Bud Sears, a resident of Concordia Haven Apartments in Cabot, attempts to hold back tears Tuesday after receiving a Horst and Eleanor Schwalm Faith and Caring Award for his volunteer work during the pandemic.

Bud Sears, 83, was recognized with a prestigious award simply for engaging in his own special brand of physical and mental therapy.

Sears, who lives at Concordia at Cabot Haven Apartments on Marwood Road in Jefferson Township, on Tuesday was stunned to hear his name being announced as the winner of the Horst and Eleanor Schwalm Faith and Caring Award, which is bestowed on an individual at Concordia Lutheran Ministries each year for volunteerism.

“I'm still floored,” Sears said Friday. “It's just such an honor. I just do what I love to do, you know, sharing my talents so I can help people.”

Sears was immediately overcome at the announcement and admitted he has been in a fog since he received the award.

Sears, a retired engineer, former Army lieutenant and West Virginia transplant, cared for his wife until she died of Lewy body dementia in 2013.

“When she passed, I was sort of at a loss,” he said.

So, he took up a volunteer position at the neonatal intensive care unit at Thomas Memorial Hospital in Charleston, W.Va.

Eventually he decided to downsize, and began looking for independent senior living facilities.

He remembered Concordia Lutheran Ministries from a stint as a Butler resident in the mid-1970s. So, he selected his apartment at Haven II, sold his house in West Virginia and moved to the Concordia campus in October 2018.

Since that time, Sears has volunteered at the campus in any and every capacity.

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