Features Editor

Hassie Green’s father has Alzheimer’s disease, and she said the last coherent directive he gave to her placed her where she is today.

Green was not long into her retirement after 31 years of teaching school, most of those years at Goshen High School. She and her dad were taking their usual afternoon walk, when he stopped and pointed to an old, rusty piece of tin.

"Do you see that, Lou?" he asked her. "Well, if you don’t stay active, you will be like that tin. You’re going to rust."

That was three years ago and Hassie Green took her dad’s advice. She is staying active and she is helping others to do the same.

Green is the newly appointed director of the Troy Senior Services nutrition center, and she couldn’t be happier.

"I knew my daddy was right and I knew I didn’t want to rust," she said, with a smile. "I also knew I didn’t retire from teaching to stay home and cook and clean."

Green first became associated with the Colley Senior Complex as a volunteer, and she said the more she was around the place, the more a part of it she became.

When Cleo Thompson stepped down as director of the nutrition center, Green was given the opportunity to step in. She did so without hesitation.

"Our people here are absolutely wonderful, and I look forward to every day I’m here," she said. "I feel like I’m needed and that what I’m doing is worthwhile. And, our people make me feel appreciated. We provide a great service and I’m proud to be a part of it," she said.

Green had nothing but praise for her assistant director, Myrtle Renfroe.

"She has the kind of personality that make her just right for this job," Green said. "She’s fun to be around and everyone likes her. She’s eager to learn and we are learning together."

The nutrition program is one of the services provided at the Colley Senior Complex and it is invaluable to those who benefit from it.

"We serve 50 hot meals a day at the center and deliver 70 meals

to clients in the community," Green said. "We have a waiting list of 39 people for home deliveries. We also provide homemaker service for 20 clients each week and have a waiting list of 33 people for this service."

The center also provides activities, including crafts, exercise, Bingo, card games, dominoes and checkers.

"When our clients are playing games like dominoes and cards, they having to add and keep score and that helps keep them alert," Green said. "They also enjoy the fellowship of others and look forward to being together."

Two times a week, on Wednesday and Friday mornings, the senior choir makes center stage.

"We have an outstanding senior choir," Green said. "Those who don’t sing, enjoy listening to the choir as much as the choir enjoys singing."