 Thursday looked like a typical day at the Phelps Center Generational Center at Freeburn, but it wasn't a typical day because it was, in fact, the last day. Officials and attendees at the center were notified late Wednesday evening that the center would close its doors for good at the end of the day Thursday, leaving its director without a job, and the community without its senior citizens center. It was an emotional day. It really hurt. It's cowardly to me. I broke down instead of crying. This is not a place where we work. This is a place where we visit our family every day. We just happen to do work in the process. The center's director, Melissa Downey, said the closure, decreed by the Pocke County Senior Citizens Board, came as a shock. I always thought that when I retired, I would leave from behind my desk as director to in front of the desk as a center. I never thought that I would be 50 years old and try to figure out what I was going to do now. Those who typically attend the daily activities at the center said they are losing much more than just a daily meeting place. They're losing a part of their identity. I mean, we have to have a life, too. Me and my husband, we travel a lot, you know. But still, I like my friends here at the center. You can't beat them. You can't beat the people here. I've been in this wheelchair for 37 years and it's got me out the house again. And I just really love coming here. And some have pledged to fight to get the center reopened. We're going to fight. We're going to fight to keep it open. We're going to do whatever we can. I personally think if we could get enough of them, we ought to go. If they won't leave our building open, go and pick it. Go and pick it to other ones because there's no reason to shut this down. But in the meantime, the Phelps Center is closed with no apparent plans to reopen it. My people, my 56 homebound people, they receive the hot meal every day. Five days a week when I only eat three days a week. That's really hard. We have several that they look forward to that come Friday. They know they're not going to have any for the weekend. And they look for them to come back on Monday. Now they won't have that. Reporting in Freeburn for EKB News, I'm Chris Anderson.