Seniors

Fifteen Greenwood seniors have participated in the PositScience Brain Fitness program in the past year and have reported the overall outcome of the program has been positive.

Described as taking one’s brain to the gym for a workout, the Brain Fitness program at the Greenwood Senior Center is designed to strengthen specific areas of the brain.

Those who have participated have said they feel an improvement in memory as well as an increase in energy and mood elevation.

“The exercises in the Brain Fitness program target the auditory and verbal memory systems of the brain,” said Peter Delahunt, Ph.D. “It should be noted that auditory and memory processing is distributed across many areas of the brain. However, the following areas are of particular importance.”

Requiring participants to commit about 40 hours during a 12 week span, time is set aside for each participant to work at their own convenience in the senior center computer lab.

Personal assistance coaches are available on-hand.

For more information or to make an appointment to experience the various exercises in the program call Liz at 297-0875.

Three suspects have been charged in the Everett District Court for the April 12 burglary of the Senior Center of West Seattle. They are Byron J. Bowman, a 44-year-old felon, his son, Tyler B. Bowman, 22, and a friend, James M. Densmore, 49.

They stole cash and gift certificates totaling more than $5,000 from a safe at the senior center. They pried their way in and kicked in some drywall in two spots. That was their calling card on other burglaries they are suspected of. Video surveillance capturing the suspects was turned over to Detective Nick Bauer of the Southwest precinct who shared it with a multi-regional crime task force.

Southwest Precinct Sergeant Jeff Durden explained, "A task force including Seattle Detective Mel Britt, along with the Lake Stevens, Arlington, Marysville, Snohomish, Skagit and Pierce county police forces has been organized. County police departments got the video from Detective Bauer. The suspects matched those captured on video during another burglary at a Lake Stevens grocery."

Durden said the task force is examining more than 130 burglaries where a pry-bar and bashed-in drywall were evident.

The Kenney, a nursing facility here in West Seattle, was recently given a five-star rating in U.S. News and World Report magazine in its national review of similar facilities, according to the local retirement home.

Rated in the top tier among 15,500 facilities across the country, The Kenney is one of only 27 that received the high rating.

The skilled nursing facility, with a capacity of 20 residents, is a part of West Seattle’s only Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) which has 185 residents. The ratings are available online at Best Nursing Homes-US News and World Report.

The U.S. News and World Report ratings of nursing facilities are based in part on data and ratings found on Nursing Home Compare, a federal Web site created by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The magazine combines these data with additional
measures of excellence to create its rankings.

“This recognition means a great deal to us,” said The Kenney’s President and Chief Executive Officer Kevin McFeely, “because it’s an external measure of our commitment to excellence, which is consistent throughout The Kenney community.”

The Senior Center of West Seattle was burglarized at 10:45 p.m. Sunday following an accordion club that rented out the space. An investigation is ongoing.

The center, located at 4217 S.W. Oregon St., had a heavy 1950's-era safe in a first floor office that was pried into with a crowbar. Taken was $2,500 of Safeway gift cards, $400 in postage stamps, $700 cash, plus the center's daily take, adding up to more than $5,000, according to director Karen Sisson.

“I feel violated,” said Sisson Monday morning. “It's pretty low. They kicked two holes in our walls for no reason, one by the safe in our office, (where the items were contained) and another upstairs by the entrance.”

Sisson pointed out that the center is not insulated to regular senior visitors, but is very public. The West Seattle Chamber meets there, as well as the Lions Club, the Junction Association, and the space hosts events and wedding anniversaries.

According to her pastor Rev. David Kratz, longtime Fauntleroy resident Myrtle Elizabeth (Beth) Hedges Morse was “a great person in her own quiet way. She wasn’t a headline grabber.”

She was not always quiet, however, as she volunteered to play piano at age 95 for the children’s music program at Fauntleroy Church, United Church of Christ, where she was very active until her death, Jan. 21. She was 102.

“She didn’t dwell on herself,” recalled Rev. David Kratz, who gave the prayer of invocation at her worship service.

“You’d visit her and end up talking about your own family,” added Kratz. He said she did not dwell on her own aches and pains.

“I can’t tell you how impressive she was.,” he continued. “During Bible study last Christmas she was still grappling with how we can (better) protect our children from war, and from class warfare. She was still very sensitive to the suffering of others.”

Bertha Davis claims she “closed” Webster Elementary School when she and the secretary were the last school staff to leave the building in 1980. She had taught there for 50 years.

Nearly 30 years later she’s presiding over a grand opening instead, as one of the first patients at Ballard Care and Rehabilitation’s new short term unit - Recovery Suites.

Bertha summoned me because she felt Ballard needed to know how well she was being treated and that “such a facility was available within the community.” Adamant would be an understatement.

“People have to know,” she lectured from her bedside. To say that her clearly commanding presence as a longtime teacher had diminished with her 95 years would be a lie. I sat up straight, didn’t fidget and promised to spell everyone’s name correctly.

Mrs. Davis, as she was called by her 4th and 6th grade classes, taught thousands of students in her five decades at Webster. Although in all her years she never did have a student named Bertha.

Those former students visit her to speak of their own children and grandchildren.

Three Ballard High School seniors, Joel Dunkelberg, Claire Lust and Elliot Ransom, have been named National Merit Scholar Finalists.

The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. High school students enter the program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarships qualifying test (PSAT/NMSQT)-a test which serves as an initial screen of approximately 1.5 million entrants each year-and by meeting published program entry/participation requirements.

“It’s largely based on test scores,” said Ransom. “First you have to get PSAT scores. Even if you get a good SAT score afterwards you are not eligible unless you get a good index on the PSAT.”

Ransom is also the alto-sax section leader and has an ear and passion for music. But he's considering going into an aero-space engineering major and is also looking at other engineering options at both the University of Washington and Stanford.