Photo by Deb Gau Barb Lipinski talked with area residents during a retirement reception Friday at the Adult Community Center in Marshall. Lipinski is retiring after 27 years as the Adult Community Center coordinator

MARSHALL — Barb Lipinski said connecting with people has always been the core of her job. As coordinator of Marshall’s Adult Community Center, she’s built a lot of those connections with area seniors over more than two decades.

“They’re my second family. They truly are,” Lipinski said Friday.

Lipinski is retiring as Adult Community Center coordinator after 27 years in the position. An open-house reception was held for her on Friday.

“It’s been a good journey for me,” Lipinski said of her work. “The hardest part will be saying goodbye.”

Lipinski was hired as ACC coordinator in 1995. Before that, she worked at Hill Street Place in Marshall. She said she really enjoyed working with and getting to know senior citizens.

“That’s what really drew me in, was their generation,” Lipinski said. She said members of older generations live life with a lot of gratitude, and they have a lot of experience to share.

Over the years, the ACC has been a place for Marshall area senior citizens to meet, socialize, and take part in special events. During the COVID pandemic, the center weathered unique challenges, like restrictions on indoor gatherings. However, participation at the ACC has been growing again, and it still plays an important role in connecting people.

Lipinski said all the people she’s met are what she will remember from her years at work.

“Those memories and nuggets of wisdom they’ve shared with me, the laughter, the hugs, the tears,” she said. Over time, Lipinski’s not only gotten to know hundreds of area residents, but she said she’s even started to see some second-generation ACC members.

After retiring, Lipinski said she plans to move to St. James, where her daughter lives, and to travel to see family members around the country. But she still has family in Marshall, so she might stop by the ACC sometime.

Lipinski said she wanted to thank all the area seniors she’s gotten to know over the years, and she hoped to live up to their examples.

“They have set a very high bar for me in my retirement,” she said.