The Senior Source Celebrates 50 Years With Laughter and 2011″Spirit Of Generation” Recipients

The Senior Source‘s “Spirit of Generations” luncheon on Monday, November 21, wasn’t just a celebration of TSS’s 50th anniversary. It turned out to be one of the funniest events of the year. Everyone including the serving staff at the Hilton Anatole was laughing. Well, everyone but one person who made Buster Keaton look like Smiley Face.

But more about that later. First the reception in the Wedgwood Room was a stellar turnout of who’s who with no regard of age. Of course, college football was a favored source of topics. Baylor types like Joel Allison were still reeling from Baylor’s win over Oklahoma State, while Ramona Jones and Carol Seay were commiserating over the last Texas A&M game slated for the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend. . . Isabell Haggar, who along with husband Joe, had been a previous recipient, was watching for Joe to make sure that he was on hand for daughter Lydia Novakov to receive the Spirit of Generation Award with her husband Dan. Alas, Joe didn’t make it until the luncheon started. While he and Isabell stood in the wings for a break in the program, daughter Marian Bryan and granddaughter Isabell Novakov rearranged the front-row table to provide the elder Haggers with the best seats. . . Caroline Rose Hunt gave a thumbs-up for the new George Clooney movie, “The Descendants,” set in Hawaii. And who should know better about Hawaii than the former owner of the Hotel Hana Maui. . . Chuck Gummer was attending his last event as a member of Comerica. Since his official retirement from Comerica was on October 31, he’s grown a goatee and promised to stay out of wife Cindy’s way.

When the doors opened to the Chantilly Ballroom, it filled quickly and the program commenced with Luncheon Chair Debbie Oates and The Senior Source’s Chairman of the Board of Directors Robert Best supervising the program without a hiccup. After a delicious meal (chilled spinach soup with chive accent; sliced beef tenderloin salad with golden beets, purple potatoes, baby green beans, Texas field greens, red and yellow peppers and champagne vinaigrette; pecorino rolls and mini-jalapeῆo corn muffins; and a chocolate caramel tart with whipped cream, fresh raspberries and sauce anglaise), The Senior Source Executive Director Molly Bergen introduced a video on the organization.

Then Debbie introduced the keynote speaker, Mary Maxwell, warning the group that Mary was from Nebraska and had quite a reputation as a speaker. All right, the assembled guests settled into their chairs like a congregation preparing for a lengthy sermon. Their expectations were to be inspired and to be lectured to on the aging population.

Standing up from her place at the head table, walking to the podium and pulling out sheets of paper, Mary looked more like that about-to-retire-elementary-school-principal

from the ’50s. Slightly hunched over, she didn’t smile and peered through her glasses at the hundreds of guests as if she were taking attendance. Uh,  oh. It appeared that this was going to be a lecture talk. Seat belts were fastened in preparation for a talk that would probably involve the guilt or pity that the younger generation should have for senior citizens.

With her first comment, the grandmotherly looking Mary let it be known they were oh-so wrong. With a deadpan expression, she said, “Thank you, Debbie. . . . Slender isn’t she? . . . and so youthful. Someday I hope to be introduced by someone who is older than I am. My doctor says the chances of that happening are decreasing exponentially.”

For the next 15 minutes, the laughter never stopped and Mary never stopped mixing a curmudgeon tone in her voice with a stern look and very G-rated humor.  Here are a few highlights:

• “My name is Mary Maxwell unless God forbid by some horrible twist of fate any of you happen to know  any of my children. In that case, they have asked me to say that my name is Kim Kardashian.”
• “Over the years I have found that the two things most people want to know about are the two things they are too polite to ask. So let’s get that out of the way. I’m 75 years old and I weigh 142 pounds. One of the goals of my life is to weigh what my driver’s license says. The last time I renewed it when the clerk saw what I had put down for the weight, I heard her say to the other clerk, ‘She must be hollow.'”

  

• “We (she and her husband of 50 years) don’t try to keep up with the Joneses. We found it much cheaper to drag the Joneses down.”
• “Our grandchildren we regard as our reward for not having left our children behind at rest areas. . . when they were sophomores in high school.”
• One of her grandchildren, who is five years old, said, “Granny, somebody let all the air out of your arms.”
• “I haven’t had a creative idea since the summer of 1983. . . and it wasn’t a success. Did you know that placing pre-school children in the overhead luggage compartment in an airplane is illegal . . . especially if they’re not your children? “

And that was just a smidgen of her talk and it didn’t do her justice. You have to see her and hear her delivery to truly appreciate what the guests experienced. Here is a link to a previous appearance by MM.

Only when she took her seat back at the head table, did a smile appear on a very sweet face.

To keep the upbeat momentum going, rock n’ rollers Curbside Service performed classic rock.

Quite frankly, they could have stopped there, but the occasion was to honor outstanding individuals — Becky Bright, Carolyn and David Miller and Lydia and Dan,  whose leadership “guided us through milestone events such as the inaugural

Spirit of Generation Awards luncheon, the creation of our associate group, The Charles C. Sprague Sage Society, a name change, a capital campaign and the introduction of several key programs, including our first fee-for-service venture.” They were gracious and opted not to make thank-you speeches.

It was indeed a grand way to launch the week of Thanksgiving with laughter and lauds. Nicely done, Senior  Source.