Age no limit for volunteers at Stanwood Senior Center

Published 10:46 pm Wednesday, August 13, 2008

STANWOOD — It is said that some of the best things in life improve with age.

Wine, cheese, and, in the case of 90-year-old Anna Murphy and 96-year-old Martha Bandy, volunteerism.

“I’m happy to have lived this long,” Murphy said. “I receive so much more than I give, it’s very important to feel like someone needs you.”

Murphy and Bandy live at apartments connected to the Stanwood Senior Center, a nonprofit organization that provides services and activities for seniors. It was there that both women discovered volunteer activities that have kept them active, making them the oldest volunteers at the center.

Bandy felt that age shouldn’t be a factor when it comes to helping other people.

“I can still get around when some people at my age can’t,” Bandy said. “I used to be a Navy certified welder. If I can handle heavy metal, I can water some plants.”

As a welder, Bandy helped construct portable dry-docks for the U.S. Navy in Eureka, Calif., during World War II.

While Bandy is the eldest of the duo, Murphy has spent the most time volunteering at the thrift store at the Stanwood Senior Center and a couple of blocks away at the Josephine Sunset Home.

Sometimes, volunteering can be hard for Murphy. Bouts of sickness sometimes leave her unable to visit her friends at the nursing home. And then there’s the pain of watching people she has gotten to know through the years pass away.

“It is sad sometimes. But someone needs to be there with these people, talk to them and give them a reason to get better or at least be comfortable,” Murphy said.

When not volunteering at the nursing home, she spends a few hours sorting, folding and hanging up clothes in the senior center thrift store.

That is, of course, when she is not engaged in a prodigious social schedule.

“I like church, I like swimming and doing exercises in the pool. I like staying active,” Murphy said. “I couldn’t imagine just sitting in my room all day. Volunteering gives me energy.”

Bandy, in contrast, is a self-proclaimed “greenhorn” who has four years of volunteering to her name.

Bandy does some light gardening around the senior center, watering plants and picking dandelions when she can — though the lawn mowers seem to be doing most of the work for her these days.

“I don’t mind going outside,” Bandy said. “It’s important to keep active. I’ll live to be 100, though I wonder if that’s good news or bad.”

Bandy said that even at 96, she’s still “holding down the fort” for others by volunteering, performing simple acts that help others.

“Volunteering keeps you busy, helps you stay alive while you are living,” she said. “A few hours here, a few hours there, it can make all the difference in the world.”

Reporter Justin Arnold: 425-339-3432 or jarnold@heraldnet.com.