By Karen Gutierrez
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Paula Hallquist (right), a volunteer with Meals on Wheels and PTA mom extraordinaire, visits with Virgilene Haley, 89, of Florence after delivering her lunch. The Cincinnati Enquirer/PATRICK REDDY

FLORENCE - Paula Hallquist does not have a cell phone, Palm Pilot or even a planner. She wears a watch but rarely looks at it. Why bother?

She's only delivering Meals on Wheels to 17 people every Friday. And visiting an elderly friend at least once a week.

And planning the staff appreciation breakfast at Boone County High School. And recycling the school's inkjet cartridges to save the environment. And handling precisely 20 other tasks for the Parent Teacher Student Association.

Stressed? Not Hallquist. But her many admirers aren't quite so calm.

For 12 years, this slender, unassuming woman has been a PTA mom extraordinaire - organized, reliable, dogged - without ever showing off. Now the unthinkable is about to happen: Hallquist's only child, Scott, is graduating. The pillar of the PTA is moving on.

No more gentle reminders about the deadline for newsletter articles. No more meticulous record-keeping and promptly returned calls. No more glimpses of Hallquist doing all the little stuff that keeps a school going.

She was in charge, for instance, of recording all the volunteer hours worked at Boone County High, for a mandatory annual report to the state. She also was the one showing up at 6:30 a.m. on staff training days, bearing doughnuts and brewing coffee for teachers.

At one time, Hallquist even took it upon herself to regularly pound a sign into the ground in front of the high school, reminding people that Wendy's would be donating a portion of sales to the school on certain nights.

Parent Charles Scroggin calls her one of the "top 10 human beings I have known in my lifetime."

Last week, he worried about getting emotional during senior awards night, when he presented Hallquist with several tributes.

She got a standing ovation. He managed to keep his eyes dry.

"I don't see how she does it," says Scroggin, president of the Parent Teacher Student Association. Preparing for her departure, he had to divide her workload among six people.

Hallquist, 57, claims she doesn't have any big secret. Sitting by her phone is a simple, spiral notebook, in which she jots down reminders of people to call and tasks to complete.

The answering machine takes care of missed calls, so there's no need to carry a cell phone, she says.

As for getting things accomplished, she relies a lot on others. "I just pull from the ranks to help out, and everyone works together," Hallquist says.

Her talent for this dates to childhood. The oldest of 13 children, she grew up on a working farm in Corydon, Ind.

Service to the elderly has always been a passion. Before meeting her husband, who works at St. Elizabeth Hospital, Hallquist was a social worker at nursing homes. She left the work force to raise her son but never lost touch.

For the past 14 years, while serving on PTAs, Hallquist has volunteered with Senior Services of Northern Kentucky.

Once a week - and whenever other drivers are absent - she delivers Meals on Wheels. Through Senior Services' Interlink program, she also visits elderly people in need of companionship.

"They just have a wealth of knowledge and wisdom that I think I can learn from," Hallquist says. "They helped build this country and make it was it was. I admire their work ethic."

Now she is preparing to give up her PTA projects and get back into social work.

For her successors on the PTA, she has carefully recorded all she did each month. Find volunteers for registration day, open house, the Wal-Mart bake sale. Send teachers a reminder about recognizing students for "random acts of kindness." Arrange pickup of inkjet cartridges for recycling. And so on.

"I can't imagine what this place will be like without you," wrote teacher Jan Ferguson in a book of tributes to Hallquist. "Let me rephrase that; I refuse to imagine this place without you."

Hallquist has mixed feelings - sadness about leaving, excitement for the future. It's time, she says.

"The people coming forth - Cheryl, Charlie, Debbie - they're all great people," Hallquist says. "I don't worry a bit that things will be just fine."

Forgive those people if they're not so sure. They know their pillar was one-of-a-kind.

E-mail kgutierrez@enquirer.com