As I walked into the 20th Annual Redwoods Senior Prom at the Redwoods Retirement Center, I was astounded by the scene. I was greeted by leadership students who checked everyone in, handing out name tags and fragrant corsages. Residents of the Redwoods happily socialized with Tam High students from the leadership class, who moved walkers, served hors d’oeuvres, and chatted and danced with the many elderly residents. “The high schoolers here are very grown up, not such kids like we were” said Yvonne Peters, a 92 year old resident of the Redwoods. Peters, who has two grandsons at Tam, remembers her own prom, recalling that she wore a green dress and went with a boy named John.
When Tam parent and board member and founder of the dance, Bob Canepa, announced the idea 20 years ago, he was not met with a positive response. “I was on the board [at the Redwoods], and the executive director wanted to organize a dance,” he said, “I thought it would be fun to get kids from the high school, and everyone laughed at me. They all said, ‘No one will want to do this’ but I went to the high school and asked anyway. I had to beg and plead to get five students, but they must have told their friends because the next year I had no problem getting students together.”
The leadership students who came this year seemed to be enjoying themselves, sitting at tables listening to stories told by the residents, or dancing to the live jazz quartet playing. At one point, all the leadership students and some of the residents gathered together on the dance floor and learned the Charleston from dance teacher Cynthia Glinka, whose step by step instructions were cheerfully chanted over the music.
While the Charleston was being danced, I chatted with Toba Hoffner and Cora Parik, two residents of the Redwoods who were sitting at the same table. Parik, who was 98, talked to me about moving here from Czechoslovakia, and about her life in the Redwoods. “I’ve lived in the United States since the ‘80s,” she said in a light accent. “I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I moved to Santiago then Chile then the U.S. I lived in Palm Springs then came here. I’ve lived at the Redwoods seven years.” A man sitting next to us broke in and said, “Cora’s from a royal Czech family, look” and Parik proudly displayed an emerald green ring with a crest carved into it. “When you’ve lived as long as I have, you see a lot,” she said, “Stay with journalism. There’s so much going on in the world if you can write it down.”
Her friend, Toba Hoffner, 91, moved to the U.S. from Baghdad. “My family needed to move,” Hoffner said, “and it was either the U.S. or Egypt. So we went to New York, and I arrived at Ellis Island, where I had two uncles waiting.” I had to pause for a second to reflect on how incredibly young I felt at that moment. I knew of Ellis Island from history class, and it seemed almost a myth to me. Hoffner continued talking to me, saying that she had lived at the Redwoods for six years, and she had gone to the prom every year. “I love this place, especially the prom,” she said, “the food and entertainment. Wonderful.” Parik broke in, saying, “When you get old, check in here. Remember it! Write it down.”
Suddenly a drumroll started, and confused, the ladies turned to me. “I think the king and queen of the prom are being announced,” I said to them. “Oh!” replied Hoffner, “I know the queen! She’s 104!”
The leadership students gathered and announced the queen of the prom, Claire Rubitzki, who was indeed one hundred and four. When crowned, she smiled and adjusted her spangled sparkling cardigan, saying, “Oh! Thank you – my subjects!” She laughed, “My mind is going blank. Oh dear. I didn’t know I would be this old, or I would have taken better care of myself!” Everyone laughed and clapped, and the leadership students announced the king of prom, Hank Strauss. When he was crowned, he addressed the audience and said, “I left New York on an Indian motorcycle to see the world. I went to San Francisco, and I said to myself, ‘I’m coming back here someday,’ and it took me 74 years, but here I am!”
I talked to one of the previous kings of prom, Al Goldman, who had been crowned two years ago, at 96 years old. “I come here every year, of course!” he said, accepting the gift basket that had just been handed to him by a leadership student. “I love people getting together and dancing.” He told me he had been the math and physics teacher at the New York City’s High School of Music and Art (now called the Fiorello H. LaGaurdia school), where he taught Peter Yarrow, writer of the song “Puff the Magic Dragon” and member of the band Peter, Paul, and Mary.
The Redwoods Prom was a large success. Bob Canepa accepted three posters from past dances as a gift commemorating the 20th anniversary of the dance, . “This event grows every year,” he said to me later. “It keeps getting more festive and more popular.”
Indeed, the event was very popular among leadership students, who clamored to get a place in the dance. As sophomore Trevor Guyton put it, “The Redwoods Prom is an excellent opportunity to make a bridge between students and the old folks who reside there.” Meg Weisselberg, a sophmore in leadership who attended the dance, described her time as a volunteer, “At the beginning, I helped welcome people, got their names, asked if they wanted to dance, and just generally met a lot of nice people.” Weisselberg laughed, comparing it to high school, saying, “There were a lot of single, elderly old ladies who were just waiting to be asked to dance. It’s just like high school again for some people.”