Bald Knob center offers family atmosphere to seniors

Pamela O’Neal, standing, director of the Bald Knob Senior Center 55-Plus, visits with a group of domino players at the center. The players are David Herdendorf of Bald Knob, clockwise, from left, Evelyn Harms of Bradford, Wendell Smith of Bradford and Connie Green of Bald Knob.
Pamela O’Neal, standing, director of the Bald Knob Senior Center 55-Plus, visits with a group of domino players at the center. The players are David Herdendorf of Bald Knob, clockwise, from left, Evelyn Harms of Bradford, Wendell Smith of Bradford and Connie Green of Bald Knob.

— Visitors to the Bald Knob Senior Center 55-Plus are made to feel at home.

The center offers a “homey” atmosphere, complete with a Christmas tree and other decorations at this time of year, as well as a chance to enjoy fellowship and home-cooked meals. There are no fees for any of the activities; a $3 donation is requested for the meal, which is served at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday through Friday.

“It’s like a big family here,” said Pamela O’Neal, director of the senior center since August. “We have 20 to 25 who come every day. … Sometimes we have more.

“I run the day-to-day operations of the center,” she said, adding that the center opens at 8:30 a.m. and closes at 2 p.m. “I was the cook before that and did that for 2 1/2 to 3 years.

“The lunch is home-cooked,” O’Neal said. “We use my recipes. If it’s not something I would serve my family, we’re not serving it here. Probably the favorite meal is pork chops, followed by meatloaf.

“This is a place to socialize,” she said. “Some of them would not see anyone on a daily basis if they did not come here. Some of our volunteers just come and sit … play games with the others. We’re just a big family.”

The senior center is a nonprofit organization governed by a board of directors.

“This center is run by the board,” said Nancy Mason, vice president and a former president of the board. “We are a nonprofit organization. The city of Bald Knob owns the building and pays the utilities.

“The board meets once a month,” she said. “Pam comes in first and makes her report and then leaves.”

Other board members include Sue Cooley, president; Jeany Smith, treasurer and a former director of the senior center; Ella White, secretary and a former center director; and Janet Hearyman.

“We serve lunch and also deliver some meals, maybe five or six a day,” Mason said. “We have tables set up for puzzles, dominoes and card games. Some play solitaire, too. Then every third month, we have a birthday party for those who had a birthday during that time. We have entertainment. We are all volunteers.”

O’Neal said all of the board members “try to help each other.”

“We try to give the clients what they want,” said O’Neal, whose job is a full-time, paid position.

“We are funded by donations,” O’Neal said. “We receive no federal funding. We are self-sufficient. It’s better that way. For one thing, we don’t have to follow anyone else’s meal guidelines.

“I’d serve anything we serve here to my family,” she said. “The meals meet my standards. When I am not here, they follow my recipes.

“We try to make the center homey,” she said. “We want our clients to feel comfortable. Our oldest client is 96. … We have some in their 50s and 60s. We are open to anybody … no age qualifications.

“This is where I belong,” O’Neal said, smiling. “I am happy here.”

Smith said, “We are happy to have her here.”

O’Neal also trains others who work at the center through the National Caucus and Center on Black Aging. The center previously contracted with Experience Works Inc. to provide employees.

Smith said NCBA provides four employees for the center who each work 20 hours a week.

“They learn all jobs associated with the kitchen,” Smith said. “That includes head cook, dishwasher, customer service and maintenance.”

O’Neal said several organizations help with donations to the center and with bingo once a month. Those organizations include Unity Health and Searcy Rehabilitation, Oakdale Nursing Home in Judsonia and The Crossing at Riverside Health and Rehabilitation in Searcy.

“People are good to us,” O’Neal said. “Both banks — Southern Bank and First Community — donate money every month.”

O’Neal said a Christmas party is planned for Friday; the center will be closed Dec. 25-28.

“We’ll just have finger foods at the Christmas party,” O’Neal said.

Smith said the board members will make candy bags to give as gifts.

“We’re planning to make 75 bags,” Smith said.

O’Neal, 60, is a native Arkansan, a daughter of the late Evelyn and Billy G. Cook. She has five siblings.

“I was born in a two-room clinic in Bradford,” she said.

O’Neal now lives a short distance away from Bald Knob in Denmark with her Doberman, Cleopatra.

She has three adult daughters.

Her oldest daughter, Brandy Elliott, 41, of Searcy, is a sergeant for the Arkansas Department of Correction Grimes Unit in Newport and has three sons — Ethan, 18, Gabriel, 15, and Dominic, 6.

O’Neal’s middle daughter, Lacy Baires, 39, and her husband, Mauricio, live in Newport with their three children — daughter Corina, 17, son Misa, 15, and son Vladimir, 6. Lacy Baires is a cook and school bus driver for the Bald Knob School District.

O’Neal’s youngest daughter, Cherry Magana, 38, lives in Velvet Ridge and is a welder for Con-way trucking company. She has three children — son Miguel, 15, daughter Natalia, 13, and son Samuel, 5.

“I have a grandchild with me every weekend,” she said, laughing. “They rotate weekends, and they come to me.”

O’Neal is also a truck driver. She said she started as a paid trainee driving for 5 cents a mile and worked her way up. At one time, she was an instructor in the truck-driving training program at Arkansas State University-Newport.

“I was a single mom with three kids with no child support. I had to have a job,” she said.

“I was able-bodied and thought it was my responsibility to take care of my kids, so that’s what I did. My parents watched the kids, and I learned to be a long-distance driver. I worked for a private company. All you had to have was a chauffeur’s license and pass a test, and they trained you,” O’Neal said.

“I started driving a truck in 1986. I had a Class A commercial driver’s license and drove nationwide. Now I just have a Class B license and drive a school bus for the Bald Knob schools,” she said.

“My truck-driving days are long gone,” she said, laughing.

“Driving a school bus fills my wallet. … This fills my soul,” O’Neal said of her work at the Bald Knob Senior Center.

“It makes me feel good to be here and help others. I just like to hang out here,” she said.

“I enjoy cooking,” O’Neal said. “My dad was a cook in the Army. My grandmother and aunt ran the old Texas and Illinois Truck Stop on Highway 367, and my middle daughter and I cook at Christmas. It runs in the family.”

The Bald Knob Senior Center 55-Plus is at 402 E. Fourth St. For more information, call (501) 724-2004.

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