Lunch With Friends

There are no stairs in the Columbia County

Senior Center, at least that I could find, and the PA system was turned up a tad louder than I'm used to. But the camaraderie and fel­lowship I saw there was no different than a lunch crowd anywhere.

More than forty people showed up for lunch last Thursday when I stopped by for a visit, and there was a lot of information to take in. As the group waited for the call to go through the meal line, Senior Center president Barbara Gibson started off by introducing the day's guest on the loud PA and everyone gave me a nice wave. She said it was for exercise.

Gibson then read off a list of important information the group needed to know:

Scammers are calling people - especially seniors - on the phone and then hanging up. If the callee returns the call, she ends up calling a country in the Caribbean and incurring a large calling fee on her next phone bill - usually at least 100 bucks.

Columbia County is urg­ing everyone to sign up for CodeRED, its new emer­gency notification system. Gibson briefly described the new system and said that Orinda Woods, the Senior Center liaison for the local Aging and Long Term Care office, would be available after lunch to help people sign up.

Then Owen Agenbroad, a long-time Senior Center lunch attendee, got up and told the group that the hos­pital district would be hav­ing a meeting the following day to discuss how Booker Rest Home could better of­fer assisted living services.

Agenbroad then told a joke. It was about five little pigs who went out to eat one day. He told a longer ver­sion, but the short version is that four of the pigs ordered normal meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But for each meal, the fifth pig ordered "beer, beer, more beer, and keep it coming." When the other four little pigs questioned him, the fifth pig said, "Well, some­body's gotta wee wee wee all the way home." That got a few laughs and more than a few groans.

Barbara Gibson took the mic back and described plans for pot luck lunch the following Thursday. More on that shortly.

Zella Powers told anoth­er joke and then said grace. Table one was then invited to come and fill their plates.

On the menu that day were Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, coleslaw, canned peaches and Brussels sprouts. The food is catered by the kitch­en at Dayton General Hos­pital. Funding is provided through ALTC. Woods, along with a couple of help­ers, served us our food from the Senior Center kitchen.

The reason for the pot luck this week is that fund­ing has been cut for senior center meals, which means that the group has had to give up one meal a month. So on the last Thursday of each month the seniors hold a pot luck lunch and provide their own food.

The Senior Center is open every Tuesday and Thursday. Lunch costs four dollars per senior, 60 and over. Since I'm under 60 (just barely), I paid seven dollars.

People begin arriving mid-morning. Some of the men gather in the pool room, and some of the women gather in the jigsaw puzzle room. Seniors are in­vited to come early and stay late on lunch days.

The Senior Center build­ing is owned and main­tained by Columbia County. It is the former Odd Fellows hall, at Third and Patit Ave.

I had lunch with Zella and Marion Powers, Owen and Jan Agenbroad and Art and Jean Sunderland. The Agenbroads began attend­ing Senior Center lunches in 1988, when Owen retired from the Green Giant Can­nery. Owen said he will be 91 in a few weeks and rarely misses lunch here. Zella Powers described some of the history of the Senior Center and some of the po­litical issues the group has to contend with.

As I was chatting with the folks at my table I sud­denly looked up and saw Gibson hovering over me. (She's not very tall, but she was definitely hovering.) She was staring at my plate, which was cleared of food except for the majority of the Brussels sprouts I had been given.

" Young man," she said sternly. "One of the rules here is that we eat our greens." I reluctantly gagged down about half the remaining - now cold - sprouts. Gibson smiled and then said, "Next time, put vinegar on them," pointing to the little carafe of gold liquid that I had ignored up to now.