As a kid, Steve Englert loved baseball. He pitched and played outfield for his Little League team, but then at the age of 10 in November 1976 he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Barely three months later the tumor was removed, immobilizing his right arm and leg and giving him headaches that persist today.

“When one door closes another opens,” Steve said looking up from the reception desk at the Pilgrim Senior Center Friday morning. Steve is grateful for what he has and especially for his job with the city. He was reminded of that Wednesday, Jan. 3 when the center staff threw him a surprise party.

The center’s all purpose room had been divided. In the half next to the kitchen seniors and Steve were having lunch. In the other half behind the retractable wall was a cake on a dolly festooned with balloons.  Most of the center staff along with Mayor Frank Picozzi stood alongside the cake. Everyone was quiet. Steve had no idea what was about to happen.

The walls opened and the diners looked up from their lunches. Center director Meg Underwood looked for Steve. He was seated in the back of the room. She called for him to join them.

No, this wasn’t a surprise birthday party.

Rather, it was an anniversary party. As of this Jan. 3, Steve has worked for the city for 40 years, making him the longest working city employee. Steve left his seat and joined those around the cake. He smiled. The mayor gave him a citation and Underwood extolled how Steve does so much to make seniors feel at home.

Steve wasn’t lost for words. Smiling, he thanked everyone. Soon slices of the cake were being passed around. Steve was the center of attraction.

Following the operation to remove the tumor, Steve spent two and a half months at Rhode Island Hospital.

“It wasn’t a fun vacation,” he said between making appointments for seniors seeking assistance with their tax returns that starts in February. Steve returned to Warwick schools, graduating from Pilgrim High in 1982. More than six months later he got his first job with the city, working in the Annex behind City Hall. He worked in personnel. He then was moved to the Police Department.  It wasn’t until he was relocated again to the JONAH Center in Oakland Beach “that I found my niche,” he said. JONAH, Join Our Neighborhood And Help, offered meals and services to the community and became a gathering place for the elderly.

“The personality of seniors made it [working] so much easier and enjoyable,” he said. After JONAH closed Steve transferred to the Pilgrim Senior Center where he works four days a week answering the phone and directing people. He loves the job. He is on a first name basis with many of the seniors. 

 Steve says his condition has given him a tremendous appreciation of life. He doesn’t wallow in self-pity although, he says, it has taken time to learn to feed himself and do other activities. He started off with a wheelchair, graduated to a walking cane and now with a wooden support on his leg is able to walk. He doesn’t drive. He lived with his parents, caring for them as they suffered with Alzheimer’s. He stayed on to care for his father after his mother’s death. Following his father’s death, the family decided to sell the Narragansett Terrace condo and Steve wasn’t sure where he would end up. As fate would have it – another instance of a door closing and another opening – a smaller condo on the first floor and with easy access to the pool where Steve spends many of his summer afternoons became available.

He has a collection of baseball cards and enjoys going to collectors’ events and poking around to see what he can find. He looks forward to being with family on summer vacation trips to the Cape and stays in contact with his brother and sister.

Steve has no plans on retiring although he concludes that will come some day.

For the moment he loves what he does and from what those at the Pilgrim Senior Center say the place wouldn’t be the same without him.