Senioritis: new senior center director knew job was for him
New Missoula Senior Center executive director Randal Wolfe: standing, visits with some of the card-playing members at the local center.
BILL SCHWANKE/Missoula.com
By BILL SCHWANKE of Missoula.com
Randal Wolfe lives two blocks from the Missoula Senior Center and says, when he first saw the building, he thought he'd like to run the place.
Now he does, as the organization's new executive director, effective Oct. 22.
Wolfe met his wife-to-be, Melody Barnes, while attending a conference in Seattle and moved to Missoula to be with her. Barnes has practiced psychotherapy in Missoula for more than 20 years.
Wolfe, 47, said recently there's plenty to learn, and a wealth of longtime senior center volunteers to be his teachers.
A Michigan native, Wolfe left the Detroit area at the age of 19 in response to the lure of the Colorado mountains. After starting college at Colorado State he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at Northern Colorado.
With his master's in public health Wolfe moved to Wyoming to work as an epidemiology program coordinator for that state's health department. Then came the fateful meeting with Melody and his move to Missoula.
Wolfe said he had worked with several different adult populations during his career but really had no direct experience with senior centers.
Being around his own grandparents provided some initial spark of interest. Then Wolfe played music in nursing homes and took a job as an activities director at one of Missoula's long-term care facilities.
"I developed a love for working with folks and especially this population, and that brought me here to the senior center," he said, noting that some of the members suggested he apply.
As for learning the ropes, Wolfe said the volunteers basically run the show.
"It's my function to support them in their endeavors," Wolfe added, "keeping the facility running."
So far it's been watching and learning, something Wolfe said there will be a great deal of over the coming weeks and months. What he already has learned is that the senior center, open to individuals who are 50 years and older, offers a broad range of programs that should appeal to virtually everyone.
From tai chi to card games to art projects to bingo to exercise programs to biweekly dances, the Missoula center is a busy place, usually drawing more than 100 people per day, especially on weekdays.
"We have the best dance floor in town," Wolfe boasted, noting that it came from an old Missoula roller rink. The floor was in storage for a period of time and when the center decided it needed one, Wolfe said volunteers installed it.
It's the first thing you see when you walk in the front door at 705 S. Higgins Ave.
Programs are under constant evaluation by the center's members and board of directors.
"If someone comes in with an idea, we're open to trying just about anything," Wolfe said.
The center is open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
New board president Dennis Maercklein said the facility also is available for other groups to rent. The center also hosts special evening events in addition to dancing, such things as pancake suppers.
Legendary lunches cooked by volunteers are served Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and are open to the public, as are special evening meals that come up.
The Missoula Senior Center hasn't been in the current location forever. Earlier it was in its own building downtown donated by Kathleen Walford.
Wolfe said the current facility is large enough to satisfy the needs of the center at this time and for the foreseeable future.
The center is sustained by memberships at $15 per year or $150 for life along with proceeds from meals served, rentals, bingo, the dances and the large basement thrift shop hit heavily by Halloween costume seekers.
"We don't make a lot of profit but we hope to sustain the programs we have at least with the revenue that we bring in," Wolfe said.
Maercklein said the volunteers organize raffles complete with sale of jams, jellies, cakes, pies and cookies. There's an occasional silent auction, too, as members and volunteers do their best to help keep the place afloat.
"The people here organize that and kind of set it up," Maercklein said. "It always amazes me how things happen because so many people are involved. It's hard to get to know them all.
"So there's all these sources of revenue which we really need."
Maercklein also is the editor of the center's monthly newsletter, "Blazing Trails," with a circulation of more than 2,000. It contains a schedule of events for the coming month and the menus for the weekday lunches plus numerous other articles of interest to senior citizens.
Lost somewhat in the everyday busy-ness at the senior center are the travel opportunities offered to members and nonmembers alike. Susan Freeland coordinates the trips under the auspices of the Missoula Senior Center Travel Club.
Past trips have been to Mackinac Island, Mich., and Branson, Mo. Upcoming forays include a bus trip called Yellowstone in Winter in late January. Looking ahead to later in 2008, Freeland is organizing a trip to Colorado Springs, Colo., and an Alaskan cruise.
Sprinkled in among these regular trips are the occasional mystery trips. These usually are day trips that include at least one meal, but the folks who sign up have no idea what the destination is until they get there. The next one is Dec. 2.
Wolfe said the center is never lacking for new ideas. He admitted to being a bit wary of what might hit him when he started working at the center, but so far he hasn't felt the least bit overwhelmed.
"I'm still very much in the honeymoon period," Wolfe laughed.
He's finding it difficult to stay in the office and prefers to be out among the people participating in the center's many activities.
"I'm finding that it's hard to not spend a lot of time out socializing myself," Wolfe said. "It's pretty easy to spend the whole day out there just hobnobbing. Today I was informed that on Wednesdays I'm supposed to be playing scrabble."
Because the center is staffed and operated entirely by volunteers he said he's careful not to insert himself too much and tell people how they should be doing things.
Back in April Wolfe was part of a band playing at the center's St. Patrick Day dance and mentioned his interest in becoming involved in a leadership role to a few of the members.
"I have an affinity for these places and the folks that inhabit them," Wolfe said. "So my expectations have been right in line with what I've found so far.
"It's a warm community of folks (and) a great place to be," he concluded. "I'm a few years shy of being age eligible for membership here but I still feel like they're my peers. It's kind of like family."
For more information: Missoula Senior Center, 543-7154
Audio Link - Click here for the entire interview with Randal Wolfe and Dennis Maercklein.
