by Jesse Haley

Members of the Somerville police force have volunteered adopt buildings and activities in the city and thanks to one concerned officer, a once neglected senior center celebrated a new beginning on Sept. 22 with a festive luau.

“We’re putting it back on the map,” said Officer Mario L. Oliveira, speaking from the recently landscaped front lawn of the Ralph and Jenny DeVitto Senior Center at 9 New Washington St.

“It was a mess,” said the center’s long-time employee Maggie Fontaine.

That was certainly not the intention of the man responsible for the center, Ralph DeVitto. Upon his death in 1992, Mr. DeVitto left the two-story brick building on New Washington Street as a gift to the senior citizens of Somerville. He envisioned it as a place where people could meet and share a meal or a conversation, she said.

Upstairs on the second floor, DeVitto made arrangements for a function hall for the organization he was a member of the Lions Club, Oliveira said.

But despite DeVitto’s best intentions, the building fell into disrepair. Mismanagement by the assigned caretakers led to a building without a working sprinkler system. The lights in the elevator went out and were never replaced. No one was hired to provide routine maintenance, he said.

Adding to the building’s problems was its location. Unlike other Somerville senior centers, the Ralph and Jenny Building wasn’t easily accessible to seniors, he said. “It was the furthest away from civilization, the hardest one to get to.”

But perhaps the most disheartening sign of the structure’s woes was the barren exterior of the building, he said.

The driveway was hidden under a bed of overgrown weeds. Years of neglect left the main entrance less than inviting, he said.

“The grass was this high,” said Maggie Fontaine, leveling her hand just below eye level.

“There was a rope holding this tree back,” Officer Oliveira said, pointing to a now healthy and robust pine tree that once blocked the building’s front walkway.

“It looked like a place seniors shouldn’t be,” Oliveira said.

That’s when Oliveira decided to give back to the city that raised him. “Something for the community, not just myself,” Oliveira said.

Enlisting the help of numerous local businesses and citizens, Oliviera said he outlined a program to revitalize the Ralph and Jenny Center. Soon, a truckload of donated flowers and shrubs arrived.

Eager volunteers uncovered the besieged driveway and lined it with a row of fresh mulch and stately bushes. Before the new grass was rolled out, an elaborate underground sprinkler system was installed, he said.

“When everything is in full bloom, it’s awesome,” said Oliveira.

In the middle of all this greenery is a very large rock. The initial strategy called for its removal, but when it proved to be too heavy, another plan was devised, he said.

Oliveira said they could not move it, so we decided to paint it blue.

The blue boulder is now known as Maggie’s Rock, in honor of the center’s stalwart employee. Oliveira said he wanted to decorate it with a plaque to make it official, but the stone’s irregular surfaced nixed that plan as well.

He said he is now thinking of getting one for the front entrance.

Just inside that entrance, past the doors festooned with signs in the shape of Hawaiian shirts, Fontaine herself stood greeting the luau attendees.

“Take one or the other,” she said, motioning towards a table covered in leis and colorful cloth flowers attached to barrettes.

She snapped Polaroids of the newly decorated guests while simultaneously answering the frequent phone calls with a cheerful: “Hello, Ralph and Jenny.”

As the guests took their seats at the long banquet tables to play cards and chat, Oliveira weaved through the room and made sure everyone was having a good time.

“He is a very nice man,” said Lucy De Sousa, who has been coming to the center two times a week for the last five years. She often shares conversations in her native Portuguese with Oliveira.

Fontaine, in hula girl sunglasses, got up to say a few words to the assembled crowd. When she gestured to Oliveira she said she spoke for everyone in the room, “My guardian angel, not just mine, but ours.” The room rang with applause.

The beaming Oliveira said he appreciated the kind words. “I try to do fun things with them,” he said. “They’re like my grandmothers. They had a birthday party for me, they gave me cakes.”

Numerous photographs from that party hung on the front door, next to a calendar of events offering tap dancing classes, a trip to Lake Winnipesaukee, a walking club and regularly scheduled blood pressure checks.

One notice on the board read the center provides all of these services and many more to any Somerville person over the age of 60.

Other than a massive electronic bingo board, the walls of the main room were mostly bare, having been recently cleared in anticipation of a fresh coat of paint. Stacks of photos chronicling the center’s history, as well as a few crayon drawings from grandchildren, were stacked atop a file cabinet next to the kitchen.

New chairs were expected soon too, Oliveira said. “It’s all about updating what these people need.”

Maybe it was the imminent, much-anticipated arrival of Chinese food, or the fact that the automatic sprinklers were spraying away on the front lawn, but some party-goers voiced skepticism when Fontaine called for a group photo on the front steps of the building.

“Why not? We’ll have fun,” she said, as the throng rose to go outside.

“And I want everyone to know, there’s an extra skirt,” she said, holding up a grass hula dress.

Outside, the sprinklers and the sunshine produced rainbows above the grass. Oliveira took off his Somerville Police baseball cap and replaced it with a Hawaiian-style straw hat.

As perfect as the picture seemed, Oliveira said he is convinced it could be better.

This Christmas he said he wants to outfit the large pine tree with Holiday lights.

He thinks maybe a tent for the front lawn would be nice on a summer afternoon. And a flag pole for the American and Veteran’s flags is already in the works for the spring, he said.

“I want to make them happy,” he said, surrounded by the smiling faces of the Ralph and Jenny Center. “If they’re happy, I’m happy.”