Lake Wylie’s Jeanie Dubrouillet, 53, was passionate about helping her community

Jeanie Dubrouillet wanted to make a difference in her community. She coordinated a York County holiday toy drive, helped plan a local arts gala and drove a Clover school activity bus.

Dubrouillet, 53, died around 1 a.m. Thursday of an apparent heart attack, leaving her family and community members stunned and saddened.

Dubroillet, who lived in the Lake Wylie area with her husband, Tom, and their two children, was a co-coordinator of the United Way of York County’s Holiday Partners drive.

“Jeanie was so good at organizing,” said Rebecca Melton, president of the United Way. “She was good at making sure everybody got help, nobody got left out and no mistakes were made in the applications.”

Holiday Partners, a collaborative effort between The Herald’s Empty Stocking Fund and WRHI’s Toys for Happiness, provides gifts to children through age 14. It served an estimated 680 families and more than 1,500 children last year.

“She enjoyed that quite a bit,” said her husband, Tom. “Mainly it was the challenge of making it run smoothly. She did it two years, and felt like there were improvements both times.”

Melton said Dubrouillet accomplished her goal.

“I know she had a passion for it,” Melton said. “She has children, and she is very civic minded. I know she understood why we need to help people at that time of year.”

Melton said Dubrouillet co-coordinated the holiday toy distribution for the second consecutive year with another volunteer, Debbie Hayworth.

“She was so full of life,” Hayworth said. “You never saw her when she wasn’t smiling. She brought a level of organization and collaboration to the Holiday Partners program.

“She will definitely be missed for all the good deeds and work she did to pull that off,” Hayworth said.

Dubrouillet also was involved with the Arts Council of York County, where she became a board member last summer. Executive director Debra Heintz said she quickly began to make an impact.

“She was willing to do any job we needed,” Heintz said.

Heintz said Dubrouillet chaired the volunteer corps and was involved in planning an arts gala. She even helped with organizing the council’s storage closets, Heintz said.

“She was really a worker, and said use me, please,” Heintz said. “She wanted to make a contribution to the community. She did everything from handling our volunteers to coming in and helping with office stuff.”

Tom Dubrouillet said his wife also drove an activity bus as a volunteer for the Clover school district. She had to meet certain requirements to become qualified, he said.

“She drove the wrestling team and the choir, anything they needed help with when she could do it,” he said. “She drove the day she died.”

She frequently volunteered at two area churches, River Hills Community Church and New River Community Church, both in Lake Wylie, he said.

Survivors include her husband, Tom and two children, a daughter, Annelise, and son, Nathan, both of the home, and her parents, James and Betty Ellis of Lake Wylie.

A celebration of life service will be 3 p.m. on Jan. 29 at River Hills Community Church. The family will receive friends at the church after the service.

M.L. Ford and Sons of Lake Wylie is in charge of arrangements.

This story was originally published January 17, 2016 at 2:37 PM with the headline "Lake Wylie’s Jeanie Dubrouillet, 53, was passionate about helping her community."