Senior Services Director Waite oversaw program expansion

As Longmont’s senior population has grown, so has the services offered by the Longmont Senior Center which for the past 35 years has been led by Michele Waite.

Waite retired earlier this month as manager of Longmont’s Senior Services, which expanded to ensure the city offered programs that engaged seniors who are more active and absorbed by different activities than ever before.

“As growth happened in Longmont, we grew with it,” Waite said. “There are different segments of seniors with different wants, and we want to provide what they want.”

In 1981, the Senior Center - which serves as the headquarters for senior services - hosted one fitness class with no male participants, Waite said. Now, Senior Services hosts aerobics, pilates and Zumba classes that include men.

There is also a hiking program and nature walks. Before COVID19 restrictions, Longmont fielded six softball teams including one with all players above 80-years of age, Waite said.

There are programs for Longmont’s Latino population as well as the LGBTQ community. “Everyone is welcome here and we try to reach as many people as possible,” Waite said.

The senior center’s volunteer crew and staff members did not waiver once COVID-19 hit, she said, They provided outreach throughout the community offering counseling, technical support, meals and went to wherever they were needed, Waite said.

“They met people on their front porches, backyards, online and wherever they could during the pandemic,” Waite said. “Our support services rolled on. Our staff and volunteers never missed a beat.”

They are now rebuilding programs emptied by COVID-19 restrictions, thanks largely to the Senior Center’s senior volunteers, she said. “About a third of our programs are run by seniors,” Waite said.

The Senior Center is also bolstered by its partnerships with the city’s Recreation and Golf Division, The Friends of the Longmont Senior Center, the Senior Citizen Advisory Board, Meals on Wheels, and the Boulder County Area Agency on Aging, she said.

Waite, typically, credits others for the growth of Senior Services, Brandy Queen, acting manager for Senior Services. Waite, she said, “is not one to toot her own horn.”

“Her leadership has been the foundation of great things in Longmont,” Queen said via email. “We often hear from customers that they moved to Longmont because we have an outstanding Senior Center- in fact we regularly hear comments that this is the best senior center older adults have seen anywhere in the country.”

Waite said she was drawn to seniors through her relationship with her grandmother. She moved in with Waite’s family when Waite was 10. “My grandmother taught me unconditional love,” she said.

Waite, 62, went to Colorado State University to study social work and got a job in Longmont’s Recreation Division. She worked 30 hours for the city and at K-Mart to supplement her income. 

“Back then, rent was cheap and I was able to get by,” Waite said. Heavy lobbying by local seniors convinced the city to create a Senior Services Division and Waite was named director in 1987.

Waite is looking to branch out a bit now that she is retired. “I cannot wait to take my first line-dancing class,” she said.