Massaro: Accountant's volunteering adds up

By Gary Massaro, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 29, 2005 at midnight

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Don Giseburt remembers his mother as hard-working and hard-scrubbing around the house, as someone who taught him to go all out with all he did.

"Mom was a neat freak," he said. "She'd wash down the house. When I was a kid, she washed the refrigerator door so much that she washed the enamel off of it."

Giseburt, too, has the same combination - picky and high energy.

He made his livelihood as an accountant for Denver Public Schools over a 36-year career.

Accounting was a natural for him.

"I just like the discipline, knowing it had to balance," he said.

"Sometimes, I'd drive other auditors nuts. I couldn't stand it if the books were off a penny. Often, if it's off a penny, it could be off a lot more."

Giseburt is as energetic and meticulous in his volunteer endeavors - from DPS Retired Employees Association to the handicapped ski program at Winter Park to the Denver Teachers Club, which lends wheelchairs and crutches.

And that's why he is the November recipient of the Minoru Yasui Community Volunteer Award, named in honor of the late activist.

"On any given day of the year, rain or shine, into the wee hours of the night, Don can be found volunteering," said Andrew A. Raicevich, director of Denver Teachers Club Inc.

Giseburt, 75, is a Denver native.

After he graduated from South High School in 1949, he enrolled at University of Colorado. Becoming a teacher wasn't a consideration, even though he was working for DPS.

"I saw myself as one of these people on a high stool, wearing armbands and eyeshades," he said.

Right out of high school he took a job as a shipping clerk with the school system. In 1954, he began working as an accountant for DPS. He moved up to comptroller before retiring in 1985.

"Retirement is an opportunity to discover your life," he said. "Volunteering starts out with somebody saying we would like you to do this and we only meet once or twice a year. Of course, when you join up, it's a couple times a month. And then you realize you like the work."

He likes it so much he puts in almost a full work week on volunteering.

To keep up with the pace, Giseburt works out most mornings, beating the roosters out of bed and heading to a gym. He rollerblades, too.

He recalled a story of a senior citizen killed by a car while rollerblading and said, "What a good way to go."

Giseburt isn't everyone's hero. Years ago, a neighbor's wife told her husband he should be more like Giseburt and do more work around the yard.

"He wanted to start a group to get me kicked out of the neighborhood," Giseburt said.

When Gary Massaro listens, people talk. massarog@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5271

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