Taken from On Lok VOICE:
“One of the seniors featured in the campaign is Susie Tyner, a community leader in her San Francisco neighborhood of Bayview Hunters Point who has spearheaded popular programs for older adults. Susie worked at the Dr. George W. Davis Senior Center for eight years as executive assistant to Dr. Davis, and another 10 years as program director. In that role, she brought the popular Always Active exercise headquartered at On Lok’s 30th Street Senior Center, to seniors in the Bayview.”
“Since her retirement two-and-a-half years ago, Susie has been involved in the Always exercise program as an instructor, leading classes at Dr. George W. Davis and I.T. Bookman Senior Community Centers. At 73, Susie is a powerful testimonial for living a vibrant, engaged life at any age. Her days are filled with volunteer work, music, travel, and activities for self-development and community enrichment. On her frequent trips all over the world, with a group of peers who share her love of travel, she explores the arts and culture of other countries, bringing back ideas for activities and programs. In 1996, for example, Susie went to Trinidad for carnival and discovered steel drumming, which had gained popularity as a way to curb and prevent pervasive youth violence on the island. Loving the music, and thinking it might help people in her own community, also plagued by gun violence at the time, Susie worked to create an intergenerational steel drumming program in the Bayview. It took her 18 years to realize this project, but today the band she formed practices regularly at George W. Davis Senior Center and holds public performances throughout the community.”
