94-year-old hopes to pass on ramp project to the next generation of Centre County volunteers

Over 20-plus years, Gert Aron and a team of Centre County volunteers have built approximately 200 ramps and low-rise staircases for the elderly and people with disabilities. A lifelong carpenter and engineer, as well as a former professor at Penn State, Aron dedicated himself to volunteer work after his retirement, leaving an indelible mark on the county — and now he’s ready to pass the baton on to the next generation of volunteers.

Aron said he learned his carpentry skills at a young age. He and his family fled Germany in the 1930s, escaping to Ecuador where they farmed cattle for nearly a decade.

“I learned my carpentry skills between the ages of 12 and 21. I lived on a homestead in Ecuador and there we had to build everything ourselves,” he said. “And then I came to the states and eventually got my education and was a professor at Penn State, and at retirement, I decided to dedicate myself to some volunteer work. I got into all kinds of volunteer work.”

When Aron discovered that volunteers were needed to assist in building projects for low-income families, he began working on projects through the Centre County Office of Aging, with the office providing referrals for the recipient families. He oversaw projects — primarily building staircases and ramps — for 20 years, before his team urged him to retire two years ago, at the age of 92.

“They actually found me falling asleep halfway through a job,” he said with a laugh, “so they forced me into retirement.”

Over his tenure, Aron recruited many volunteers to assist on his projects, from friends to neighbors to former colleagues. However, he said he’s had a difficult time finding someone to take over the projects in the full capacity that’s needed.

“I always wondered whether one of my helpers would just take it over, but nobody wanted to take over the project,” he said. “I would encourage anyone to step into (the role), but right now, I don’t know anyone who wants to do that, just as a main retirement job. It’s very gratifying to be able to do it, and I wished I could stay, but at 94 it’s getting too difficult.”

The process, he said, is easy enough. After receiving a referral for the recipient, Aron and his team would take a look at the build site (the furthest one ever only being about 40 miles from Boalsburg, he said), find the funds needed for the building materials and then start construction. If the recipient is unable to pay for the materials themselves, he said he would always find money elsewhere and he believes he never turned any recipient down over the course of two decades.

“All I can say is that those last 25 years were very gratifying,” Aron said. “Nobody ever complained, and some things were really funny. There was a couple — and the husband had more walking problems than the wife — that had asked for a ramp, but I said it was much handier to just make a staircase with three-inch-high steps. Anybody can handle that. And so we built it, and two days later the wife called and said, ‘You know, I never knew how easy it is to come home with two bags of groceries in my arms and take a step three-inches high instead of eight-inches high.’ She was very happy about it. I hope the husband used it, too, but she was the one who called back and was very happy about it.”

For those interested in volunteering on similar projects or taking over the building projects on a more long-term scale, Aron advises calling the Office of Aging in Bellefonte, at 814-355-6716.