Frady volunteers all around town

Volunteerism is a huge part of the DNA that makes up Wimberley. In the past it might have been, “hey Joe’s cattle are out, let’s round them up,” or ‘let’s help raise a barn for the neighbors.” Through the 150 years, it progressed to helping others, with the floods or picking up garbage on the roads. The Wimberley Way is still here and flourishing.

One of those helping to keep the spirit of the community is Tonda Frady. The closest phrase that would sum up her volunteerism would have to be a ‘force of nature.’ Tonda, before the pandemic, could be found volunteering all around town, at the library, Deer Creek, the Methodist Church or at the Winters-Wimberley House and-Wimberley Valley Museum to name just a few.

“My mother taught us to be of service to others and to look for opportunities to help others. I have always enjoyed working with the elderly and those in need of help.”

Volunteering is something she has done her entire life.

She was born in Fredericksburg because there wasn’t a hospital in Junction, Texas at the time. Her father died when she was five years old and her mother remarried a man who worked for the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission. In 1959 they settled in El Paso.

She graduated from Ysleta High School and then graduated from Sul Ross State University and then back to Ysleta where she taught at the middle school for 30 years helping to educate. “I enjoyed teaching at Eastwood Middle School and the middle school NHS… As a Department Chair I kept score for the girls’ basketball. (I wanted them) to see I was interested in the kids not just in the classroom.”

In turn, the children learned to care about others, requiring students to undertake volunteer projects.

“At first, the students were hesitant, but as the year went on, more wanted to volunteer for all the projects. We as educators must instill in our students the need to help others if it isn’t taught at home.”

As a teacher, she received a Freedom Foundation Award at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania for her efforts in her design honoring Women in History and highlights of activities that highlighted women.

When retirement hit, a decision to move closer to family, but not too close, led to building a house in Wimberley. “It was meant to be,” Tonda said. Finally after they were settled, it was time to volunteer.

The first was Deer Creek going down the halls with a cart. “I had a juice cart, my husband Bobby poured. We were a tag team from 2005 to 2018.” That was just the beginning. “We next joined Meals on Wheels the next year. Bobby drove and I talked and delivered.” Her husband has since passed.

Friends of the Library, Mother’s Day Out and Bright Beginnings at the Methodist Church, Market Days, Community Chorus Concerts, the Wimberley Chamber of Commerce, WIC and the Wimberley Valley Museum as a docent, the Wimberley Community Civic Club, and Delta Kappa Gamma teachers’ organization.

“I volunteer six days a week…I turn in between 1,000 and 1,500 hours yearly to my retired teachers’ chapter in El Paso. Sometimes this includes special projects and substituting for other volunteers.”

She is a model for others when it comes to volunteering and helping others in the valley. The next time you see her at the library or some other event, and you will, even with her mask on, you’ll still recognize her, of course, helping others.