Aloha to Aging to hold ‘Generation to Generation’ fall festival and expo

The East Cobb-based Aloha to Aging non-profit will have a fall festival and expo Oct. 16 to provide resources and awareness for aging care recipients and their caregivers.Aloha to Aging fall festival expo

The “Generation to Generation” event will be held from 2-6 p.m. at Covenant Presbyterian Church (2881 Canton Road). It’s free and open to the public and will include participant prize drawings and chances to buy “Split the Pot” raffle tickets.

More info: AlohatoAgingEXPO or email EXPO@alohatoaging.org.

Aloha to Aging, Inc., which was founded in 2009, has expanded its service provisions to include Cherokee, DeKalb, Fulton and Paulding counties.

Last year A2A served more than 3,000 people (including volunteers) with services that include a social day respite program for those over 55 who no longer drive but want socialization activities away from home, monthly support groups for those with Early Onset Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease and their caregivers and education and wellness programs to aid seniors and their family members.

 

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Aloha to Aging to hold ‘Concert and Cornhole for a Cause’ event

The East Cobb-based Aloha to Aging, a non-profit dedicated to services to senior citizens and their caregivers, is marking its 13th anniversary this month with a special fundraising event.Aloha to Aging Concert Cornhole Cause

It’s called Concert and Cornhole for a Cause, and takes place on June 26 at Red Hare Brewery and Distillery (1998 Delk Industrial Blvd.) from 2-6 p.m.

As the name suggests, there will be live music and a cornhole tournament. Participants will enjoy the sounds of Saints N Sinners and Northside Duo, specialty drinks and the competition.

Proceeds will benefit Aloha to Aging and its programs, including an aging sensitivity class for individuals, businesses and families dealing with those with age-related health or cognitive changes, family support groups and the Aloha Day Club, designed for those 50 and older who are no longer driving.

Sponsors and participants are needed for the event and more information can be found by clicking here.

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Cobb DA’s office taking part in World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

From Cobb County government:

Cobb County is gathering donations of knitted and crocheted squares for the 2022 Yarn Storm project in recognition of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. The project is being coordinated by Cobb County Government, the Cobb District Attorney’s Office and LiveSafe Resources.The 6-inch and 10-inch squares can be in any color or design and will be used to install yarn storming displays on June 15.

Please bring your donation by Wednesday, June 8, to one of these locations: 

  • 100 Cherokee St. in Marietta. (There will be a collection box located inside the building for your donations.)
  • Cobb Senior Wellness Center, 1150 Powder Springs Street, Marietta 
  • Freeman Poole Senior Center, 4025 South Hurt Road, Smyrna 
  • N. Cobb Senior Center, 3900 South Main Street (inside Kennworth Park), Acworth 
  • Tim D. Lee Senior Center, 3332 Sandy Plains Road, Marietta 
  • W. Cobb Senior Center, 4915 Dallas Hwy, Powder Springs 

You may also mail your completed pieces to:
Cobb District Attorney’s Office, 70 Haynes St., Third Floor, Marietta GA 30090.
For additional information, please visit www.cobbcounty.org/WEAAD.

 

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Aloha to Aging to hold rescheduled Generation to Generation Expo

Submitted information:

If you want an absolutely different experience for you or your family, then join us Oct. 17th for an afternoon filled with 30+ interactive vendors, engaging activities and 2 educational programs. This is unlike any other expo you’ve experienced before!
Enjoy a chair massage and keep hydrated with a bottled water provided by Brickmont Assisted Living. After playing cornhole and checking out all the vendors, instead of going out to dinner, treat yourself or your family to dinner at Maui Wowie Hot Chicken Food Truck and King of Pops while listening to some live music by Saints and Sinners!

Aloha Aging Generation Expo

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Aloha to Aging postpones ‘Generation Generation’ Expo

The East Cobb-based Aloha to Aging non-profit was to have held its first “Generation to Generation” Expo this Sunday, but due to the weather forecast is postponing it to Sunday, Oct. 17.

The same venue still applies, Covenant Presbyterian Church (2880 Canton Road), from 2-6 p.m., with the same slate of activities as noted in the flyer below.

Aloha to Aging Generation to Generation Expo

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Tim D. Lee Senior Center fully reopens after renovations

East Cobb Senior Center

The Tim D. Lee Senior Center in East Cobb (3332 Sandy Plains Road) fully reopened on Monday morning after repairs and renovations that lasted more than a year.

Visit the center’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TimLeeSeniorCenter/ for more details.

Below is a glimpse of events offered there in September.

Tim D. Lee Center

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Aloha to Aging to hold first ‘Generation to Generation’ Expo

Submitted information:

This free family friendly event will offer individuals of all ages multiple opportunities to learn, grow and most importantly connect and have fun! 
A few highlights for the day:
“Managing A Life Interrupted” speaker panel featuring legal, health and wellness professionals who will guide us on how to best manage the unexpected!
The deadline to sign up as a vendor is this coming Wednesday, Aug. 31, and you can get more information and register by clicking here.
Aloha Aging Generation Expo

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Cobb to recognize World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day
A tree commemorating World Elder Abuse Awareness Day at the Marietta Square in 2020.

Submitted information:

Cobb County Government together with the Cobb District Attorney’s Office and liveSafe Resources are working on a Yarn Storm project in recognition of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day on June 15, 2021.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) was launched on June 15, 2006 by the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and the World Health Organization at the United Nations. The purpose of WEAAD is to provide an opportunity for communities around the world to promote a better understanding of abuse and neglect of older people by raising awareness of the cultural, social, economic and demographic processes affecting elder abuse and neglect.

Cobb County has a multi-jurisdiction organization, The Cobb Elder Abuse Task Force, that addresses the financial, physical/emotional and institutional abuse of seniors. In addition, task force members provide education and awareness training for service providers, law enforcement and community organizations. For more info on the task force, please visit https://www.ceatf.org

For more information about elder abuse please visit https://ncea.acl.gov

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Aloha to Aging to hold fundraising concert and gameday event

On Sunday the East Cobb-based Aloha to Aging, a non-profit serving seniors and their caregivers, is holding an outdoor fundraiser at the Burnt Hickory Brewery (260 Moon Station Court, Kennesaw) from 2-6 p.m.

The “Getting Better With Age” event will help support Aloha to Aging  programs:

  • Impactful, hands-on Educational and Simulation Programs for the community dealing with age-related health or cognitive changes.
  • Support groups for families dealing with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Age-related illnesses.
  • Specialty Programs virtual and in-person like Game Days, Staying Sharp, Technology Training, Caregivers and Chronic Disease Management, “Getting Better With Age” Educational Classes.
  • Aloha Day Club, our therapeutically structured program for those 50+ who have mainly stopped driving. Re-starting soon both virtually and in-person.

For Details go to ConcertandCornholeForACause.

Aloha to Aging fundraiser

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Cobb senior centers to reopen; food distribution program ending

East Cobb Senior Center
Submitted information:

Cobb Senior Services announced that it is planning to welcome more seniors back into its centers. Effective Monday, April 19, the centers will operate Monday thru Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., and add more ongoing activities such as, but not limited to, billiards, table tennis, bridge, needlework and woodcarving. Additionally, the gyms at all five multipurpose centers will be open once again.

NOTE: Registration is still required to participate in all activities, including gym usage. Please visit the center’s pages for listings of added ongoing activities through https://www.CobbSeniors.org.

On Monday, May 3, registration for Spring classes will open with classes beginning May 10. A list of classes offered at the centers may be found on each center’s page beginning Friday, April 16. Please note that registration for classes and all activities is only available by telephone or online using My Active Center. If you do not have an account with MAC, please call the center near you for assistance.

For your safety, the following protocols will remain in place:

  • Masks are required to be worn inside all CSS facilities, except when actively exercising
  • Your temperature will be screened upon arrival
  • COVID-related questions will be asked upon arrival
  • Water fountains and bottle fillers are closed

Please contact Senior Services at 770-528-5355 or CobbSeniors@cobbcounty.org. If you have any questions, updated information may be found at https://www.CobbSeniors.org.

Also:

Cobb Senior Services is hosting its last food distribution event from 11 a.m. to noon (or while supplies last) Friday, April 16. Residents age 60 and older are encouraged to get shelf stable food at Cobb Senior Services, 1150 Powder Springs St., Marietta. An ID showing date of birth and Cobb County home address for each senior is required upon arrival. No appointment is needed.

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Cobb Senior Citizen Council to have virtual legislative forum

Submitted information:Cobb Senior Citizen Council legislative forum

The Senior Citizen Council of Cobb County (SCC) invites all interested persons to a Zoom discussion of senior issues with their Cobb County based state legislators. This Cobb County Legislative Senior Issues Forum will take place on Friday, April 16 at 11 AM. 

Senator Kay Kirkpatrick, Senator Michael Rhett, and Representative Mary Frances Williams will join other legislators to listen to and answer the concerns of Cobb seniors. Among the likely issues to be covered are affordable healthcare, transportation, housing, homecare services, oversight of assisted living communities and nursing homes, and elder adult protections. Irene Barton, Executive Director of Cobb Collaborative, and the SCC will be moderators of the forum.

The event is free and open to all. Persons who are interested should go to the SCC website at https://seniorcitizencouncilofcobb.org/ where they can find further information and obtain the Zoom link to join the forum discussion on Friday. 

Questions about the event and to sign up for the free SCC monthly e-bulletin devoted to senior issues and resources, please phone 423.815.1790 or email info@seniorcitizencouncilofcobb.org.

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Cobb Senior Services to offer free food distribution on Friday

Submitted information:

Cobb Senior Services staff will hold drive-up services for Cobb residents age 60 and older to get shelf stable food from 11 a.m. until noon, or while supplies last, on Friday, Feb. 26. An ID showing date of birth and Cobb County home address for each senior is required upon arrival. No appointment needed. The address is Cobb Senior Services, 1150 Powder Springs St., Marietta.

You can help these distribution events continue by donating needed food and supplies. CSS staff is currently accepting donations by appointment only due to COVID-19. Please do NOT leave any items outside. Call 770-528-2009 to schedule a time for drop-off. To view a list of needed items, visit cobbseniors.org.

If you would prefer to make a financial donation to help continue this food drives, click “Donate” at cobbseniors.org.

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Six Cobb seniors receive ‘lifetime achievement’ proclamations

Cobb seniors lifetime achievement

Submitted information and photos:

The Senior Citizen Council of Cobb County celebrated National Senior Citizen Day by selecting six outstanding Cobb senior citizens to receive Life Achievement proclamations from Cobb County. These distinguished individuals were presented with their proclamations in a ceremony
at the Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting on October 13.

The Life Achievement award recipients were called up separately and Commissioners JoAnn Birrell and Keli Gambrill read their individual proclamations aloud. The six honorees were Dr. Julie Bolen, Dr. Betty Ann Cook, Ms.Shelle O’Loughlin, Ms. Jessica Townley, Ms. Jeanene Abernathy, and Ms. Mildred White (who was unable to attend).

All of the honorees have a lifetime of professional accomplishment and years of devotion to the betterment of the Cobb community. A video of the awards ceremony can be accessed at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8U_bsby-WQ&t=278s.

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Tim D. Lee Senior Center reopening delayed due to renovations

East Cobb Senior Center
Three Cobb County senior centers will be reopening Oct. 5 after being closed since March due to COVID-19 restrictions.

But the Tim D. Lee Senior Center in East Cobb will remain closed for an unspecified time because of ongoing renovations.

County spokesman Ross Cavitt said the renovations are extensive, and are related to roofing issues caused by water leaks, and that “COVID has made the progress slower than we had hoped.”

He said Cobb Senior Services has retained an engineering firm to work on a redesign to direct water away from the north side of the building, which has had water retention issues after rain. Cavitt said a reopening date hasn’t been determined.

The senior centers are the last county facilities to reopen from COVID-19 closures. Those reopening on a limited basis Oct. 5 are the Freeman Poole Senior Center in Smyrna, the Cobb Senior Wellness Center in Marietta and the West Cobb Senior Center. The North Cobb Senior Center will reopen on Nov. 5.

Those centers will be subject to additional safety protocols and and other measures which can be found here:

“Everyone must be registered in advance before coming to a center, temperature screenings will be conducted at the door, and rooms will be setup to allow social distancing. While there will be some in-person activities, we will continue to offer virtual programs on our Facebook pages and via online links. We have given much thought and care in preparing for seniors to return and are eagerly looking forward to seeing them.”

Kathy Lathem, strategic partnership manager for Cobb Senior Services, said the department continued to provide transportation for seniors for medical appointments, shopping and banking, and also continued Meals on Wheels. Here’s more about what’s been happening over the last seven months:

“We began partnering with local organizations and the community for donations of shelf stable items and toiletries; WOW, did they ever respond!! From April thru mid-July, we were able to hold weekly food giveaways for Cobb residents age 60+, resulting in:

  • 2,677 people served
  • 1,260 produce/dairy boxes given
  • 2,335 restaurant meals provided

“After a break to secure more donations, the food giveaway resumed on September 3rd. The next one takes place this Thursday, September 24 at our office, 1150 Powder Springs St, Marietta, 30064 from 11am until Noon, or while supplies last. An ID showing birth date and Cobb County home address is required upon arrival for each senior being served. Visit www.CobbSeniors.org for upcoming dates and locations.”

There’s a continuing food drive with needed items listed below.

 

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Chattahoochee Plantation resident gets 99th birthday surprise

Chattahoochee Plantation resident 99tj birthday, Jane Agati

Thanks to Marsha Brenner for the photos and the note below about Jane Agati, a longtime resident of Chattahoochee Plantation known to many there as the “Ole Soft Shoe Lady” and who got an incredible surprise for her 99th birthday on Aug. 31:

“Over 70 friends stopped by at staggered times, masked and socially distanced, to wish one of our communities sharpest and happiest senior citizens a ‘Happy Birthday.’

Jane served in WW2 as a Navy Wave, is known for her ‘Ole Soft Shoe’ Tap Dancing and her GORGEOUS flower gardens.

Jane and her now deceased husband Nick proudly made home made Italian sausages and served a special annual, Atlanta Country Club members gourmet Spaghetti dinner, for 54 years! Sadly COVID-19 prevented her this year from continuing this tradition—but she was ready, willing and amazingly able . . . had the pandemic not happened.

Jane’s ‘Stop by’ Birthday celebration also included a surprised visit by both Cobb County Police and Firefighters. At first she thought she was being arrested! But soon realized the wonderful men and women of our local Police and Fire departments were there to congratulate her. And, in truest form—she tap danced to say thank you for their kind well wishes!

Jane is truly an icon in East Cobb. She is blessed with amazingly good health and LOTS of great FRIENDS!

Chattahoochee Plantation resident 99tj birthday, Jane Agati

Chattahoochee Plantation resident 99tj birthday, Jane Agati

Chattahoochee Plantation resident 99tj birthday, Jane Agati

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East Cobb long-term care homes holding steady on COVID cases

East Cobb longt-term care homes, Manor Care
Four resident deaths have been reported since July at Manor Care on Johnson Ferry Place, including one last week. (ECN photos)

The number of COVID cases has been soaring in Cobb County since the month of July, and new outbreaks have been reported in some long-term care homes in Georgia.

Most of those facilities in East Cobb have reported minimal cases and deaths during that time. An exception is the HCR Manor Care Rehabilitation Center on Johnson Ferry Place.

Some closed voluntarily in March, before Gov. Brian Kemp issued a shelter-in-place order and dispatched the Georgia National Guard to test residents and employees.

While many new cases in Cobb and Georgia are occurring in much younger age groups, elderly people and those living in long-term care homes still make up a sizable percentage of the hospitalizations and fatalities.

According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, 3,961 of Georgia’s 4,727 deaths, or 83 percent, have been people aged 60 and older. The Georgia Department of Community Health reported Monday that 1,995 people have died in long-term care homes, 41 percent of the statewide death toll.

Long-term care homes include nursing homes, assisted living facilities, personal-care homes and memory-care units.

Those trends are reflected at the local level. In Cobb, 143 of the county’s 340 deaths—second in Georgia, only to Fulton—have been in long-term care homes, or 42 percent of the totals.

In East Cobb, 66 people have died from the virus, and 29 of them, or 44 percent, were living in long-term care homes, according to Cobb County government’s Geographic Information System office.

Those figures are from late last week, and a map of the long-term care home deaths is updated here, and is shown in the icons on the map below.

East Cobb COVID LTC map 8.17.20
You can view the zip codes and the long-term care icons seen above for death data by clicking here.

Alto Senior Living on LeCroy Road, near Roswell Road and Robinson Road West, has reported eight deaths, according to the Georgia DCH, which has issued a weekly update on cases, deaths and tests since the crisis began. Those figures come directly from the entities that operate the long-term care homes.

That’s the highest number for any long-term care home in East Cobb, although none of those have been reported since the summer.

(The long-term care report is now issued daily, and you can see the latest report by clicking here.)

Six residents have died at the A.G. Rhodes senior-living home on Wylie Road, and five at Sterling Estates East Cobb, but at both facilities none since the spring.

HCR Manor Care operates more than 500 skilled nursing homes and rehabilitation centers across the country. At the end of June, its East Cobb facility, which currently has 72 residents, had reported nine resident cases and no deaths.

But during July, three residents died there and the number of positive resident cases had grown to 34. That number is now at 53, and a total of 34 positive cases also were reported among Manor Care employees, according to state figures on Monday.

Julie Beckert, a spokeswoman for Manor Care, did not elaborate on the deaths, but said the increase in positive cases is due to a significant boost in testing.

Monday’s Georgia DCH figures show that 184 residents at the Manor Care East Cobb location have been tested, and 186 at the Manor Care facility in Decatur.

Beckert said Manor Care has done “whole-house testing” and that over “the last several weeks,” 63 patients have tested positive and many were asymptomatic. Beckert didn’t indicate how many, and “unfortunately, we lost six patients due in part to COVID-19.”

That includes another death at Manor Care in East Cobb reported last week two deaths at the Manor Care facility in Decatur, according to Georgia DCH figures.

She said 39 employees tested positive in recent weeks, with 24 recoveries and 15 staffers on self-quarantine.

The AJC reported last month about a major outbreak at the Dunwoody Health and Rehabilitation Center, which went from zero to 15 deaths and nearly 100 positive resident cases since the end of June. The Sandy Springs facility has 240 residents.

East Cobb long-term care homes, Alto Senior Living
8 deaths have been reported at Alto Senior Living in East Cobb, most of them earlier in the outbreak.

As of Monday, here are the latest COVID-19 figures for long-term care homes in East Cobb:

  • A.G. Rhodes Home Cobb, 900 Wylie Road (30067): 6 resident deaths, 26 positive resident cases, 19 resident recoveries, 9 positive staff cases;
  • Alto Senior Living Marietta, 840 LeCroy Drive (30068): 8 resident deaths, 23 positive resident cases, 14 resident recoveries, 3 positive staff cases;
  • Arbor Terrace of East Cobb, 886 Johnson Ferry Road (30068): 3 resident deaths, 7 positive resident cases, 1 resident recovery, 15 positive staff cases;
  • Heritage of Sandy Plains, 3039 Sandy Plains Road (30066): 0 resident deaths, 0 positive resident cases, 0 resident recoveries, 3 positive staff cases;
  • Manor Care Rehabilitation Center, 4360 Johnson Ferry Place (30068): 4 resident deaths, 53 positive resident cases, 53 resident recoveries, 34 positive staff cases;
  • The Solana East Cobb, 1032 Johnson Ferry Road (30068): 0 resident deaths, 0 positive resident cases, 0 resident recoveries, 7 positive staff cases;
  • Sterling Estates East Cobb, 4220 Lower Roswell Road (30068): 5 resident deaths, 13 positive resident cases, 6 resident recoveries, 0 positive staff cases;
  • Sunrise of East Cobb, 1551 Johnson Ferry Road (30062): 1 resident death, 4 positive resident cases, 3 resident recoveries, 2 positive staff cases.

Beckert said among the additional measures Manor Care has taken is to conduct regular temperature checks of residents (with a threshold of 99 degrees to address possible changes in condition). It’s also created an “airborne isolation unit” to treat higher-risk patients, with dedicated personal protective equipment and special cleaning, disposal and sanitizing measures.

Additional barriers also have been installed to protect other residents and employees from infection, she said.

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As East Cobb man nears 100th birthday, ‘I never worry about tomorrow’

East Cobb man turns 100

Ever since Harry Kone survived wounds at Guadalcanal that reduced him to one working lung, he’s chalked up his long life to a simple philosophy:

“I never worry about tomorrow.”

It’s a mindset that served him well in 40 years as a public school teacher in Chicago, in raising three children and in staying involved with veterans groups and his church since his retirement.

In 1995, Kone and his late wife Marjorie moved to a senior-living community in East Cobb, off Johnson Ferry Road, to be closer to two of their children.

These days, one of those children, his daughter Sue Lind, is his in-home caregiver, and in recent weeks she’s been busy preparing for a very different birthday celebration for him.

It’s not just that Kone will turn 100 years old on Aug. 16. In the time of COVID-19, he’ll finally be able to see family members he hasn’t seen since the outbreak in March.

But they’ll be doing it incrementally, one family at a time.

“Everybody’s coming on a different day,” Sue explains about the need to keep gatherings small, and she notes, less hectic.

Kone’s friends from the Squire “Skip” Wells Marine Corps League also will be wishing him a happy birthday, via conference call.

Kone accepts the reality of the health restrictions.

“I feel great,” he says.

He’s met with some of his Marine League buddies in his garage, all of them sitting socially distanced.

“His social life has been more robust than mine,” says Sue, a human resources consultant who sold her home in Buckhead four years ago to look after her father. “His life is here.”

Kone also has been active at the Unity North Atlanta Church on Sandy Plains Road, where the minister is planning a special video message for his birthday.

His resilience was shaped by his younger years. The only child of a Baltimore railway clerk and a homemaker, Kone was an avid reader, the habit instilled by his mother.

In 1939, he had moved to Milwaukee to work as a welder, and attended a branch of the University of Wisconsin on scholarship to help develop children’s programming in the very early days of televison.

He was living in a boarding house there when he met the young woman to whom he would be married for 65 years.

After Pearl Harbor, Kone volunteered for the U.S. Marine Corps, and served as a machine gunner in the South Pacific.

It was at Guadalcanal that he recalls a conversation he and some of his fellow Marines had, during a lull in the combat.

“We were talking about what we were going to do when we got back home,” Kone said.

Not long after that, the Japanese began a bombardment attack, and many of those young men never made it home.

Harry Kone, East Cobb World War II veteran
Harry Kone cuts his 99th birthday cake in 2019 with friends from the Marine Corps League.

“You never know what’s going to happen the next day,” he said, explaining how he wanted to return to service after getting wounded in that engagement.

As it turned out, his injuries were too severe, and he was honorably discharged in 1945. A bout with tuberculosis kept him in a Veterans Administration hospital for two years.

But Kone persisted with his aim of becoming a teacher, and earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from Northwestern University. He and Marjorie raised their family on the west side of Chicago, and lived there for 50 years. Kone later taught at the college level and made appearances as a public speaker.

After moving to East Cobb, Kone hooked up with the local Marine Corps League, which has met at the veteran-owned Semper Fi Bar & Grill in Woodstock. Marjorie Kone died nine years ago, at the age of 90.

Last year, for his 99th birthday, he was honored by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

“He always used to say that every day was a holiday,” Sue says.

Kone also stays engaged with books. Sue says he’s always reading something related to current affairs. On a coffee table in his living room is his current book, “So You Want To Talk About Race?” by Ijeoma Oluo.

Kone has some big plans for the near future. His grandson, who lives in London, is getting married to a British woman next summer, and he wants to make the trip for the wedding at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Kone says he understands the anxiety many people are facing today, given the circumstances, and harkens back to memories of what he endured during World War II.

“From then on, I never worried about much. I had plans, but I didn’t worry about what I’m going to do tomorrow,” he said.

“This is what worries a lot of people,” Kone said, but “if I’m dead tomorrow, I don’t have to worry.”

He lets out a bit of a laugh and a big smile, and then offers up what he claims is the real secret to a good, long life.

“The three ‘S’s,” he said. “[Get] lots of sleep. [Do] lots of stuff. [Have] lots of sex.

“If you have that, you’ll live to be 100.”

More East Cobb people

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Cobb Senior Citizen Council collects food for elderly people in need

Cobb Senior Citizen Council food drive

Submitted information and photos:

Our Senior Citizen Council of Cobb County food drive held at the Cobb Senior Wellness Center on July 8 was a great success! We collected hundreds of pounds of food and paper goods for eligible seniors. Nearly 50 cars dropped off donations. We were pleasantly surprised that lots of people had full trunks to donate, not just one or two bags. The Senior Center said the donations were a godsend since they were running low on food to distribute.

Cobb Senior Citizen Council food drive

Cobb Senior Citizen Council food drive

Cobb Senior Citizen Council food drive

Cobb Senior Citizen Council food drive

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Cobb delays reopening plans for senior centers due to COVID-19

East Cobb Senior Center

From Cobb County government:

Based upon the Governor’s latest executive order and after consultation with public health officials, Cobb County is postponing the planned “soft” reopening of some senior centers on July 20th. Despite rigorous cleaning protocols and social distancing plans in place, the continued rise in coronavirus cases and the Governor’s extension of the Public Health State of Emergency prompted the delay. Senior Services will work with county leaders and Cobb & Douglas Public Health to determine when we may be able to move forward with reopening some of the centers.

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Food collection, distribution events scheduled for Cobb seniors

Cobb senior food distribution

On Thursday senior citizens in Cobb County will be able to pick up free food at the Cobb Senior Wellness Center (1150 Powder Springs St., Marietta) without an appointment.

The distribution event is from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., and all Cobb seniors have to bring with them is a photo ID showing their age and home address in the county.

For a complete list of donation items needed, click here or visit cobbseniors.org.

If you would prefer to donate monetarily, click here or visit cobbseniors.org.

Items that are in particular need are shelf stable food and toiletries. Call Merline Tippens at 770-528-2009 to set up a time to deliver donation on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays only.

Next Wednesday, the Senior Citizen Council of Cobb County is sponsoring a drive-by food drop-off from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m in the parking lot in front of the Cobb Senior Wellness Center, at the same address above.

Members of the Senior Council will be collecting the donations and no one will have to get out of their car to make their contribution. Here’s a list of the items that they say they need in particular:

  • Peanut Butter; Instant Oatmeal/grits; Dried fruit; Chewy granola bars; Breakfast bars; Applesauce/fruit cocktail; Juice boxes; Cereal-small, individual boxes
  • Shelf stable milk; Chicken, tuna; Canned meats; Microwave rice
  • Crackers; Canned Soup; Canned vegetables; Canned Beans; Fruit cups; Canned fruit; Macaroni & cheese cups; Dried mashed potatoes (flakes); Spaghetti O’s/ Ravioli
  • Additional Items: Toilet Paper; Baby wipes; Travel-size toiletries (soap, shampoo)

 

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