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Monday, May 15, 1995     Page: 3A

In the forefront for area seniors
   
Arline Oldershaw is a white-haired scout merrily dashing through the Golden
    YearsEver calm, always competent, Oldershaw helps steer this area’s senior
population through a complex maze of laws and programs designed to help and
protect.
   
From a crowded, one-room office in the B’nai B’rith office building in
downtown Wilkes-Barre, Oldershaw volunteers her time and performs her special
kind of public service magic.
   
She’s president of the Federation of Senior Citizen Clubs and
Organizations, an umbrella for 300 senior groups in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
   
The federation doesn’t endorse; it informs.
   
Friday, she arranged for candidates for city and county seats to meet with
representatives from various senior clubs. The representatives, in turn, take
their impressions back to their members.
   
“They know when they come here they’re not just talking to 30 people,”
Oldershaw says.
   
“In essence they’re talking to 3,000.”
   
Every month the federation sponsors a different speaker. Legislators
willing to address questions on legal aid, health care and laws affecting
seniors are always popular.
   
“We have to be the watchdogs,” she says. “We have to see programs aren’t
cut to the bone. Our government needs to help people who can’t help
themselves.”
   
Oldershaw is 69 but possesses the vitality of someone decades younger.
   
Cut drug costs. Keep utility costs down. Protect prescription discounts.
Those are the kinds of concerns she addresses on a daily basis.
   
An elderly aunt served as an inspiration.
   
“She had no one really and she lived a long life — till 94,” Oldershaw
recalls.
   
“She was my idol. She took a deep interest in church and community. She was
a great gardener.”
   
When the beloved aunt grew frail, Oldershaw took over as care giver. It
gave her great insight into the needs of seniors.
   
Last week, she reached the pinnacle of her service — as a delegate to the
four-day White House Conference on Aging.
   
Oldershaw was one of 2,250 delegates from 50 states and 10 countries who
discussed the biggest issues facing the elderly today.
   
President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, and even
Washington Mayor Marion Barry attended. ABC-TV broadcaster Hugh Downs was a
delegate.
   
The biggest hubbub erupted over proposed cuts in Medicare and Medicaid.
   
“We are concerned, very concerned,” Oldershaw says.
   
“Lower income people could be hurt. We want to preserve, protect, strength
and expand coverage and to include long-term care.”
   
Another big issue: greater government protection for grandparents caring
for grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
   
One of the main resolutions passed during the D.C. meeting was to push for
financial assistance or tax relief for such seniors.
   
Other resolutions called for retention of Social Security benefits and
reauthorization of the Older Americans Act.
   
As involved as she is, the federation isn’t Oldershaw’s only activity.
   
Bible school teacher. Girl Scout leader. Nursing home volunteer. The PTA,
the Bear Creek Senior Citizens Club.
   
But family, she insists, comes first.
   
She loves nothing better than visiting her four kids — Bobbie Sullivan in
Hawaii, Janice in Washington, Karl in Virginia and Robert Eric in Bear Creek.
   
Widowed 14 years, she lives in her home town of Bear Creek, with her dog,
Sparks, and three cats.
   
When she was little she delighted in long nature hikes with her dad, who
taught her to appreciate the lush greenery surrounding her home.
   
When she isn’t busy with her many volunteer activities, Oldershaw can be
found in the woods or garden. In the winter she dries and arranges the flowers
she grows in the summer.
   
And she loves to travel.
   
She has already been to Brazil, Europe, Greece and 47 states. She’s
determined to visit all 50. Her wanderlust was fueled by her parents and her
late husband.
   
Her dad worked for the Delaware and Hudson Railroad and got free rail
passes. Her husband, a Merchant Marine, got discounts on ships.
   
“Mother would say `Let’s go to Baltimore, Detroit, Washington,’ and off
we’d go,” she says.
   
“I just enjoy being with people.”
   
TIMES LEADER/RICHARD SABATURA
   
Arline Oldershaw
   
Up Close
   
Dawn Shurmaitis