Glen Cove celebrates seniors

As he makes his way around the city, Glen Cove Police Officer Eddie Loeffler, 29, is often spotted by senior citizens who want to greet and chat with him. They recognize him because Loeffler stops by the Glen Cove Senior Center at least once a week to keep them updated on police activities and crime-prevention tactics.

“Eddie is like all of our grandsons,” said the center’s director, Carol Waldman.

Loeffler was one of the main honorees at the 13th annual Glen Cove Senior Day celebration last Saturday. A block party outside the senior center, the event not only helps connect the city’s seniors with local resources and services, but also honors several community members who have helped them in the past year. Mayor Timothy Tenke, who helped lead the festivities, said the city was proud of the work being done at the senior center.

“It really is a dynamic facility,” Tenke said, “and it’s the volunteers who come in to give up their time that makes it as successful as it’s been.”

This year’s celebration recognized Loeffler; Lee DelValle, president of the Glen Cove Senior Activity Generational Endowment, or SAGE, Foundation; and the four members of the Continentals band, Rich Cheshire, Bob Curiano, Dan Ranieri and Craig White — all senior center members. The honorees, Waldman explained, were selected based on their impact on the community and their continued commitment to the seniors at the center. The city also honored its centenarians, including Glen Cove’s oldest resident, 105-year-old Flora Schierhorst.

Loeffler, who received the Bravo Award, is a lifelong resident of the city, and a 2008 graduate of Glen Cove High School. He became a police officer in 2014, and while he has worked various beats in the department, he has also served as the police liaison with the senior center. He spends time there talking with its patrons, learning about their concerns and teaching them how to avoid various scams that target the elderly. He has been surprised, he said, by just how many people use the facility, and how active they are.

“The center really is a gem of the city,” Loeffler said. “It’s an honor to be recognized with this award.”

The Volunteer of the Year Award went to the Continentals, who perform at a number of local senior events. Cheshire, who plays piano, is a piano tuner and part-time musician. Curiano, a former city councilman and a Korean War Army veteran, sings lead vocals. Ranieri, the trumpet player, is a former assistant superintendent of schools in the Oyster Bay-East Norwich and Bethpage districts, and White, an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm in Kuwait, plays drums. Waldman said that the Continentals play weekly during the senior center’s Adult Day Program, and they also performed at the SAGE Foundation’s annual Golf Outing in June.

“They’re a wonderful group who have weekly jam sessions here at the center,” Waldman said.

The third honor, the Bob Howard Community Leadership Award — named for the late founder of Senior Day, a community leader — went to DelValle. A retired teacher who worked in the Robert M. Finley Middle and Connolly Elementary schools, DelValle stopped by the senior center years ago to visit her mother, who took part in the Adult Day Program, and was taken aback by all the programs that were available there. DelValle wanted to get involved, and eventually took the helm of the SAGE Foundation, a nonprofit that helps secure county, state and federal funds for the senior center. The foundation has thrived under DelValle, Waldman said, and the money it acquires helps fund programs and services for the seniors.

“I’d like to thank the volunteers at the SAGE Foundation,” DelValle said. “They’re the ones who get the work done. It’s wonderful to live in this community, because the people really do care about each other, and it shows.” 

Waldman said that the award recipients, and the crowd that Senior Day attracted, demonstrated just how active the senior community is in Glen Cove, further evident by city’s “Age-Friendly” designation, conferred by the American Association of Retired Persons in recognition of its continuing efforts to meet the needs of its senior citizens.

“Most senior events are health fairs or events that focus on a single issue,” Waldman said, “but our Senior Day celebrates growing old … and shows that we play an integral role in the community.”