By Ethan Forman
DANVERS — Two members of the Kiwanis Club of Danvers earned a face full of smoke as they cooked up a storm during the Senior Citizen Lunch yesterday, an event that is part of Danvers Family Festival.
Dr. Wayne Comeau and John Call spent their lunch hour cooking 150 hot dogs and 150 hamburgers as smoke wafted from a grill mounted on the back of a trailer.
The lunch, sponsored by Kiwanis, the Danvers Council on Aging, and the Atrium at Veronica Drive, a local facility that cares for Alzheimer's patients, drew 160 seniors and more than 30 Kiwanis members. Cars jammed the Stone Street center's parking lot, and there were only a few seats available at tables inside in the Great Room.
Among those Kiwanis members on hand were Town Accountant Leonard Marshall, Selectman Gardner Trask, Selectman Dan Bennett and former Recreation Director Lawrence Crowley. Also serving food alongside Senior Center staff was police Officer Suzanne Tibbetts, who works as a liaison with seniors.
Inside, Fran Stacey, 78, was enjoying the Fourth-of-July-themed lunch. She retired at age 75 after working for 31 years for Rohtstein Corp. in Woburn. She began coming to the Senior Center to find things to do.
"This is a great place," Stacey said. "This has really helped me in my retirement." She sat at the lunch with some friends from her apartment building: Camille Whitney, Rosalie Anderson and Helen O'Keefe.
"We try hard," said the center's director, Pamela Parkinson, taking a break from serving ice cream. "We like what we do. We have a group of hard-working staff."
Staff Writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673, or by e-mail at eforman@salemnews.com.
