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Luzerne County administration: Merit-based selection will fill job vacancies

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A little rock, a little country comes to the Kirby

<p>Rose Mason, of Hazleton, will be 92 on July 31&#8212;that&#8217;s the second milestone she&#8217;ll reach this year.</p><p>Mason celebrated her 30th anniversary as a member of The Foster Grandparent Program in May and was presented with a sterling silver music box that plays &#8220;What a Wonderful World&#8221; when it&#8217;s opened. Foster Grandparent Program Director Mary Lou Zerfoss has worked with Mason for the past 26 years.</p><p>&#8220;She&#8217;s just a remarkable delightful woman with a very outgoing, fun personality,&#8221; Zerfoss said. &#8220;She&#8217;s exactly like I want to be when I grow up. Who doesn&#8217;t want to live to be 92 and be healthy and alert and able to serve 20 hours a week? That&#8217;s great. More than any of us could ever ask for.&#8221;</p><p>The Foster Grandparent program began in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson and the local branch was founded in 1972. It&#8217;s sponsored by the Area Agency on Aging for Luzerne and Wyoming Counties and federally funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The program recruits individuals 55 and older who have a limited income or meet income eligibility standards and have a desire to work with children&#8212;especially children who are at-risk.</p><p>Foster Grandparents usually serve in schools, daycare centers and head start programs working with children who are at risk to help them increase their self-esteem and improve their attitudes toward learning. Mason has spent all three of her decades with the program at White Haven Center, where she works with special needs individuals.</p><p>&#8220;That just came into my mind one day,&#8221; Mason said. &#8220;The lady who works in dietary down there&#8230; I said to her, &#8216;I want to do something.&#8217; She said &#8216;Why don&#8217;t you come to White Haven? They need you.&#8217; Now my heart is with the girls (at White Haven). If I don&#8217;t come in, the girls look for me, so I&#8217;ll continue to go until I can&#8217;t go anymore. It makes me happy that when I go in they&#8217;re looking for me. As soon as I open the door, before they even see me, they know it&#8217;s me. I get a lot out of it.&#8221;</p><p>There aren&#8217;t any young people at White Haven, but some of the residents were young when Mason started going there. She&#8217;s the last member of the Foster Grandparents who goes there&#8212;she said that many of the residents don&#8217;t have anyone else left who visits them either. All of the residents know her, but she primarily works one-on-one with an elderly woman named Elanor.</p><p>&#8220;She can sing songs from way, way back and she knows every word,&#8221; Mason said. &#8220;I usually play music for them and she&#8217;ll sing along with me&#8212;&#8220;Apple Blossom Time&#8221; (by The Andrews Sisters) and that era (of music)&#8212;and she knows every word of it. I put bells on (residents who aren&#8217;t able to speak) so they can jingle the bells on their arms. I straighten up and just let them know I&#8217;m there. As long as they know somebody&#8217;s there they&#8217;re happy. They just lighten your life.&#8221;</p><p>Mason said that her secret to a long life is the program because it helps keep her young. She was medication-free until June, and that kind of health is a great reward for 30 years of service, but Mason is also thankful for everything else the program has given her.</p><p>&#8220;That means a lot to me because it just made me feel so good and then when I opened up the jewelry box &#8216;It&#8217;s a Wonderful World&#8217; played,&#8221; Mason said. &#8220;I enjoy every day I go and the (Foster Grandparents) program is very good. The program takes care of (the grandparents) and looks out for you. They provide our transportation so all I do is walk out my door and get on the van and they take you home and provide a meal for you. It&#8217;s just a good program and I just love going.&#8221;</p><p>The Foster Grandparent program is currently recruiting and can be reached at 570-822-1158.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Sitting from left: Rose Mason&#8217;s daughter Denise Reczkowski, Rose Mason and another daughter, Sharon Kalinchok. Standing from left: Foster Grandparents Director Mary Lou Zerfoss, Mason&#8217;s son Richard, Mason&#8217;s daughter Paulette Paslawsky and Foster Grandparents Field Coordinator Kathy Zgagowski. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_Rose-and-Family-and-Others1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Sitting from left: Rose Mason&#8217;s daughter Denise Reczkowski, Rose Mason and another daughter, Sharon Kalinchok. Standing from left: Foster Grandparents Director Mary Lou Zerfoss, Mason&#8217;s son Richard, Mason&#8217;s daughter Paulette Paslawsky and Foster Grandparents Field Coordinator Kathy Zgagowski. </caption0><photoCredit0>submitted photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Gene Axton</p><p>gaxton@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Gene Axton at 570-704-3943 or on Twitter @TLArts</p></shirttailMeta></div>

92-year old Rose Mason honored for 30 years of service as a foster granparent