Alberta Pettaway retires after 30 years

W. TERRY SMITH

The Alberta Pettaway era at the E.L. Roberson Center ended Monday.

Pettaway, 57, retired after 30 years working for the Town of Tarboro, the last 10 as senior citizens coordinator.

“Her enthusiasm and attitude will be missed,” said Jean Grimes, the nutrition site manager. “I know I will miss her sense that ‘everything will all right.’”

The senior center comes under the Parks and Recreation Department, and Director Jarvis Pettaway (no relation) did not hesitate to comment.

“She did a fantastic job,” he said. “Bert is a fantastic person. She is a very caring person for the senior citizens.”

In her office (the one with the pink wall), Alberta Pettaway was helping Gladys Edwards, 84, of Macclesfield sign up with Medicare over the telephone.

“If I have a problem,” Edwards said later, “I come to Alberta.”

Some seniors bring her their mail for her to read it to them.

In 2007, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Division of Aging and Adult Services has certified the Roberson Center a Senior Center of Excellence.

Pettaway, never one to draw attention to herself, pointed out that while Tarboro may be short on population, its senior center offers programs as good as those in larger cities.

“Our mission is to provide the older adults the opportunity to continue a productive and active life through nutrition, education, fitness and recreational activities," she said.

“Everything I do is to try and make life more enjoyable for them,” she explained. “That’s my job, my responsibility and I try to do the best I can.”

Pettaway saw that there were different activities for seniors each week; annual activities (such as the Christmas Party, Valentine's Day Party, Tarboro Town Council Lunch Week); health screenings; fitness programs; tax services; Medicare programs; plus transportation to various events and weekly shopping trips.

Monday the seniors visited Aunt Ruby’s Peanuts in Enfield.

Classes offered at the Roberson Center include beginner and advanced line dancing, arts and crafts, bead making, beginner and advanced computer training as well as sit and be fit. Activities available include: a pool and fitness room for use; board games; holiday parties; aquatics exercise during the summer; safety training; blood pressure and diabetes checks; and intergenerational activities.

“It’s an active senior center,” Pettaway said. “It’s a meeting place and it makes a difference in their lives. Gets them out of the house.”

It’s a happening place and especially busy this month as seniors sign up or change their preferences with Medicare Part D, the prescription drug plan.

“It’s so complicated,” said Pettaway, who hopes to continue working part-time, helping seniors with their benefits.

“It makes me feel good when they come in and are upset, and we are able to calm them down and feel better,” she said.

Pettaway has been telling anyone who asked what her retirement plan is “to do as less as possible.”

She does not have any firm plans for retirement except for working part-time, doing more at the Gateway to Heaven church and spend more time with her mother in Rocky Mount.

“I plan to take her on a vacation next spring,” Pettaway said.

Pettaway began as a receptionist in the recreation department in 1979 when she also was working at Hardee’s and Black and Decker. She worked up to secretary and was named coordinator in June 1999.

She credits Charlie Brown, the former manager at the Ray Center, with advising her to work in a job that would provide checks upon retirement.

“Charlie is in his 90s now (at Golden LivingCenter),” Pettaway said, “and when I go visit him, I make sure and tell him thank you, thank you, thank you.”

She remembers she had to be talked into – mostly by seniors – taking the coordinator’s job when it came open.

“She’s been the heart of this program for many years,” said Judith Moss, 71. “She’s had a grand rapport with seniors and their families. She’s one of a kind.”

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