DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY

DJ Betsy will lay down a monster groove

Learn to do the Hustle, the Bus Stop, and the Night Fever line dance

Dynamite dancers from Fred Astaire Dance Studio will burn up the dance floor

Culinary delights crafted by Emily’s Café & Catering

1970s Themed Attire: Encouraged but not required

2026 Friends Village

Community Builder Award

At Friends Village, we believe that building community means more than creating a place—it means nurturing connections, fostering belonging, and ensuring that older adults can thrive with dignity and purpose. The Community Builder Award recognizes those who embody these values, whose contributions create lasting foundations of care, friendship, and opportunity for generations to come.

Terry Christensen:

Mentor, mariner, coach, author, academic, and dedicated non-profit board leader.

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Tara Grunde-McLaughlin

First woman mayor of Newtown Borough

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Ruth Samsel

Centenarian, inspirational Friends Village Resident

Ruth was born in a Johnsonburg, PA, a small paper mill town in western Pennsylvania, January 3, 1927. Her parents owned one of the first gas stations in town and they were successful truck farmers. Ruth was the eldest of three children.
Ruth’s sees her life journey divided almost evenly into three distinct parts: 1) after high school 1944, travels and working in Carmel, CA where she owned a bed and breakfast coffee shop, house cleaning agency and the most fun of all, a horse and surrey with a fringe on top as a tourist ride to Carmel Mission along the ocean front. Remember this was after World War II and all things seemed possible.
2) She returned to the east in 1951 at the age of 24 and enrolled in a physical therapy program New York University as a tuition remission student and secretary to the Dean of Students. There she met both Eleanor Roosevelt and President Truman. Graduated 1959 with B.S.
She was employed at the School for Handicapped Children in Newark as a therapist while finishing both both Masters and Doctorate degree at Rutgers in Counseling in 1976. The next 30 years were dedicated to pioneering Career Education Counseling for middle and high school students as well as at Middlesex County College, Edison, N.J. She was recognized with awards for her work at local, state and federal levels. In 1976 she was recognized in Whos Who of American Women. These were her very productive professional years.
3) In 1997 she and her life partner, Barbara Livingstone, became residents of Friends, Styer campus, Newtown. There she served as president of the association, photographer, programs and activities participant, writer and was generally involved with the daily life of the Village. She will quickly admit that living there created opportunities that kept her life interesting, helpful to others and encouraged her own creativity in writing and enthusiasm for life.
The last 30 years reflects the first 60 in terms of her love and interest in people. She was the second woman president of the Unitarian Universalist Church at Washington Crossing, NJ in 1980, and introduced one of her HIV/AIDS clients to the congregation. Upon his death they made a quilt for him that was displayed on the Washington Mall that year with thousands of others.
Ruth enjoys poetry, particularly Maia Angelou. She has recently read Jason Fagone’s The Woman Who Smashed Codes about Elizabeth Smith Friedman, the cryptoanalyst who broke codes in WWII. Her favorite song is Blue Skies, name of her Blue Skies Surry in Carmel, and Blue Boat Home, claiming the world as her home.
Thank you for your interest.
Ruth Samsel June 30, 2026