At 94, Riverview resident embodies aging-in-place concept
Anna-Marie Bonosky has lived in Riverview Towers for 25 years and says she has “loved it since the day I moved in.”
Now 94, Bonosky came to Riverview when she was just 69 and immediately began taking advantage of its vast array of programming and its environment of fostering companionship.
She even met her husband there.
“Mike worked here as a maintenance man,” Bonosky recalled. “He and I got together for a couple years, then we got married.”
The two were married in 1999, at which time they moved from their respective smaller apartments into a larger one they could more comfortably share.
“There are lots of couples here,” noted Hannah Steiner, executive director of Riverview. “It’s like a kibbutz.”
Mike died three years ago, at the age of 98, and although Bonosky misses him, that has not stopped her from enjoying her life at Riverview she said.
She loves the people there, she said, and appreciates that everyone “mingles.”
Riverview Towers, an apartment facility for older adults located across the street from the Jewish Association on Aging on Garetta Street, is a beneficiary agency of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. Subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Riverview offers affordable rents and dinner service to its tenants as well as daily activities.
Riverview will celebrate its 50th anniversary at a Summer Block Party this coming Sunday, beginning at 4 p.m. Food, carnival games and live entertainment will be featured at the event.
Bonosky, who has the distinction of having lived at Riverview longer than anyone else, said she is looking forward to the celebration, adding that things continue to improve at the facility.
“It is beautiful now,” Bonosky observed. “The food is better; the dining room is nice. I’m just glad I came here.” Though Bonosky does not participate in activities at Riverview as much as she used to when she was younger, she is still happy to be there.
“It’s comfortable,” she said.
Bonosky epitomizes “the aging-in-place concept,” according to Steiner.
“She was a very, very active person who enjoyed all the programs,” Steiner said. “As she ages, she is less active, but she still enjoys the services we offer, like the food program and the company of other residents.”
Toby Tabachnick can be reached at tobyt@thejewishchronicle.net.
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