open the program in 1996. “They’ve been here from the beginning and Bud and Elsie didn’t know each other before they were STARS,” says Watson. “They began patrolling together and they just hit it off. They never went anyplace without the other. “It seemed like they were together for life, the way they acted,” says Daugherty of the romance he watched blossom between Adams and Wanless. As Adams describes it, “It didn’t take long for me to talk her into doing patrol with me as a companion. She was as interested in it as much as I was.” Adds Watson, “They wouldn’t take any time off. They were a good couple. A good couple.” Health issues have forced the two to step down from their duties with STARS and have necessitated life in separate assisted living facilities. Adams remains in Red Bluff with his room sporting STARS memorabilia, including a shadow box of his uniform shirt and patches created by Daugherty’s team, while Wanless has moved near family in the Bay Area. For the duration of their service, however, STARS brought them not just love, but fulfillment in civic duty. “They gave me something to do, something better to do than sitting around doing nothing,” Adams says. When he enrolled, he was a widower who was spending a lot of time
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at the garage of Watson’s son. “I’d always been interested in police work,” he says. “I’d seen a good opportunity to get involved. It was something that we didn’t get paid for or ever thought of getting paid for. And we never turned down what we were asked to do.” “That was their life,” Watson says of the Thursday and Friday patrols Adams and Wanless set out on. “They enjoyed patrolling around and visiting with people.” Of course, occasionally STARS are asked to participate in other ways, and Watson smiles when she says, “They enjoyed being in the parades.” The STARS are affiliated with the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program of the Corporation for National Service, organized regionally by Dignity Health. Watson helps maintain the statistics needed for the program and shows no sign of slowing down. “I just find it a very happy place to be,” she says. • Melissa Mendonca is passionate about adding stamps to her passport and just as enthusiastic about her hometown of Red Bluff. A graduate of San Francisco State and Tulane universities, she believes in mentoring and service to create communities everyone can enjoy. Her favorite words are rebar, wanderlust and change.