A longtime community volunteer, former educator is this year’s recipient of the city of Franklin’s Marty and Carolyn Williams Volunteer of the Year Award.
Volunteering is a lifestyle and there are different commitments and responsibilities that come with volunteering, especially when you give as much as this year’s recipient, Gary Kiesel.
Mayor Steve Barnett said volunteers like Kiesel make the world a better place, and luckily for Franklin there are many amazing volunteers in the city.
Barnett and Carolyn Williams presented the award to Kiesel at the Monday Franklin City Council meeting. Kiesel joins the ranks of other passionate volunteers who’ve received the annual award in the past.
Kiesel volunteers at many organizations including the Artcraft Theater, Johnson County Master Gardeners, Discover Downtown Franklin, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Johnson County 4-H. Despite everything Kiesel does for the community, he doesn’t ask for any recognition, said Richard Gotshall, a long time friend of who nominated him for the award.
Gotshall and many of their friends were at the meeting when Barnett surprised Kiesel with the award presentation. Kiesel had no idea the award was coming and he was told to come to the meeting for a different reason, he said.
“He gets embarrassed when he is praised but a good reflection of how much Gary has made an impact is the number of people that came out to the city council meeting … we all wanted to say ‘thank you’ to this special person,” Gotshall said.
Kiesel has lived Johnson County all his life, he grew up in Whiteland and moved to Franklin to start his career as an educator. He started his career as a third grade teacher at Northwood Elementary and eventually became a principal. Kiesel has worked at a handful of schools around Johnson County including being a supervisor for the new teachers at Franklin College.
Kiesel has been volunteering for different organizations for 20 years. He started volunteering to meet and interact with different people, now it’s important to him to get involved with organizations and activities that matter to him, he said.
“Pre-COVID it wasn’t uncommon for me to volunteer for two or three times a week but now it’s been a little different but luckily more events are happening and I have the opportunity to volunteer more in the future,” Kiesel said.
He is beloved by the community, for example the Facebook post about the award had a few hundred of people with comments congratulating him for his commitment to the community.
“You can always count on him (Kiesel) and count on his smile, we’ve been in the garden club together … we always notice he’s there at any event and you can build a true community with a guy like him,” Gotshall said.
Kiesel is retired from education but he still likes to help young people. Recently, Kiesel hosted two foreign exchange students who were two teenage boys, one from France and another from Spain. Gotshall said that’s evidence of Kiesel’s giving personality.
“He is a giving person and a good example of his giving personality, he had two exchange students that lived with him and for a single guy that is a commitment,” Gotshall said. “I’m sure it was a great experience for him and I know Gary enjoyed it and learned a lot.”
Kiesel has wanted to host students for several years now but the pandemic has put his plans on hold, he said. Kiesel was happy he got the chance to host the students because he learned a lot from them, he said.
“It was a different experience – being an elementary school principal and then taking care of teenagers, but they’ve lived here for about 10 months … they’ve been gone for a week now and everything has been really quiet and I miss them a lot,” Kiesel siad.
Kiesel encourages people who are interested in volunteering to take the chance and find what’s around them.
“Look for things that interest you, there are many organizations that are looking for volunteers and know that it will benefit you and the community when you get to volunteer,” Kiesel siad.
Kiesel is such devoted volunteer that Gotshall and other friends said they have advised him to take care of himself, since he does so much for others. Not only does Kiesel volunteer for events in Johnson County he has volunteered for events in Carmel and Indianapolis that interest him.
“He needs to learn how to say ‘no’ because we don’t want him to burn himself out but he just loves doing things for other people,” Gotshall said.
Kiesel loves volunteering, so doesn’t feel like work to him, especially when he gets to interact with people and learn from them.
