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(Enlarge) Area seniors celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Lansdowne-Baltimore Highlands Senior Center moving into its present faciity on Third Avenue. (Photo by Kitty R Charlton)

Although Kearney and Nora Murray have lived in Linthicum since they married in 1974, the couple has always retained ties to Lansdowne, especially to its senior center.

Their loyalty to the Lansdowne-Baltimore Highlands Senior Center on Third Avenue is too strong, they said, reaching back 22 years.

Back then, the center was housed in the Lansdowne United Methodist Church, the site, by the way, where the couple first met.

Compared to the Third Avenue facility, the senior centers closer to their Linthicum home in Anne Arundel County just don't match up, they said.

"We like this one better," Nora said. "It's smaller and the people are more friendly."

The couple, who used to own a home in Lansdowne, serve on the center's travel committee, which plans bus tours and even cruises -- once to Alaska --that the center offers members at discounted group rates.

"We spend a lot of time over here," Nora said.

That type of long-standing commitment was lauded time and time again at the center on April 23, as leaders from around the county joined dozens of center members in celebrating the Third Avenue building's 20th anniversary.

County Executive Jim Smith told those in attendance that the senior center deserved praise for providing seniors in the area with "the opportunity to get together, the opportunity to be successful, the opportunity to be the best they can be, the opportunity to build a spirit of community."

That spirit extends back to the year Kearney and Nora were married, when a small group of area seniors started meeting for meals and other gatherings at the First Baptist Church on Alma Road.

Three years later, in 1977, the group moved to the Lansdowne United Methodist Church and joined a growing network of senior centers affiliated with the Baltimore County Department of Aging that reflected its status as a hub of senior activity.

That network now includes 19 facilities, from Catonsville to Edgemere.

On April 24, 1989, the building on Third Avenue was officially dedicated and named the Lansdowne-Baltimore Highlands Senior Center.

Among the more than 100 guests and center members at last week's 20-year anniversary celebration of that dedication were Earl Scheminant, a member of the center for 23 years, and Mary Whitmore, a member for 16.

Scheminant, 87, is one of a handful of members who were part of the group before the Third Avenue building was completed.

"There's not too many of us old timers up here anymore," he said.

He said he is happy to see that the center continues to provide "good entertainment" for a new group of seniors.

Whitmore said her favorite activity at the center is ceramics.

"I make a lot of things for my children and grandchildren," said the resident of the Coursey Station Apartments on First Avenue.

During her years of ceramics classes, she has made seven different Ravens footballs as presents, she said.

Mary Biden, a resident of Lansdowne since 1955 and member of the center for almost 20 years, said the center has been "a place to go" over the years.

"And the older you get, it's about the only place you can go other than church," Biden said.

"It keeps you active," said Betty Springston, another Linthicum resident who has retained her connection with the Third Avenue center.

"It's done a lot for me. Once you sit in that rocking chair, that's it," Springston said. "I'm never going to sit in a rocking chair."

The center's current director, Terry Almon, said the event was to celebrate more than just "bricks and mortar."

"I have seen how this (center) has been a lifesaver for various people -- people who have lost a spouse, people who need company, people who need help," he said.

Smith named the day as "Lansdowne-Baltimore Highlands Senior Center Day" in Baltimore County in an executive citation that called the center "one of Baltimore County's most vibrant."

At the event, state Sen. Edward Kasemeyer presented the senior center with a resolution from the state Senate acknowledging its long service to the community.

Dels. Steven DeBoy and James Malone, who represent the district that includes Lansdowne and Baltimore Highlands, presented a similar citation to the center.

Representatives of U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes and County Councilman Sam Moxley read letters of congratulations and leaders from the Baltimore County Department of Aging and two former directors at the center spoke during last week's event.

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