It doesn’t matter if its fiction or nonfiction, Ethel Ward is passionate about books. Though her cozy studio apartment doesn’t have enough space for the shelves of books that once adorned her home, the 84-year-old former psychiatric nurse and assistant director of the Johns Hopkins’ teaching staff and Evergreen Society board member finds a way to keep books in her life. She’s on the board of Friends of the Howard County Library and of the Noontime Book Club at the Central Library.

Although she’s been retired for years, she’s as busy as she was when she worked full-time. As a former member of the Vantage House board, she served on the committee overseeing our luxurious renovations. She also chairs the Residents’ Association’s Health Services Committee and volunteers at the Health Center.

“Volunteering there is so rewarding,” she says. She loves keeping Health Center residents up to date by reading current events, especially those whose eyesight is failing.