NAHANT – The Council on Aging has a brand-new executive director: Mary Miner.
Miner has taken over for Linda Peterson, who worked in the position for 12 years. As executive director, Peterson was responsible for creating activities, events, and programs at the senior center located at Nahant Town Hall. Some events included field trips around the North Shore and into Boston.
Miner retired from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in January, after serving almost 34 years in human services. She was a case manager and social worker and finished her career as a supervisor. She has lived in Nahant for nearly a decade.
With her human- and social-services experience, Miner was interested in the executive director position at the town’s Council on Aging.
“I was just trying to figure out what was the next chapter for me and what could I do to make each day interesting,” she said. “I’m a senior citizen myself, and it’s a new chapter in my life and I really thought that this would be a great opportunity to work with folks who are around my age or older.”
Miner said that she has big shoes to fill in terms of replacing Peterson, but she has received a lot of support from her staff.
“I’m still in a learning curve,” Miner said. “It’s a different skill set in terms of the type of work, but everybody has just been so helpful. I’m amazed at the number of volunteers that are here and how people support each other.”
Miner said that assistant Ann Callahan has been a big help so far during the transition. The new executive director continued that she has a lot of knowledge about both the seniors who come to the center and about organizing programs.
“It’s an amazing group,” she said. “The possibilities just continue to grow, so I look forward to sort of being on the ground floor of that and seeing what steps I can bring to the table over time.”
Miner also mentioned how impressed she was with how welcoming people have been.
“It’s just a different type of work but it’s work that complements what I’ve done over time and I’m looking forward to sharing experiences with this population and making memories for them and myself and all of that,” she added.
Miner hopes to expand social activities as COVID-19 restrictions become less of a factor. She also hopes to bring back some programs that were suspended due to COVID-19.
“I know that seniors would go food shopping one day a week and I think that was really tremendous, but they had to put that on hold,” she said. “It’s on my agenda to review all of that over time.”
Miner also stated that she values the experience of the Council on Aging board, which she said will help guide her decision making.
Still, Miner noted that she doesn’t have any set goals, adding that she doesn’t want to add any unnecessary pressure on herself.
“There are some things that are already in the works like getting a new kitchen in the center here,” she added.
