Newton Senior Center's Joanne Fisher Ready to 'Stop and Smell the Roses'

Joanne Fisher could fill a book with the stories she has from the .

There's the one about the man who worked for the government on the Rosenberg Case, or the woman who played Wimbledon before women were officially considered professional tennis players. 

And Fisher can't forget to mention the quiet senior center volunteer who whittles tiny, wooden figures with incredible skill. 

"I have met people that are so extraordinary," Fisher says. "We all know everyone has a story, but Newton really is a crossroads of the world."

After 20 years of hearing stories and meeting countless personalities, Fisher has decided close the book on her time as the program coordinator at the Newton Senior Center and will retire at the end of the summer. 

"I will miss this, and it will be an adjustment, but it will be good," Fisher says.

Fisher, a trained artist with a degree in graphic design, first came to the center after answering a small job ad in a newspaper. At the time, she had been working at a nursing home and "loved it."

Nevertheless, she was looking for a new job that could combine her need for creativity and her love of working with senior citizens; the Newton gig seemed like a good fit.

After landing the job, Fisher worked with Director Jayne Colino to develop programs for the senior center as it was just starting to transition from the small, village-based drop-in centers to a larger, centralized location in Newtonville.

Over the last two decades, Fisher has seen the senior center transform from a modest basement facility with 15 patrons a day, to a full-fledged senior services program with anywhere between 150-300 seniors coming through the doors every day.

And, as the center has evolved, so has Fisher's job.

From iPad classes to Tai Chi, Tog Ren to swing band rehearsal, Fisher has helped develop a wide variety of programs and services offered -- a far cry from the Bingo and card games that were offered 20 years ago at the drop-in centers.

On top of that, she puts together the monthly "Coming of Age" newsletter and coordinates the center's team of approximately 200 volunteers.

"For me, the opportunity to be creative is essential -- and this role provides tremendous opportunity for creativity," Fisher says.

But the creativity is not always about coming up with a newsletter headline or a new program, it's also about bringing a variety of services to as many people as possible, with limited funds.

"We want to be all-inclusive without adding expense to people's lives, whether they have money or not...You have to be creative and there's not a lot of money around," she says. "The challenge is doing a lot with a little."

The biggest challenge for Fisher, though, is two words: senior center.

"People are very reluctant to come to a place that's called a senior center," she says.

But in reality, Fisher says the building at 345 Walnut St. is more of an "adult center," and is open to independent adults who are looking to socialize, find a new hobby or hone a skill.

One project Fisher had envisioned for the center -- a cafe in the lobby -- may be one key to breaking down that traditional idea of a senior center. 

The cafe would offer reasonably priced drinks, small snacks and wireless Internet, Fisher says, and it would act as place to check email, catch up with friends, or cool down after a yoga class. 

It could also potentially open the doors to younger generations.

"[The cafe] makes it an intergenerational atmosphere. It cuts through that title of a 'senior center,'" Fisher says.

But once she departs from her desk on August 24, Fisher will leave many those challenges of the senior center behind her. Instead, she will shift focus to her family and some "personal projects."

The 20 years she's spent at the center have been both rewarding and educational, Fisher says. In her final Coming of Age newsletter, Fisher pays tribute to those she's met over the years and the hundreds of visitors and volunteers that have walked through the doors of the Newton Senior Center.

"You've been good friends and good teachers...I have learned a lot about life and people and I hope that I've touched each of you in some way," Fisher reads from her farewell column. "Many people have asked what I will do after I leave and the answer is simple: I'll take perhaps what is the most important lesson you've taught me and try to apply it -- I will stop to smell the roses."