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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Special Anniversary: K.C. Whitcomb, senior services supervisor at the Campbell Recreation and Community Services Department, recently celebrated 25 years with the department.
Public Citizen
Senior Moment
By Erin Mayes
When K.C. Whitcomb took a job with the city of Campbell as a program coordinator for the senior services department in 1976, she thought she'd work there for a couple of years and then move on to bigger and better things.
In August, she celebrated her 25th anniversary with the department, although with a different title--senior services supervisor.
Whitcomb, did not, in fact, intend to work with seniors when she was working toward her degree in recreation and administration at San Jose State University. She'd earned an AA degree in early childhood development from San Jose City College and anticipated working with children.
It wasn't until she attended a workshop on gerontology that she discovered her aptitude for working with the elderly.
"It just clicked," Whitcomb says. "I began my love with working with seniors."
Since she started 25 years ago, the program has grown from two employees serving about 45 seniors to a department of six employees serving about 2,000 seniors. In its early years, staff members worked in City Hall's council chambers. About four years later, they relocated to the lower floor of the Campbell Library, and in 1988, the department moved to its current offices in the Campbell Community Center, formerly Campbell High School.
The department's services have also expanded. Twenty-five years ago, all it could offer were bingo games and social club meetings a couple times a month. Now, more than 1,400 seniors are registered as members with the Campbell Adult Center, and more than 2,000 seniors are being served.
The center publishes a monthly calendar of events, and even then, Whitcomb says there isn't enough room to publish every class, trip, club meeting and workshop that occur on a daily basis.
The people who use the center's services have also changed over the years, from seniors who needed the services being offered because they were in poor physical health and had moderate to low incomes, to seniors who are in much better health and are much better off financially.
That is why some of the center's most popular services are exercise classes, Whitcomb said.
"Now we have people who are lap swimming or going down to the Grand Canyon on burros or want to go hot air ballooning," she said. "Our biggest goal now is to meet the needs of the baby boomers, so we're trying to market it differently."
Whitcomb said an often-told joke at the center is that she is almost old enough, at age 51, to utilize the center's services. Her years spent at the center surpass even the number of years she's been married--20.
She has two children--a daughter in high school and a son in middle school.
Now that she's helped establish the thriving adult center, Whitcomb says she's not going anywhere, especially considering how supportive the community and Campbell's city council have been.
The Campbell Adult Center is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. For more information, call 408.866.2146 or visit www.cityofcampbell.com on the web.
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Campbell, California
