Commit fully to supporting that wonderful organization [American Red Cross] with all you've got. I spent 42 years of my life with the national organization, from the time I was 20 until I retired at age 62, three weeks after 9/11. Although I officially retired as a paid employee on the last Friday of September that year, I returned the following Monday and volunteered for another three weeks.
- Bonnie Virch
What brought you to the American Red Cross, and what did you do when you worked there?
I started working at national headquarters on January 20,1960, in the 18th Street building. I was 20 years old, and my first job was as a clerk typist/stenographer using a Royal Standard typewriter. That first job was in a small three-person office within Service to the Armed Forces and Veterans called Hospital Motion Picture Service. In those days, Hollywood apparently provided first-issue movies to military hospitals for servicemen to watch, and we supported that effort by being the conduit to the hospitals.
Incidentally, the first time I saw the 18th Street building, I was six years old and on my way home from a school field trip. That one instance in my life must have made a strong impression, because 22 years later, in 1982, I was selected to serve as the executive staff assistant to the new president of the American Red Cross organization, Richard F. Schubert.
What advice would you give to recent former American Red Cross employees or those who are about to leave the organization?
Commit fully to supporting that wonderful organization with all you've got. I spent 42 years of my life with the national organization, from the time I was 20 until I retired at age 62, three weeks after 9/11. Although I officially retired as a paid employee on the last Friday of September that year, I returned the following Monday and volunteered for another three weeks. I was working for the vice president for disaster services at that time, and he had not had time to hire someone in my place.
How did you decide where to move for retirement?
This is a very difficult question to answer. I was born in Washington, D.C., in 1939 and lived most of my childhood there. It was during WWII, and many people who had rental units wouldn't rent to families with children. Eventually my family and I moved to Maryland and then, as an adult, I ended up in Virginia.
After I retired in 2001, I remained in Virginia until 2006, when I moved to South Carolina. I was there until 2012. Over the next few years, I tried out Florida but was only there for approximately nine months. I was very unhappy there and moved back to South Carolina, where I had been my happiest. It was also more affordable than Florida and the Washington, D.C., area.
What do you do for fun now?
I keep in touch with my wonderful Facebook friends and others who are still around. I go back to Virginia at least twice a year to spend time with my family. These 84-year-old bones and muscles don't allow for much physical activity anymore, but I love to read and watch TV—and being single. I’m pretty much free to do as I please.
I traveled the world during my younger retirement years. I've been to almost all European countries. In London, I took in all the sights in the city and surrounding attractions. I toured Buckingham Palace and visited the home of Winston Churchill. I also visited the famous Harrods department store and bought a t-shirt with its name on the front. I still have it and wear it often. I also rode their subway to the theater one night by myself and saw the live show where the chandelier fell to the stage.
I’ve also been to Paris, and with a friend I walked up and down the Champs-Elysees. I also visited the Louvre and took a boat ride down the Seine. I climbed the Eiffel Tower and had lunch at the restaurant in the tower.
I also visited Geneva, Switzerland, and had lunch at a restaurant on Lake Geneva. While in Geneva, I took the opportunity to visit the League of Red Cross Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
I've been to Las Vegas two times — once with my daughter Kelly and granddaughter Susan, and once for the Disaster Retirees and Workers Reunion in 2017. I’ve been to the Grand Canyon twice, one of the most beautiful places on earth. I highly recommend visiting it if the opportunity ever arises.
I've been to Hawaii twice and took my daughter on one of those trips. Among other things, we visited the USS Arizona Memorial. A very moving experience.
When I was younger, I loved to ride roller coasters with my daughter — the crazier, the better. Because of my current physical limitations, I'm unable to do all the walking around that these parks require. But, would you believe, I currently live within spitting distance of one of the biggest amusement parks in the United States--Carowinds, which sits right on the state line between North Carolina and South Carolina.
On my 80th birthday, I did a tandem skydive by jumping out of an airplane at 14,000 feet. Yes, I really did that! It was in early September and the day was perfect for such an exciting adventure. Did it once, but probably won’t do it again.
I also like to do ziplining, but my days of that experience are probably over also.
One last country that you would never have guessed I would have visited was Vietnam. My brother worked for an American construction company there and traveled the whole length of it many times. He wanted me to visit him, so I flew over in April of 2005. Now, wrap your head around this—I actually flew into Hanoi and ended up seeing some of the Vietnam war sights, including the Hanoi Hilton where John McCain was held.
On one of our sightseeing days, my brother had to attend a meeting with his company while we were in Hanoi. He took me to a beautiful park overlooking a lake right in the middle of the city to wait for him. When he returned to pick me up, he asked me if I knew what was significant about that lake. It turned out that it was the lake where John McCain had been shot down by the Vietnamese.
Tell us about your family.
My family consists of my daughter Kelly, my four adult grandchildren (three grandsons and one granddaughter), and three wonderful great grandchildren — Aaron, Abby (Aaron's younger sister), and my precious little 3-year-old Luke, who was named after Luke Skywalker from Star Wars. I like to tease the older ones by telling them that had it not been for me, none of them would have entered this world, and as a result they should always refer to me as their matriarch (kidding). Every single one of them will always have a piece of my heart.
What are you looking forward to in the near future?
The future. I want to stay connected, and I’m going to the Disaster Workers and Retirees 5th Reunion in San Antonio in May. Other than that, staying alive and hopefully doing as much as an almost 85-year-old can do. It ain't easy, but until the good Lord decides it's time for me to come home, I'll keep yelling and kicking my way through the rest of my life here on earth.
However, I was given a wonderful opportunity by the late George Elsey during the early years of my retirement. To give you a perspective of his early life, he served as a young naval attaché in both the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. Later in life, he served as the president of the American Red Cross for 12 years.
After he retired from the American Red Cross, he sought me out and asked if I would be interested in assisting him with writing his memoirs. He provided the text in rough form, and I did the typing, cleaned it up, and made it look pretty.
His original plan for this book was simply to provide a story of his life for his two grandsons. As it turned out, it became much more, and as a result of him sharing the final draft with an emeritus professor friend of his at Indiana University, it was eventually published by a publishing company in Independence, Missouri, connected to the Truman Library. A book like this would usually take up to two or more years to actually be published, but the powers that be were so impressed with his book that they were able to fast track it into one year.
My support of this effort led to a year of work between us and a commitment of my personal time that I willingly gave. It also led to a deep and lasting friendship I never dreamed I would have with this delightful and wonderful man. To this day, it stands as a major focal point in my life, and I will always be in his debt.
Mr. Elsey (he insisted that I call him “George”…whew, that was hard to do) did something that just blew me away. What I didn’t know at the time and only found out after the book was eventually published was that this dear man had thanked me for my contributions in the acknowledgements section of the book. Following is the actual quote:
“I am especially appreciative of the efforts of a former Red Cross associate, Bonnie Virch, who with infectious enthusiasm, skillfully deciphered bad penmanship and poor typing to produce the clean text” that was eventually used in the final version of the book.”
How many “nobodies” like me (at the time) would have had this kind of honor bestowed on them for posterity? As long as I live, I will have this rare distinction of being a small part of George Elsey’s life story and history. This dear man lived to be 96 years old, and to this day I miss his elegance, his beautiful voice, his caring spirit, and his zest for life.
For those of you who have not had the pleasure of reading about his amazing life, I genuinely hope that you will have an opportunity to do so. It’s titled ”An Unplanned Life, A Memoir by George McKee Elsey.” I highly recommend it.
