| | Our 2022 Community Partner
While the challenges continue, so do the good works done by our neighbors, our teachers, our health care providers, our volunteers and so many others. This is their story. Ledyard National Bank is proud to support the 2022 Hometown Heroes, who were nominated by members of the community and selected by editors of the Concord Monitor. Nominate your Hometown Hero Today. |
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| | Beth Frost will visit you, talk to you and support you in any way. Just ask for help.
By RAY DUCKLER Monitor staff
It’s far easier to secure a ride from Beth Frost than convince her to talk about it.
“I’m embarrassed,” Frost said recently by phone. |
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| She has old friend Janice Brennan to thank for that. Unbeknownst to Frost, Brennan contacted the Monitor and laid out a mountain of altruistic deeds performed by her friend of 50 years.
Whether she’s driving a fellow senior to a medical appointment, coordinating the 4th of July float for kids during the annual parade, or simply stopping by a lonely person’s home to play cards or piece together a puzzle, Frost continues to dedicate her life to others.
That’s why Brennan nominated her for our Hometown Heroes series. Frost gives and gives and then gives some more.
“Just the most wonderful person you ever want to meet,” Brennan said. “There’s nothing you can ask her that she won’t do.”
Thankfully, Brennan and Frost’s daughter, Jennifer Turner, were available to describe what makes this 80-year-old woman tick, and that was just fine with Frost.
“She’s always been super positive and a great listener, “Jennifer said. “That’s why people come to her if they have a problem. She would have been a great nurse.”
Instead, Frost worked for her husband’s insurance agency, but that never stopped her from rotating her radar of humanity, searching for someone who could use a little help now and then.
“You could always depend on her, and her daughter became my babysitter who we could always count on,” Brennan said. “She loved kids and she had a basket of toys and she would give them out to anyone who visited. And she was great with aging people too.”
Frost oversaw the construction of the annual kids’ 4th of July float. She made sure everyone had a costume for the event. She last did that in 2019, before COVID, and said she’s stepping down from that post.
As for the elderly, Frost is their best friend. She builds puzzles with a 101-year-old woman named Irene Jewett.
Another friend had a stroke and was left with limited mobility, so Frost picks her up to shop, get fresh air, do puzzles and ride along with her to visit Jewett.
“They would come down and she could not be left alone,” Frost said. “I’d just take her with me. It was hard to talk to her because of the stroke.”
Elsewhere, Frost cares for what Brennan called the family’s grand dogs. She’s a member of the Highland Lake Association, making sure the water is pristine. She contributes to the Food Bank in Franklin each week.
To this day, Frost loves visiting older people whose health problems limit what they can do. The old guy who fell recently and couldn’t get up was lucky that his friend made it her business to check on him regularly.
“He was a good friend and he lived next door,” Brennan said. “She brought the paper inside for him and he had fallen a few times and she was the one who found her.”
She’s up to these tasks because Frost is in fine shape. She walks two miles each morning at 8 with Brennan. And last week, she and Turner played Pickleball for the first time. Frost loved it.
“Tons of fun,” she said.
Added Turner, “I played in Maine and we found a place here and she said to me that we should play. I wasn’t sure because she’s 80, but she said she wanted to learn, and she said she was probably one of the better players there today.”
Bragging in jest to a family member is one thing. Tooting your own horn to a stranger is something completely different.
Still, Frost found the proper words.
“Every day is a gift and I feel great, so why not help someone else?” Frost said. “That is what I do. Get a call and then do what I do.”
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