Ella Frost is mother to five children. But countless others became scientists, soldiers and statesmen after looking to her for guidance during the 37 years she served the Paul Laurence Dunbar Community Center.

Frost will be honored for her service April 30 during the center's 75th anniversary celebration at Cornerstone Commons in Butler.

Born in New Orleans, La., Frost grew up in the racially charged south of the '40s and '50s before embarking on the work that would benefit people of all races, creeds and religions.

“It was very rough,” she said.

Frost and her husband, George, attended Xavier University of Louisiana for health, physical education and recreation. They both graduated in 1959, married in 1960 and moved to Butler when George was offered a position at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

By 1966, the Frosts had three children. While George worked as a therapist at the medical center, Ella remained at home until she was approached by the Dunbar Center, a community center that provided social and recreational programs.

At the time, the center was assisted by Pullman Standard, occupying a building on Hansen Avenue that formerly served as a Veterans of Foreign Wars post for black service members.

“They asked me to serve on the board of directors, and I felt I could volunteer my one to two hours a month and still maintain my family,” Frost said.

She then agreed to serve as interim executive director — a post she held until her first retirement in 1999.

“I was temporary until the day I retired,” she mused.

At that time, the center was open from 4 to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays, as well as 1 to 9 p.m. during the summer.

“As our increment from the United Way increased, we were able to have some college students come cover the 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. shift in the summer,” Frost said.

In 1966, the center offered Bible study, boxing and cooking as well as board and yard games. The first thing she did was nix the boxing going on in the building's basement.

“I debated about it, but I didn't want it to get out of hand,” Frost said.

During her time, Frost taught cooking, sewing and introduced piano lessons. She taught cutting patterns and how to use a sewing machine, helping children make some of the clothes they would wear, from pants and dresses to nightgowns.

Frost started the center's ceramics program in the 1960s with a beat-up kiln donated by FANN, Fun for the Aid of Neighbors in Need.

“I taught just about everything,” Frost said. “It paid off. I'm proud of the things that were accomplished with the kids.”

But crafts and music, which Frost initially pursued in college, were her main passions.

“Most of my (piano) students were beginners. Most of them would stay in the program until high school,” she said.

Frost, whose uncle played Dixieland jazz with the Humphrey Bothers at New Orleans' Preservation Hall and at Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh, was even able to enjoy a baby grand piano at the center for a short time. Ultimately, the piano's maintenance became cost-prohibitive.

George Frost, who also served on Dunbar's board of directors, said his wife's proficiency in music and crafts always impressed him.

“You could give this lady a cardboard box or a piece of paper and she could make anything,” he said.

“She was enjoying what she was doing. I was proud of what she did and, I can't deny, the extra pennies helped raise the family”

In fact, after her 1999 retirement, crafts are what drew Ella Frost back to Dunbar for two more years.

“I didn't like (retirement) and I went back for a while. And then my health got the best of me,” she said. “If I were able, I would probably be back down there volunteering.”

Frost downplays the role she played in closing Butler's racial divide during her tenure at the Dunbar Center. Her tenure there began just two years after President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law.

George Frost said he and college classmates left campus at midnight the day the law took effect, just to ride on the newly desegregated buses.

“It was a struggle, even before I got here. I felt like (the law) was going to work, but it was going to take a long time,” Ella said.

“It's programs like Dunbar that have tried to overcome that.”

The Dunbar Center, named for an African-American poet, was founded by a group of black men and women to create social and recreational programs for all residents.

Frost said the center's children were mostly immigrants and about 95 percent were white.

“We were so few” she said of Butler's black community. “Nobody (at Dunbar) was turned away.”

Nobody got out of line, either, despite some activities classes with more than 30 students at a time.

“They knew they had to behave, or they wouldn't be allowed to come back,” she said.

She said she always tried to include every child in activities and held weekly meetings teaching children to take leadership roles in scouting and Dunbar programs.

“A good example was the boys and girls. The Girl Scouts met every week and the boys felt like they had no structure for themselves, so we started a boys' club.”

Such activities were vital for youths who often had no parents at home after school.

“That was about the time when both parents were starting to go to work,” Frost said. “It wasn't really family oriented. There were children whose parents we never saw.”

Even with an often short budget, Frost and her staff found ways to keep children constructive and busy, whether it was setting up for a holiday party or building a float for one of Butler's parades.

The dynamic has changed little since Frost took her temporary, 33-year position and subsequent double retirement.

The cost of membership has increased from $1 annually per child in 1966 to $35 per child now, but the community still determines most of the center's programming.

Butler residents currently are being asked to weigh in on activities they would like to see when the center moves from its location on Fairground Hill road to its proposed site at the Island Playground.

Ella and George Frost, who retired as assistant to the chief of staff from the VA Medical Center in 1994, have three daughters, two sons and three grandchildren. All but one daughter, a school principal in New Orleans, live near their parents' Butler Township home.

Frost's other children, though, are spread around the world — bankers, lawyers, welders and parents themselves — indebted to her for the education and care she shared during 37 years of service.