Pulled from the archives, this profile on Nina Fitzgerald, who was born in 1912, describes her early life and her retirement, which she spent at JABA’s Nelson Community Center. Throwback to this fascinating glimpse at the lives of older adults during the early years of JABA (established in 1975). Happy 50th to our Nelson Community!
Retirement won’t slow down Fitzgerald By Claudia Pinto, Staff Writer of Nelson County Times, 1998
Nina Fitzgerald retired in 1965, but she will be a working woman for as long as she’s able. The 86-year-old Lovingston resident has worked at the Shipman Senior Center [JABA’s Nelson Center’s previous location] for the last 24 years. Fitzgerald mainly works in the kitchen, helping to prepare and serve meals and cleaning. She also helps other seniors with crafts and plays the piano for devotion. “I have worked hard all my life. I grew up on a farm,” Fitzgerald said. “I have always worked. I don’t want to stop now. I have to keep going. I’m not going to give up.” Fitzgerald said that growing up on a farm gave her a strong work ethic. “Growing up, I fed the cow and the chickens. I worked in the garden. I planted tobacco. We had hay and corn and apples,” Fitzgerald said. “You never had anything from one year to another besides hard work.” When Fitzgerald was a teen-ager, she worked “in peaches and apples” for 10 cents an hour ... Fitzgerald said. “I never could go to high school because there were no buses running out where we lived. So, I went through seventh grade twice.” Fitzgerald said that though people of her generation lacked the luxuries of today, they had a greater sense of fellowship. We had no electricity, no radio, the only way you got news was to subscribe to the Lynchburg News or the Nelson County Times,” Fitzgerald said. “Only one family had a telephone.” ... Fitzgerald has always been eager to help her neighbors, so she accepted when her sisters (Hazel Showaters and Myrtle Wright) encouraged her to become involved with the Shipman Senior Center. “I come here every Monday and Tuesday,” Fitzgerald said. “I don’t know when I’ve ever missed.” She also volunteers at a Lovingston nursing home on most Fridays. Fitzgerald’s one complaint about the Shipman Senior Center is that it is not open enough. She said that the center is the only outlet that some seniors have. “I like the friendship and socializing,” Fitzgerald said. “When you sit at home that keeps you lonely. I wouldn’t have known half of these people if it wasn’t for coming here.” Her friends at the Shipman Senior Center have become like family. Her niece, whom she raised as a daughter, and her son are still living, but her husband, Joseph, and seven of her siblings have died. The Shipman Senior Center has become like home – this is a consolation to the woman who has been uprooted from several homes ...“I’ve been through thick and thin,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m 86 years old and I’m still going.”