Soprema Senior Center celebrates 50 years of serving Wadsworth

WADSWORTH — Wadsworth seniors and public officials celebrated the past 50 years of the Soprema Senior Center while looking toward its future during an anniversary celebration on Friday. Soprema Senior Center Director Lori Wilkinson said the organization's history started in the early 1970s with a group called "Lively Seniors" who went to Wadsworth officials expressing a need for a place for seniors to gather. The city granted that wish. "50 years ago, the center began with a simple but powerful purpose to provide a place where older adults could gather, connect and remain active members of the community," Wadsworth Mayor Robin Laubaugh said. "What started as a modest vision has grown into something truly remarkable." The organization operated as the Center for Older Adults from 1976 to 2012 and opened its doors as the Soprema Senior Center at 617 School Drive in 2013. Laubaugh described the senior center as a "place that enriches our lives every single day" by being a space where seniors can learn, connect and have fun with one another. "Today, our senior center is not simply a building," she said. "It's a vibrant heartbeat of this community. It's a place where friendships are formed, where laughter is shared and where people find encouragement, purpose, belonging and joy." Last year, more than 38,000 visits were made to the center, and there are more than 2,500 active members, Laubaugh said. "Think about that: 38,000 moments of connection, 2,500 lives enriched, countless friendships formed and countless smiles shared," she said. "That is the legacy of the senior center." Joyce Vega Drotos, Joanne Kane and Nancy Likens all served the organization as its director and were in attendance at Friday's celebration alongside Wilkinson. "I'm humbled to have a little part of the agenda, and what a tremendous legacy we are celebrating today," Likens said. "It's an honor to be here and an honor to represent everything that's happened throughout the years." Laubaugh thanked the staff, volunteers, community partners, families and seniors who have made the last 50 years possible for the senior center. "Today, we celebrate how far we have come, but even more importantly, we celebrate what this center continues to mean for generations of seniors today, and for generations still to come," she said. "Congratulations on 50 incredible years, and here's to the next 50." Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.