New St. Regis Senior Center opens to the public

ST. REGIS – Though the doors were open for a couple weeks after construction finished, the new St. Regis Senior Citizen Center celebrated its grand opening and dedication Thursday, January 16.

Sharon Booth, president of the senior center, declared the new facility open before approximately 34 people. The ceremony unveiled a plaque to thank the people who helped fund the new facility. This was not the only presentation, as the board sought to honor a specific member of the family.

The building was dedicated to Maxine Flemming, a longtime member of the senior center. Flemming has been a member of the center since 1983 and is still involved in its activities.

“I think we have a really good group of very nice people,” said Flemming.

Flemming said she was honored to have the new building dedicated in her name. Her voice cracked with happy tears as she expressed her gratitude for the honor and recalled how the group liked to do those kinds of things.

“They’re always pulling surprises on me,” said Flemming.

Flemming was glad the center had its own building and felt it would make a difference to the operations of the organization. She recalled how it was in the St. Regis Community Center for several years and at least one other location before then.

When the senior center was in the community center, limited room restricted some of their activities. However, the new location will allow the organization to hold unrestricted events on their preferred schedule.

The grand opening also featured tours of the new facility. The main room held a number of tables, which will be used for meals and other events at the center. Down a short hall lay a conference room, an office and the room for the foot clinic – this room featured warm colors, waiting chairs with a reclining, vibrating easy chair for the person under examination.

The main room also featured an attraction, which would be available soon. A pool table, brought up from storage, was set up in one corner. According to Mary Burrows, bookkeeper of the senior center, this will be put to use for tournaments sometime in the next couple weeks. Booth said this was the most popular part of the grand opening and there was plenty of interest.

“We have a volunteer from Superior who said he would love to get involved and help us get a pool tournament started,” said Booth. “We’ll call on him when we get going and he’ll help us get something going.”

While the table is still not in use, the rest of the building is. According to Burrows, the center will have coffee and be available as a place for seniors to come to meet with friends.

The new center will offer a community lunch every Thursday at noon and an evening meal every fourth Monday. The new center will also hold Pinochle and provide information about programs, services and other activities.

“We want to have a game night,” said Booth. “Sometimes we have auctions after our Monday dinner. We have all kinds of things we want to do, so we’ll start getting organized and doing it.”

The senior center welcomes the community to offer up any ideas for events, programs or services, which can be offered in the future.