95-YEAR-OLD SERVES AS LOCAL HISTORIAN, GUARDIAN TO SHUT-INS LANEY KEEPS TABS ON STAY-AT-HOME SENIORS OVER PHONE.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer

NEWHALL - Gladys Laney spends a lot of time on the phone.

She doesn't gossip much, but her time making calls to touch base with shut-in residents of the Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center is important to her.

``It's very rewarding,'' she said of the daily contact. ``You get more from it than they do. I've met a great many people making these calls.''

Laney and two other volunteers call more than 50 people every weekday just to check on them and make sure they have what they need. And it doesn't bother her that many are younger than her 95 years.

``You don't feel the difference over the phone,'' she said. ``We're all peers by this age. They always thank us for calling, but we don't spend a great deal of time asking personal questions. They just like to know that someone is thinking of them and wants to know they're all right.''

Laney lives in a small white house on Market Street just a few blocks from the house at Market and Newhall Avenue where she was born - and within walking distance of the Senior Center. She no longer drives and is dependent on others for transportation, but that doesn't bother her.

``I like to be able to be by myself and do what I want to do,'' she said. ``I love to read. I've been reading since I was about 5 and read almost everything I can get my hands on.''

She peruses three newspapers every day, looking for mentions of the Senior Center and savoring local tidbits. She clips articles of interest to the center, where she also serves as historian.

Living in the center of a changing city - which started out as a small town with hitching posts and grew into a town of more than 150,000 people and their accompanying accoutrements - Laney could be bitter about the growth, but she prefers to go with the flow.

She rattles off the names of town pioneers - Russell, Pardee, Haskell, Frew and Kellogg - as she reminisces about old friends. For years, she worked as a secretary at Chitwood's Furniture on San Fernando Road, and was a young woman of 18 when the St. Francis Dam broke in 1928, a disaster not soon forgotten.

``I don't miss the small town,'' she said. ``I do wish there was less traffic, but I'm glad of the amenities we have. It's a fine place to live.''

Her mother, Armantha Thibaudeau, was one of the community volunteers who built the town, heading the local American Red Cross and many other organizations.

``I'm not particularly active, maybe because my mother belonged to every club you could imagine,'' she said. ``She'd even make them up.''

She's happy with her volunteer niche at the center, pasting articles in scrapbooks and answering telephones.

``The staff and volunteers are dedicated to making a better life for seniors,'' she said enthusiastically.

Carol Rock, [phone]

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color in SAC edition) Gladys Laney is one of three volunteers who check in daily on about 50 members of the Santa Clarita Senior Center. At 95 she is older than most of her interlocutors.

David Crane/Staff Photographer