HUNTINGTON BEACH : A Party Where They Didn’t Feel at Home

Dora Du Bissette still enjoys a good party.

The 92-year-old Du Bissette sang along to tunes from the 1940s and clapped in time to music by The Choral Belles women’s chorus during Summer Gladness, a party this week honoring her and 100 other senior citizens.

“It’s lovely, and it’s very entertaining, and you meet a lot of nice people,” Du Bissette said. “I don’t get out much anymore.”

Betsy Crimi, human services coordinator of the Seniors’ Outreach Center, said the invited guests are people who can’t come to the center on a regular basis because of physical or other limitations.

Because most of the guests don’t drive, volunteers chauffeured them to the luncheon party.

“Many more people are at home and are not able to attend the party because of illness,” she said of Thursday’s event, co-sponsored by the center and the city’s Council on Aging.

Crimi said the eighth annual event is also a celebration of the contributions the seniors have made to the community. “We want them to know publicly how much we esteem them and revere them,” she said. “This is a small way of doing that.”

The city began its outreach to homebound seniors 21 years ago as a way for the elderly to keep their independence and remain in their homes.

Three years ago, the city built the Seniors’ Outreach Center next to the Michael E. Rodgers Seniors’ Center.

The outreach center serves about 350 people a month, offering peer counseling, home-delivered meals, and transportation to doctor appointments and shopping for people ranging in age from 55 to 99. The center has more than 100 volunteers who help out.

“If they didn’t have these services provided by the city, they’d have to move in with relatives or in a board and care house,” Crimi said. “They couldn’t live independently.”

Some City Council members dropped by the party, and Girl Scout Troops 1460 and 202 served lunch.

Joe Farley and his wife, Pauline, both 79 and married 55 years, were among party guests.

“I needed something to get out of the house--something to change the routine. I’m in my wheelchair 90% of the time,” Joe Farley said.

Pauline Farley added that socializing with others boosts her spirits. “We don’t get to come down here very often,” she said, “but we enjoy it when we do.”

Lois Hunden, 87, said the party gave her “a lift. It’s nice to meet other people who are growing older too.”

Rosemary Tanis, 75, summed up the party this way: “So many old people are forgotten, but not here in Huntington Beach. There were so many nice smiles and hugs.”