Silver Alert: How you can help if an elderly person is missing
This is how you can help if an elderly person with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia goes missing.
The Republic
The individuals honored by the Ohio District 5 Area Agency on Aging as the 2024 Most Outstanding Seniors for Marion County are Gabe and Ednita Vaflor.
She and other outstanding seniors from the agency’s service area were honored during a ceremony on August 7 at the Hawkins Conference Centre in Ontario.
The Vaflors are well known in the Marion community for their volunteerism and musical talents. Ednita, a retired teacher who served in Marion City Schools for 29 years, directed the Marion Senior Center choir, Seniors in Song, for many years and directed the annual performance of Handel’s Messiah at the Palace Theater for 25 years as director, coordinator and president. She is also president of the Marion Lecture Recital Club, past president of the Baptist Women Association and past director of the Trinity Baptist Church Choir.
Gabe, a retired electrical engineer, worked for GTE for 20 years and Qwest Telephone for eight years. He has been a board member of the Marion Senior Center for six years, serves as moderator for Trinity Baptist Church, has been a soloist in Handel’s Messiah for 19 years, and frequently performs in Seniors in Song performances. He has also performed in various productions at the Palace Theater.
The Vaflors moved to Marion from the Philippines in 1968 after Ednita obtained a work visa as a sixth-grade teacher in Marion City Schools. They have shared their musical talents in worship services and community programs for decades, performing at nearly every church in Marion County and remaining active at Trinity Baptist Church.
Ednita has directed the Marion Senior Center’s senior choir for about 15 years, teaching music to seniors and performing at events in Marion and surrounding counties. She served as the board president of the Marion Civic Chorus from 1997 to 2022. Both Ednita and Gabe have been involved with the Civic Chorus and Handel’s Messiah since 1977, holding various leadership positions and performing as soloists.
Each year, the Area Agency on Aging honors seniors who make a difference in their community and promote a positive image of aging. There is one honoree for each county in the agency’s service area. The other honorees are:
- Rebecca Plank – Ashland County
- Mary Jo Carle – Crawford County
- Lynette Crum – Huron County
- Joseph and Donna Gutridge – Knox County
- Patrick Drouhard – Morrow County
- Dorothy Michalovich – Richland County
- Janet Schueler – Seneca County
- Rita and Larry Bennett – Wyandot County
Richland County’s ONE-ARC project was recognized with the agency’s 2024 Community Service Award.
Recipients are nominated by an individual or organization dedicated to serving seniors and are then selected by the agency based on their contributions and service to the community since reaching age 60.
