Pierce County Superior Court judges and Gray Lumber recently volunteered to paint the home of a senior citizen this summer.

Gloria Matz of Tacoma is the beneficiary of the Superior Court/Gray Lumber work crew’s efforts. The judges, commissioners and staff teamed up with Gray Lumber employees to pressure wash, scrape, prime and paint her house. Today, the crew expects to finish the job with a second coat of paint.

“They are doing a great job,” said Matz, 83, who has resided at the South 41st Street residence since 1946. “I so appreciate what they are doing for me, and they are such nice people.”

Matz and her husband, Daniel, who died in 1975, raised a daughter who attended Reed Elementary and Gray Junior High and graduated from Lincoln High School. “I even graduated from Lincoln [in 1943],” she said. Matz worked for Tacoma School District as a lunchroom worker at Reed, Madison and Whitman elementary schools.

This is the third year that the Superior Court has teamed up with Gray Lumber, although both groups have independently participated in the Paint Tacoma-Pierce Beautiful project on several occasions.

Judges and others who couldn’t help paint contributed by bringing food and beverages for the workers or providing funds to acquire extra touches to further brighten the Matz home. An interior hollow-core door in an exterior doorway failed due to weather exposure. Gray Lumber replaced it with a solid-core exterior door.

Roger McLennan, judicial assistant to Judge Rosanne Buckner, contributed funds to help purchase some of the extra touches and also made a homemade meal for the workers.

The judges were assigned the Matz home by Sallie Shawl of Paint Tacoma-Pierce Beautiful. Since the program began in 1985, volunteers have painted 1,740 homes.