Senior Center set to celebrate 50-year anniversary Monday

The Hot Springs County Senior Center is celebrating its 50-year anniversary on Monday, April 3. They will have an open house from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Senior Center Director Trenda Moore invites the public to “Come in, reminisce, and learn the importance of the center.”

Moore added, “The festivities will be at noon. We’re going to have a couple speakers and we’re going to have cake, mints, ice cream, nuts, and all that good fun stuff including punch and coffee. Nothing formal, really, just fun.”

Senior Center Board Chairman Gary Holbert described some of the importance of the Senior Center and said, “Hot Springs County is the largest senior growing county in the state. You have a lot of people moving in. And for all the stuff they want to do, the full gamut of care of seniors, not needed care. They help you with Medicare, housekeeping and meals.”

The center has about 75 clients and three housekeepers who assist seniors. The Senior Center also assists in cleaning and sometimes with laundry and shopping. 

Holbert said the center delivers about 60 to 70 meals a day and there are four churches that help on a four-week rotation to deliver meals even as far as Kirby. 

Board Vice President John Lumley also spoke about the facility’s significance and said, “In the community as a whole and the social interaction that it provides for the elderly community is enormous. People are getting meals to sustain them. It keeps them in their homes, so we have helped people stay in their homes instead of going into an institution. And that’s really important.

He added, “My mom has used those services, and she was able to have somebody help her maintain her independence, which is so important to people.”

Lumley spoke about how the food program offers delivery of meals and that the volunteers that help seniors deserve a thank you.

Regarding the public transportation system at the center, Lumley said, “We’ve taken folks to the doctors and to the grocery store.

The center provides a social experience. Lumley mentioned activities like Bingo night, card games and the morning coffee club.

“It’s just a destination point for people as they age in years. During the pandemic, when we were shut down, we started worrying about the folks that were dependent upon the social interaction of going down there,” said Lumley

One of the founding members of the Senior Center was Karl Allen, who recalled the beginnings of the center.

Allen said, “When we first formed the Senior Citizens Board, we needed a place that we could use for senior citizens. We met in the old VFW for a while. But our president at that time, John Herrin, was a major factor and mover, along with future board member Bill Flynn, who was the president at Reda Pump. We had a high-powered board that included a lot of very good people, and so it really took shape when working with Secretary of State Thyra Thompson. She is the one that arranged for us to get the State Park land behind the high school football field.”

Allen added, “From there we had to progress to building a facility, and it really took the entire community of Thermopolis with strong support from the town and from county. We were eventually able to build the facility that is there today.”

According to Allen, Shirley Bent was the first director at the Senior Center. “She was a powerhouse director. She took so much upon herself to help create the organization,” said Allen.

“We also had help from the State Senior Citizens Board. There were many ups and downs of course, financing was difficult then, as I’m sure it is still difficult today,” added Allen.

“The institution has provided many different types of services. We started out working primarily for meals and then developed the Meals on Wheels, which is probably one of the greatest gifts that involved so many volunteers. We’ve served a lot of different types of people, and I think they’ve expanded their services in a variety of ways,” said Allen.

He added, “We were finally able to get a bus. One of the first people that helped us with the bus was John Black, who worked for the Transportation agency in Cheyenne. His family owned the Independent Record at that time, and he was editor before he moved to Cheyenne.”

Even though the Hot Springs County Senior Center has a rich history and journey through the years, they also are looking to the future. The Senior Center purchased the old ShopKo building south of town in April 2022.

Holbert gave an update and said, “It’s still in the process where we should be finalized shortly with the architects and then get into the engineering stage, probably in the next few weeks, and finalize the plans on the inside.”

Moore also said about the new building, “It’s just moving slow because everything takes time. So don’t anybody get discouraged, it’s all good, it’s just going to take time. But when we open, it’ll be great.”