Among the things experts and research recommend seniors do to live a fulfilled life are to stay active, build social connections, volunteer in the community, never stop learning, and always look for new interests. The Northland Shepherd’s Center’s (NSC’s) volunteer and client Barb is a perfect example of this.
Like so many seniors in the KC Northland, Barb’s career was with TWA. When TWA was sold in 2001, Barb retired.

After she got her house cleaned and her backed-up projects done, she realized that she needed to go out and create a new life for herself. She knew that her new life would need to get her out of the house, keep her in the northland close to home, be free or cost little, be of interest to her, and be entertaining!

Barb’s neighbor, Rebecca Gordon, was NSC Executive Director, so she decided that NSC would be a good place to start. Her first experience as a volunteer was to look for and schedule speakers and programs to be offered at NSC; she loved doing this and it kept her busy!

Through the years, Barb transitioned to being both a volunteer and a client.

She still helps prepare NSC mailings and plays the piano for special gatherings. (Barb humorously explains that she is not a trained pianist, that after her daughters, who had all had piano lessons growing up, left home, she decided to teach herself how to play the piano that remained in the house! She attributes her years of playing in hand bell groups as helping her learn on her own to play.)

Although she does attend a few Learning & Laughter sessions and takes some classes such as the “Writing Life Stories’ class, Barb’s main interest right now is learning how to better use her Smartphone and Laptop. She has a standing appointment on Wednesdays with the NSC Technology Center’s wonderfully patient volunteer Chris; Barb hopes Chris will not ‘tire’ of telling her the same thing over and over!

Barb has grown her life as a senior citizen to be a busy one, one that at the present time, has little room for anything else. In addition to her activities at NSC, she attends two meetings a month of a Grief Support Group, attends programs and lunches at the Liberty Community Center, goes to the monthly seniors’ lunch at the Gladstone Community Center, and plays with a Dulcimer group in Independence every month. Barb loves to go to the Friday noon concerts at Macken Park and the Friday evening concerts at Linden Square.

Barb does lead a busy and happy Life as a senior citizen! To find out how you can get more involved with NSC, call 452-5326.