Young at heart: Cicero Senior Center turns 30

CICERO — Last month, the Cicero Senior Center celebrated its 30th anniversary. Among the attendees of the celebration were founding members Angie Howe and Shirley Kalin, local elected officials, current and former parks employees, and a group of seniors who make up the heart of the institution once called the “Young at Heart” Community Center.

“This is not just a building,” former Parks Director Jody Rogers said at the Oct. 29 celebration.

The Cicero Senior Center was located in Marketplace Mall before moving to its current location on Lathrop Drive in 1998. (Courtesy of Cicero Senior Center)

Inmates from the Orange County Correctional Facility in downstate New York constructed the modular addition for the Cicero Senior Center. (Courtesy of Cicero Senior Center)

Clear performed at the Cicero Senior Center’s 30th anniversary celebration Oct. 29.

Dawn Maurer, left, retired in 2020 after 35 years working for the town of Cicero. Parks Director Teresa Roth, right, called Maurer “the glue that held the [parks] department together.” The Cicero Senior Center has dedicated a glider bench to Maurer.

Over the years, Cicero Senior Center has offered older Cicero residents a place to gather and socialize. (Courtesy of Cicero Senior Center)

“This is not just a building,” former Parks Director Jody Rogers said of the Cicero Senior Center.

Angie Howe and Shirley Kalin, two of the founding members of the Cicero Senior Center, attended the center’s 30th anniversary celebration Oct. 29.

Over the years, Cicero Senior Center has offered older Cicero residents a place to gather and socialize. (Courtesy of Cicero Senior Center)

Assemblyman Al Stirpe presented the Cicero Senior Center with a proclamation in honor of its 30th anniversary. Angie Howe and Shirley Kalin look on.

Like the CanTeen, Cicero’s counterpart for young people, the Cicero Senior Center has become a “home away from home” for its members, Rogers said.

Rogers detailed the history of senior activities in the town, dating back to 1968 when a group of seniors began meeting in the civil defense room at the town hall. In 1991, the seniors coalesced into an organization called CLOCKS (Comprehensive Leisure Opportunities for Cicero’s Knowledgeable Seniors), which met at Faith Lutheran Church and the Arrowhead Lodge.

“Their numbers grew so high that they no longer could manage at the churches in town,” Rogers said.

The seniors lobbied the Cicero Town Board to provide a more permanent home for them. From 1991 to 1997, the town leased a storefront at Marketplace Mall, and the first incarnation of the Cicero Senior Center was born.

When the mall was torn down, then-Town Supervisor Joan Kesel and Onondaga County Legislator Deb Cody worked to secure $75,000 in community development funding to move the center to its current home on Lathrop Drive. It was close quarters — just the main dining room and two pool tables. If you weren’t paying attention, you might “get a pool cue in the back of the head,” Rogers recalled.

The town acquired the rest of the building and put renovations out to bid in 2004. Inmates from the Orange County Correctional Facility in downstate New York constructed the modular addition for the Cicero Senior Center.

Since then, the facility has seen the addition of the north parking lot, accessibility improvements to the entrances, railings, new flooring and sidewalks, and a water fountain with a bottle-filling station.

The senior organization has come a long way from an annual budget of $4,000 and one part-time staff member in 1975 to the present day’s budget of $152,000 and three staff members. Alex Ryan, program coordinator, works full-time at the Cicero Senior Center.

“We’ve come a long way, but we’ve also earned it,” Rogers said.

In addition to commemorating the center’s milestone anniversary, the Oct. 29 festivities also provided an opportunity to honor Dawn Maurer, who retired in 2020 after 35 years with the town of Cicero. Maurer managed the center’s newsletter, taught arts and crafts, served meals and more.

“She was the glue that held the department together,” Parks Director Teresa Roth said of Maurer.

A glider bench — with a plaque bearing Maurer’s informal title of “Big Deal” — has been dedicated to Maurer. Assemblyman Al Stirpe also read a proclamation honoring Maurer for her service.

Rogers called the Cicero Senior Center a prime example of “seniors speaking up for what they want in the community and making it happen.”