SEQUIM — There are plenty of seniors looking for social connections at 55-and-older, say sisters Bobbie Dahm and Barbara Miller; they just need to be linked up.
Whether helping widowed, divorced or lifelong bachelors or bachelorettes, Sequim Senior Singles has been creating a social atmosphere for seniors since 1990.
“It’s amazing that a small little group has survived 32 years,” said Miller, the group’s president.
The social club for unmarried, mature individuals follows organizers’ objective of providing a safe and welcoming environment to meet and make new friends through activities and groups.
Full group meetings convene at 1 p.m. the second Saturday of each month at the Big Elk restaurant, 707 E. Washington St.
Dahm said they typically celebrate attendees’ birthdays that month, order food, socialize and sometimes play games for 60-90 minutes.
Other activities, breakfasts and lunches and game days are planned throughout the month with the group choosing the schedule.
The COVID-19 pandemic led the group to hold off on gatherings for about a year, Miller said, but as they gather again they ask participants to follow state health guidelines and be vaccinated or naturally immune to the virus.
In the past, Sequim Senior Singles has held events for cards and dominoes, gone on trips to Vancouver, B.C., and on an Alaskan cruise.
Miller said they’re planning a trip to Leavenworth, movie days at Deer Park Cinema, and more game days and meals together.
“We have four or five places we rotate for breakfasts and lunches, and we give the group the chance to choose,” Dahm said.
Prior to the pandemic and with more participants, they offered more games, but organizers say that just depends on the number of people. To be more inclusive, they play dominoes with numbered tiles for those with lessening eyesight, too.
Sequim Senior Singles started in September 1990 with four widows eating lunch at Paradise Restaurant deciding they wanted an avenue for social functions and ways to meet new people, Miller said.
The women agreed to start the group for like-minded, single, mature people, but didn’t want it to be a dating service. It grew to 100-plus members at various points, organizers said. Numbers have ebbed and flowed with some members getting married, moving or dying.
Miller, a retired nurse of 50 years, said the group was one of the reasons she moved to Sequim in 2011 after a divorce.
“I wasn’t looking for a romantic relationship,” she said.
She met her boyfriend through the group two years ago.
“It was definitely a surprise, but a nice surprise,” she said.
Dahm, a retired documentarian, joined in 2007 a few months after her husband, Bill, died. While at 7 Cedars Casino, a woman encouraged her to check out the group.
“I didn’t want anything romantic; I wanted to be with people in the same boat as me,” Dahm said. “I didn’t want to feel the pressure to date and not have to worry about it. It’s nice knowing people in similar situations.”
Miller said people reach certain points — such as following a divorce or death of a loved one, or a bout of loneliness during COVID-19— that they want to be around other people with similar mindsets and from similar situations.
Dahm said the group has helped people, including widows and widowers, come out of dark places, too.
“It gives them something to look forward to,” she said.
Brochures can be found at Shipley Center, 921 E. Hammond St. Participants can visit monthly meetings three times before they are required to join. An annual due of $20 includes access to meetings and events, a newsletter and calendar.
For more information, contact Miller at 360-809-8336 or barb94025@comcast.net.
