Tomales kids celebrate their 100-year-old lady friend

As a newly celebrated centenarian, Elsie Roberts is qualified to lead a quick history lesson with students from Tomales Elementary School.

With black-and-white photos to share, Roberts shows four youngsters what life was like in the 1920s and ’30s when she was young.

The retired professional ballerina wows them with images of herself doing a handstand at the beach, raising a bended leg to her head in an Egyptian costume and posing for a snapshot as a young girl wearing a fanciful ballet tutu and laced toe shoes.

There were no video games or cellphones or even television when Roberts was born in Canada on Oct. 28, 1914, the same year World War I broke out.

“It’s a great life, it’s an interesting life,” Roberts tells the students. They are gathered at the cozy residential care home where she lives in downtown Tomales, on a quiet street three blocks from their tree-lined rural school.

Students from Mary Pepper’s class visit Roberts and her two housemates once or twice each week, usually four children per visit, for a program that benefits both the kids and their elderly lady friends.

“We sort of let it evolve,” Pepper said. “The students sort of created the program with these ladies.”

The visits grew from Christmas caroling last year, after which Pepper recognized that the generation gap was merely an opportunity for young and old alike to share, bond and learn from one another. They also have boosted her students’ self-esteem.

“For my students, it’s community service and functionality skills training,” said Pepper, a resource specialist who provides extra study skills to students from second through eighth grades. “They get a chance to go there, and their own personal talents come out.”

The students sing, show off arts and crafts and writing projects, read out loud and chat with the women, including Pepper’s 82-year-old mother, Ellen Hadwiger.

“They’re all really amazing ladies. They’re all inspiring,” Pepper said.

The children overlook the age-related conditions that limit the women’s mobility, memory, speech, hearing or vision. All are on a first-name basis, respectful of differences and eager to gather for the 30-minute visits.

“The children show a lot of interest, and they’re very polite and seem anxious to learn. They’re very enjoyable,” said Roberts, a great-grandmother who formerly lived in a cottage at Dillon Beach named “L-Sea.”

On a recent visit, Roberts strummed her ukulele and sang two popular songs from her youth, “School Days” and “Has Anybody Seen my Girl?” The children applauded, but Roberts worried that her impromptu dining-room performance “was not very good.”

Daniel Petersen, 11, and Ellie Tucker, 13, are talented artists who love sharing their drawings with Roberts, who always offers positive critiques.

“She’s sweet, and she likes my artwork,” Daniel said.

“She likes my drawings and said they’re amazing,” Ellie added.

Second-graders Isaiah Flores and Brinkley Woodward, both 8, treated Roberts to an especially big moment during an earlier visit. The two read a chapter book aloud, a classic titled “Little Bear,” their first time tackling advanced reading.

“It made her happy, and she clapped after,” said Brinkley, who is Roberts’ great-great-great niece.

Pepper said the visits are especially rewarding for her students. They enjoy reaching out to their elderly neighbors and benefit from the praise and encouragement the women offer.

The students also have discovered that seniors have “huge amounts of ?interesting things to share” about their lives and experiences, Pepper said.

When Roberts turned 100, the students brainstormed ways to honor her. They put together a gift book of carefully crafted drawings, poems and stories, shared cookies and chocolates and offered their happy birthday wishes.

“They shared things about Elsie that they love,” said Pepper. “It was a beautiful book.”

Isaiah said the gift made Roberts happy.

Pepper said her students exhibit the life skills of patience, respect and understanding every time they set out to visit Roberts and her friends.

“You have to be calm, you have to be collected, and you have to listen,” Pepper said. “It’s been a really good experience for them.”

Contact Towns Correspondent Dianne Reber Hart at SonomaTowns@gmail.com. Send West County Towns news to WestCountyTowns@gmail.com.