Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 21, 1993 TAG: 9312210075
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-10 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JOANNE ANDERSON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When you opened your eyes, you would see a woman with an easy smile, comfortable eye contact, hand gestures to emphasize her point and a hint of red hair, still evident though now crowded with gray.
She chats amicably about her favorite radio personalities, like Gene Burns out of New York and Henry Boggan from Charlotte, N.C. Oh, and Rush Limbaugh. "What a brilliant mind," she said of the latter, "but I wonder how he gets away with all that he says. I'm not a fan, so I shut him off when I've had enough!"
An avid reader, particularly of humor, Mrs. Walbridge had a copy of "A Treasury of Laughter" by her chair the day I visited. "I'm tired of television," she said. "So I read magazines, biographies and things that make me laugh. Anything to take my mind off myself."
Born to a coal miner and his wife in the late 1800s, she was the only girl among seven children. Her mother was sick or pregnant most of the time, and the young girl was forced to drop out of high school to care for the family.
She did, however, win a scholarship to study voice in Scranton, Pa., and also studied music and voice at Radford University. While living in Scranton in 1917, a flu epidemic ravaged entire families in the region, and her father insisted she come home.
Despite the earnest attention of a Pennsylvania gentleman named Ernie, Mrs. Walbridge married her only true love, Bud Walbridge, a few years after her return to Virginia.
Bud died 10 years later, and Mrs. Walbridge remained in their big house on Eighth Street in Radford until the mid-1980s. She raised their daughter, Anna, there and rented rooms to temporary workers at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant.
About five years ago, Mrs. Walbridge met Kathy DeHart of Blacksburg, and, as Kathy tells it, "we've been best friends ever since." Kathy visits on Wednesdays, runs errands, delivers groceries and helps in any way she can.
One of Kathy's favorite stories is about a trip to Wade's Supermarket. Mrs. Walbridge heard that the aisles had been widened, and she thought it would be perfectly lovely - her favorite description of anything nice.
"She was still using her cane then (she walks with a walker now), and she put her hands on the cart and off she went, up and down the aisles. It was, as she had determined, perfectly lovely."
But life in the 90s and in your 90s is not all perfectly lovely. It's lonely and depressing. As Mrs. Walbridge recently told Kathy: There's Thursday, there's Friday. Then there's Saturday, then Sunday. There's Monday. Then Tuesday. Then you come! Then there's Thursday, there's Friday . . .
But close your eyes again and listen to the stories. About playing bridge and the piano. About entertaining in a grand way. About singing and dancing, rolling up the rugs and "a-partying and carrying on."
Merry Christmas, Mrs. Walbridge.
\ The PULASKI SENIOR CENTER, 106 N. Washington Ave., 980-3969:
Volunteers are needed in the elementary schools as story tellers and tutors.
The center will be closed Thursday and Friday and Dec. 31.
The GILES COUNTY SENIOR CENTER, 1320 Wenonah Ave., Pearisburg, 921-3924:
The senior center will be closed all day Thursday and Friday and Dec. 30 and 31.
Swimming at 9:15 a.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will be held as normal. Also, you can play bridge Monday and Wednesday, 1-4 p.m., and do crafts and ceramics Tuesday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
The RADFORD SENIOR CENTER, 27 First St., 731-3634:
The center will be closed Friday and Dec. 31.
If you're putting new things away over the holidays, save some of the good ol' stuff for the May rummage sale.
The CHRISTIANSBURG SENIOR CENTER, 655 Montgomery St., 382-8173:
The center will be closed Thursday and Friday and Dec. 30 and 31.
Card nights at the center are the second and fourth Mondays of each month, 6:30-9 p.m.
by CNB