Prom held at Woodbridge senior center

WOODBRIDGE — (Press release) The recent senior prom at the Woodbridge Senior Center invoked old memories and made new ones when people got dressed up and went to the dance. 

Carrie Peterson said the senior center prom took her back to the year when she walked barefoot on a beach in Galveston, Texas, after her senior prom was over. 

While she said the prom at the senior center couldn’t match the memories of that prom years ago, it was a pretty good inaugural event. “This is very nice for our first one.”  

Senior center member Vernetha Starling, who is also a member of the Friends of the Woodbridge Senior Center, organized the prom. It was the first prom she attended. “I’ve never been to a prom in my life and sometimes as seniors, we don’t get the chance to dress up anymore. Sometimes it just feels good to dress up.”

As the prom was getting started, Starling, who everyone calls “Miss V”, said the idea was for everyone to enjoy themselves. “We have beautiful music. Glen Vincent, our DJ, is excellent, and we have nice refreshments. We want everybody to enjoy the evening. We want everybody to kick their shoes off and have a good time.” 

Prom goer Roberta Antoine said she too enjoyed herself at the prom. “Everything is good about the prom, the oldies but goodies, everyone dancing together and enjoying themselves. I’m having a good time.” 

Martin Friedman said he enjoyed hearing the music from the 1950s and 60s with a few tunes from the 70s thrown in. “The music was fun. The food was great, and the people were wonderful.”

From what he could tell, Ronnie Carter said he thought everyone had a good time. “It was wonderful. I liked the dancing.” 

Jean Alava and John Happboldt won a drawing to be crowned queen and king of the prom.

Starling said a drawing was the best way to choose prom royalty from among the 125 people who attended. “It’s not like being in school where you know everybody, and you can vote. To be fair, we had a drawing.”