JoAnn Dugan of Hollidaysburg, who died earlier this week, was remembered Friday as an individual "who helped many people" and was "involved in many ways in the community," said Randy Feathers, regional director of the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Drug Task Force.
"She was absolutely dedicated. ... She walked the walk. ... She helped people with addiction problems," Feathers said.
He knew Dugan well because each year she sponsored a legislative breakfast for the area's political leaders, the Blair Countians for Drug Free Communities, and more recently, Operation Our Town.
This year's breakfast was held a week ago at the Calvin House in Duncansville. Dugan dedicated the breakfast to her late husband, Goodling, a railroad worker who died in 1995.
But as Feathers and others pointed out, Dugan's effort to help people overcome addiction was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to her community involvement.
A former registered nurse, Dugan decided in her 60s to become a pastor in the United Methodist Church, and she spent many days traveling to distant places such as Six Mile Run and Dudley.
For the past six years, she was pastor at the Broad Avenue United Methodist Church at 850 29th St.
She was active in the American Rescue Workers in Hollidaysburg and worked on behalf of the Hollidaysburg Area Public Library, the Hollidaysburg YMCA and the Central Pennsylvania Humane Society.
Feathers called her an "unsung hero."
At age 76, Dugan was just a mite of a woman who leaves behind a mighty legacy of caring.
Judy Rosser, Blair County's drug and alcohol coordinator, called Dugan "a very compassionate and lovely woman." Rosser knew her from her service with Blair Countians for Drug Free Communities and the Blair County Drug and Alcohol Council.
Julie Garofalo, spokeswoman for state Sen. John H. Eichelberger Jr., R-Blair, said she knew Dugan her entire life. She said Dugan was "a woman of action on her faith," a person who "gave of herself in the community," and who served as a role model.
Donna Hileman of Hollidaysburg said she was friends with Dugan for 70 years.
"She had a life of service. She never did anything halfway," Hileman said.
She gave an example of a connection Dugan forged with a home-bound woman to whom she took communion. Dugan always took something extra that had to do with apples because the woman loved apples. Because of that, the woman dubbed her "the apple lady."
"[Dugan] was just such a giving person to all our neighbors, very positive and very free with her time," Hileman said.
Elaine Shafer-Stroud of Williamsburg, another good friend, was helping to plan Dugan's funeral Friday.
"I think she just felt called," she said.
Dugan leaves behind her beloved 15-year-old dog, Crackers.
