80 is the new 60 at the Malden Senior Center

Many senior citizens know it’s advantageous to keep their mind and body active for their overall well being. Numerous older people make use of the John and Christina Markey Malden Senior Community Center located at 7 Washington Street, better known simply as the Malden Senior Center.

The new facility opened in 2009 after a dedication ceremony to Senator Edward Markey’s parents and life-long Maldonians, John E. and Christina M. Markey. A public/private partnership leveraging funding resources brought this project to life in downtown Malden. To be specific the sources were as follows: $2M- HUD Section 108 Loan, $7.2M- City, $ 450K- Cambridge Health Alliance Donation, $250K- Private Foundation Grant. Rehabilitation cost $7.6M and $2.3M was used for acquisition of the old church site.

Neighborhood View opted to profile a few of the seniors to obtain their insight as the intended end users of the facility. Join us as we meet 85 year old Ed Clarke, 86 year old Mary Peabody and 64 year old Peter Huang. We also hear from Silvia Banos, the current director of the Senior Center.

Peabody informs us that she has been attending the Senior Center since it was housed in the basement of Malden City Hall. However, she enjoys far better the new structure and its resources. It’s the variety of activities on offer that excites her and keeps her an energetic participant.

Clarke is the librarian at the Malden Senior Center and has lived in the city for over forty-five years. Clarke is quite proud of the library which he and his wife set-up.  Although he claims his memory isn’t as sharp as it use to be he takes Mandarin classes and also helps some fellow Chinese seniors to improve their English.

Huang discovered the Senior Center just three days after moving to Malden from New York City, three years ago. You can usually find Huang in the auditorium either playing ping pong or participating in the Chinese Chorus. If not you may catch up with him attending a Metro-North Board, Chapter or Housing Sub-Committee meetings of the Mass Senior Action Council where often he translates for Chinese members.

Banos was welcomed as the Malden Senior Center director in March this year by Mayor Gary Christenson and is getting familiar with the center and its wonderfully diverse population of seniors. The job is challenging but she is up for the challenge and seeks to bring the Senior Center more into the forefront of activities that happen at city government level.

To see the twenty minute video of Neighborhood View’s profile of the three seniors check-out MATV’s December Program Schedule.  A preview of that video is available below. –Karen Lynch & Marcia Manong