Steve Woolley, A Well-Rounded Life
Steve Woolley is the perfect example of someone who has a well-rounded life. And life, after all, is what it’s all about. Steve says, “none of us are getting out alive, so slow down a little and be grateful for all of your small blessings.” He is learning how short our days on this earth really are.
Steve retired a couple of years ago after almost 50 years in business operations and management. He started with the family service station and worked his way up to Fortune 500 companies, where he spent the majority of his career. His passion is earthquakes and the Cascadia Subduction Zone, and he has played a key role in deploying earthquake early warning systems throughout the west coast of the United States.
Steve spent the early years of his career in banking as his bank’s first ATM Coordinator, and he says he “feels ‘old’ mentioning that.” After years as a computer security manager that was also responsible for disaster recovery, his bank burned down in Los Angeles on the same day a rocket fuel plant exploded near Las Vegas, which launched him into disaster recovery and business continuity planning for the remainder of his career.
Now, Steve's days typically start with reading the Wall Street Journal and watching the morning financial shows (a lifelong habit), after which he gets busy at life. He takes his two-year-old dog, a Newfie named Yogi Bear, to check in on the neighborhood. Some call Yogi Bear the Mayor, and Steve his Chief of Staff. After the daily walks and other exercise, Steve is busy volunteering. He and his wife are the younger members of a small group he leads with his church. They affectionately refer to it as their “youth group.” Being retired, Steve says they are called upon for numerous “volunteer” activities that have a habit of filling their days.
After experiencing the benefits and personal enjoyment of mentoring employees when he worked for Microsoft, Steve thought he’d look into doing more of it. What he found was something a little different: Great Life Mentoring. Hearing about this organization changed Steve’s focus from adults and professionals towards youth and how he could use the untapped “grandfather gene” with someone who might appreciate an unencumbered friendship. This has turned out to be a mutual benefit.
Being happiest when fishing, Steve loves to take the time to explore and try catching some Steelhead, Salmon and Trout in the local waters of Washington and Oregon. He’s been able to incorporate fishing in his mentor outings, as it seems to be one of his friend’s favorite things to do as well. Additionally, the boy Steve mentors has an “enormous capacity for observation and questions about things we experience.”
Steve says his favorite thing about being a Great Life mentor is experiencing “life as a teenager and all the change that has occurred since I was one, or my two sons for that matter.” He realizes that being a teen today is much tougher, and life comes at you from many more directions than when he was that age. Steve says he works to be relevant and interesting to bridge the age gap.
Being a Great Life mentor has also brought Steve more empathy and compassion for the homeless, having seen things through his friend’s eyes. He and his wife of 39 years, Michele, support Open House Ministries locally, as well as Africa New Life on the global scale.
Serving with the ministry Africa New Life is another contribution Steve and Michele like to make. They support a 13-year-old boy and 19-year-old girl in Rwanda. The genocide and recovery they have experienced, Steve says, “has colored my unconscious bias and some of what has been going on in our country lately, with the civil unrest (Portland and Seattle riots/protests in particular)." Steve cautions, “we need to look at our need to communicate openly and without political agenda, and the consequences that almost destroyed Rwanda 25 years ago. We are not that far away, and I would hate to have to put my disaster skills back to use.”
This well-rounded life is one of great contributions—to his family, church, neighbors, community and the world beyond. Just to know that someone like Steve is out there, making his daily rounds with Yogi Bear, doing all that he is doing, and prepared to do more if needed, brings a sense of stability.
Steve Woolley is an adventurer, a learner and a peacemaker who quotes Jonathan Swift in saying, “May you live every day of your life.”
There are currently volunteer opportunities in Portland OR and Volunteer opportunities in Vancouver WA with Great Life Mentoring, where you can enjoy the rewards of mentoring a child facing adversity. Apply now!