TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE — They came to party like it's 1959.
More than 150 seniors from the Clifford C. Sims State Veterans Hospital and the Bay County Council on Aging snacked on cookies and finger foods or danced to Sam Cooke and Bobby Day Tuesday during the Golden Age Christmas Party in the Horizon's Community Center at the Air Force base.
The Chief's Group, a leadership group comprised of ranking members of the various groups at Tyndall, threw the party, but it was the result of community effort, said Chief Master Sgt. Billie Statom.
"It's not something that we can do solely," Statom said. "We have to have the help of all the other airmen from Tyndall ... so it's a complete team Tyndall effort."
Ginny O'Hare, activities director at Sims, said the party was highly anticipated, as it has been every year since Sims opened in 2003. It's the "main event" during the month of December, and organizers don't plan other activities until they know there won't be a conflict with the Christmas party.
"Every year we look forward to this event," O'Hare said. "Every year."
Though residents at Sims are required to be veterans, there was no requirement that the seniors at the party be veterans, Statom said. The event was intended as an honor for a generation, Col. Derek France said during brief remarks welcoming the guests.
"Believe me when I say this to this crowd that anything that our military does today, and that our nation has become today, is done standing on the shoulders of your generation that made it possible," France said. "So we salute you, and we honor you by today's luncheon."
Statom said the party is the event people want to get involved in. He'd hoped to solicit 75 volunteers to help, but he got 113 airmen who wanted to help as greeters or servers.
"It's really sought out by ... the airmen on Tyndall," Statom said. "They love it."