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By MICHELLE MOLZ
Courier-Post Staff
They're in the express lane at Super G, holding a daily newspaper and a loaf of bread. They crowd into St. John Neumann Roman Catholic Church on Ash Wednesday morning, filling the pews. They're on the links at Ramblewood; doing aerobics at the gym; baby-sitting grandkids, or whacking a tennis ball down the baseline.
Don't call them senior citizens. They prefer ``active older adults.'' Maybe they are the generation that won't sit still.
In Mount Laurel, their numbers are vast.
Outgrowing their Senior Center
Among them is Ave Maria Poth. She turned 81 in November and after working in a Moorestown nursing home for 22 years, she now teaches how to stain glass in classes at the township Senior Center on Mount Laurel-Moorestown Road.
``I have students who are almost 90 and most of them have never cut glass before,'' Poth said. ``Sometimes I feel guilty after I've gone home because I haven't spent enough time with each one.''
The township-run center, open to residents ages 55 and up, offers classes in tai chi, quilting, knitting, computers, writing, bridge, aerobics and more. It also features luncheons, bus trips, card-playing, a large-print library and billiards.
Right now, it is housed in a drafty, old brick building owned by the school board. But township officials think the needs of seniors warrant a new, $3.1 million community center.
It will open this fall behind the municipal center on Walt Whitman Avenue.
Aerobics instructor Anne Stacy, teaches seniors three times a week and is amazed at her students' fitness level. ``They're more active. There's more medical information out there about how to keep yourself fit, and exercise is always included in that. People are living healthier lives and there are advances in science and medication,'' Stacy said.
``The average age in the aerobics course is 75,'' said Dina Leacock, director of the senior center. ``If you look at them, you'd never know it,''
Senior housing keeps pace
Since the 1980s, at least 2,289 homes for people 55 and older have been built in the township. Most of them are in the Holiday Village developments, whose construction straddles Elbo Lane along Union Mill Road. They were completed 1998 with Holiday Village East. Hundreds of other age restricted homes are in the Renaissance Club off Ark Road.
Demand for senior housing, which was strong in the 1990s, has not waned to date.
Robert Hastings, property manager for Holiday Village, said the homes, with two or three bedrooms and one garage, are so popular, they often resell within days.
Ann Scull, 75, moved to Holiday Village 17 years ago. `` I have rheumatoid arthritis and we were in a split-level house,'' she said. ``I used to have to sit on the steps and slide down. ... We sold our house and moved to Holiday Village and we never were sorry.''
Seniors form coalitions
Never complacent, seniors here speak out on issues and are effective at organizing their peers.
Poth thinks it is an unfair stereotype for people to think that seniors always vote down spending issues.
``People think we're going to vote no every time something comes up that costs money,'' she said. ``My husband and I don't feel that way.''
Still, seniors have had tremendous impact in the siting and construction of Mount Laurel's schools. They helped defeat two school bond referendums, which they felt were too high-priced, in 1997 and 1998, before a pared-down, $22. 5 million referendum passed in 1999.
A group of about 20 seniors who were opposed to building a new elementary school off Cornwallis Drive blanketed the township with 15,000 fliers prior to the 1998 special election. The proposal was defeated by nine votes.
``We all joined together,'' said Holiday Village resident Len Moser. ``It was not the place to build it, as far as we were concerned. It was a good idea, but the wrong location.''
Springville Elementary School was eventually relocated off Hartford Road and opened this fall.
Moser is vice president of Mount Laurel Seniors, Inc., which will celebrate its 30th anniversary April 10. He is also involved with the Senior Education Outreach Committee Inc.
The volunteer Senior Education Outreach Committee works with the police. It provides a computerized calling system to check on homebound seniors, Moser said. The committee also provides safety and educational information.
Mount Laurel Seniors is primarily a social organization and meets at noon every Wednesday at the senior center. Its leaders work with township council members and the police department to provide education and safety programs for its 124 members. Speakers discuss such issues as banking, funeral planning and identity theft.
Mount Laurel Seniors Inc. also has a newer shuttle bus to ferry seniors anywhere they want to go within the township, and to area shopping malls, Moser said. Residents just call to be picked up.
``There's so much traffic now, it's almost impossible to get out on the highway,'' Scull said.
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They're in the express lane at Super G, holding a daily newspaper and a loaf of bread. They crowd into St. John Neumann Roman Catholic Church on Ash Wednesday morning, filling the pews. They're on the links at Ramblewood; doing aerobics at the gym; baby-sitting grandkids, or whacking a tennis ball down the baseline. - Profile: Mount Laurel