Volunteer profile: Sherry Clay Marcoe

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Volunteer profile: Sherry Clay Marcoe

Around Osceola

Thursday, 10 March 2011 00:00

Provided by the Osceola County Historical Society
Continuing the occasional series about some of the interesting and unique people who volunteer their time to help make the Osceola County Historical Society what it is today, it recently introduced volunteer Sherry Clay Marcoe.
Sherry was born in Orlando and raised in Kissimmee. She has been married to Bill, a “Yankee” from New York, for 38 years and they have three grown children who attended some of the same schools in Kissimmee that Sherry attended growing up. Her late father, Jeff Clay, started a business in Kissimmee in 1957, and Marcoe worked at the family business until, as she says, she “retired” in 2001. It was in early 2003 when Marcoe became a volunteer with the Historical Society.
“On my first day at the Historical Society,” Marcoe said, “I was introduced to a nice group of people, some of whom I knew and some I met for the first time. My first challenge was to reorganize the kitchen. The other volunteers were amazed at how fast I was able to get things done. On my subsequent volunteer days — usually Thursdays — I tackled other areas of the house. And on one particular Sunday, fellow volunteer Shirley Thompkins and I did a major re-organization of the office. We moved furniture, file cabinets, tables and anything that wasn’t bolted to the floor. It was amazing. I became the honorary organizer” for the organization.
Marcoe, who has been working part-time since 2003 in downtown Kissimmee, is also a photographer and has documented a number of the organization’s events over the years. She also has utilized her various talents to help in other areas of the organization, such as helping to rewrite the Mary Kendall Steffee Nature Preserve Trail Guide for the organization’s 8-acre nature preserve. She also can often be seen leading groups of school children around the Pioneer Village .
“In the early years of my volunteering, I enjoyed being the youngest volunteer — which I loved — since I had always been taught to honor and listen to our elders,” Sherry said. “Who else to better learn history from? We have since gained some new “younger” volunteers as well as staff, so I no longer hold that title.”
Marcoe also is hoping that the organization will one day have enough volunteer help to run the “Tyson Store,” a functioning turn-of-the-century general store on the village grounds.
“I would like to see it at a point where we can invite local craftsmen and artisans to bring in their items for people to see and purchase,” she said.
In 2006, Marcoe was contacted by Jerry Gemske, Kissimmee city commissioner, to represent the city on the board of the Historical Society.
“As a board member, I now had — and have — the ability to help with decisions making our organization a better resource for all the residents of our county.” Sherry said. “We have an amazing group of volunteers who’ve given so much of their time and support through the years. Without them, we would not be where we are today.”
Whether you feel you can help in multiple ways or one, or if you’re not even sure in what manner you can be of help, there are still many roles needed to be filled as an Osceola County Historical Society volunteer. If you’d like to become a volunteer, contact the society at 407-396-8644. The society and its Pioneer Village are located at 750 N. Bass Road, just off U.S. Highway 192, in Kissimmee.