Diana French
Special to the Tribune/Advisor
Glenda Winger, the manager at the Williams Lake Senior’s Activity Centre, enjoys her job.
The centre is a happy place, she says, there is something different happening every day, and she loves working with the seniors.
“Every one is special,” she explains, adding she has a hard time keeping up with the vibrant and unique individuals who do so many different things and have such a variety of interests.
Her job at the centre came about in an odd way. She was planning to hold her parents’ 50th wedding anniversary celebration there, but when she phoned to make the final arrangements she was told the manager had left and there was no one to see to the event. Glenda organized it herself and then applied for the manager’s job. She was hired in August, 2011. She is the employee of the Senior Centre’s Society, but the Old Age Pensioners Organization is a big part of the success of the centre, so she works with both groups. Memberships are dual — one membership is good for both organizations and the fees are split between the two. Anyone 50 and over is eligible for membership but people of any age are welcome to volunteer.
Along with the office work, the general manager’s duties include planning and/or overseeing many activities, such as exercise programs, carpet bowling, card and board games, daily lunches, Bingo, Better at Home, Advocate for Seniors — the list is a long one. The centre is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays but a number of groups use the facility after hours and on weekends, and it is a popular choice for special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries and celebrations of life. While membership fees, fundraising and facility rentals are an important part of the centre’s budget, the lunches, served from 11a.m. to 3 p.m. each week day, are the main source of revenue. It takes from four to seven workers to do the lunches. Some volunteers work on specific days, some come as they can. In a pinch Glenda helps making sandwiches and washing dishes.
“The manager needs to be able to multi-task, I do whatever job needs doing,”
Glenda says with a smile The manager also needs to be able to deal with issues quickly “and think on the run.” Making newcomers welcome is an important part of the job.
The worst thing about working with seniors is losing them. It’s inevitable that some pass on. When she first started working, she looked out the window one day and saw funeral director Luc La Prairie coming across the parking lot. She didn’t know if she could cope with knowing who was gone, so she stayed in the office. It turned out he was coming for lunch.
Glenda isn’t quite a lifetime resident of the Cariboo but she comes close. She came to Williams Lake from Saskatchewan with her parents, Jim and Iva Mowery, when she was eight months old. Jim had accepted a teaching job with School District 27. The family arrived in William Lake to find someone was living in the house they thought was waiting for them. They camped in a tent on the Tastee Freeze parking lot until they found more suitable accommodations. Later, along with teaching, her dad started Belle-Acres, a recreational spot on Hodgson Road that is still going strong.
Glenda attended school at Horsefly, then to Chilcotin Road Elementary, Anne Stevenson Junior Secondary and Columneetza. Following graduation she went to Cariboo College in Kamloops for teacher training and came home to teach a pre-school program sponsored by Leisure Services at St Peter’s Church.
Glenda and Vern Winger were married in 1985. When the children, Alicia and David, came along, Glenda was a stay-at-home mom until David was three, and she went back to teaching pre-school on a part-time basis. During the children’s school years she was involved in their school activities including serving on PAC executives.
Glenda had a variety of jobs before going to the Centre. For a time she was janitor and hostess at the Gibraltar Room, which she enoyed but the hours were crazy, and Vern, who worked for an irrigation company, was on the road alot. Her mother Iva Mowery and Vern’s mother Ethel Winger were always there to help with their grandchildren.
After spending some time doing office work at Honda, then at the Jaco Lumber yard, Glenda took on a very different job at the lumber yard — loading trucks and rail cars. This involved driving a fork lift but also required climbing up on the rail cars to secure the loads.
“I’m afraid of heights,” Glenda says, “I wouldn’t have managed if Len Coombs wasn’t there to encourage me. “
Then it was back to school. She took a course in Applied Business Technology at Thompson Rivers University, worked in the office at Pioneer Log Homes, then at Independent Respiratory Services before taking the position at the Seniors Activity Centre.
The Wingers have lived on Fox Mountain with assorted dog and cats for the last 30 plus years. They also have a place on Keithley Creek at Cariboo Lake. Glenda has taken up kayaking. The family freaks out when she goes on the lake by herself because she doesn’t swim. She doesn’t even like the water, but she says it’s so peaceful out on the lake she can completely relax. And, she wears a life jacket. The family loves to explore the outdoors on ATV rides and sledding in the winter months.
Alicia, who has worked in pet stores since graduating, is moving to Kamloops to work in a veterinary clinic. David works with his dad at WaterTec Irrigation Ltd. which provides expertise and irrigation equipment for ranches, nurseries and greenhouses. Vern is the firm’s Agricultural Sales Manager.
Vern and Glenda do some international travelling “to see the world” but they are always glad to come home. Glenda says she has never wanted to leave the Cariboo. “There is so much to do here and you don’t have to worry about personal safety.”
Glenda doesn’t have much time for volunteering these days but she is on the board at Glen Arbor. When she retires — whenever that might be — she plans on volunteering at the Centre.
