Joan Seavey Thomas was a single woman with a cat and a dog when, she recalls, Hayward "welcomed me with open arms" in 1962 as the new dean of women at California State University.

She reciprocated, throwing herself into volunteer work that gave her "special joy, because I cherished the opportunity to meet people and work with them."

Now, 41 years later, the community will thank her for helping to make Hayward a better place to live and work.

In October, in recognition of five decades of professional and volunteer accomplishments, Thomas will receive Hayward's lifetime achievement award during the community's annual volunteer dinner.

"It's flattering and humbling," said Thomas, a reed-thin woman of graceful bearing and gentle manner. "I am very pleased, but embarrassed when I know how many eligible people deserve this honor."

"She has staying power year in and year out," said Alameda

County Supervisor Gail Steele, a dinner committee member. "When she says she will do it, it will get done. When you look at the huge amounts of things that she has done to make things happen, it feels good to be able to honor someone like Joan."

A memory of one special program prompted kudos from Hayward attorney John Guinee, who nominated Thomas for the award, and a fond memory from the recipient herself.

In the 1960s, in response to high rates of suicide, Guinee recalled that Thomas and others staffed a telephone hotline for teenagers and other young people.

"Joan not only assisted in administering the program, but fielded calls on the hotline and counseled troubled teens," he said.

Thomas also remembered spending nights staffing the hotline office, in part because she refereed skirmishes between her dog and a pesky mouse who teased both owner and pet.

Thomas was born in Oregon, where she obtained her bachelor's and master's degrees in education. She served in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, and also in the regular Army, during World War II. She was dean of women and dean of students at the Oregon College of Education for 12 years before moving to Palo Alto, where she obtained her doctorate at Stanford University.

She joined the staff of Foothill College but wanted to work at a four-year college.

So Thomas came to Hayward in 1962, joining the new California State University campus as dean of women and later as associate dean of students. She retired in 1985, after helping to launch women's study and re-entry programs, services for disabled students and a nursery for the children of students.

In 1967 she married John Thomas, now retired from the Alameda County Planning Department. They have three children, Suzanne Lawlor of Castro Valley, Mary Thomas Weiss of Piedmont and George Thomas of Palm Springs.

Thomas described herself as a "gadfly" when it came to volunteer work because of the organizations and projects with which she became involved.

Thomas has been a member of the Salvation Army advisory board almost as long as she has lived in Hayward. She was a founding board member for Literacy Plus, the Hayward library's tutoring program for adults who can't read.

She has served on the Emergency Shelter Program board to provide shelter for women and children who are victims of domestic violence. She was on the board of Project Eden when it operated Eden Express, a restaurant training program for people with developmental disabilities.

Other programs on her volunteer resume include Planned Parenthood, American Association of University Women, League of Women Voters, Castro Valley Women's Club, Eden Area Breakfast Forum, Lunch Bunch group of business and professional women, and the educational society Delta Kappa Gamma.