Kalispell Senior Center marks half-century of togetherness

In downtown Kalispell there’s a place that’s routinely full of people — people laughing, playing games and catching up, people who make the place “a lively, exciting building to be in every day,” according to Flathead County Agency on Aging Director Lisa Sheppard.

It’s the Kalispell Senior Center, which was established 50 years ago this year. Last Thursday, more than 100 seniors attended a gathering at the center — now housed at the county’s South Campus Building — to celebrate the anniversary with cake, good friends and several scrapbooks of material pulled from the center’s archives.

The senior center, which serves as a hub for games, movies, exercise and wellness classes, charitable giving and just relaxed socializing, was established on Oct. 6, 1968, in Kalispell. The club was open to seniors in Kalispell, Whitefish, Columbia Falls, Somers and surrounding areas, and membership dues were originally $1 per year, though the founders declared that “no one was to be barred from attending meetings for failure to pay dues,” said Jean Penne, a member of the center since 1996.

One of the biggest changes for the organization was the relocation of the Kalispell Senior Center from its quarters in an aging building at 403 Second Ave. W. to the South Campus Building in 2016.

The founding mission of the center has remained the same, though. Penne said the goal has been to provide an opportunity for “older people to be active in a group and achieve an active older life.”

For Penne, an active older life means plenty of social connection; the senior center has allowed her to find people who relate to her experiences of life and loss as an older citizen.

“I think it’s getting to know the other seniors in the area, to know that you’re not alone, that other people are in the same boat you are,” she said. “And sometimes, when you’re by yourself,” which she often is now, since her husband died this spring, “it’s nice to know that there’s a place that you can come to visit with people.”

She said the center has helped her emerge from the grief of losing her husband — people ask how she’s doing, or have been there before and can say, “I know.

“Some of us are married, some of us are widows or widowers, some of us are single, one way or another,” she said. “Every one of them has been where I am now or where I’ve been.”

As she finished talking, another member of the senior center walked over and embraced her.

“How many years have we known each other?” Penne asked as they both laughed.

“A long time,” the woman replied. Between their church and the senior center, they estimate they’ve been friends for at least 40 years. Both are now widows. “How are you doing?” the woman asked Penne.

“I’m doing OK. It’s tough, it’s different,” she answered, and the conversation turned to senior communities and upcoming movie nights.

“Fellowship. Everybody is going to tell you that,” said Creta Lund of her favorite part about the center. Lund, who just turned 92, taught aerobics at the center for 26 years, but recently switched to teaching a class on balance, on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Lund has been a member of the center for 30 years, and said she has seen it grow to include more older members and a more active community.

The center now has 320 members, and dues are $25, prorated over the course of the year. In terms of activities, “we’re overflowing,” board Vice President Gerri Backes noted.

Backes has been a member for about five years, and said she was surprised to learn about the center’s focus on long trips in its early days.

“Dances were their big thing [back then]...the thing that surprised me is that they were focused on [longer trips], while we have changed our goals,” she said, pointing to the center’s charitable efforts. “We’re reaching out to community members and giving back to the community.”

The center currently is collecting warm clothing for its winter warm-up drive, and maintains a network of knitters and quilters who donate time and materials.

But the heart of the center remains its social network of fellow Flathead seniors.

“It’s not for seriousness — it’s just the sociability and the fun,” Backes said.

“It’s just nice, for me and I think others, too, to sit and visit,” Penne reiterated. “Our friends are here.”

Reporter Adrian Horton can be reached at 758-4439 or at ahorton@dailyinterlake.com.