Tri-Valley Hero: Barbara Proctor, giving back to others

“Volunteering is really a gift you give yourself.”

That’s something you’ll often hear Pleasanton volunteer extraordinaire Barbara Proctor say.

A value instilled in her from a young age, giving back to others in her community — in a variety of venues — is how 82-year-old Proctor spends most of her days.

“I really learned volunteering from my mother,” Proctor said during a recent interview. “I learned it is really important to give back. You have a dollar in your pocket, it’s really nice to help someone who is less fortunate.”

Proctor has lived in Pleasanton for about 26 years, moving to California from the Boston area at the urging of her children almost three decades ago. She said she felt the desire to volunteer in the Bay Area immediately.

“I knew I needed to do volunteer work, so I volunteered at Children’s Hospital in San Francisco, and then I also became what’s called a ‘CASA’ — a court-appointed special advocate,” said Proctor, who about a month ago attended the wedding of a woman she represented 25 years ago as a toddler through the CASA program.

Always making time for volunteer opportunities, she was also employed in various positions, including for Meals on Wheels in Pleasanton and at an assisted living facility, before “retiring” several years ago.

She still has a jam-packed schedule, centered around giving back to others:

* Mondays she delivers meals to homebound seniors as a volunteer driver for Meals on Wheels.

* Tuesdays she goes to Shepherd’s Gate, providing a couple hours of childcare for women in the shelter or other programs there.

* Wednesdays are reserved for GG’s Caring Companion Service, her part-time business. She is hired by adult children or caregivers of East Bay seniors to take the senior out for activities, errands, appointments or just a fun afternoon in town. “I take them different places, places that they wouldn’t go,” she said. “I love to take them to places their kids wouldn’t take them.”

* Thursdays she provides childcare for women at the Tri-Valley Haven shelter.

* Fridays she reads to second-graders at Valley View Elementary School.

* Some Sundays she ushers at the Firehouse Arts Center.

She loves all the volunteer work, but her Friday assignment is her favorite.

Proctor ends each week at Valley View as part of the Pleasanton Library’s Booklegger program, which brings volunteer readers to local classrooms to help young students develop a passion for reading.

She reads children’s books to Marisa Cusenza Johnston’s class one week and Celeste Nava’s the next — and “sneaks” into the other second-grade classes when she can. She also reads at Fairlands Elementary twice a year to help round out her Booklegger requirements.

Proctor started with the Bookleggers about four years ago. She fulfilled the program’s basic appearance quota for the first year or so before upping the ante.

“Celeste Nava said to me, ‘I wish you could come more than twice a year. Can you come every week?’ She kind of said it as a joke,” Proctor said. “And I said, ‘Sure. I’d be thrilled.’ That’s how it started.”

And now, she might be the most beloved person at Valley View.

Walking from the office to the second-grade classroom for a Booklegger reading earlier this month, Proctor could barely round the corner into the outdoor courtyard before being mobbed by several dozen students at recess shouting “GG! GG!” (“GG” is Proctor’s nickname.)

Most Valley View students know her, either from her reading this year or the older kids who remember when GG read stories to them in second grade.

Proctor paused for each individual student or small group, placing her purse and bookbag on the ground, giving the kids hugs and asking how they’re doing. She needs to budget a few extra minutes for her walk to the classroom, where she reads for 45 minutes.

That day she read to second-graders in a dual-immersion class, providing what teacher Nava calls vital English-language reading time and key life lessons.

“She teaches them good manners. She teaches them that volunteering is fun. She teaches them that books are fun and encourages them to use the library,” Nava said, adding that her students really look forward to Proctor’s readings. “It’s their favorite time of the week.”

Before diving into that morning’s book, “The Gum Chewing Rattler” by Joe Hayes, Proctor reminds the kids of her “special throat condition” that makes her throat close up any time someone talks and interrupts her reading.

She then told the youngsters how she used to chew bubble gum as a kid — “and believe it or, GG was once your age,” she joked — and asked the students how much they thought a piece of gum cost when she was in second grade.

After fielding guesses of $1, 50 cents, $100 and 25 cents, she reveals: “No. One penny.”

“What?!” “Wow,” the shocked kids exclaim.

Proctor said she loves to engage the young students, speaking in character voices, acting out their mannerisms, asking students questions about the plot and using props — like a stuffed snake around her neck.

“It’s the highlight of my week. I just love it. I love the kids,” Proctor said.

“I get such beautiful, beautiful notes from the parents,” she added. “They thank me for encouraging their children to read, and that reading has become special.”

Whether it’s reading to the second-graders or delivering meals to seniors in need or any of her other volunteer activities, giving back to people in the community motivates and inspires Proctor.

“Volunteering to me is really something that everybody should do,” she said. “Some part of their week, even if it’s an hour a week, should be given to someone who is less fortunate than they are. Help them out in some way.”

Hero FYI

* Barbara Proctor has three children (Sue, Alan and Kenny) and eight grandchildren.

* A Tufts University graduate, Proctor worked several years as a special education and elementary school teacher until she was midterm with her first child. She was a stay-at-home mom while raising her kids, and later worked in sales.

* Her nickname originated when Proctor was figuring out what her first grandchild should call her. Not liking traditional designations like “grandma” or “bubbe,” a friend suggested, “What about Gorgeous Granny?” And it stuck — eventually becoming just GG.

* How Gorgeous Granny became GG: “(My grandson) yells out in the middle of the street. ‘Gorgeous Granny!’ ‘Gorgeous Granny!’ And my son grabbed my arm and said to me, ‘I am not walking down the middle of town with someone called Gorgeous Granny.’ … I said, ‘I like it. If you don’t like that name, then you give me another name.’ So he said, ‘GG. It stands for Gorgeous Granny.'”

* Proctor, who turned 82 years old four days after the Tri-Valley Heroes ceremony last month, called the award “the best birthday gift I ever got.”

* Celeste Nava nominated Proctor as a Tri-Valley Hero. Nava, several colleagues and some Valley View second-graders and families attended the Heroes award ceremony to celebrate their beloved GG.

* She took one GG Companion client into a bridal store: “I said to the sales girl, ‘My friend here is thinking of getting married. Do you have any time to show us some bridal dresses?'” Proctor remembered with a laugh. “She said, ‘Yes I do.’ Most people go along with me.”

* Proctor says she continues to be inspired every day by her mom, Henrietta Daytz, who is 105 and lives in a nursing home in Florida. Proctor visits her every three to four months.

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