- February 5, 2025
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Mary Wittmeyer sits at a desk with awards, certificates and letters of appreciation spread out in front of her.
There's a letter from Sen. Dorothy Hukill, letters from city officials and even one that was sent from the White House. With all these achievements under her belt, it's no wonder the 94-year-old Volunteer in Police, or VIP, for the Port Orange Police Department received this year's Citizen of the Year award.
But Wittmeyer's objective was never to win awards or gain notoriety; she started her volunteer work in the city as a way to stay productive while helping out the community she lived in.
Wittmeyer moved to Port Orange from the Buffalo, New York area with her husband in 1982. The two of them would frequent their neighborhood pool but, according to Wittmeyer, they "got sick of people complaining all the time" and decided to spend their time elsewhere.
The husband and wife joined their neighborhood crime watch before hearing about a group of volunteers, called VIPs, being put together to help the police department. In 1983 the Wittmeyers were two of about 100 people selected to become VIPs in the new program.
Then, in 1998, Wittmeyer's husband died. And even though her best friend was gone, Wittmeyer decided she still needed to continue her work with the police department. What followed was 20 years of dedicated work in the various positions she served, from secretary to treasurer, as well as seeing the transition of the police department to different locations before being placed at its current location on Clyde Morris Boulevard.
"When you lose your favorite person you lose all track of everything," Wittmeyer said. "You can't just sit around and dwell on that."
While her volunteer work keeps her busy, one of her favorite aspects of being a VIP is being able to make friends. Wittmeyer said there is a sense of camaraderie among the VIPs, and working with the different people at the department makes the job interesting.
In her 35 years serving as a VIP, Wittmeyer has seen changes not only in the building location — which started out at the Ridgewood and Dunlawton location — but also in how the police department is run. She used to work in the detective bureau where she would pick up pawn tickets to compare the items to the department's stolen property list, but when those lists were computerized, she moved on to another department. Wittmeyer said a lot of those updates, such as bringing in computers, were due to Bob Ford, now a city councilman, coming in as police chief.
"It's been wonderful to see the progression," Wittmeyer said.
When she and the other volunteers started out their shifts they would work from 6 p.m to midnight. Now, Wittmeyer works three days a week, with shifts that are usually seven-and-a-half hours on two days and about four hours on the third. There's also the details that come up for events, like the Christmas parade where she and other volunteers might be working four to six hours.
Wittmeyer can also be seen driving back and forth between locations to deliver mail or help with vacation house watches. Then there are the days she goes to the clerk's office in Daytona, the Sheriff's Office for fingerprints and the state attorney's office with any criminal work.
As for Wittmeyer's future plans as a VIP? She hopes to continue doing her job for as long as possible.
"I'll keep going till my health tells me to quit because it keeps me busy," Wittmeyer said. "You have to have some purpose in life. I guess this is my purpose."
