Bath Seniors share a little History and Present

This story is the first in a series about Bath County Senior Citizens, and I hope as it progresses listeners may call in with suggestions of local Seniors they would like to hear interviewed. We started at the Senior Center in West Warm Springs and spoke to four different regular visitors there. Each of them shared a little of their own history, and what the Senior Center has come to mean to them. Tommy Stewart started to go to the Center when his daughter encouraged him to, in a way that only a grown daughter, or son, can.

“She said that instead of just sitting at home doing nothing, why don’t we go to the Senior Center, and so that’s what I did. And I decided to come down here, and I enjoy it so much, and brought Delores with me, my wife, and she came down too, and we just enjoy it so much. In fact we look forward to coming every time they have Senior Center. We enjoy it because we get to meet the people, laugh and talk and joke, and play games. It’s just so much to really keep your mind active, and it keeps us going and it’s something to look forward to, ‘cause I do have a little job, and I do that down there every now and then when they want me to, and I enjoy doing that. I’m sixty-eight years old, going on sixty-nine, and I tell you if you don’t keep things movin’ you will loose these things that we got and take for granted.

And I just thank God every day for giving me these health and strength, and continue on, and I thank God for blessing me the way he has did.”

Mr. Stewart learned a few years back a big piece of being healthy is staying active.   He had been ill, and knew it would take a lot to regain his independence again.

“I was just a plain mess, and I stayed in the hospital for a long time, sometimes week in and week out.”

He mentioned not taking that independence for granted, and how reconnecting with church and friends is so possible in this community.

“But now with God’s help, and going out different places, and meeting the people at the center, I feel so much better, I feel rejuvenated. And I just feel released, and like that I can do things. I get in the car, and go by myself and do things like that. It is a great achievement that I have did and I couldn’t have did it without God.”

His gratitude and pleasure shine all over, as the constant laughter and chatter throughout the center fill the morning through early afternoon.

“And I just praise God for each and every day that he has let me see this, this day and every other day.”

The Bath County Senior Center is open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm. For more information call, 839-5604, or e-mail Alicia at Alicia@vpas.info

Please stay tuned to Allegheny Mountain Radio for a few more visits with Seniors, and email wchgnews@tds.net with suggestions for other elders’ stories you’d like to hear.