Senior Center's Rice to retire

Jun. 18—ASHLAND — After more than 15 years of leading the Ashland Senior Center, its director is planning to retire.

Kim Rice, who was hired as director after the death of longtime director Jim Caines, said she will stay until September, unless the center's board of directors finds her replacement before that.

"I can't believe these years have gone so fast," she said. "It just seems like I've been here a couple of years. It's a fun job."

Rice came from the Ashland School System's central office, where she worked with young adults considering earning their GED.

"One of the board members was asking around and it was Lucy Davis who told that board member that I would be a great fit," she recalled. "I said, 'Where is the Ashland Senior Center?' I had walked right by it several times throughout my career with the schools and didn't even know this was the center."

During her time as director, she discovered the seniors enjoyed a good party and were more than willing to get into costume for Halloween. They also wore Easter bonnets and patriotic hats for contests.

"These people here have kept me young. You want to do for them. You want to offer them entertainment and fun because you see such joy they're receiving," she said. "It gave me more energy because I saw how much they enjoy it. That just fueled my tank to keep going."

The board has been interviewing applicants throughout the month. Rice said if the director is selected from the current pool of applicants, she expects she will be around to help them learn the job. If no one is hired until she has left the job, she said she would be a phone call away.

She said there are a few considerations when hiring a director.

"It was just my recommendation to the board that you should find someone who loves senior adults. That is 90% of the job," Rice said. "You just need to have compassion and love for senior adults and offer things to do. They like to be challenged and to have something to look forward to."

Rice said she plans to spend more time with her grandchildren. In fact, she will "job share" with the children's other grandmother in Lexington and they will babysit until the youngest is ready for day care.

"I've always said when the grandchildren arrive and I turn 66, I'd retire," she said. "There's just something about those grandbabies."

(606) 326-2661 — lward@dailyindependent.com