Aces of Trades: Beth Archer stepped out of the classroom and into community service

ZANESVILLE – After a long, successful teaching career, she’s still helping people.

“I’m not sure I ever thought about what I was going to do in life,” said Beth Archer. “I do know my friends and I usually spent some days in summer playing school. I was usually the teacher.”

It was an indication of things to come.

Archer is a lifelong Zanesville resident, except for her college years. “I’ve never seriously thought about living anywhere else,” she said. She graduated from Rosecrans in 1967, then Ohio University in Athens with two degrees – in home economics education and vocational home economics.

“Typing is one class I still use almost every day,” she said. “But it was home economics that I turned to when I decided to become a teacher.

“Before I graduated,” she explained, “I was offered a one-year contract to teach at Grover Cleveland Junior High here in Zanesville. That one year turned into 35 busy and happy years. It seems impossible that I retired at the end of the school year in 2006. One of my favorite things now is running into old GC kids. Laughing and sharing memories of things from class can make a regular trip to the grocery a special event.”

And there’s one more thing.

“After I retired from teaching, I knew I’d better stay busy,” she said. “My best friend (also a retired teacher) invited me to the Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary that September. I volunteered to make cookies, which used to be a fundraiser for the group. It was a fun three days and I started to get to know some of the other members.”

Today, Archer is president of the Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary.

“It’s my eighth or ninth year being president, I’ve lost track,” she said. “When I first became a member of the Auxiliary, I was just involved with the projects with little thought about what the money we were raising was going to do. I went past the building for years and truthfully thought it was like a nursing home for men. It was difficult to believe there would be a homeless family at Christmas. Every year I’m here, I learn more about the reality of life for people in need here in Zanesville.

“The fall is our busiest time,” she noted. “Our main project is Coats for Kids. We buy the new coats, and we help with the application process. The Angel Tree is another huge responsibility of the Auxiliary. Besides taking the applications, we’ll process the gifts and label the bags for distribution day.”

Jan Bowers is a long-time friend and treasurer for the Auxiliary.

“Beth is the heart of the Women’s Auxiliary,” assessed Bowers. “She gives so much. I went to school with her for 12 years and I work closely with her on all our projects – and everyone says what an awesome teacher she was."

“I love working at the Army,” responded Archer. “I do believe we help lots of people throughout the year. The hard working staff have become friends, and they receive little praise for all they do. Making new friends is an important part of belonging to a group. Fortunately for me, I’ve been able to keep those good friends from Grover Cleveland and have added some very good friends from the Auxiliary. Yes, it’s a good life.”

The Salvation Army is located at 515 Putnam Ave. in Zanesville. For more information, call 740-452-8350 or look on Facebook.

Aces of Trades is a weekly series focusing on people and their jobs – whether they’re unusual jobs, fun jobs or people who take ordinary jobs and make them extraordinary. If you have a suggestion for a future profile, let us know at trnews@zanesvilletimesrecorder.com.

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Beth Archer leads Zanesville Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary