Connie Zanto serving as new Director at Harlem Senior Center

Connie Zanto was recently appointed the new Director at the Harlem Senior Center. The Landusky native who spent most her adult life in Malta replaced Katie Noel. Noel has served as director at the center since June, 2011. Noel is leaving to marry and be a pastor's wife in Vegreville, Alberta. She will soon begin training to be the manager of a recycling center located in Vegreville.

Connie Zanto began work as Director at the Harlem Senior

Center on October 8

Zanto learned of the opening at the senior center while working as a substitute teacher in Dodson and later in Harlem. She visited the center to pick up an application, then was not back in Harlem for nearly three weeks to submit the completed job request. Katie Noel said, "When we didn't hear from her for several weeks I was afraid she was not going to follow through with her application."

No stranger to working with seniors, Zanto told she worked eight plus years as office manager at Good Samaritan in Malta. That facility, now operating under a different name, provided senior housing, assisted living and full nursing home care. She said of the position, "I loved working with seniors, I really enjoyed my time at the facility in Malta."

Describing her work career as "varied," Zanto worked 13 years at the Equity Co-Op and five years in the Phillips County Clerk and Recorder's Office. Soon after graduating high school she was the bookkeeper for Plaza Ford in Malta until it closed. That experience lead to a number of positions centered around bookkeeping and other administrative work.

She told of filing an application for a home mortgage with the USDA's Farmers Home Administration (FHA). Zanto said, "Shortly after I filed the application for a home mortgage the car dealership closed. I went back to the FHA to tell them I lost my job and needed to withdraw the mortgage application. The folks at FHA said, "We have a couple of vacancies, why don't you come to work for us?" That started two plus years with the FHA processing home loans."

Zanto said when she heard about the opening at the senior center she thought, "That sounds like a job I would really like." Katie Noel said, "I was worried because we didn't really have a lot of serious applicants for the position. When Connie showed up I felt like a miracle had happened. The right person came along at the right time."

Noel has been helping Zanto transition to the new job. They agreed, "we have very similar life stories and similar personalities." Zanto will live in the Little Rockies Retirement Center (senior apartments that are located adjacent to the Harlem Senior Center and under the direction of the center director). She closed the interview noting, "It's a real blessing to be here in this new position."

There will be a gathering to say farewell to Katie Noel on Friday, November 30, at the Harlem Senior Center and all are welcome. Katie will be leaving for Canada in early December. The "Journal" wishes Katie Noel and Connie Zanto best wishes in their new roles and new locales.