Keeping Them Young

When the Highlands Senior Center opened at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Bob McQueen was cooking lunch for a crowd that usually goes up to about 70 people.

Larry "Gator" Pate was setting up his drums to keep the beat for the six-piece "Good Time Band."

People mingled and talked and laughed and got up to dance.

And Margaret Mantach, who turned 89 on New Year's Eve, recalled how Bob and Ahn McQueen led the drive to give seniors a place to gather, to share friendship and food, dance and sing and keep active.

It was a sad day in February 2006 when, without any notice, the Sun Room, the only senior citizens center in Highlands County, closed, she said.

A few days later, Mantach was among 12 seniors who went to see Ahn McQueen, a bookkeeper at the Sun Room who spent her lunch hours meeting and making friends with the seniors.

"What are we going to do?" they asked the McQueens, now that a home away from home for many seniors was gone.

"I remember the first thing I said," Ahn McQueen recalled, "was, 'What we aren't going to do is cry about it. What we are going to do is get busy.' And I remember Dick Miller saying, 'We've got to get to dancing again.'"

Miller, now 93, still gets the chance to dance because the McQueens and a core group of a dozen seniors launched the non-profit, all-volunteer Highlands Senior Center and opened on March 22 three years ago.

Miller and Mantach are among the crowds of from 50 to 70 seniors, sometimes 100 or more during the winter, who attend the Wednesday senior center sessions, held in the rented Sebring Hills Association Club House, on Spotted Owl Drive off Thunderbird Road.

The all-volunteer organization runs on donations and fundraisers and a $5 admission charge that covers pastries and donuts in the morning, lunch at noon, and almost continuous music for dancing and sing-alongs from two bands until closing time at 3 p.m.

They celebrate birthdays and have contests like "the funniest thing that ever happened to you," and also bring in guest speakers.

Ranging in age from their early 60s through the 70s, 80s and 90s, the crowds are a mix of spry and sprightly seniors who enjoy many other outings, and some slowed down by frail health.

"Our younger people have more places to go and more things to do," said Bob McQueen, who describes his role as "the chief cook and bottle washer" who tackles anything else that needs to be done. "For some of the older ones, this is one of the very few things they do each week, and that's part of what keeps them going."

Inez Sinclair, 83, who plays guitar with the "Good Time Band" during the morning and dances to the "Sunny Boy and Company" band in the afternoon, belongs to several clubs and plays golf, and said the senior center is a great place to make friends and have fun.

Mary Oakey, 68, greets everybody coming in as a volunteer cashier and hostess. Confined to a wheelchair since she suffered a stroke nine years ago, she says getting to Highlands Senior Center is the highlight of her week.

"I don't get out too much, this is my entertainment for the week," she said. "It's something I look forward to every week. I have a lot of friends I've made since I've been coming here ...

"And I really enjoy the music. I used to love to dance. I can't do that any more, but I enjoy the music and talking to people."

Seniors who can't drive get rides to the center from friends, neighbors, family or the McQueens and other volunteers. Throughout the week, the McQueens pick up seniors who need a ride, to a doctor's office, for a hairdresser's appointment, to pick up medicine or to go shopping.

"If they call and ask for a ride, we will help them," Bob McQueen said. With very limited transportation programs in the county, he said, "we try to fill in the gap."

The McQueens visit senior friends from the center if they become sick or are hospitalized, and offer a helping hand when needs arise On occasion, Ahn said, seniors call and ask for help, maybe to put in a new light bulb or replace batteries in a smoke alarm at home.

"If somebody can't get up on a ladder, sure, we're glad to come out and help," she said.

Last year, the McQueens launched a building fund drive. With their rented space available only one day a week, he said, a permanent home for the senior center would allow them to operate up to five days a week.

"With a place of our own, we could expand services and add more things," he said. One possibility is an adult day care, he said.

Lack of space prevents the senior center from offering more activities, Ahn said.

"We have two volunteers on standby to teach an art class," Ahn said. "And we've got two couples who want to start teaching square dancing, and we've got two who want to start ballroom dancing. And we have people who could teach knitting and crocheting."

Exercise and computer classes, also run by volunteers, could be started with a bigger, permanent home, Ahn said.

After seven months, McQueen said, the building fund totals about $3,000.

"That's not a lot," he said, "but nonetheless that's what we've started generating. You can't go anywhere without the first step. And that's our first step."

The McQueens said they plan to seek donations and sponsorships to expand the program from businesses and government agencies. Bob recently started researching senior centers operating five days a week in other parts of Florida to learn how they acquire facilities and funding.

In late September, the Highlands County commissioners made their first contribution, of $1,200 for the year, to the senior center. One reason was the recommendation of Mary Foy, county director of human services.

"I was very impressed when I visited," Foy said. What stood out most, she said, was seeing everybody having a good time.

"I applaud what they're doing," she added. "Some of their volunteers are doing transportation for seniors who can't drive, and these folks are doing it out of their own pocket."

With more donations, Foy said, "they obviously could do more to meet the needs of seniors. I think they're very worthy if someone wants to make a charitable contribution ... this is definitely one (non-profit) that is doing excellent work for the seniors in our county."

Lorraine Ross was among the crowd at the senior center last Wednesday.

"What I love is the attitudes of the people coming here," she said. "If I ever would come in feeling down - and I never do, but if I did - there's always people who will cheer me up immediately."

Without the senior center, she said, the community "would be a sad place. For many people, this is their joy of the week, to come here. We sing, we dance, and you meet so many nice people here. It's like family."

George Maltrop, 82, and Erma Ellinger, 85, attend the senior center nearly every week.

"We like the dancing and all the friendly people, and we just have a good time," Ellinger said. "This is what keeps us young. My motto is, I live to dance and dance to live."

For Bob McQueen, a retired Army helicopter pilot and former charter boat captain, running the senior center with Ahn means a lot of volunteer work and a lot of personal reward.

"I thoroughly enjoy seeing the smiles on their faces," he said, "and having people come up and give me a hug and, maybe, tell me they thought the soup they had today was the best since they can't remember when."

Ahn said the payoff for her volunteer work is "people knowing that they have someone who loves and cares about them, that they have friends."

As they seek funds for an expanded program, the obstacles look great but Ahn said she remembers when launching a new senior center from scratch was a daunting challenge.

"I pray a lot," she said. "And I say if you're going to pray don't worry, and if you're going to worry don't pray. So I pray."