Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Sumner County Family YMCA, there’s a special circle of friends who gather for more than exercise.
They’re there to build connection – through a friendly game of Canasta.
Ms. Phillis McKinley, 98, is one of the regular players around the table. Each week, she engages in the fast-paced social competition to keep her mind sharp and to venture out of her small apartment.
Canasta, a matching card game played with two standard decks of cards plus four jokers, is the go-to game that Ms. Phillis says, “It goes fast and we have fun at it.”
So much fun that the mostly four, or even sometimes six players, keep the game moving from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the days they visit the Y.
“We play all afternoon until four [o’clock]. We don’t talk much, we play a lot, but we don’t talk much,” she laughed.
As for her winning streak in the card challenge, she admits that everyone has a good, fair shot. She claims victory as a winner about “half-and-half,” adding with a chuckle, “we don’t win as much as we think we do, we simply just have fun at it.”
A native of Alberta, Canada, before retiring some years ago, Ms. Phillis held roles in accounting for an electrical engineering firm, then made moves to New York, Washington and Oregon, before purchasing and operating a bar in San Diego. Eventually, she would move to Hendersonville, Tenn. to be closer to her daughter, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And it was there that she discovered the Sumner County Family YMCA, which has become a central part of her social routine while also getting her steps in by walking every day.
“It’s a great thing,” she said. “If we didn’t have the Y, it would be sort of sad. This is an important place [to this community], a lot of people don’t get a chance to get out. Like where I am, the car comes, my friend comes, picks me up, we play, have snacks and she drives me back.”
For many, social isolation and loneliness can have a severe impact on one’s overall health. But at the Y, Ms. Phillis, along with many other active older adults, has a place of community and belonging.