"It just felt right": Trussville senior center leader heads to Vestavia

Sandi Wilson never thought she’d leave her position as the director of the Trussville Senior Activity Center, but she now has.

Wilson, who began work with the city of Trussville on April 1, 1996, started her new position as the Vestavia Hills Parks and Recreation Superintendent for Senior Services on Jan. 2. The move was a promotion for Wilson.

“It’s an opportunity that I always thought I would like to have that I wasn’t necessarily out looking for, that came and found me,” Wilson said. “And it just felt right.”

Wilson, a member of the Alabama Recreation and Parks Association since 1996, has served as the association’s district treasurer, 5-0 representative and district chair. At the state level, she’s served as the association’s professional development chair, 5-0 committee chair and is currently serving as the treasurer. She is the Masters Games of Alabama Board president. She holds a degree in middle school education from LaGrange College, where in 1994 she played for the NAIA national championship softball team.

Vestavia Hills currently offers lunch and activity programs for seniors at the Vestavia Hills Civic Center and the New Merkle House. Wilson’s hiring comes prior to the completion of new recreational facilities in Vestavia Hills so that she can evaluate and improve senior programs in the city.

“I think it’s going to be bittersweet,” Wilson said of the transition of leaving Trussville for Vestavia Hills. “I’m excited and nervous all at the same time about a new challenge. I do appreciate [it], and I’m very proud of my time I’ve put in here. At the same time, I think there’s still more that I can do and help others to have the same success and program that Trussville has.”

When some of the regulars at the Trussville Senior Activity Center found out about Wilson’s new position, they approached her with just a few words. “I heard something,” they’d say.

“Everybody who has opened up and talked to me about it, they’re happy for me and my family, and proud of me, because it is a promotion,” she said. “But they’re sad for them. I have had several people tell me that I have meant a lot to them and that I have made a difference in their lives. I just want to make sure they all know what all they mean to me and that they have made a difference in my life. I will be eternally grateful for my Trussville senior family.”

Wilson said she, her husband, Allan, and 13-year-old daughter, Ramsey Faye, will continue to reside in Trussville. Wilson said she was open and honest with her daughter about the prospect of a new job, one that, because of its location, would not allow her to be at her school or basketball practice at a moment’s notice. When Ramsey Faye asked about the job, and Wilson told her that she had an offer, her daughter said, “Woohoo!”

“When she did that ‘Woohoo!’ I was like, ‘OK, thank you God, I can do this,’” Wilson said.

Wilson will bring the experience of starting and building a program to Vestavia Hills. She’s been there for the construction of a building, too. But leaving that program after nearly 24 years was “very” hard, Wilson said.

“We’re a very active center, and I do believe that it’s one of the top centers in the state of Alabama,” Wilson said of the Trussville Senior Activity Center. “We offer something for people, no matter what level of life or stage you are in being a senior adult, whether you’re 55 and running marathons or 95 and just want somebody else to eat lunch with, we can provide a service for everyone. And I’m very proud of the fact that it doesn’t matter what level you’re at as far as being a senior. You can find a place here.”

She said she hopes that she’s remembered in the Trussville center’s walls as someone that came in and offered something, even if it was just an ear or a hug.

“I just hope they smile,” she said.