NEIGHBORS: Korb is dedicated to helping Eastern Greene students learn

Submitted photo David Korb (right) volunteers at Eastern Greene Elementary School. He has been a volunteer classroom tutor for the past six years and has tutored in various subjects. He currently works in Eva Sullivan's room.

EASTERN HEIGHTS -- David Korb volunteers at Eastern Greene Elementary School.

He has been a volunteer classroom tutor for the past six years and has tutored in various subjects. What makes this particular volunteer stand out is that he is 82 years old.

He currently works in Eva Sullivan's room. She teaches second through fourth graders.

On this particular day, Korb was working with a small math group. He is generally assigned to work with two students.

Korb said, "I'm working with a new student. He has good family support and is a pleasant young boy to work with."

The principal and staff think very highly of Korb and respect his dedication to his young students. Korb spoke about how he came to be involved as a tutor.

He said, "I contacted Beth Roberts who at that time was working with Volunteer Connection. I told her I would like to volunteer at the school. I began with second grade.

"I listen to people who are concerned about budget issues and such. They need to get involved with students and help these youngsters."

He has gone so far as to suggest to the paper that a series of articles be written about the affect the lack of family connections has on today's students.

Korb grew up in Evansville and his family ran a laundry/delivery business. He decided to venture out on his own and went to night school. He then began working in the electrical and radar field. He volunteered for the Naval Reserve in February 1945.

During World War II, he was on active duty for a year and a half. Korb said, "I don't want people to think I'm a war hero. I never was involved in the fighting."

He continued to serve his country during the Korean War and spent a total of 10 years in the reserves. He was an instructor in Evansville teaching communications/radar operations.

Later in life, Korb and his wife moved to Hendricksville. He is a familiar figure to many folks in this area also. He lives about two miles from Hendricksville. When they took up residence in their home, he noticed that the road was a mess.

Korb said, "A good friend was coming to visit. I thought I should probably clean up the area leading to my house. My friend didn't show up that week. He did visit the next week so I cleaned the area again before his visit."

Then Korb decided to take some time out of retirement and began cleaning the roadsides near his home on a regular basis. He does a mile to a quarter of a mile every week.

Korb said, "This road is wooded on both sides, sort of park like. I like the walking. I take a garbage bag and carry it to and from my home. I do recycle all that I can. People stop by and thank me for the beauty of that piece of road. It helps to know that some people understand why I do what I'm doing."

After a two month period of bad weather, Korb returned to his weekly cleaning detail. He stated, "I found almost three full bags of trash along that stretch of road. I don't know why people dump trash along roadsides."

Korb agreed to do this interview because he hopes more people will become actively involved by volunteering in their local school systems.

He gets very emotional when he speaks about the young children of today and how they can be helped. He seeks no special recognition or praise for volunteering. He did share a letter that he received from a former student. He had worked with Korb and moved to another school system. In this letter, the student thanked Korb for helping him and for the subscription to Kid's National Geographic. The youngster also included a forwarding address so that Korb and him could stay in touch.

Rewards like this are particularly poignant to if you are the one on the receiving end, like Korb.