Jean Woodard doesn’t try to hide her age, she simply dresses it in a riddle.

“I was born the same year as Pope John Paul and Stan Musial — and the year that women got the vote,” she says with a sly little grin. “It was a very famous year.”

A self-described “late bloomer,” she graduated from nursing school at age 53 and earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing at 56. But that was three decades ago.

A better description might be a “perennial bloomer” — those hardy and enduring flowers that bloom year after year, brightening the landscape with their gentle grace.

The landscape Woodard brightens most often is St. Anthony’s Medical Center, where she volunteers three days a week, according to a news release. She began doing office work in Cardiac Rehab nearly 12 years ago, shortly after the death of her husband of 52 years, Ernest, and continues to work there every Tuesday.

She joined St. Anthony’s Volunteer Nurse program when it was first initiated, a little more than a year ago, and now works every weekend and most holidays in the Emergency Department.

“I chose the Emergency Department be-cause I like the variety,” Woodard said. “As a volunteer nurse, I’m not there to do a nurse’s job, just the little extra things that the nurses don’t have time to do. I push wheelchairs, bring warm blankets to patients, clean stretchers, change beds — whatever they need me to do. Sometimes I just sit with patients who want someone to talk with them for awhile.”

Her main focus during her younger years was her family. She has three children, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A self-described “stay-at-home mom,” she did teach second grade for one year and sold real estate part time, off and on, for 30 years. She was active in her children’s Scouting programs, youth groups and school activities. She also served as a foster mother for Catholic Charities, caring for newborns in her home for the first six weeks of their lives, until their adoptions went through. She also cared for an older foster child for awhile.

When her youngest child was in high school, Woodard enrolled in the nursing program at the St. Louis Community College at Florissant, then at Webster (University) College to complete her nursing degree. During the next several years, she worked part time as a private-duty nurse and at area hospitals and long-term care facilities, including a stint on a medical floor of St. Anthony’s.

She took a hiatus from her nursing career to care for her husband when he began having health problems.

Three months after her husband’s death, she began volunteering at St. Anthony’s.

“I like what I do and I can control my hours — and I can’t get fired,” Woodard said with a laugh, adding, “At least I haven’t been fired yet. I like to be busy and useful, so I don’t just sit and worry about my aches and pains.”

When she isn’t home, Woodard considers St. Anthony’s her “second home.”

“I like the companionship I’ve found at St. Anthony’s,” she said. “I enjoy eating lunch at the hospital with the other volunteers and I’ve made some good friends there. I live nearby, so it’s easy for me to get there, and I love attending Mass on Sundays at the hospital chapel.”

Woodard said that when she first heard about St. Anthony’s Volunteer Nurse program, she thought they might not take her because of her age and minimal nursing experience.

But she was welcomed with open arms by Bonny Hepp, program coordinator.

“Bonny is so thoughtful and kind, she made me feel like part of the team right away,” Woodard said. “If I couldn’t do this, I have no idea what I could substitute for it that I would find as rewarding – having somebody to care for gives you a reason to live.

“I don’t belong to a lot of things, but I feel I belong here at St. Anthony’s.”