DCF Names 2024 Heart of Gold Award Recipients

Three have been recognized for touching the hearts of others through their volunteerism and other acts of kindness.

Ed Gordon, Phee Ellinghausen, and Brenda Wheat. Photos provided.

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) - The Dearborn Community Foundation, Inc. (DCF) is honoring three community volunteers as 2024 recipients of the Heart of Gold Award for touching the hearts of others through their volunteerism and other acts of kindness.

The Heart of Gold Award honorees deserve the recognition for making a difference in our community in their own unique ways, said Fred McCarter, Executive Director of the Dearborn Community Foundation. “They didn’t seek this recognition, but they are role models for how all of us can have a positive impact on others.”

The 2024 Heart of Gold honorees are given the privilege to serve on the “Heart of Gold Grants Committee.” Each recipient recommends a proactive grant(s) totaling $750 to a charitable organization that serves Dearborn County residents.

This year’s honorees are Phee Ellinghausen, Brenda Wheat and Ed Gordon. The 2024 Heart of Gold Award recipients have much in common, including how they humbly complete their volunteer acts of kindness in a way that is so very impactful in our community.

This year’s honorees bring the total to 124 for the number of volunteers honored in the 26 years of the program designed to recognize the community’s fine volunteers and to promote philanthropy. To learn more about these Dearborn Countians with “Hearts of Gold,” please read their stories detailing just a bit of what they do in our community and why they do it:

Heart of Gold Award Honorees’ Stories

Phee Ellinghausen “gives all of herself when she commits to doing any project in the community,” said fellow volunteer and friend, Jada Ankenbauer. “Everything she does is done with a servant’s heart.”

For Ellinghausen, 83, a retired elementary school teacher of 41 years (all but two years at Aurora Elementary School before retiring in 2006), her volunteerism is clearly about making a difference in her hometown of Aurora. Her volunteer involvement in the community she loves is significant, meaningful, and is often behind the scenes.

For starters, she’s played organ at Aurora First Presbyterian Church for more than 60 years, beginning when she was in her teens. She says she is not a professional organist, but one certainly could argue she is a pro after 60-plus years of playing. She’s also a Deacon and is involved in many of the church’s activities. She also volunteers to do “set-up” at the Fourth Street Café, which is a community dinner served every Tuesday night at the church, so anyone can attend and enjoy a free meal and socialize and enjoy fellowship.

Ellinghausen is also the longest living member of Hillforest Historical Foundation, Inc., the organization that preserves Hillforest Mansion/Museum, the beautiful mid-1850s Aurora home that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. She got more involved in the organization several years ago and now serves as an officer on the board of directors. She’s involved in many events, including being chairperson of the Bingo Committee, the organization holds at Hillforest to raise funds to maintain the historic home so it can be shared with visitors.

Ellinghausen says she got involved at Hillforest in a large part due to her aunt the late Esther Roache, a banker, who was one of the founders of Hillforest Historical Foundation as a charitable organization/museum. Ellinghausen and her late husband Derald’s wedding was also held at Hillforest, so there’s a significant family connection in addition to community pride.

“I really like it that the Hillforest has a working Board. We’re always busy,” she said. “I need life to be busy. I want to do things. I like to stay busy. … It’s fun and it’s a meaningful work.”

Ankenbauer says everything Ellinghausen does at Hillforest makes the organization better. “She does what she does with no fanfare. She’s a very giving, service-oriented person. When she commits to doing something, she does it well. Whatever she does preparing for an event is thoroughly thought through to make it a great experience for others.”

Ellinghausen has joined many other volunteers to keep the community looking good and to help others in need. Among her other activities: as a member of the Aurora Garden Club – helping take care of plantings to make downtown Aurora stay beautiful; volunteering for 14 years at Dearborn County Clearinghouse; and she’s involved in Aurora Tri Kappa’s efforts to collect hygiene items for women and donate to St. Vincent de Paul and the Clearinghouse.

Ellinghausen said her mother, the late Helen Wilson Petscher, was a very positive role model for her and was involved in the community. She was a public-school music teacher, and she started the Aurora High School band and directed choir at Aurora First Presbyterian Church.

Ellinghausen says she does what she does as a volunteer because she likes “trying to make a difference in causes I believe in. We were put in this world to do good things. That’s what I like to do. … I’m having fun, and I hope I’m helping others.”

She certainly is helping others, says Ankenbauer. “I see her as a person who greatly carries on the legacy of her family.”

Seems Ellinghausen, like her mother and aunt, is leaving a legacy of a great example for her two daughters and four grandchildren.

Brenda Wheat is a long-distance runner who lives in a rural area with no sidewalks along North Dearborn Road. It can be dangerous running on a busy, rolling road. So, a few years ago she started running on the North Dearborn Elementary School property across the road from where she lives.

When it all began, Wheat was on a mission – training for two marathons. After observing others seeking a safer refuge to walk, run or bike, she began another mission with a few of her volunteer friends. … A mission to establish North Dearborn Community Park on the old elementary school property.

“When I was training, I’d just run across the street at the school property because it was safe and I couldn’t get hit by a car,” she said. “When they shut down the school, I just kept running there and I wasn’t the only one using the property.”

An older couple with a dependent adult-aged son would come to the school property, park their minivan and unload his bike. He would ride and they would sit in the van. “It was a solidifying moment,” said Wheat. “My heart felt for this family. They were looking for a safe place for him to ride his bike. We needed a place for people to bike, walk, run or rollerblade. We needed place in our community for people to come together to do healthy things and breathe fresh air.”

That’s when the idea of North Dearborn Community Park came to mind. In 2019, Wheat approached Sunman-Dearborn Community School Corporation (S-DCSC), who owns the property about a potential community park there. She asked others to help pitch the idea to the school board. Then came COVID-19 and the process paused. In 2022, Wheat and other volunteers received non-profit status for North Dearborn Community Park (NDCP) and a long-term lease from S-DCSC allowing for the establishment of the park. The idea is to add a paved recreational path for running, walking, biking and rollerblading.

The NDCP Board is raising funds for the path project and other costs. Wheat says there is still much work ahead and the organization is seeking grants and donations for the cost of building a path. Anyone interested in donating or volunteering can learn more by visiting the www.ndpark.org.

Wheat, 49, a human resources professional for Northbend Pattern Works, West Harrison, also finds time to a member of the East Central High School Boosters and serve on the HR Committee at the James B. Wismann YES (Youth Encouragement Services) Home. She also volunteered many years in youth sports when her husband Mike was highly involved as president of a youth league and her five children participated.

“Brenda certainly cares about her community,” said Amy Phillips, Executive Director of the YES Home. “I know she’s been doing a lot of fundraising and grant writing to raise funds for a path at the park. She is a professional and always carries herself that way whether it’s working hard to establish a community park or volunteering at YES Home. She cares about others and making this a better community for all.”

At YES Home, Wheat volunteered to review the human resources manual and to help streamline policies and procedures. “We wanted our policies and procedures to be clean and concise for our reaccreditation and Brenda did a fantastic job working with us to do that,” Phillips said. “That’s a lot of work and she was dedicated to do a great job for us. She spent the time to provide the professionalism and expertise that we just didn’t have.”

Wheat says she gives of her time as a community volunteer expecting nothing in return, something she learned from her mother, Nancy Jones. She said she appreciates the Heart of Gold Award honor, but helping others is the way she was raised. “You just go help when you can. Most people are like that. I can’t take any credit for that. There are so many great people who do so many great things. I don’t think I’m unique.”

She says her mom always volunteered to do things. She was a volunteer EMT. “She’s always been very giving of herself. She just wanted to help other people. To me it’s not complicated. I believe in the Golden Rule.”

Ed Gordon taught CPR “as though he was on a personal mission for everyone to learn it,” said Shannon Craig, Greendale Fire Chief and one of Ed’s friends. “I learned CPR from Ed when he did a training for our Boy Scout troop.”

Craig says Gordon, 78, Lawrenceburg, was enthusiastic and you could tell he loved teaching CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) “As a kid, when you go to a class and actually have fun doing it. It says a lot about an instructor. He really cared and was dedicated to teaching others to help save lives.”

Gordon, who is retired now for 20 years from Down Corning, grew up in Aurora and lived 50 years of his life living in Greendale, where he was one of the founding members of Greendale Emergency Medical Services (GEMS) in 1986. He served 40 years as a volunteer on the Greendale Fire Department and nearly 30 years as a volunteer EMT for GEMS. What many might not know, though, is Ed taught thousands of people CPR from 1986-2019.

Gordon became an EMT in 1986 and started teaching CPR after officials at the then Dearborn County Hospital asked him to become an instructor. The hospital wanted to teach more people to learn CPR, so when they asked, Gordon said he’d do it. According to DCH, he taught CPR to more than 12,800 people from 1988 to 2019. However, those were just the numbers the hospital tracked, and Gordon taught even more.

“Ed’s an icon when it comes to starting the EMS service and one of the first, if not the first in the county, to start instructing CPR to as many people as possible. He set the bar,” Craig said. “He even bought his own mannequins and equipment.”

After he became an instructor, he started receiving calls seeking him to teach classes. The next thing you know, Gordon is teaching CPR to folks at childcare centers, dentist offices, police departments, the county jail, government offices, businesses, schools and the list goes on and on. For a time, he was an adjunct professor at Ivy Tech, but the overwhelming majority of his CPR teaching was as a volunteer.

He taught in Dearborn County primarily, but also traveled to other parts of Southeast Indiana.

Gordon says he learned CPR from a strict instructor and it “kind of made it stick with me.” He credits the late Ray Furney, a health teacher and athletic trainer at Lawrenceburg High School, with encouraging him to teach CPR to students and others.

“Ray wanted students to learn CPR before they graduated,” said Gordon. “He asked if I would teach CPR in his health class, and I said yes. Ray was ahead of the game when he added CPR to his health class.” Gordon provided a lecture and hands-on training on CPR to an untold number of LHS students and staff.

One of Furney’s students saved her grandmother, who had a heart attack, just two weeks after receiving the CPR training, said Gordon. “He called to let me know and it gave me chills. That’s what made me keep going.”

An LHS volleyball coach trained by Gordon also saved a man’s life with CPR while at an out-of-state tournament. The coach told Gordon “A guy collapsed, and no one was helping him, so I knew I had to do something.” She said she started compressions and a “calm came over her and she could hear me telling her what to do and kept going and the guy made it.”

Gordon, the father of two grown sons (five grandchildren), says he initially volunteered as a firefighter because a guy he worked with suggested it. “I thought it was a good way to give back to the community,” he said. “I felt the same about becoming and EMT and being one of the original 12 who stared GEMS. Fire and EMS can always use more volunteers.”

Gordon also served other roles related to first-responder work. He served for years on the Local Emergency Planning Committee, Indiana EMS Commission, and the Dearborn County Advisory Board for Emergency Management. He’s also known as a volunteer in the charitable sector where he has served the last six years as a member of the DCF Board, including the roles of President and Chairperson. He also serves on the board of directors of the Hillforest Historical Foundation along with his wife of nearly two years, Brenda.

“I enjoy volunteering for the DCF because we help do some many great things for so many in the community,” said Gordon. “I grew up in Aurora and Hillforest is a beautiful historic home that’s a pride thing for all of us. It feels good to give back to the community.”

When Gordon ended his long run as a CPR instructor in 2019, he kept his legacy going by giving back to the community again. “I think Ed felt bad about ending the training when so many relied on him for CPR training,” said Criag. “He wanted somebody to take over training.”

So, Gordon approached Craig’s wife, Leigh Ann Craig, the Greendale Middle School Guidance Counselor, to see if she’d like to become a CPR instructor. Leigh Ann agreed to become an instructor and continues to teach CPR today, using mannequins and equipment given to her by Gordon. There are also five other CPR instructors from the Greendale Fire Department and GEMS who are training folks to get hearts going, just like Gordon.