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Patti and Don Dorlarque are familiar faces among the community of Columbia Falls. They’ve lived in the Flathead Valley since the 1970s, and both volunteer extensively.

“It keeps me out of trouble,” Patti laughed during a recent interview.

You could call them super volunteers. It seems like they’re helping out with almost everything.

At the Montana Veterans Home, Patti helps the staff coordinate a Walmart shopping trip for residents every Tuesday. During special events or holidays, she takes pictures of the veterans and their families. She also helps with outings to the fair and the occasional boat trip on Flathead Lake.

The Dorlarques are both on the board at the North Valley Senior Center. She’s a secretary for the board, and often organizes functions and fundraisers. Don drives for the food bank, making regular trips to Kalispell and Whitefish to pick up food for Meals on Wheels. She drives for Meals on Wheels, too, delivering meals directly to homebound citizens.

Don is also on the board of the Wildc/kat Athletic Endowment Association, and volunteers at the Sapa-Johnsrud baseball fields doing lawn care and other jobs.

The couple were selected as “Super Fans” by the high school in 2014, and they enjoy following the Columbia Falls athletics teams and attending events — “weather permitting,” Patti joked.

Patti and Don have been married for almost 31 years. Between the two of them, they have three children and nine grandchildren. Raising kids also kept them busy.

“Now it’s our turn to kinda sit back and relax,” she noted.

But they don’t do much of it.

The two got involved with volunteering immediately after they retired over 10 years ago. He worked for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and she worked for CenturyTel, before it became CenturyLink.

“We needed something to do,” she said. “We do it to give us something to do rather than sit at home and watch TV.”

They say they love helping people and making friends.

“I love when I go deliver meals, because those people don’t get a lot of outside exposure. To see the smiles on their faces,” she said. “Same with the vets, it’s just the contact. They’ll tell you a joke, or you can sit down and talk to them and hear about their experience in the military.”

With all the volunteering they do, the Dorlarques don’t have a lot of free time. When they do, it’s spent quietly.

“We go so much and do so much, I like to sit and relax,” Patti said.

She loves scrapbooking, used to quilt, and enjoys genealogy.

And she offered some simple life advice.

“Take one day at a time, enjoy it, enjoy your family when you can. It goes too fast.”