Sonnanstine announces retirement from TMCS

Open House planned at Tipp Senior Center Aug. 1

Tipp-Monroe Community Services (TMCS) will celebrate the retirement of Program Coordinator Katie Sonnanstine on Thursday, Aug. 1. TMCS will host an open house from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Tipp City Senior Citizens’ Center on North Hyatt Street.

“I’m sad that she’s retiring,” TMCS Executive Director Kathy Taylor said, “but I’m happy for her because she’ll be able to go out and do things that she wants to do.”

“She’s earned it,” Taylor said. “She’s done a good job for us.”

Sonnanstine is retiring after 23 years in the Program Coordinator position.

“The time was right,” Sonnanstine said. “I had been contemplating it for a little bit. I just decided, I’ve got to do it sometime.”

“After all those years it’s tough,” she said. “But it’s my choice, and I’m going to do some new things.”

As Program Coordinator, Sonnanstine was responsible for planning and scheduling TMCS classes and events in Tipp City and the surrounding area.

“We’ve had everything from Tae Kwon Do to Pilates,” she said. “We used to have Spanish class, different exercise programs, and educational things for children and adults.”

“It was a fun job,” she said. “I loved doing it.”

“We started a lot of new programs,” Sonnanstine said. “One of the biggest and best things that we started was the Lunch on Us program, which feeds the children during the summertime. I was not directly responsible for that program, but I think it was one of the best things we ever did for the community.”

Sonnanstine said the thing she will miss most about the Program Coordinator position is the people.

“It’s definitely the people,” she said. “The people I work with, and just the people who come in.”

“Kathy and I have been through a lot together, and it’s been great,” Sonnanstine said. “She cares about everybody, her employees and the community. She’s been great to work with.”

Sonnanstine also said her proudest accomplishment while serving as Program Coordinator was the people she was able to hire for TMCS.

“I was very proud of the young people I hired over the years,” she said. “We have what we call Building Supervisors, who work at the schools when we have basketball or a program at one of the schools.”

“They go in and open up the building, and stay while the activity’s going on, then make sure everything’s in order and close everything up,” she said. “I’m very proud of those teenagers I’ve hired over the years; I’ve seen them go to college and come back with children.”

Originally from Huston, TX, Sonnanstine moved to Tipp City from Virginia Beach, where she previously worked for the American Heart Association. She said she still remembers the day she first applied for the Program Coordinator position at TMCS.

“It was 23 years ago,” she said. “My husband and I had just moved here from Virginia Beach.”

“I answered an ad in the paper, and went and had an interview with Kathy,” she said. “I went home and told my husband, “I know who I want to work for.”

Sonnanstine currently lives in Bethel Township, and said she plans to stay in the area after her retirement.

“I’ll stay in the area,” she said. “My ties are really here.”

Sonnanstine also plans to remain active at TMCS whenever possible.

“I definitely plan on helping out at some of the events,” she said. “I think I’m going to be Mrs. Clause, and I’ll definitely help at the purse auction. It’s one of those things where I don’t want to butt in, but I want to be available if they need me.”

“I like everybody who works there,” she said. “I’m going to miss them, for sure.”