By Eric Sims-Brown
It’s late on a Friday afternoon. Most of the Olympia Center is empty. Dee Toucher and Ina Hill have just finished playing a hand. They offer to deal me in but I don’t know how to play. This is a regular game between friends. Toucher and Hill come here almost every day and not just for cards. Says Toucher, “I do water aerobics three days a week and yoga the other two.”
Donald Spieles joins our group. He doesn’t have much of a choice. Toucher and Hill tease him until he gets up. Spieles is a transplant from Michigan. He moved to Olympia over a year ago after his father passed away. Spieles is soft-spoken, not shy, just quiet. He fit right in. “I came down here and everyone was friendly,” says Spieles.
Glenda Ross is easy to spot. She’s coming straight for me. It’s her personality. There are no soft questions. She begins with a simple but direct, “Who are you?” Her words are precise and friendly. Maybe it’s her English accent. I explain myself. I’ve come to interrupt, to ask questions. Ross studies me then blurts out an expletive. Toucher, Hill and Spieles laugh. I’m the new kid. Ross puts her cold hands on my arms (a habit of hers) and says, “Okay dah-ling. You can stay.”
I need to rewind. I enter the building looking for Eileen McKenzie Sullivan. She’s the Executive Director of Senior Services for South Sound. We have a two o’clock appointment and I’m early. A group of older people are in the lobby. They’re singing along with a piano. There’s a woman in the middle of the group. She smiles and moves her arms like a conductor. Afterwards this same woman mingles, she talks and hugs. She says goodbye, making sure to call everyone by their name – then she heads upstairs for our interview.
McKenzie Sullivan has been with Sound Services for 31 of the organization’s 40 years. Sound Services helps seniors with, well, everything. The organization offers education and exercise classes, nutrition programs, transportation and field trips just to name a few. Perhaps the most impressive is Meals on Wheels. “Our chef does an amazing job,” says McKenzie Sullivan. “We have hundreds of meals go out every month and she knows what each person can and cannot eat.”
Senior Services is run by a combination of staff and volunteers. Their mission is to provide a comfortable place for seniors. “Some people come in here and this is their home away from home. This is their extra living room and they really get to know each other and they notice when someone isn’t here,” she explains.
Which leads me to a question. McKenzie Sullivan laughs and nods her head when I ask if close friendships ever lead to relationships. I’m not surprised. Changing perceptions is part of the culture at Senior Services. “We tend to look at an older person by their traits. ‘Oh look they’re so slow or forgetful.’ We want people to look past that to see who that person really is. These are people with fascinating histories.,” says McKenzie Sullivan.
I’ve been invited back. Dee and Ina want to teach me how to play Qwirkle and 10,000.
Glenda wants to take a look at my writing. She’s a handwriting analyst. She also survived The Blitz during World War II. I learned a lot in an hour – including ages – but that doesn’t matter.
