By VERNON ROBISON
Moapa Valley Progress
It was a fond farewell at the Overton Senior Center last week. Staff and senior center members said goodbye to long-time volunteer Lois Dusky of Overton. During the noon-time meal on Thursday at the senior center, a large, colorful cake inscribed with the message “We Will Miss You” was served in Dusky’s honor.
This week, Dusky is moving from her Overton home, where she has lived for 30 years, to the Las Vegas valley where she will be residing in a senior housing community in Summerlin.
“I always told my kids that when I got to a certain age, I didn’t want to live with them and have them need to take care of me,” Dusky said in an interview with the PROGRESS last week. “In a few months I’m turning 90 so I figured now is the time.”
Nevertheless, Dusky has absolutely no plans to slow down anytime soon. She likes to keep busy. The community where she is relocating offers plenty of activities for its residents. “I’ve always been very active and I don’t plan on changing that now,” she said.
Dusky has been a fixture at the senior center for a long time. She has been helping to serve the lunchtime meal there as a volunteer for 17 years now. She started volunteering back in 2001, just shortly after her husband passed away.
“I needed something to keep me busy,” Dusky says of that difficult time. “And so I started volunteering here and it was really an answer to prayer for me. I have enjoyed every minute of it.”
Dusky has seen some change take place in the 17 years of her service. She began serving in the old senior center building near Alma Ave. and Moapa Valley Blvd. Then when the new senior center facility was built she continued volunteering there.
“Other than that, things have pretty much stayed the same over the years,” she said. “Of course a lot of the people have changed. We have lost so many people over the years – good friends and neighbors.”
Senior center director Cindy Marino said that she and her staff would be sorry to see Dusky go. “We are going to miss her very much,” Marino said. “She has been wonderful coming everyday to help out for so long. I know that there are a lot of good friends here that are going to find it very hard to see her go. But we definitely wish her the very best.”
Dusky said that she has loved her time living in Overton and in volunteering at the center. “I feel so lucky to have lived here in this wonderful community,” she said. “The people here are just wonderful and supportive and neighborly. I have just loved every minute of it.”
