For Jackie Seney, serving older adults in Mattapoisett has always been about more than programs and paperwork—it’s been about people.
Now, after more than a decade leading the town’s Council on Aging, she’s retiring with a legacy built on compassion, connection, and an unwavering commitment to finding answers for those who needed them most.
“I love finding the answers,” Seney said about her role. “The things that nobody knows about, and I just enjoy doing that. I tell people if I can, I will. If I can’t, I won’t. But I’ll always try and that’s basically my mantra.”
“I’ve had people from other communities call me directly and ask for information because they were told to,” she continued. “They would say, ‘Somebody told me to call you and that you would have the answers.’”
Seney’s comments came as she reminisced about the past 13 years that she’s spent leading the town’s Council on Aging. She retires from municipal service at the end of June.
She didn’t set out to work with older adults. Before coming to Mattapoisett, she worked for the city of New Bedford as a purchasing agent. The position required that she digest large amounts of information and share solutions with people who need them, a skill she has used again and again in her COA role to help older adults.
It was a mayoral administration change that gave her the opportunity to work with older people through a new position overseeing programming for the city’s five senior centers.
There Seney found she enjoyed helping others connect, make new friends, learn and socialize together.
“I didn’t know what a senior center really was. So I got to know the people that attended and recognized that it’s an awesome opportunity for people,” Seney said about her time working with the city’s centers.
“As we all get older and our network of people starts to change, we don’t necessarily have the same work friends or the children’s friends’ parents and we need to find new ways to stay active and to stay socialized,” she said.
In her Mattapoisett role, Seney wanted people to feel welcomed from the moment they walked through the COA’s Barstow Street door.
“As far as what am I most proud of, it’s definitely the atmosphere that we’ve created here,” she said. “I think I have helped, with a great team, create a very welcoming atmosphere here, not only welcoming, but also caring.”
“And then just the fact that people know that they can contact us and we’ll be there for them as best we can,” she added.
Seney expressed gratitude for the town of Mattapoisett for the support she’s received in her role.
“I have been fortunate to have had a dedicated Board of Directors over the years. The makeup of the Board has changed over the years, but each person who has served on this advisory board has been a supportive of the COA and a resource to me, as director,” she reflected, adding, “The COA staff, those in the office and our drivers, is made up of the most dedicated people, each of whom go above and beyond…If a caring heart beats and can be seen, it’s in the faces and actions of those who work and volunteer at the COA. I couldn’t ask for better people to be part of our team!”
Seney said she is extremely grateful for her three decades in municipal service for the people she met, the ways she has been able to help others, and her own personal growth and learning.
But she is ready for something new.
“My future right now is an open book,” she said. “I am willing to start a new chapter. I have blank pages that I’m looking to fill.”
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