Augustine remembered for community service
Whether she was walking as part of the wagon train during the National Road Festival each May, leading activities at the Uniontown Senior Citizens Center or involved with Girl Scouts, Faye Augustine left an impression. “You only had to know her for five minutes to love her,’ said her husband, Dick Augustine.
“She was a wonderful lady and a dear friend,’ Kassie DeWalt, a volunteer at the Uniontown Senior Center, said as tears filled her eyes. “She loved being with people and the people loved her.’
Augustine, who had cancer, died Thursday in her home in Addison, surrounded by her family. On Friday, family and friends recalled her goodness and how much she had given to the community.
“She touched thousands of lives. She brightened up the room when she came in,’ said Dick Augustine.
He ran down a list of his wife’s accomplishments, which included starting Little League in Addison in the 1970s, being involved with the children’s choir at St. Joan of Arc Roman Catholic Church in Farmington and her membership in the Red Hat Society.
One of Faye Augustine’s passions was the Girl Scouts, which she joined when she was 10 years old, living in Madison, near Greensburg, Westmoreland County. She stayed with the organization throughout her teen years, enjoying camping and attended an international gathering in Vermont.
As an adult, she always had a troop. She took them hiking and biking and also arranged for them to participate for more than 25 years in the National Pike Wagon Train. And she worked with a group to renovate the Connellsville Little House, a place that offers Girl Scouts a chance to meet and a place for adult leadership training as well as having a library and a museum. Dick Augustine said the museum was named in her honor.
Faye Augustine was proud to receive a 50-year pin from the Girl Scouts and said in a 2007 article, “It’s a sisterhood. It’s a marvelous program. They have done so much for girls and it changes all the time to keep up with the times. With Girl Scouts, they can do things they never thought they could.’
After graduating from Hempfield High School in 1964, Faye Augustine studied at the Art Institute in Pittsburgh, where she met her husband, a native of Addison, who would become a painter and jewelry designer.
Dick Augustine recalled, “We went to art school together and the day I saw her walking down the hall, I said I was going to marry her.’
The couple, who married in 1967, made their home in Addison and had three children: Amber, Aaron and Adam. When Amber became a student at the Renaissance City Ballet in Pittsburgh, the Augustines moved to Connellsville so the drive would be shorter, and then moved back to Addison in 1998.
In her career, Faye Augustine at first worked as a commercial artist in Philadelphia and Norfolk, Va., but later worked for 25 years in the aging program at Fayette County Community Action, from which she retired in 2006.
She was involved with a variety of programs at the senior center, including the creation of the Grandma Honey’s Singers – she played Grandma Honey.
Jim Stark of Fayette County Community Action, said, “Faye’s passion was to strengthen her community. Her name was synonymous with Community Action. Often when mentioning ‘Community Action,’ people would ask, ‘Do you know Faye Augustine?’ At Community Action, her work built a wonderful senior citizens center program. Her leadership was shown in the senior centers throughout the county, Meals on Wheels and senior softball. She initiated the first Senior Games in Fayette County and brought the Senior Spelling Bee to the local area. Her personal favorite, the Grandma Honey’s Singers and Dancers, touched many people over her amazing career. But more than the aging programs, Faye was an advocate who used her creative talents to help all of our programs at Community Action. Faye loved to entertain. Not only was she Grandma Honey for the senior citizens, she was Mother Goose for children in local reading fairs for education and WIC.
“Faye gave freely of her time to the community,’ Stark continued. “Her commitment to her church, Girl Scouts, National Pike wagon train and many other community activities was an important part of her life. Faye had a unique gift of pulling all of her resources together to accomplish any activity.”
In retirement, Faye Augustine continued to volunteer at the Uniontown Senior Center and served on the Board of Community Medical Services. Following her retirement, after 25 years with Community Action, she was the 2006 recipient of Community Action’s Community Service Award, the first time the board presented it to an employee of the agency.
“Faye will be missed by many senior citizens, co-workers and volunteers who knew and loved her,’ Stark said. “Her strength set an example for all of us.’
Mary Ann Smith of Uniontown, who volunteers at the Uniontown Senior Center with her husband, Clayton, said, “She could get you into anything. She got my husband and I into softball. …Then she got us involved in the Grandma Honey Singers.’
Clayton Smith said, “I think she was a better first baseman than most of the men. A lot of people will miss her.’
Mary Ann Smith also noted, “She was always full of fun and innovation. She could make something out of nothing – she was so creative. No matter what she wore, she looked pretty. And she brought out the best in everyone. I never heard her speak ill of anyone.’
Betty Durso of New Salem, who is president of the senior center, said, “I found in Faye a true friend. She was always there when you needed her. She was always ready to help. She made the Grandma Honey’s show what it was and she will be missed in the center.’
Dick Augustine said of his wife, “She loved people. She never thought of herself. She worked hard at Community Action and didn’t often leave at 4:30. A lot of times she stayed until six or seven.’
Talking about his wife as Grandma Honey, Dick Augustine said, “She was good. I pitied the poor heckler when she had a show.’
Grandma Honey’s Singers and Dancers performed for 20 years throughout the area, bringing smiles to many people.
The performers, who ranged in age from their 60s to 90s, shattered stereotypes of senior citizens by singing and dancing in variety shows that recalled the popularity of vaudeville.
In a story about the disbanding of the group last year, Faye Augustine said of being Grandma Honey, “I could do things I never could as Faye. I did entertainment between the acts. I told jokes – you can pick on people when you’re dressed like an old lady – and they laughed. They loved it.’
She also commented, “I can’t tell you how much I miss them.’
DeWalt said Grandma Honey’s Singers will sing at the funeral home before services Monday.
Faye Augustine also was a part of the wagon train that is widely anticipated in communities from Addison to Uniontown during the National Road Festival each May.
Dwayne Welling of Addison, coordinator of the National Road Festival Committee, said, “She was very dedicated to the wagon train and getting the Girl Scouts out to participate. She did a lot of behind-the-scenes work.’
Donna Holdorf, executive director for the National Road Heritage Corridor, said, “The National Road Heritage Corridor was sadden to hear of Faye’s passing. Faye Augustine had a great spirit. You saw it in everything she did, including her work with the National Pike wagon train. An amazing woman of strength and courage, Faye would walk ahead of the wagon train – the entire route – greeting people and letting them know that the wagons and horses were on their way. In the last few years, she wasn’t able to participate in the same manner but she was still there, helping in ways that she could, keeping it going. She’ll be missed by a large community of people who loved and respected her.’
Funeral arrangements are being handled by the Andrew D. Ferguson Funeral Home Inc., 80 Morgantown St., Uniontown.
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