Local News in Brief : Westminster : Senior of the Year Triumphs Over Tragedy

Mary LaPuma, according to her friends at the Senior Center who voted her Senior of the Year, has persevered despite personal tragedy.

LaPuma’s husband, Joseph, died three years ago of Parkinson’s disease.

La Puma, 78, now cares for a daughter, with whom she lives, and that daughter has developed cancer, said Betty Goyne, senior center director.

“She was voted top senior by her peers and we don’t run a popularity contest here,” Goyne said.

At the center, LaPuma is a volunteer. Her daily job is to call individual tables for food service, Goyne said.

“You have to know something about our center to appreciate what she does,” Goyne said. “You see she puts up with a lot of guff around here when it comes to calling the tables for food service. Everyone wants their table to be first.”

Rather than have 135 seniors making daily demands, LaPuma devised her own numbered card system.

“Each day, she places a card upside down on each table. They just lift the card up and that is their assigned number. The last table today is the first table tomorrow. It works and everybody is satisfied,” Goyne said.

LaPuma will be recognized as Senior of the Year for 1988 by the City Council at its Tuesday meeting.