From The Express

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Whitman
Founder of the Whitman Girls Basketball Association and the Leader of the park
O'Leary's civic drive touches many lives
Nov 20, 2003, 11:28

June O'Leary

If you live in Whitman, it is safe to say your life has been impacted by the tireless efforts of June O’Leary whether you know it or not.

For years, O’Leary has given her time and energy to activities ranging from the massive renovation of Whitman Town Park to helping foster sports opportunities for young people. In every endeavor, O’Leary says there is something out there that inspires her to help others.

“There is some divine hand that moves me to do these things,” she said. “Sometimes all people need is for someone to say ‘okay, let’s go.’ Maybe it’s [Augustus] Whitman [who the town is named after]. Maybe he’s the one telling me to do these things.”

While she can trace her lineage to the Whitmans, it was family much closer to her that got O’Leary started on the path to becoming what she calls a “professional volunteer.”

The mother of four children, it was O’Leary’s oldest daughter, Terry, that first got her mom involved in organizing figure skating contests in Pembroke. Sister Maureen then got O’Leary involved with Whitman Youth Soccer, an organization she is still involved with years later. She and her husband Joe, who coached in the league for 20 years, even ran the chuck wagon at games providing food for hungry athletes and parents.

Maureen then got into basketball, but as a girl in Whitman over a decade ago, there was no outlet for her to play. She played for a while on a boy’s team, but was a somewhat unwelcome addition, so her mother made a suggestion one day.

“I told her to go school with a piece of paper and get the names of other girls who wanted to play,” said O’Leary. “She came home with two sheets of paper, filled with names on both sides of over 50 girls who wanted to play."

Spurred by the list of girls looking for a place to play, O’Leary took it upon herself to create the Whitman Girls Basketball League, which continues to be an outlet for girls to play.

In working with the girls’ league, O’Leary often took teams to other towns to scrimmage. In creating relationships with other coaches and towns, O’Leary one night decided to invite area coaches to her home to sit around her dining room table and see how they could work together.

The result: the South Shore Girls Basketball League which is not only going strong today, but even crowns each year’s champion with the June O’Leary Trophy.

Besides her children, O’Leary gives an enormous amount of credit to Joe, her husband of over 40 years, to giving her the opportunity to lend her time and create something to benefit others.

“I think those who have the time [to volunteer] should use it,” she said. “Thanks to my husband, besides some substitute teaching, I haven’t had to work a full-time job, which allowed me to stay home with my kids. A lot of parents don’t have that time and I felt as if since I did, that was what I was supposed to be doing.”

O’Leary’s generosity goes far beyond school-age children, however. In 1999, she said she “accidentally” created the Whitman Friends of the Park, gathering together folks in town who wanted to see an area in need of renovation restored to the beauty it once had. Again, O’Leary took the forefront as the person to say “let’s go.”

She acknowledges the works of dozens of people who began looking for ways to save the park three years ago and finished with the renovated area being recognized this September by the Massachusetts Historic Commission deeming it the year’s best historical land preservation.

Not one to rest on her laurels, however, O’Leary said that there is still work to be done on the park, from getting lighting installed to having it listed on the National Register of Historical Places, which she is currently involved with.

“Someone wanted [this park] to be saved and because of my husband, I had the time but it is amazing all of the people who came together as a group,” she said. “The renovation is more than I ever thought would happen and I’ve been shocked several times [by what we’ve accomplished].”

Twice a day, O’Leary walks the park getting a firsthand look at how people are enjoying this revived center of town. From older couples sharing one of the 43 new benches donated by private donors to families having a blanket lunch in the summer, O’Leary takes pride not in what she has accomplished, but what the town has.

“I feel privileged to be at the head of a group that wants to do something,” she said. “Sometimes when you work behind the scenes on a project, you work very hard but then somebody does something or you get an award or you see a family enjoying themselves and it is all worth while.”

When she is not involved with youth sports and heading the Friends of the Park, this professional volunteer also assumes another unofficial role: town resource director.

Since she has done so much and been a life long resident of Whitman, O’Leary has earned the title “Ms. Whitman” by some, a designation she thinks is sweet but feels she hasn’t earned next to the original, Augustus’ wife.

With this title also comes a number of questions from local citizens over the phone and in person.

From when soccer registration begins to information on the “Dollars for Scholars” citizen scholarships offered to high school students (yes, O’Leary helps with this too) to helping folks new to town find what they need, O’Leary has become the town’s information traffic cop, using her wealth of knowledge to help others.

She even has set up a mock consulting company called “Ask Me,” to handle the inquiries she receives everyday.

“I started it for fun,” she said. “People say ‘if you want to know, ask Joan.’”

With all the hats she wears and all the people she helps, O’Leary said that while she began volunteering to fill her time, it is the optimist in her that believes anything is possible given time and someone to spur others on.

With all she has accomplished, perhaps what can be best said about O’Leary can be found on the park bench dedicated in her name and said by those who spurred her to give her time to others:

“For June O’Leary, whose heart has touched so many, with love from her kids.”

Thank You June WGBA