The Rodgers Senior Center

I change gears and leave the Huntington Library at ten thirty every day. The Senior lunches at the Rodgers Senior Center are something to behold. No, it is not the lunches, but the joy of breaking bread with old timers like me. 
   It is off of Orange and Seventeenth Street, a few blocks from the beach. It has been humid and hot this week, and John's head is down but not quite out yet. We look forward to the new and larger Senior Center with air conditioning. 
    I arrive early to play a few ditties on their grand piano. There is something about music that uplifts me and those who listen. One lady did a Charleston using a cane as one leg. What a sight! Then..."Will everyone please rise...Will you join me in the pledge of Allegiance?...Thank you, you may be seated." 
    That was old John. A ninety two year veteran of World War 2.  Lunch begins promptly at eleven thirty and not one minute more.  . Even the torrid weather and the fact my landlord at the Five Points Senior Apartment won't hook up the libraries air conditioner could not deter me.
It is nice to have a change of pace after computer work in the library. And the folks are so friendly. as soon as I hit the piano my mood goes into overdrive. I watch the Patrons tap their shoes to the sound of my music. It thrills me that I can entertain with my fingers and not my mouth.
  I usually break-bread with the Swede. In the sixties, his New Port Beach company made parts for several airplane companies. His company is still called TEC and is located off of Balsa close to the freeway. Thirty people worked for him, but today in the computer age, he employees about ten. 
  "Today the orders come in on our computer. Before we build the part, we send them, again by computer, what the part will look like. Our computer builds it. Sometimes I drive to San Diego to deliver the parts to one of our main customers." 
   Would you gentleman like milk.  A volunteer brings the cartons of milk a few minutes before Randy's great lunches are served. We dip the straw into the cartoon and sip the  calcium into our blood streams. Randy's Senior lunches contain all the ingredients seniors require.  
  The piano is just what I need to check mate my day. Several arrive early to hear In the Good Old Summer Time or Casey and over one thousand songs I can play. Of course God gave me a musical ear and a Mom who knew that music was dear to any ladies heart.  
  I finish fifteen minutes medley with God Bless America and America ending the medley of songs. The main dish was Zucchini with egg-yuk...But I adored the cucumber salad graced with tomatoes. 
   Bessie, as usual, sits down at the table to work her  crossword puzzle. She waits for her  bridge game in about thirty minutes.  I wished to probe, like a good old sub, about her life, since the stories of other lives make mine more rewarding. 
   "Where did you meet your husband Bob, and why did he have to die so young?"  She smiles and puts the crossword down.
    "My Dad was an electrician. I was born in 1934 in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles. We lost our house during the depression. We were wiped out but it did not stop my Dad. We had a large house in Hollywood but the depression wiped us out. Luckily we owned a small one bedroom cabin in the Laurel Canyon in the village. Dad got small jobs and we all took a hand to make the little old cabin into a three bedroom house." 
    'My sister put up wallboard and I pounded the nails. In no time we were living well again. I went to Fairfax High School." At the mention of Fairfax my jaw opened wide.
    "You kiddin aren't you. Well I went to Hamilton High and we hated those Pathfinders. But you certainly knocked the hell out of us in football...Did you ever go to Cantor's Deli?" 
     "Sure did George. They made the best pickles and pastrami sandwiches in town. Mom always gave me extra money. I also went to Hollywood High School." 
      "When did you meet your husband." 
      I was only eighteen and he began to work as an electrician for my Dad.  Soon  something electric that drew me to him. No longer did fix plugs and other things but began a family. We moved to the Huntington Beach area in the fifties. It was called the driftwood trailer court but later, the city gave us money to leave. We received $80,000 and my son built a triplex with the money. I live in one of those units today. 
      "Anybody want more salad...salad." 
      " I do but have nowhere to put it." i walked to get a salad cup and on the way back three lovely ladies thanked me for the piano and told me they come early to listen to me." Now I didn't know I had a following." 
    She spoke about how Bob supervised the electrical work at the Hoag Hospital and also worked little league. He developed high blood pressure and had a heart attack. When the money dried up, I worked for a CPA for eighteen years. I keep busy every day since my mind keeps my body alive. 
    She told me that she would bring pictures of her FAMILY and I would use them for my mini-book on her life. 
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