Meet Former Olympian Shirley Crowder Meadows, 76 #SeniorsOfFulton #OAM2016

Former Track Star and Olympian Shirley Crowder Meadows teaches a sittercise class at the Darnell Senior Multipurpose Facility. She hasn’t stopped moving despite knee surgery.

“I started running in ninth grade at Booker T. Washington here in Atlanta and that was an accident. I loved basketball and after basketball season, most of my friends who played basketball also ran track. One day I was sitting on the steps waiting for my friends and a person who finished Washington High offered to teach me what he knew about hurdles. While I was running in high school, a coach at Tuskegee wanted me to come and participate with her girls. After getting a Bachelor of Science degree from Tennesse State and working on my skills, I ran with Wilma Rudolf and Martha Hudson in the 1960 Olympics. Today, I keep moving in spite of my knee surgery. I would urge others with challenges not to give up. Get God on your side and keep moving.”

Shirley Crowder Meadows, 76 ‪#‎SeniorsOfFulton‬ ‪#‎OAM2016‬

Meet the “Carolina Lady” #SeniorsOfFulton

“I say I'm from Atlanta now, but I was originally a Carolina lady. I was born in Anderson, South Carolina. I moved to Atlanta in the 1950’s.

Every day I come to the Bowden Center and sit in the parking lot at 6:30 a.m. and wait for the doors to open. I started coming in 1998. I have a lot of friends here and everyone is pleasant, no matter your nationality everyone are friends. I'm a country girl. Growing up, we had neighbors who were African American. We didn't know anything about segregation, and I didn't know until my 40's about racism. We didn't have radio or TV. Only thing we had was farm work, school and church.

I don’t mean to be ugly, but I’m losing my hair, so I’d rather not have a picture taken of me. I’d like to finish by saying that I enjoy coming to the Bowden Center to breakfast with my friends.”

Fulton County Senior, 91, ‪#‎SeniorsOfFulton‬ ‪#‎OAM2016‬

Meet Tawanna Sellers #SeniorsOfFulton

“I joined the Benson facility eight years ago after I turned 55. I came to the Benson facility to make a presentation during my days as an American Heart Association volunteer. I remembered how much I enjoyed the center and that’s why I decided to come back after I retired to join and serve as a volunteer. I love meeting people and helping others. Our facility provides great meals, classes and the pool. This facility is wonderful. Some people would do nothing if they didn’t come here.” 

Meet Tawanna Sellers, 63 #SeniorsOfFulton #OAM2016

Meet Dorothy Benson ‪#‎SeniorsOfFulton

May is Older Americans Month across the Country as we celebrate the contributions, activism and creativity of our Nation’s seniors. Dorothy C. Benson, the trailblazer for which the Dorothy C. Benson Senior Multipurpose Facility in Sandy Springs is named practices in her calligraphy class at the Benson facility.

In 1990, Ms. Benson and 40 other seniors boarded a bus for a trip to Baltimore, Maryland to tour senior multipurpose facilities in that city. The trip to Baltimore planted the seeds for Fulton County’s first senior Multipurpose Facility, the H.J.C. Bowden Senior Multipurpose Facility. The generosity of East Point in donating the land made Bowden the first of four to open in Fulton County.

Dorothy Benson, #‎SeniorsOfFulton‬