Editor’s Note: The Trenton Area Chamber of Commerce will be honoring two couples, two businesses and an organization during its annual meeting on Friday, March 3. Among those being honored are Dave and Ruby Woodson, who, along with Buddy and Karla Hannaford, have been named the 2017 Pillars of the Community. The Woodsons are being featured in today’s Trenton Republican-Times as part of a series of stories about the honorees, which will appear in the next two weeks prior to the meeting.

by Diane Lowrey
R-T Editor
For 30 years, Trenton resident and businessman Dave Woodson has been a part of the Kiwanis organization, joined five years later by his wife, Ruby. Since that time, and really before then, the couple have volunteered much of their time to giving back to a community that both are quick to say has given them so much since moving to Trenton some 40-plus years ago.
The Woodsons came to Trenton when Dave was named manager of the Kress Store, located in downtown Trenton. With their oldest son, Warren, in tow, the couple settled in with an idea of staying in Trenton for two to three years before moving on. Instead, the Woodsons established a business – Dave’s Body Shop – and added two more children to the mix. The rest, as they say, is history.
“We really weren’t sure what was going to happen when we got here,” Dave said. “We figured on staying a few years and then moving on. But I guess we kind of liked it here.”
They liked it so much, in fact, they decided to make Trenton their home. And as part of that decision, they also made it their mission to become involved.
“We were involved in things before we joined Kiwanis,” Ruby said. “Saturday mornings were our day to go out, pick up cans and recycle them, then turn around and use that money for projects in the community.”
But it has been the Kiwanis Club where the Woodsons have made their biggest impression in the community. Dave joined the organization in 1987.
“Someone asked me to join and I said yes,” Dave said, noting that he immediately became involved in the many activities in which the organization is associated, in particular those activities involving children.
Ruby, who also had a fondness for working with children, had to put off her membership in the club until 1992, when women were finally able to join.
“That’s what I like about Kiwanis – the projects involving the kids,” she said. “I like working with kids, from babies to high schoolers. They are so honest. They will ask you anything, but they expect an answer. That’s what makes them so fun.”
The year Ruby joined was also the year Kiwanis chartered the Key Club at Trenton High School, an organization which promotes involvement by youth in the community. Warren Woodson and the late Jim Berry were responsible for those efforts, however, Dave and/or Ruby can always be seen in the thick of those activities as well.
Their daughter, E’Lisha Gass, is the faculty advisor to the Key Club while their other daughter, Kara Helmandollar, is the Kiwanis advisor. Their daughter-in-law, Mary Woodson, serves as advisor to the Builders Club, which is the Key Club-equivalent at the middle school level.
“When you get one involved, you get us all,” Ruby said, adding that the third generation of Woodsons – the grandchildren – are also taking their turn at being contributing members of the community through their involvement in school and the towns in which they now reside.
One of the highlights of their involvement with the Kiwanis has been the Christmas Wish program, which provides gifts to children in the area who might not otherwise receive a present. Dave noted that many children who received gifts over the years have become contributors to the program as adults.
“They come up and say we want to help someone the same way you helped me,” he said. “That is the rewarding part, knowing you made a difference in someone’s life. It keeps you going.”
But for all their work with Kiwanis, the Woodsons have been involved in other community activities. Dave was a charter member of the Trenton Ambassadors when it was started in 1991 and both have been involved in scouting and church events over the years, helping with not only their children, but others as well. Ruby, who spent many years working with the “Wacky Wednesday” after-school program at the Hodge Presbyterian Church, has many stories to tell about those children who are now adults and many of whom hold positions of prominence in the community (including the fire chief). Those stories, she said, are why she continues to lend her time and talents to the youth of the community.
“We have kids who are compassionate and really do care and that’s what makes it worthwhile,” she said.
“We don’t do it for the recognition,” Dave said. “People need to learn the satisfaction of helping others without recognition. I’m still not really sure why we were nominated, but we certainly are grateful.”
The Woodsons, along with Buddy and Karla Hannaford, Citizens Bank and Trust, Main Stop and the Families and Friends of the Developmentally Disabled, will be honored by the Trenton Area Chamber of Commerce during its annual meeting on Friday, March 3 at the New Hope building in Trenton. Social hour will be at 5:30 p.m. and the dinner and program will be at 6 p.m. Tickets are on sale at the chamber office for $35 each or $320 for a reserved table of eight persons.