At the age of 86, Beatrice DellFabero said she doesn’t have a bucket list, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t like to try new things when the opportunity arises.
In celebration of Seniors’ Week, the born and raised Jasperite took her first rafting trip down the Athabasca River with 10 other seniors from the Alpine Summit Seniors Lodge, June 6.
“I like to take every chance I can to get out,” DellFabero said. “I’m glad it wasn’t too wild—I’m a timid soul, but I really enjoyed my first time.”
As the large orange raft carried the seniors down the river, lazily passing many of Jasper’s mountains, Carol Sahara said she was also happy that she made it on to the river for the first time.
“I’ve been in and out of Jasper since 1940, but when you’re raising five kids you don’t really get the time to do all this stuff,” Sahara said. “I’m happy I got to do it now.”
The leisurely cruise along the blue waters wasn’t the only thing planned for Seniors’ Week. From June 6 until June 10, the group kept busy with a variety of activities, including restaurant outings, a Pyramid Lake cruise, horseback riding and a garden party—just to name a few.
Activity coordinator and assistant manager for the lodge, Julie Des Becquets said celebrating Seniors’ Week is important for a whole array of reasons.
“It demonstrates to the seniors what they can do and all the possibilities that are still out there for them,” Des Becquets said. “You need to keep active and keep moving because if not that mobility will disappear pretty fast.
“The other thing is that the seniors have been such a huge part of the community and it’s really important that they are recognized and see their importance in the community.”
While the bulk of the week’s activities were only open to those who live at the Alpine Summit Seniors Lodge, Des Becquets said she hopes there will be more events open to the larger senior community in the future.
“It would be nice to have something bigger that we could share with everybody to show the seniors how important they are to the community,” Des Becquets said.
Kayla Byrne [email protected]
