“My husband was in the Navy on Treasure Island and he sent for me to come out from Virginia. It was 1947 and I was 18 years old and he was 17. The train pulled away from the station at 16th Street in Oakland; I remember how cool the weather felt in June. When I was a younger woman I loved to travel and it’s something I hope to be able to do in the future. I’m the oldest of ten children and I’m hoping to get back to Virginia and celebrate my 90th birthday with my two brothers and four sisters.”

 

– Mrs. Peppers, Age 89

Mrs. Helen Peppers lives alone at a Satellite Housing senior apartment building in Oakland’s Dimond neighborhood. Every Wednesday she volunteers at Pacific Heights Retirement Home in Oakland where she plays piano and sings “old church music for those that can’t get to church anymore”. Her highlight of every week is seeing older adults of many ethnicities and nationalities singing ‘When The Saints Go Marching In’.