By Kate Lohnes
When Robin Poses first tried the computer program Photoshop, she wasn’t looking for a new hobby.
The 59-year-old Westerville resident and avid traveler only intended to touch up several of her personal photos when she started taking classes to learn the program.
“I began doing adventure traveling when I was 50,” says Poses, who in the past nine years has visited Egypt, Morocco, Guatemala and other faraway locales. “Sometimes I would come home with about 2,000 photos from a trip. Well, sometimes you go someplace that you’ll never go back to, but you took an awful photo. That’s why I was so interested in Photoshop.”
That interest has since turned into a full-blown passion. Mostly self-taught, Poses is now the teacher, instructing Photoshop classes at the Westerville Senior Center. She dabbles in new techniques every day for hours at a time, she says, restoring old family photos, improving travel shots and experimenting.
“I love it so much,” she says. “I think this allows me to venture out into my creative side.”
Opportunities for senior community members like Poses abound in the Westerville community. From volunteerism to the arts to exciting clubs, older adults are discovering – or re-discovering – talents they didn’t know they had.
For Ron Reich, 69, and wife Eve, 72, the past year has been spent re-kindling a former passion: square dancing. In November 2008, the couple signed up for lessons with the Westerville Promenaders square dancing club after a more than 20-year hiatus (they quit dancing because of family obligations, Eve says).
After completing their first round of lessons in May, the Reichs will assist in the fall as “angels,” helping new dancers learn the ropes. In spite of busy calendars, the couple also tries to fit in several dances a month with the Promenaders and other local square dance clubs.
They returned to square dancing for various reasons, among them physical activity. Ron says the dances last for several hours, and even with breaks the dancers get a good workout.
But more importantly, the Reichs returned to square dancing because they missed it.
“We remembered that it’s a wonderful couples’ activity, and it’s good clean fun,” Ron says.
“It’s wholesome fun,” Eve adds. “The people are good people who do community activities and church activities.”
The Reichs also enjoy square dancing’s more social aspects. The dances provide regular opportunities to mingle, as do the club’s picnics and other gatherings.
“I’m not very good at planning special activities every week,” Ron says. “We do a lot of things – we go to theater, we travel, we do church activities – but you should do something every week that’s fun, and there are always square dances to go to. You can go and dance every week.”
Having a routine is also important for seniors, such as Warren and Hazel Hayes. Warren, 88, has been volunteering at Mount Carmel St. Ann’s Hospital in Westerville since 1987 (the couple, who met at Otterbein, retired to the area in 1984). Currently he spends his Fridays in the short stay unit, assisting patients who come in for outpatient surgery or testing.
“Before I retired, I had minor surgery there, and a volunteer there was so nice to me,” he says. “I decided that when I retired, I would volunteer in the surgery area, also.”
Hazel – who had volunteered for a hospital and a rehabilitation center when the couple lived in White Plains, New York – soon followed suit and signed up to volunteer. Currently, she volunteers on Mondays in the Human Resources Department. The Hayes have more than 10,000 volunteer hours at the hospital.
Volunteering for the hospital, combined with other volunteer efforts at Church of the Messiah United Methodist Church in Westerville, keeps the Hayes calendar busy, something Hazel says she’s grateful for.
“For one thing, it keeps you on some kind of a schedule,” she says. “If you don’t do anything, every day is the same. If you’re not volunteering, you have to think about what day it is.”
Poses, the Reichs and the Hayes all say Westerville seniors should check out the many activities in the community – chances are they can find something they will enjoy.
“I think there’s something for all walks (of life),” Hazel says.
Kate Lohnes is assistant editor for Westerville Magazine.
EXTRAS: Check out these chances to be active in Westerville:
- The Westerville Senior Center (310 W. Main St.) offers multiple classes and social activities, everything from bridge games to aerobics to creative writing. For more information, call 614-901-6560 or visit www.westerville.org.
- Otterbein College offers various opportunities. There are campus-wide lectures throughout the year that are open to the public, as well as free musical programming and art exhibitions. For more information, visit www.otterbein.edu.
- Hazel Hayes recommends seniors offer their time to Franklin County or Delaware County Board of Elections (www.vote.franklincountyohio.gov, www.co.delaware.oh.us/boe/).
- Clubs and civic organizations such as Westerville Sertoma, The Rotary Club of Westerville and The Rotary Club of Westerville Sunrise all offer social and volunteer opportunities. For more information, visit www.westervillesertoma.org, www.rotaryclubofwesterville.org and www.westervillerotary.org.
- The Westerville Promenaders square and round dancing club isn’t exclusively for seniors, but is a fun and social activity for all ages. For more information, visit www.westerville-promenaders.org.
- Mount Carmel St. Ann’s Hospital has multiple volunteer opportunities in various branches of the hospital. For more information, call 614-898-4097 or visit www.mountcarmelhealth.com.