By Micah Flores
GateHouse News Service
Posted Jan 20, 2010 @ 04:00 PM

Marshfield — Instead of helping a few people in a significant way, Kim West Molloy stated in a letter that her mother, Susan West, “has tried to make a difference in every person she meets.”

West has lived in Marshfield for 32 years and first made her mark on the community when she began teaching childbirth classes at Jordon Hospital 30 years ago.

“She has helped thousands of mothers prepare for childbirth … she has even been a part of many of their deliveries,” wrote Stoneham resident Linda Ames in another letter.

For her impact on the community, Susan West has been chosen the Marshfield Citizen of the Year for 2009, an award sponsored by the Marshfield Mariner and the Marshfield Chamber of Commerce. After receiving nominations from the public, including the two letters cited above, a committee consisting of Mariner editor Bill Fonda, Phil Drouin from the chamber and past winners Robert Carr (who shared the award with his wife Kathleen), Janet Gibson, Richard Jack, Roy Kirby, Roni Lahage, Mary Doolan, Ron Bersani and Beth Griffin (who shared the award with her husband Jack) chose West as the winner.

A dinner will be held in West’s honor at a time and place to be determined.

West learned she had won the award Jan. 14, after getting a call from Gibson, a friend of hers.

“I said, ‘How did you get my cell phone number?’ and she said, ‘Oh, I have my ways,” West said.

Gibson then put Drouin on the phone, who told her she had won.

“I was very, very surprised and also honored and almost speechless,” said West, who credited Molloy with spearheading the nomination effort.

After starting the childbirth classes, the door opened for West to branch out and teach other parenting classes — everything from sibling and grandparent classes to boot-camp-for-new-dad classes.

“I have my energy and enthusiasm because all these parents in the groups give it to me,” said West. “They inspire me because they want to be the best parents they can be.”

According to the nomination letters, the feeling is mutual.

“Susan West deserves this award because she lives every day doing charitable work and community service, not only with her job, but with her own time as well,” wrote Marshfield resident Carole Chisholm.

West’s volunteer work includes teaching parenting classes every week at Carolina Hill Shelter in Marshfield, a transitional facility for displaced families and children. She has been involved with the shelter for 15 years.

“I see that I’m fortunate to work with families and to be able to see parents build confidence in themselves,” West said.

Building relationships and earning trust from parents is particularly important and goes a long way toward teaching parenting skills at the mandatory shelter classes, West said.

“I’m not judgmental, and I’ve just wanted to give them the tools and teach,” she said.

West also volunteers as a counselor in the Middleborough school district and has taught the Family Life Program at St. Christine’s Church in Marshfield for more than two decades.

“My job is to open up the means of communication between parents and their children,” West said of the sexuality program, which is designed to build self-esteem for youths. “It gives parents the skills to be able to communicate the important information about morals and values.”

From the time she was a child, West said she learned from her mother, Jacqueline McGillivray, how to be a good parent and that attentiveness and small acts of kindness make big differences in the lives of others. Marshfield High School offers a scholarship in McGillivray’s memory.

West is a grandmother and mother of five adult children. She and her husband Graham have one daughter and four sons, all of whom attended Marshfield public schools.

“Mother Teresa said you have to start first with your own family,” said West. “(Graham) was really my inspiration. He believed in me, so I could do all of these things.”

West’s son Eric, a 1992 graduate of Marshfield High School, said it’s amazing to see how many people his mother has affected over the years.

“Not just the classes, but it’s all the things she does in the community,” he said Monday from his home in Toluca Lake, Calif.

Eric said that when he travels back east, he’s always taken aback by the way his mother is greeted in public areas, like in the mall, for example.

“She gets stopped by so many people,” he said. “There are people that know her by sight that had her in a class 30 years ago.”

Eric also pointed to West’s volunteer work at a local nursing home.

“She goes there on holidays with decorations and gives people hope and something to look forward to,” he said.

West, who visits the nursing home on weekly basis, said it’s incredible how grateful the residents are.

“It’s amazing how when you go in there all they want is a smile, or to be touched,” she said. “They don’t get that contact with people other than family that they might not see all the time.”

West’s daughter in-law, Stephanie Kim-West, who is married to Eric, said West has an “infectious attitude.”

“She takes the most mundane everyday event and makes it something amazing,” she said. “Whenever you tell her anything, she has the greatest interest in whatever you have to say.”

West is the kind of person who always takes other peoples interests to heart, Kim-West said.

“She’s incredibly supportive,” she said. “She’s everything you would want in a friend. She’s a teacher and she’s always receptive.”