer without them."
Ogilvie worked in the Fort Belvoir Community Hospital obstetrics and gynecology area, helping to screen patients and, most recently, putting together the 20-page patient charts at the hospital's Women's Health Center.
For many years, she worked every day, sometimes for long hours, just to make sure the patients were taken care of, said Ruth Thomas, medical assistant at the Women's Health Center.
"She used to come from 7:30 to 4:30 and then sometimes she would work over. When she cannot show up, she will let you know and say she will come back another day," said Thomas, who worked with Ogilvie for more than 30 years.
"She always said, 'Ruth, no matter what, always think of your patients first. That's what your job is,'" Thomas said.
Ogilvie's career began in 1962, when she completed the Red Cross Nurse's Aide program with friends at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
"Our husbands were in class -- they were very busy -- so it was kind of a distraction for us," Ogilvie said. "Of course, it was also very enjoyable. The camaraderie was always foremost, really. Then, you learn so much. I didn't expect that I would learn as much as I did."
As an active duty Army spouse Ogilvie went on to volunteer for the Red Cross at her husband's duty stations around the world for 27 years during her husband's military career, including Camp Zama, and the Sagamihara and Grant Heights housing areas in Japan; Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield in Georgia; Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota and Fort Meade, Md.
Her jobs included fetching water, emptying bed pans, taking vital signs, bathing and feeding patients -- basically, any job that needed to be done, she said.
"I remember one day in particular," she said. "It was a holiday … and I came to work as usual, and the lieutenant who was in charge of that ward hugged me -- she was so glad she had some help."
She started volunteering at Fort Belvoir hospitals in 1974 and has been here since, minus a short interruption in the 1980s.
Moving to Florida will be a big change, Ogilvie said.
"I'm going to miss my friends here a lot," she said. "It was always an honor for me to work with such dedicated people."
However, some things won't change -- like her drive to help others.
According to Marshall, the ARC station manager, she has already asked about volunteer opportunities at her new location.
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