City in Sound; Senior Centers of Chicago

Good evening, this is Jim Herbert. But bringing you the city and sound, in this city of ours, as in all cities, a community problem is the welfare and well -being of the elderly members of the community. Although the problem has been growing increasingly acute in recent years, as man's span of life constantly expands, it's a problem somewhat akin to the weather. The only thing that's been done about it is to talk about it. But there are those in our town who are doing things, and the sound of one such effort is our story tonight, the story of senior centers. Mary Young, as executive director of the senior centers of Metropolitan Chicago, I'm sure you know a great deal about the background and aims of the organization. First of all, would you tell me how it got started, where it had its beginnings? Its roots began in a study, which was made all back about 1945 by the welfare council Metropolitan Chicago. They studied the existing services for older people, and also the

services which older people needed, and then they came out with a book of describing the study and recommendations. Why was it found that there were things that were necessary for all people? They found their legs in many areas, such as in employment, and the attitudes to of employers, and getting rid of people at retirement with no plans for the future, in the hiring policies of not taking older people. In the health services, although there are many progress, much progress has been made. There still hasn't been much done, by way of actual preventive medicine in terms of the agent field, and the field of recreation and education very little had been done that was worthwhile. Of course, your activity with the senior centers has directed along a particular line. Yes, it is an educational recreational program

for the use of their free time, free daytime hours. How long has the center here on North LaSalle Street been in operation? We've actually been in operation a little less than two years. Since you've been open, and the two years you've been open here, what has been the response from the senior citizens? Very good. We have an average of attendance of around 300 every month, and they come, I would say, an average of two and three times a week, so it's a busy place. Last year, we served actual members, we're about 800, and I suspect you could probably add another two or three hundred, we just dropped in. And came in one time, then came back, yeah, after that. How was the center supported? We're supported through the community fund and through individual contribution and some help from some of the foundations. And how about the people who come here to visit the center, the older

people? Do they contribute at all to the activity? We don't charge a fee, we have a voluntary fee, and they give quite a little bit through that. Now, what are the hours that the center operates here? For the seniors, we were open from 10 to 4 every day, except Saturday, and the Saturday group meet at 1 and stay through 4 are on into the evening hours sometimes. Now, is there a reason this young that you concentrate on that period from 10 to 4 in the daytime rather than having an evening program every day? Yes, there is. I think it's our thinking that the daytime hours are the longest hours for the person with nothing to do. That's his free time. Working person's free time is in the evening when he wants to be entertained and do something different. But the person who has nothing to do at all, and he needs to have some activities from his free time. Have you observed yourself some of the people who come down here, have you seen any change in them after they've become a part of the center

activities? A great deal of change. It's astounding sometimes, actually, been here a few weeks or a few months. They just blossom out and seem to have almost their new life again. Mr. Cobb, do you come to the center often? About as often as they let me, it's about three to four days a week. I can't come Saturday because I sketched onto USO on Saturdays and Sundays. You're an artist, are you? A genius. Are you? A genius, yes, an artist. Very rare and nice to have one. I think I do. Well, an artist, you know, is a man of talent and if he has a beard, he's a genius. I read that somewhere and I cling to that vigorously. Now, bears are returning, but you don't want to be confused with beaten eggs, I suppose. Oh, no, no, they couldn't. You see, they're way out and we geniuses are on the beat. What do you see your geniuses do here at the center here? Well, we amuse ourselves and occasionally other people and strain our muscles there, patting

ourselves on the back. That's one of my favorite troubles. It causes lumbago. What's going on now? Well, we're getting ready for the banquet here. They're going to tell us how to eat vegetables and fruit of various kinds and maybe feed them to us so to see whether we eat them properly and elevating the little pinky, you know, while eating a banana. It's always wise to take the overcoat off of banana before eating it. Had you learned that yet? I think I have, Mr. Cobb. I've also learned that besides being an artist, you're also a poet. Oh, I am. Without question at all. You written poetry about the center? Well, not so much about the center yet. I hardly feel acquainted with it yet. I've only been around here a couple of years, you know, and it takes while to get used to these unusual characters. But I did write a little gem one time about, well, I don't know which one would be better. Of course, you know, this one I didn't write. The lightning bug is brilliant, but he hasn't had a mind. He wanders through

creation with his headlight on behind. That sort of thing, you know, is not original, but apropos, I think, of me. Mr. Cobb, thank you very much. I don't want to hold up the lecture on the proper way to elevate the pinky, you did a time. Well, I don't know just when that starts in there, but I just wanted to show you there what I can do. There are out of the depths of my vast repertoire, which includes two other poems. Thank you, sir. I see the sign on the doors as director of counseling. And you must be the director of counseling. Yes, I am. And what is your name? Mrs. Ead is close. Mrs. Close, what does the director of counseling do here at the center? Well, I do about a little of everything. I see people when they come in for the first time, and I take the interview. I try to help people find the right spot in the program, things that they will like to do. And then I have a charge of the Wednesday program, which we call our Health and Happiness Series.

And I try to bring to the people things that deal with everyday living about personal health, as well as community progress and community welfare. We have doctors come in and speak, and representatives from different social and welfare agencies. So that in the group, we answer some of the questions that the individuals ask me as a counselor. But still, as the counselor, there is a good deal of counseling required, I suppose, for individual adjustment into the group here. Yes, I am really busy all the time. People come to me with questions about their health, where to go to find a doctor, about their housing needs. That's one of the urgent things for our members. Where to live, and whether it's time to go into a nursing home now, or what kind of arrangements to make. Then there are questions that come up about the activities and getting along with each other here in our center.

Sometimes there are misunderstandings, which I help to work out. Are there some times when people have become so accustomed to a working routine that they just can't adjust to use a free time this way? Yes, I think some people have difficulty in using their free time. The fact that they come here means that they're seeking an outlet and a different use of their time. So that perhaps we reach people who are ready for it, and maybe a lot of people who should be having this kind of experience do not get in. When they get here, they find lots to do. Yes, indeed. We have a varied program, something that should interest everybody. Now, what are we decided, Mrs. Murphy, that this committee is going to do? Well, there's several things. Keep the premises and the house presentable and attractive. And decorations for special occasions as Christmas and

parties, and keep them in order and keep them packed away and brought out. And recommend house rules to the forum. If we have anything that comes up, we want to take it up to the forum. And schedule, or the kitchen helpers, those that serve the coffee and help Michelle. And last one, consider special requests. When we need special things around the house and the house committee, we'll decide whether we need new coffee pots and new utensils around the house and then present it to the forum. Mrs. Murphy, can I have the floor for another question of the committee? You're the chairman of the house committee. And I gather that the activity of the house committee here means that the members of the center, people who come here, are their own governing bodies, is that right? That's it. What's the

senior governing body? What is the top of the organization, is it the forum type of government? We have a president for that. Is that Mr. Kretser's title? Mr. Kretser's the president. We have a treasure. And we have a vice president. Is it Mr. Meyer, the vice president? Yes. And then we have several, a treasure. Yes, you said a treasure. And the secretary. Well, I think that covers the governing body of the organization. And I certainly appreciate you letting me break in on your house committee meeting. And so I'll move off quietly. That's all right. Hope we did well. Did you want to hear some noise and a little thrashing? We can thrash some for you. Well, don't Loones normally make a big thrashing noise, Mr. Murray? No, no, they don't make a thrashing noise. They, oh, you are. No, we're just talking, actually, to find out what's going on. Because I walked into the weaving room here.

And I've had an entirely different idea about what weaving was like. Until I got it, this is the first time I've seen weaving done. Yes. But what you're actually doing here now is not... We're threading a loom. We're threading a loom. We're going to make a yellow wool stole on this particular loom. And that's what we're doing now. We're threading up the loom, preparing the warp, putting on the warp. And the warp is the... This is the warp. The up and down threads, the whole shape of whatever it is. The warp is what is on the loom. It's what you weave through. When we weave with weth, the thread that we weave is the weth thread. She'll have that on her shuttle, and she'll weave through this warp. Now, your name is what, ma 'am? My name is Charlotte Mortry. And you're the instructor in the weaving class. Yes. And the lady working with you here? Do we use Alec? We use Alec. Are you new at weaving? Well, I'm not old -handed at the doll. I just started

about just about six, seven months ago. But I enjoyed very much and done quite a bit already. I made several table mats and made two stoles. And I'm making my third stole. Is this a lot of fun? More fun than I thought it was. Really? I love it very much. Well, there are quite a few ladies in the weaving class today. But I suppose this isn't limited to ladies. Some of the men at the center go into the weaving classes too. Oh, yes. Yes. We've had two men that had been quite regular in this particular class. And they're not here today. They've finished what they were doing. And they're waiting till there's something else ready for them to go ahead with. Is weaving one of the principal craft activities at the center? Well, I would say it is one of them. We have so many different crafts that interest so many different people. But this is really quite a popular craft. Hi. How you

doing? They call this the garden floor down here, don't they? Yes, indeed. It has long since to be the basement. It opens out on our beautiful backyard where we do have a garden in the spring. Well, your office here is the headquarters for the craft activities at the center, right? Yes, it is. I'm director of the craft program, which not only includes this center, but it includes the other centers which we are working with. And your name is Mrs. Marion Wagsdap. That's right. Well, this is about the busiest part of the whole center. It seems to me down here in the craft area. What goes on in the craft program? Well, we use this floor because it is so accessible to the seniors. We use this for crafts. We also use the second floor on this where our painting rooms and our sewing room are on the second floor of the building. And on this garden floor, we have our ceramics department. We have two rooms for ceramics. Why don't we walk around and take a look at it? Fine. You'll get the way and tell me what we're coming to. This is one of our two ceramic rooms. We have

a class here of 15 or 16 seniors, two days a week. Most of these people have never done anything with clay, and they enjoy themselves very much. They make mostly pottery bowls and ash trays. We have our own two kills over here that you see. Well, who's the lady that's working in here now? She's not working in ceramics at the present time, I gather. Well, this isn't a ceramic class day. So Miss Wilhite, one of our seniors, is working with leather. We want to interrupt that work. Let's go on these tours. This is a second ceramic room, which is equipped by one of our seniors, who is quite elderly, and was formerly a ceramic teacher herself. She comes here, it's like her private studio works whenever she wants to, and she is giving us this equipment when she's through using it. We have two potter's wheels in this room, which requires considerable skill. We do

have several people who can throw on the potter's wheel. This takes a good deal of skill. Yes, it does indeed. I see over here a door that seems to be fairly significant. It doesn't have anything to do with what's going on right now, but it says garden tools inside, and I suppose that means when spring comes around, a lot of the people at the center get outside and enjoy gardening too. That's right. We have a walled in backyard with a little lawn and flower borders. We have divided the flower borders so that about 24 different seniors have little patches of garden. Those are their little private gardens. They plant anything that they want to. Some of them have planted vegetables, and one person planted a gooseberry bush, and others have planted flowers, and they're little garden patches. That sounds wonderful. What's this room down here over on the right? Well, that is the carpentry shop, where we do some simple woodworking. We make picture frames. We teach chaircaning. We do a little chair

repairing, and we also have a jeweler's bench. Who's that working there now? That is Bill Sievers, who comes to the center nearly every day. I think I'll go in and talk to him. Mr. Sievers? Yeah. What is the work you're doing here? I can't chairs, and when that mosaic, I do that. Was this a chaircaning hard? No, a taint hard work. It's tedious. Is it? Why is that? You know what I mean? You've got to watch this here. See, now teach twisted. Oh, yeah, you've got to keep it out flat. See, if I just keep on going, it'll spoil the whole lot. I've got to take that twist out of it, see? Now it's straight, eh? Well, that's good. It's a good looking job. Do you enjoy coming over here to the center of the center? Do you like to come over here to the center? Well, I sure do. I'd like to come over here in the center.

I'm an old man, somebody to learn years of age, and I ain't got no place to go. If I go out, why the first place I'd be in is in a tavern. And then I'd come up and have a few drinks. The first thing I know, I'd be a vinyl. But I got mad power enough and willpower enough for it to stay away and come over here and enjoy myself. Do you like the people over here? The people is awful nice to me. Yeah, enjoy myself here wonderful. Well, you do other things besides... Yeah, sure. I take a caution in the pottery. What have you made there? Well, I make my cookies out there, and it was easy to make. I'll show you how it's done. All

right. We take the instructor comes along and she gives you a piece of clay. And she tells you what to just make it hard. And you know, we'll make it all together. We need it all together so that they won't be no cracks to it. And she goes to work and she rolls it out. That's the bottom. And she gives you a print to put on what you make. Then you go to work and she gives you enough for clay and you roll that clay out and you put it around there. You just put it around the bottom and when you put it around the bottom you've got to watch that you make your joints go. And you just keep on with your fingers that way all the way around. And

just watch it and be sure nobody talks to you because if you do, you draw your mind off of what you're doing. And you spoil it. You spoil it. Well, you surely didn't spoil that. That's a fine cookie jar. One other question, Mr. Severs, you made a fine cookie jar for now can you make cookies to go into it? Well, that's the thing I can't do. I ain't the big one. If I wasn't the big could I dry it? Hi, Mr. Herman. Can I sit down on the piano stool with you? I feel like I'm dissettler. I mean, you know. Well, I tend to come over every day to the center to practice piano, right? I try to. Oh, where am I? Did you play when you were younger? Yes,

I was younger. I suppose you've been away from it for a while. Oh, my gosh. Many years? I had two years. You're one of it's a girl. I suppose you can get rusty on reading music culture and it takes a while to get back into it. Well, I never was any too good on reading music, you know. But I mean, I was, when I was a girl, I really could play, so I could play, and my music was open. Oh, you know, it was a wonderful piece. Do you like the center? What's going on? Yes, very much. Do you enjoy coming over here? Yes, very much. It isn't out, but it doesn't. Oh, my goodness. We've all kinds of people, you know. And they're all bad to be here too and glad to talk to you. And they all seem to enjoy it very much. Well, I certainly think they do too, yeah. And everything under this sun, you can take it up. I took up this ceramic, you know. And

some painting. And a little sewing. And it just keeps you going. It just makes you feel so young. You know, you got used and used to live because you got so much opportunity. That's a great thing. Yeah, it's the opportunity, you know. A lot of things you missed. You would like to have done. When I was married, I liked to paint and draw. And when I had the time, when I went to the park and I drew and I went to the public library, well, then after a while, I didn't have time for those things. I didn't have time for those things, you know. And then I always thought, where can you go? Where must be a place? There must be a place. Then I met someone. And we happened to talk. And so, see, recognize this place. How long have you been coming over here? Well, this is my second year. I like it very much. And I just feel,

well, tomorrow or today doesn't mean so much. But next year, I'll be able to play that. I'll be back next year to hear you. I'll be able to play it. I'll figure out, will. And that's the story of a new organization in our city. One is performing a vitally needed service. And that's the city and sound. Jim Herbert reporting with engineer George Wilson at the controls.