Patsy Scott is a proponent of keeping fit, often going for walks at Augusta Mall and participating in water aerobics.

But lately she's been keeping busy waving signs as early as 6:30 a.m. throughout the Richmond County school board's District 5.

"We are going to the people and asking for their vote," said Mrs. Scott, one of three candidates running for the seat, which is up for grabs in the Nov. 3 election. "We've just been really busy, but it's been good. I've met a lot of people."

Mrs. Scott, 67, is the widow of Joe Scott, who was the District 5 trustee when he died July 25. Mrs. Scott said she wants to build on his efforts.

"This is nothing that I had ever planned to do," she said, but running "is something I know he would have wanted me to do."

Mrs. Scott, who attends Tabernacle Baptist Church and calls herself a "biblical person," is quick to say she's not out to compare herself with her husband.

However, she hopes to carry on the tradition of her husband, who she said believed in transparency, wise spending of taxpayer dollars, that all children could learn and that politics should be taken out of the school system.

"He just totally believed in that, and I believe in it, too," she said.

Mrs. Scott said she has tutored schoolchildren for more than 20 years and is a retired operating room nurse preceptor with the Veterans Affairs Medical Centers.

A native of Hampton, S.C., she has lived in Augusta for 45 years and has been retired for 12.

"I feel like I have the energy, and I have the time to give up my service to the school system," she said.

If elected, she said, she would work to ensure students have access to needed resources, keep parents informed of issues and support good pay for teachers.

"I just want to be there for teachers and the community," she said.