[/caption]Carol Forsloff - Along the highways across the country, roadside signs often proclaim a senior citizen center just ahead, a reminder how many seniors travel and the market they present for towns and businesses across the country, but what are these centers really like and do they fit with stereotypes of doddering elders waiting for the Reaper?
The Elsie Stuhr Center in Beaverton, Oregon is one of those special gathering holes where seniors play each day. And play is the operative word for seniors, regardless of their physical or mental status because there is a place for everyone and an activity for folks of different needs and talents at a center that prides itself on its offerings for quality of life.
Nestled in a park-like setting, the Elsie Sthur Center boasts an exercise facility, classes in everything from watercolor to advanced Spanish, Tai Chi and modern dance as well as other things. It is also the base of operations for Loaves and Fishes in the Northwest area, the “Meals on Wheels” with which most folks are familiar as helping serve food to seniors and to people with disabilities.
The food is served with graciousness, with style, and with aplomb by a group of other seniors who volunteer for service and who joyfully give their love in bundles mixed with trays of food. The food is generous, the menus changing, with new offerings from time to time that delight the lucky folks, those senior citizens who regularly frequent the center.
[caption id="attachment_5928" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Loaves and fishes (Forsloff photo)"]
[/caption]Most seniors will admit that it took time for them to admit they too were aging and needed the support of a community of friends. The Elsie Stuhr Center is a place where people come to visit, to enjoy the company of others, to laugh, to learn and to share life’s experiences with other people who take the time to listen and enjoy.
Helen Lyn Raymond is one of those seniors at the center who serves as an example of just how rich and wonderful an elder’s life can be. As an entertainer, actress, singer, writer and dancer, she is involved in many activities around the center and surrounding community. Living with gusto, this 87-year-old wonder, has the mind of someone half her age and all the charm that younger folks would want to have as well.
Anne Willoughby loves to laugh and share the joy of other seniors who regular visit the Center. When Willoughby isn’t out of town, as she frequently travels and teaches as a Christian missionary in different countries around the world, she visits her friends and takes in the activities of the Center. She said what many people exclaim when they discover the wealth of life and information found among the senior folks who gather regularly to talk, to learn, to grow. “Most of the world’s wisdom is locked up in our cemeteries.” It was a remark Anne mentioned she heard a minister say one day, a reminder that the world loses much of its rich wisdom of its elders, as they are neglected by much of society, while many still have talents to display. But here, with joy, with laughter, they share those talents and ideas with each other and remind the world that growing old with grace is something most folks can achieve when they have the company of other folks who care.
