After suffering a stroke, Jay Torres opened up after attending center
Published in the June 11-27, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Robert Airoldi
Jay Torres says goodbye to a fellow senior leaving the center after lunch last week. The center is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays.
Photo by Robert Airoldi
He rolls through the halls of the Senior Center in his wheelchair, greeting everyone he sees by name. He arrives daily at 8 a.m. when the center opens and usually stays until about 3 p.m. when it closes. He has lunch, plays Wii bowling, dominoes, enjoys posting his activities on Facebook, and greets staff and other seniors like they’re long lost friends. Gregarious, funny and happy, Jay Torres wasn’t always that way.
Torres, 56, worked as the manager at Fresh Choice at the Great Mall in Milpitas about a decade ago when he suffered a severe stroke that affected his balance and his speech. It takes time to understand what he says, but one can’t miss the joy in his face.
“I love coming here,” Torres said about the center. “They make me feel comfortable. They make me feel special.”
And he makes others feel special as well, said Denise Melroy, senior center program coordinator. For Mother’s Day this year, he bought all the women flowers, as he’s done for the past few years to honor his mother who died of breast cancer in 2009.
“He has a lot of moms here,” Melroy said.
Torres lived with his mother in San Jose after his stroke, but after she died he lived by himself for about a year before his brother Fred and his wife Shirley asked him to live with them in their Morgan Hill home.
For a few years, Torres was reluctant to venture outside the home. But after some prodding from his brother and taking to heart what his mother constantly told him before she died, he agreed to visit the senior center.
“Mom would say, ‘Don’t say you can’t do it,’” Torres said. “It took me a while to get out. But now I love it.”
At first it was just one day, then a few more. Then a few years ago his birthday came up and it was celebrated with all the other birthdays that month and he was hooked.
“The more he came, the more he loved it here,” Melroy said.
So now he takes a VTA Outreach paratransit van to the center, as well as his various doctor, dentist, haircut and other appointments and to Sinaloa’s, his favorite restaurant. Torres said he enjoys the music at the Mushroom Mardi Gras and the Taste of Morgan Hill and attends the annual festivals every year.
When he first arrived in Morgan Hill a few years ago, he didn’t know anybody. But now, he knows all the Outreach drivers, and everywhere he goes, people say hello to the man with the permanent smile.
“He’s Mr. Sociable,” Melroy said. “It’s like (the TV show) ‘Cheers.’ Everyone knows his name and he knows everyone.”
Torres said the center has changed his life. He’s more outgoing, enjoys the center’s programs and is having fun learning new games.
“At first I said I can’t do it,” Torres said of the Wii bowling, but Denise said, ‘Oh, yes you can.’” Now he plays almost daily with other seniors.
“Once we say, Jay you can do this, he always tries,” Melroy said. “His speech is getting better. He’s learning new games. It just goes to show that if he were at home he’d be by himself. Here, people love him and give him something and he in return gives them something back.”
The Senior Center can be a lifeline for many seniors, and for Torres it has been just that.
“It just goes to show you, if you want (socialization) it’s here,” Melroy said.
“I’m everywhere,” Torres said, as a huge grin graced his face. “We have a big team here, and I love it.”
