Lou Smith says she thinks volunteers are the happiest people in the world.

"I’ve enjoyed every minute I’ve ever done any volunteer work," she said. "I would advise any retired person who can’t figure out what to do to get a job volunteering."

Mrs. Smith recently was named "Volunteer of the Year" at Wallace Thomson Hospital. She has been volunteering at the facility for 24 years. She has volunteered a total of 3,100 hours.

Volunteer coordinator Catherine Childers said Mrs. Smith is a jewel.

"She is the most precious, sweetest, most dependable person," she said. "She is one of the best volunteers we have. She is always willing to help, to come in and fill in for anybody. She truly has a heart for service and we are very lucky she is here."

Mrs. Smith graduated from Union High School in 1939 and began working in a book store on Main Street. She later worked in the Union Mill Store until her marriage to her first husband, Arthur E. Ward, in 1943.

She traveled with Ward while he was in the military in the United States but came home when he was sent overseas. She went to work for Milliken & Co. and remained there until her husband, who went to work in the insurance field, was transferred to Houston, Texas, for 18 months.

When the couple returned home to Union, Mrs. Ward resumed working for Milliken. Her career with the textile company totaled 36 years.

Ward died in 1980. Mrs. Smith and her second husband, Lt. Col. Jasper J. Smith, were married in 1987. Smith died in 1992. He was a retired Air Force chaplain and pastor of her church, Augsburg Lutheran.

When Mrs. Smith was 57 years old, she returned to college. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history with a minor in Bible from USC-Spartanburg in 1986 .

After her retirement in 1982, Mrs. Smith traveled for a couple of years. In 1984, she began volunteering at Wallace Thomson. She said the work helps fulfill a dream she had as a young woman — she wanted to be a doctor. She said her parents couldn’t afford medical school, but she remained interested in the medical field including enjoying reading about health issues.

"I thought volunteering at the hospital would help take care of what I didn’t get to do a long time ago," she said. "And, I like to do for other people. God blessed me with good health all of my life, but my mother was an invalid for 32 years. It was always my second nature to help someone."