speech to the senior center at its mortgage burning party
Since most of the staff here are too young to remember the days back when we built the first Senile Center, they asked an old codger like myself to address all you youngsters, maybe give a short history lesson. So pay attention, I don’t want to have to repeat myself and change the facts due to an overactive memory overload.
Back at the dawn of time, the Camano and Stanwood Senior Center were one and the same, what they cleverly called the Camwood Senior Center, what is now the Stanwoodopolis Senior Center still up at the old Lincoln School, but in 1973 Camano’s population of geriatric insurrectionists seceded from the group and formed the Camano Confederacy, what they called the Senior Services of Island County to make this look legitimate. Like a lot of secessionists, they struggled. They had a pitiful little office in where the 2nd Chance Thrift Store is today, they had a senior social worker available at a desk they rented at the Plaza, they served meals at the Lutheran Church, and they rented freezer space at the Plaza for Meals on Wheels.
In the late 70’s the Seniors decided it was time to put all these eggs into one basket. They put up a thermometer and raised the matching money to build that beautiful blue box of a building the county’s probably gonna tear down soon. It was built as a Multi-Purpose Building, only part Senior Services, but a lot of other functions too in order to qualify for the grant they got. To qualify for senior center matching grants required 50% matching money but a multi-purpose facility only needed 25%? Money talked real loud back then. This served as the hub of Camano activities for two decades and probably should be preserved as a National Historic Site. You know, Early Metal Pole Building, late 20th century, the blue period. That, or a museum to toxic black mold and bad septic. Admission free. Just sign the disclaimer.
Well, we’re talking about 1978, bout the time Jimmy Carter was contemplating an early retirement himself. The County donated the land and like I said, we had that big thermometer for fundraising and before you knew it, we got the donations to help the County finish off the blue building most everybody thought was a Bingo Parlor. Cost $98,000 and change in 1978 currency.
When we built the first Senile Center and Camano Casino in l978 we didn’t have much else BUT retirees on the island. Marla Ries and me were practically teenagers then, probably not even voting or drinking age. We didn’t have schools on the island back in those simpler times… which might tell you how many kids lived on Camano. Which is why we built a Senior Center and not a Youth Center. So Marla and me didn’t get a place of our own to smoke in back of with all the other juvenile delinquents.
About l980 or so I was just starting my career of being Chronically Unemployed when I got wind the Senior Center needed an assistant director. Part time, low pay. Perfect for a retired fella like myself. I put my ponytail down the back of my best fairly clean shirt and interviewed with the Director. She told me in no uncertain terms she couldn’t hire a man for the job. Scare the bejabbers out of the elderly ladies. Probably true. Probably still is. But …. A clear case of Re-Verse Discrimination. Sure, I could’ve called the ACLU, I could’ve gone to the Supreme Court, I could’ve forced them to take me on, but I’m a South Ender and a South Ender eats what’s put on his plate, no complaints, just glad for supper. Boiled nettles, whatever. So my chance for Marla’s Ries’s job slipped away …. I’d have to say mighty damn lucky for Camano.
Say what you will about that ugly old blue box, those folks inside worked wonders with what they had. The testament to that, you might think, is this fine Taj Majal they built for the island. Fancy pants fireplaces and a library nicer practically than Stanwood’s Sno-Isle Day Care Center and Book Drop. State of the art kitchen and nettle steamers. Beautifully landscaped grounds. Sparkling indoor restrooms…. with no backdrafting odors.
But like the Olden Days, the building isn’t the real show. The truth is with all the programs they administer and the events they put on and the classes they teach and the meals on wheels and the outreach social services and I could go on all the live-long day, these folks are the heart and soul of this island and that’s a fact. So …. It’s good to see you troops massing here today! The Band and me are proud to stand here with you. Altho …. Next time, if we’re gonna dress up, maybe we could all get some decent hats…..
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