United Senior Services honors 3 at annual Senior Day Celebration

United Senior Services and The Area Agency on Aging honored three recipients at the annual Senior Day Celebration.

The Clark County Council on Aging selected Warren Copeland as the recipient of the Clark County Outstanding Senior Citizen of the Year, USS selected Ed Wozniak as the recipient of the USS Excellence in Leadership Award, and USS selected Mike Hanlon as the recipient of the USS Outstanding Service Award.

All three winners were presented with their awards at the celebration where over 300 members of the community attended.

“May is Older Americans Month, and United Senior Services is thrilled to once again celebrate three members of our community with these prestigious awards. USS believes that longevity is a gift and that age is just a number. Warren, Ed and Mike are three wonderful reminders of the impact older people have made, and continue to make every day, in Clark County and beyond,” said Maureen Fagans, CEO of USS.

Copeland was nominated by his friend and former Wittenberg University colleague, Stephanie McCuistion. He was a professor of religion teaching social ethics at Wittenberg for more than 40 years, he served as mayor of Springfield for 28 years after being elected to Springfield City Commission in 1989, he was the inaugural faculty director of Wittenberg’s Susan Hirt Hagen Center for Civic and Urban Engagement in 2008, and has authored several books in social ethics.

Wozniak was nominated by fellow gardener Roger Ranks of the Master Gardeners of Clark County. He is retired from Civil Service at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, volunteers with the Master Gardeners, helps prepare free tax returns through AARP, and volunteers at Springfield Regional.

Hanlon was nominated by his friend and USS Receptionist Medrith Avery. He retired after 31 years of service at International, volunteers several times a week at the Springfield Soup Kitchen, joined the Springfield Civic Theater, volunteered with Habitat for Humanity for 22 years, the Clark County Economic Development Association for 15 years, the board of the Clark County American Red Cross for 15 years, has been an ambassador and senior volunteer with USS for 17 years, and has volunteered with Junior Achievement for many years.

“I am so pleased to recognize these three members of our community for their outstanding service and leadership. They are an inspiration to us all, and USS is grateful for their years of dedication to helping others,” said Maureen Fagans, CEO.

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