STATEMENT OF VIOLA COMEGYS, CAMBRIDGE, DORCHESTER COUNTY; LORENZO MARSHALL, SALISBURY, WICOMICO COUNTY; BESSIE MILES, SALISBURY, WICOMICO COUNTY; ELLA DEDMOND, PRINCESS ANNE, SOMERSET COUNTY; IRENE HOLLAND, FAIRMOUNT, SOMERSET COUNTY; LENORA ROBINS, SNOW HILL, WORCESTER COUNTY; MYRTLE BOWEN, SNOW HILL, WORCESTER COUNTY; VIOLA MCCLAIN, CAMBRIDGE, DORCHESTER COUNTY; INEZ ABBOTT, CHURCH CREEK, DORCHESTER COUNTY; JOHN B. GRIFFIN, SALISBURY, WICOMICO COUNTY; BERNICE DOUGHERTY, CRISFIELD, SOMERSET COUNTY; WALTER BRICE, CRISFIELD, SOMERSET COUNTY; AND ALBERTA GRAVES, CRISFIELD, SOMERSET COUNTY, A PANEL OF SENIOR CITIZENS Miss COMEGYS. I am Viola Comegys, from Cambridge.

Hoping I wouldn't be first, I thought I would sort of pick up a little more momentum as others went along, but I have enjoyed-when I say "enjoyed" I mean it-the activities of the center.

We all look forward to the time when we retire, and we wonder how it will be with us, and one of the things-the center is one of the things that has kept us all active. We are active, of course, many of us, in church circles, but when it comes to our social life, it is sort of left out, but the centers take care of all that for us.

When we enter the center, we feel at home, we feel that we are going to meet old friends, and I would cite one or two instances of others who attend the centers.

There is one person I know in particular who has been in and out of the State hospital and in foster care for at least 5 or 6 years, and has improved to the extent that she now goes to church and participates in activities at the center, and the center in Cambridge has done an awful lot to help her.

At one time, as a hobby, she wrote a little-little short poems, and last May when we were having our Mother's Day program, she wrote an original poem and it was published in our local paper, and she read it at the center, and it was the first time she had done anything in public for 6 years. And I think that meant a lot to her in her life.

And there is one person who goes very often to this particular center, and she mentioned one day, just in conversation, that she was home. alone. She felt so lonely, and she has had untimely deaths in her home some years back, and she said: "I was just crying. I didn't know what to do, and the thought came: go to the Center," and she said: “As I was walking up the street, I was singing to myself 'I'm going home; I'm going home." "

And I think it is wonderful feeling when people feel that they can go to a place that is home. And just yesterday. under the direction of Octavane Saunders, the ladies presented a fashion show, called it "fall fashions." And it was marvelous how those ladies-some of them are here now-who had made their own dresses, and they modeled; one lady said she had made a second dress in her lifetime, and I do know this lady had reared a large family, all grown, and so on. But she's feeling young again.

And speaking with a couple of the ladies, one lady who had reared a very large family, I know, and her husband was present also-he's well in his 80's-he has had a stroke but he was there, participating, with refreshments and in the singing and whatnot, and these two ladies, in talking, one of them said: "I am really living now."

So I think that's a good testimony.

Senator BEALL. Thank you very much, Miss Comegys.

Miss ABBOTT. I am Inez Abbott, from south Dorchester, which is a big area, and I find that the center has been a real-well, a second living for me, because I had an awful tragedy 18 months ago, and I was just about ready to fall in, throw in the sponge, when somebody came in and said: "Come up to the center."

They kept insisting that I come, and so to get rid of them, I went. So I went up and I joined the ceramic classes, and I am very active with my fingers, and I love to do things, and I like new things and different things, so before I found out where I really was, I was a senior aide. And from that, an outreach worker, of course, and how I got twisted up I don't know, but now I'm a chaperon at the center. So of course, I make referrals to social service, which is stamps, and medicaid cards, social security, health department, and doctor appointments, drugstores, shopping, visit the sick; you name it, we're there. If they don't have transportation, I have a little Pinto and I crowd in three others and myself, and I carry them to all various activities.

And I work out of Acrepo, which Mrs. Coleman-Ethel Coleman, she's our satellite director there, and I work with her. I find it a great pleasure to make with Mrs. Coleman, we make quilts and rugs, mats, and we sell them all for to buy materials-well, to make more with. We make ceramics, and I love those, too, but we sell a lot of them, and we also visit the nursing home and we put on beautiful programs, and we go to hospitals, we bring small gifts, we have covered dish suppers. You should see those elderly women come in for those covered dish suppers. Oh, how they pile their plates. They just eat so.

And of course, I am from south Dorchester and Eastern Shore, you know, and we like oysters and crabs, and they'll say: "Well, who cooked this oyster, who fixed this crab cake, and if it's Eastern Shore, I know it's good."

And just about a week ago we went up to Perry Point, and oh, we carried such joy up there.

But anyway, they enjoyed themselves. We carried boxes and boxes of cookies, and we carried lunch, and we carried a big box-oh, it was a tremendous box, which was all volunteer work, of lap robes for the wheelchair patients, and being that Christmas is coming up now, we have a lot planned for Christmas, such as entertainments for hospitals and nursing homes, and we will be making things for them and we will be carrying them gifts and entertaining them, and I think it is very important that we have all these services.

You would be surprised; in south Dorchester, where I live, it's about 30 or 40 miles from Cambridge, and a lot of those people doesn't have transportation, and the minibus comes down once a week, and if it doesn't come they know I'm there, and they just look forward to the entertainment-"Well, what is this coming up?" and they'll look at

the calendar, and they thoroughly enjoy every minute. It's just like Christmas morning, when you walk in there carrying a box of cookies, or maybe just a little gift, they're just like children on Christmas morning, and I think it is very, very important that we should have that. And we that's simply working with them get just as much pleasure as they do. In fact, I think I get more than some of them do, because I thoroughly enjoy it. And I really, really have enjoyed it, and I hope that the services in all the departments will continue. Thank you. Senator BEALL. Thank you, Mrs. Abbott.

Mrs. MCCLAIN. I am Viola McClain, and I think that the services should be continued because we all need them. I don't have transportation, and when I call my center, they come right away for me, if I have to go to the doctor, or if I have to go anywhere. And it is very important that we have it in Dorchester County.

I have just retired. I have worked all my life, and now then I am making the senior citizens to do something for me, I am asking my Government to do something for me. The Government needs me and I need our Government, and I think they should fund this money for this program that we are having, because it has hundreds and hundreds of people that really need it. Thank you.

Mrs. BowEN. I am Mrs. Bowen from Snow Hill, and I am a new senior citizen, but I have enjoyed it so much. It has meant a great thing to my husband and myself, we, too, having had a great tragedy in our family, and we were recommended by our physician to attend the senior citizens' center.

I have found great happiness since I have started. The activities are there and they are just great. When you go in you see-well, the elderly people, the smiles on their faces, and the things that they are doing.

We have one lady who is 94 years old, and she is just a darling, and then we have another who is 86 years old, and they are precious people, and also, these people, they have no other means of transportation, and it is a wonderful thing that we have this for the elderly.

And, too, with the lunches, I feel that many of the people that have their lunches at the center, they have a bigger meal there lots of them. than they do at home. And I think this is a wonderful thing.

And then, the activities we have, lots of the ladies are quilting, and some are sewing and making rugs, and ceramics. I am interested in ceramics myself, and painting, and incidentally, I did my first painting and it was a blue duck, and I have a son, and he said: "Well, Mother, I have seen all kinds of ducks, but never a blue one!"

Senator BEALL. But he's never painted one, has he?

Mrs. BOWEN. And then we take our trips, like the bazaar in September. The ladies in the four counties, they made different projects, and items and things, that they carried to Ocean City to the bazaar, and that way we sponsored a trip to the Amish country up in Lancaster, Pa.

And we had enough that we could furnish four buses, and I thought that was a wonderful thing for we older people to do.

Then the love and the friendship, and our director, Mrs. Monroe, she always comes in with a great big smile, and a pat on the shoulder, or a hug, to some of us, and you know, that just goes along with it.

And another thing I would like to mention is the churches that invite us to lunches. I think that is a wonderful thing, too. And most all attend, and as one of the other speakers said, it's something like 150 that are present.

And voting day, the 5th, when I went to vote, some of the ladies said to me, "My, Mrs. Bowen, you certainly do look grand." And I said: "Well, you know, I'm a senior citizen now, and you come over and join us," because some of those people were as old as I am myself.

And-well, I am just so happy, and it has been a tremendous thing, to our community, my husband and I. Thank you.

Mrs. ROBINS. Senator Beall, and committee, this time-I talked about the center last year. This time I am talking about home health and home care. And it is personal with me, because my husband is a diabetic. He has had two slight strokes, and then in May they sent him home, and Mrs. Monroe and the health nurse there, and Mrs. Crockett wanted to know if they could help.

And I said: "Yes, indeed, because I am just at a loss." His walking was very poor, his memory at times was bad. He's 87, you see. And I was at a loss to know just what I was going to do with him. I had tried to get them to keep him just a little longer, but they said: "No, we think you can keep him home now."

So of course, after making some adjustments, they said I should make a rail here, rugs out, and so forth, and many other things, and we did all that and they said: "Now, you can take him," and so I did.

Mrs. Monroe said to one of the girls, one of the outreach memberssent her to my home, they came to help if I needed anything, any medicinal supplies or anything necessary, because I wasn't going out too much at first, they did that.

Mrs. Crockett came, and the nurse that she had came regularly, and they help with the bathing and massaging, because his legs aren't too stable.

Mrs. Crockett also brought me a walker, and he uses that walker. At times he tries to stand up without it, but I have to watch him because he might be falling down.

My deep concern now is, he is getting siderails for a bed, and he is beginning to fall out. And at his age, you don't want any broken bones.

But the service they render is just really tremendous. They come with a smile, take over and do anything that is necessary to be done. I can't praise. Mrs. Crockett and the one we lost just a few weeks ago in our county, and Mrs. Monroe, for what they have meant to me. So I know all of the senior citizens whom they visit and whom they care for would say "Thank you." and please continue this because without it I don't know what we would do.

Senator BEALL. Thank you, Mrs. Robins. I am sure they appreciate the commendation you give them.

Mrs. HOLLAND. I have a lot of ideas, but the very thought of this not continuing has almost driven the ideas away from me.

I kind of got edgy when they were wondering about could it continue, or how could it continue. Please don't let it stop.

I can't say too much everyone before me has covered what I had in mind, but maybe in a different way.

This center has unlimited possibilities, and our director, Mrs. Harrison, is out of this world, if you know what I mean. I mean, she is so vivacious, and you go in there-I don't know, but I had the greatest hesitancy of even starting to this center, because I thought it was just a group of, you know, old women, sitting around bemoaning their aches and pains and what have you, and I thought: "Well, I don't want to join that!"

But when I went in that center, there is no distinction of black and white; it is all one happy family, and the minute you go in there, we feel the warmth and friendliness of the people, and our little group in Fairmount, they are a group of quilters, and working with their hands, because I have never heard the word "arthritis" so much in all my life.

And I say: "Listen, forget your aches and pains for the hours you are here; we are going to do something constructive and work well," so we started quilting, and we have made a quilt and donated it to the center, and anything that we as individuals can help to further this program, financially or in any way, is what we want to do. Because now I am in it, I want it to continue.

They have a varied program. For instance, every month they have a party for those who have had a birthday in that month, and now we have started where individuals, like from one table to serve the refreshments for that month, and next month another one, because if there is any way we can think of some-in other words, we don't want Mrs. Harrison to have to furnish this treat. If-not if we can do it.

Because if there is any way in the world that we can further this program, we want to do it, not only for our benefit but for those that are coming, and I think in our particular club we are getting kind of shy of transportation, because I am talking it up more and more all the time, and I don't want to talk it up and then the poor things can't get there because transportation for elderly people is a most important thing that there is.

None of them-of course, I have had to stop driving. I had an accident and I can no longer drive. Well, none of them could get there if we don't have-we have three volunteer drivers now, but unless we can keep that bus on the road, and these cars getting on the road, I think the MAC center would fall apart.

So I think if there is anything that anyone can do to keep this going, please let's do it.

Senator BEALL. Thank you.

Mrs. DEDMOND. My name is Ella Dedmond from Somerset County, and the MAC center means an awful lot to me.

When first I moved here in 1971-my husband passed away in 1972. I was all alone, no one but a friend I knew down here, so people were telling me: "When you're home alone, sitting in the house day after day, get out." I heard about the MAC center. I didn't even know the way over there, but me and my friend-she was back and forth to see her children, which lived in New York, California, different places, so she went over there, took me over there one day, and I really enjoyed it and I'm bad as Mrs. Holland.

Anything possible, please keep the MAC center going.

I've learned a lot of things: I had to wait until age 63 to learn. how to knit, and this is my first project, which I did.