25 in '25: Lisa Hearl is one of Richmond's most prolific volunteers

Lisa Hearl was 21 years old when she took her first walk from her apartment in the Fan to her job at the Federal Reserve. Now, 40 years and 14 surgeries later, she's still walking around the Fan, crutch in arm, smile on face, checking on elderly neighbors in the middle of the night, making new friends and keeping up with old ones.

When she first moved to Richmond, she never expected the internship that first led her here to turn into a 34-year career and 40 years of calling the River City home.

When Hearl first started working at the Fed, she examined her schedule and noticed that with work Monday through Friday, and church on Sunday, she had Saturdays wide open. Hearl had volunteered at a hospital in high school and decided to do the same in Richmond. She dedicated her time to what was then the Stuart Circle Hospital, where she assisted with menus, delivering flowers and working the information desk. By the time the hospital closed, Hearl had served over 10,000 hours as a volunteer.

She credits her time as a volunteer to her love for being with people.

“Yeah, I can sit and do numbers or read a book or whatever, but I like people really, truly,” Hearl said.

Now retired, Hearl keeps a packed schedule filled with volunteering gigs, time with neighbors and movie screenings at her favorite theater. She volunteers at the Virginia Home, Cristo Rey Richmond High School, Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, and the list goes on.

Hearl thrives off of being around two key things: numbers and people. It's exactly why a part-time bookkeeper job at her church, Sacred Heart of Richmond, appealed to her when she retired early from the Federal Reserve. In addition to her work as bookkeeper at the church, Hearl serves as an usher and as a member of the Social Justice committee. Retirement for Hearl is no vacation; her weekly schedule is outlined almost to the hour, with the majority of slots reserved for helping people in her community. 

“That's how I've always been in life. If it works out, it works out. Life's too short not to be happy,” Hearl said about getting the job at Sacred Heart.

Spend an hour with Hearl and you will end up spending another hour with her neighbors and friends — both through her stories, and her walks around the Fan.

One of her friends she met walking in her neighborhood is Tricia Bryant. Bryant says Hearl “has a magical quality of taking older people under her wing,” a quality that extends into everything she does.

“She's just a very unselfish person,” Bryant said.

When Hearl was volunteering at the information desk at Stuart Circle Hospital one Friday she noticed someone who didn’t usually work on Fridays leaving the gift shop. After talking they realized they lived a block and a half away from each other and were headed to the same place. They walked back together, and in no time became great friends. 

“She became like a substitute mother to me, because I had no family here, or anything,” Hearl recalled.

As her neighbor got older (she will be 102 in November) she would call Hearl in the middle of the night, having fallen or hurt herself, and Hearl would walk over immediately — 4 p.m. or 4 a.m., it didn't matter. She would do her laundry for her, check in daily, and take care of things for her around the house. That's just the way she is. 

“Not a lot of people would do that for somebody that you're not related to. Other people wouldn't do it to somebody they were related to,” Bryant said.

“You have to appreciate that every person has something special in there. I think the world kind of has gone away from that, that it's (a) me, me, me type thing, whereas that's not how I grew up,” Hearl said.

Hearl said she doesn't see herself as successful “by the world’s standards,” but ask any of her neighbors in the Fan and they’ll tell you a different story.

Neighbor and longtime friend Rebecca Eichelbaum referred to Hearl calling her “one of the joys of my life.” 

When Eichelbaum was in the hospital with a broken femur, Hearl called her regularly from Eichelbaum's house, so she could chat with her cat Zoe. 

Hearl and Eichelbaum would coordinate Thanksgiving dinners and Easter baskets to share with their friends, ensuring no one was alone over the holidays. 

When Hearl had knee surgery, her priest visited her every week. Feeling grateful, Hearl wanted to do something to give back to the church.

“And so he told me, Well, what I'd like you to do is send in a card, send a card to the residents at the Catholic residents of the Virginia Home, like for holidays, and an occasional greeting card, and then for the birthdays and stuff. So now I have so many friends there that it's like, you know, that's the good that can come from that,” Hearl said.

Hearl once attended a memorial at the Virginia Home. One person came up to her and said, “you’re the Catholic mass lady.” The next, “You’re from the Cathedral.” And the third, “you’re the lady that sends cards.”

Throughout Hearl’s journey in Richmond, and in the Fan, she has maintained an unshaking positive outlook that rubs off on those around her.

When she retired from the Federal Reserve, Hearl held a lunch for her friends and community members. On each chair she placed the same note. “Thank you for being my friend,” it read.

Contact reporting intern Juliana Vandermark at jvandermark@richmonder.org. This article has been updated to note the full name of the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.