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By Christina Perrone
Hometown Weekly Intern
On Wednesday, June 14, Hometown Weekly visited The Center at the Medfield Council on Aging (COA) to celebrate Flag Day with a cookout. Many of the seniors there had been veterans and wore red, white, and blue in honor of the holiday. However, the cookout was not the main event of the day. Seniors were busy with fun activities such as line-dancing, whist, bingo and catching up with friends. The Center offers many services and activities to its members, including yoga, watching documentaries, Zumba, and wood carving to name a few.
In one room, members were line dancing, keeping in time with the beat. In the main dining area, others sat at tables with dear friends and chatted. At one table was Tom Sweeney, a Medfield native, whose favorite activity is water coloring. With him were paintings of his favorite places in the area. One of his most recent paintings was of a tree with a tire swing on School Street in Medfield. At another table sat Sweeney’s wife, Judy, along with the knitting club at the COA. Judy has lived in Medfield for 45 years, “My husband is a townie,” she added, “He’s been here for almost 70 years.”
The main event that day was a bingo game, with prizes starting at $50. One of the bingo players in attendance had been in Medfield for 57 years. When asked for the secret to keeping young, she responded: “Oh! I don’t give my age out.”
Another bingo player had been here for only 15 years. “When I first moved here, the accent drove me crazy,” she said, “So I had my ears checked to see if I was going nuts.”
Another memorable player named Terry was a long-time Medfield resident herself. Despite being 93 years old, she buzzed around the COA, a popular character among members and staff. It’s said that the key to her energy is taking a daily two-mile walk, which she and her husband had done for many years.
Terry won bingo twice that day. At the end of the game, one member said, “You either fall in love with it or run away from it.” Nothing could ever be closer to the truth.
Hometown Weekly also had the chance to speak to Susan Bernstein, who has worked at the center for seven years and has lived in Medfield for 32 years. “I’m the volunteer coordinator, so I’m the wrangler all of the volunteers,” said Bernstein. When asked what her favorite part of Medfield was, she replied, “Here! I love my job. It’s a great job.”
According to Bernstein, the best part of her job are the cookouts: “Well the cookouts are fabulous. We have entertainment, everyone has a good time … all of the people here, we get different groups each time, some regulars depending on whether they’re around or if they like to dance. We have a lot of dancers that come. So, it’s just fun.”
Indeed, with such bright and exuberant members, there is never a dull moment at The Center.
