Each morning, the Neptune Beach Senior Center comes alive.
Neighbors drift through the front doors for coffee, card games and conversation. Laughter spills across the wide front porch, where brightly colored rocking chairs rarely sit empty. Before long, Executive Director Leslie Lyne has greeted nearly everyone by name.
She asks about a new grandchild, remembers a recent vacation and offers encouragement with the same advice she has shared for years.
"Just keep going."
For the older adults who gather here, the center is more than a place to fill the hours. It is a community where friendships deepen, new interests take root and retirement becomes less about what has ended than what still lies ahead.
At the heart of it all is Lyne, who has spent the past 25 years building a culture rooted in connection, purpose and compassion.
"It's all about keeping people connected," Lyne said. "Older people lose friends, siblings and spouses. Their children are working. Their grandchildren are in school. This gives them a place to reconnect with people their own age who share similar interests and are in the same stage of life."
She is quick to point out that the center isn't just for older adults.
"People retire, and suddenly the days are empty because work was their whole identity," she said. "The social aspect is really critical."
The center welcomes residents from Neptune Beach, Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, Jacksonville and Ponte Vedra, with no minimum age requirement.
"If it's good enough for AARP, it's good enough for us," Lyne said with a laugh. "We're all going to get there if we're lucky."
As executive director, Lyne is the fundraiser, counselor, cheerleader and activity planner all at once. She fills each month's calendar with bridge, quilting, movies, chair yoga and day trips to museums, sporting events and local theaters. At the same time, she maintains the attendance records needed to secure grants and cultivates the private donations that keep the center operating.
More importantly, she creates a place where people feel they belong.
"Our oldest participant is 93, and she comes with her daughter," Lyne said. "To be able to do this is euphoric. This is what I run on."
That philosophy has guided the center since Lyne accepted the job in 2001. Rather than deciding what seniors needed, she invited them to tell her.
She advertised a series of public meetings in The Beaches Leader, expecting a modest turnout. More than 70 people arrived.
"I stood there with a whiteboard and said, 'Tell me what you want,'" she recalled. "They looked at me like deer in the headlights because no one had ever asked them that before."
The answers shaped the center that exists today. Participants wanted activities, friendships and laughter. They didn't want to be defined by aging.
"When you get past 60, there's always something that's not right," Lyne said. "They didn't want to spend their day hearing about everybody's ailments. That meeting gave me a roadmap. If something doesn't work, we get rid of it and try something else. We keep moving forward and stay positive."
There were some bumps along the way. COVID-19 closed the senior center to the public in March 2020, when it was still operating from a temporary space at 450 Atlantic Blvd.
The center suspended programming, and staff opted to end the lease. When restrictions eased, the center temporarily relocated to The Neptune House in Jarboe Park while city staff finalized plans for a new 5,000-square-foot modular facility at the center's original location at 2004 Forest Avenue.
Construction delays, budget problems and water damage kept the center in limbo for years. At one point, Neptune Beach city officials questioned how the operation should move forward, requiring Lyne to document every aspect of its finances and operations. She never considered walking away.
"It was very challenging, but it was worth it," she said. "I knew there was a need and it wasn't about me. It was about them."
During the lengthy renovations and subsequent repairs, Lyne sought counsel from her mentor Shelia Salyer in Tallahassee, who served as executive director of the Tallahassee Senior Center Foundation. Salyer asked what kept her coming back.
"I promised 1,200 people that I would get it reopened and I gave them my word. That's what I intended to do. Otherwise, it would have been gone," she said.
"I just need it to keep going because it's important. It's important to so many people, and to a lot of people who haven't even come yet. To be able to give people some joy, hope and companionship, friendship and all of that. That is all I want."
Joe Cox was among the dozens of supporters who spoke in favor of the project in 2023. He moved to the beach in 1970 and has lived in Neptune Beach for more than 30 years.
"I remember when we moved here and I used to take my mom to the senior center. She used to go on trips and had so much fun," he said. "I used to kind of laugh about it but now I'm a senior. The tables have turned. I walk by it every day and I remember all the fun there."
One constant over the last 25 years is Lyne's commitment to recognizing everyone as individuals, and she leads by example. She enforces one non-negotiable rule: When someone walks through the door, recognize them and say hello.
"I think people know that I care about them. I make sure they feel like part of the community," she said. "When I talk to people, I look at them and I listen. They are seen, they are heard and they are valued. They are not invisible here. They know, by God, that this is where they need to be. That to me is everything."
When a new person arrives, Lyne goes out of her way to make them comfortable, especially when she knows it's taken some convincing by family members to get them out of the house and into a new environment.
One recent guest reluctantly agreed to attend a movie night. Now he can't wait to come back.
"He had a wonderful time. His daughter said he is still talking about it," Lyne said. "It's a big deal when somebody new is here and I make sure they know it's a big deal."
When someone misses a few days, Lyne said she checks in, but most of the time they reach out first to let her know they are okay. "Usually, they are Johnny-on-the-Spot and they will let me know what's going on before I even get a chance to," she said.
Sometimes friendships blossom into romantic relationships. Lyne's own mother, Jackie Boesger, met Malcolm "Mack" Hudgins at the bridge table. They shared 13 years of laughter, fine dining and travel until her death. Hudgins died at 96 less than a year later.
"It was wonderful. On Monday evenings, I used to have like 20 bridge tables and they met there," Lyne said. "When we held their celebration of life, it was like, how fortunate are we that they had each other. They really were a handsome couple and they laughed all the time."
When a member of the center's community dies, Lyne keeps a bottle of chilled champagne on hand to toast their next journey. "I'm going to give them 100% of what I got, and when they are gone, I'm going to toast them with champagne and be glad that I ever had them in my life."
The group recently bid farewell to beloved former staff member Cindy Bennet, who died unexpectedly.
"I said, 'We are going to send Cindy on her way. We are lucky that we have each other and so lucky that we had them pass through our life. What more can you ask for?'" she said.
Lyne will be 75 this fall, and her experience has given her a clear perspective about getting older. Every day is a gift, and she intends to meet each one of them with gratitude.
"The biggest thing is don't look back," she said. "Just keep going."
