Gus was a postman for 30 years. Dorothy sang onstage with Danny Thomas. Wilson was a Lutheran bishop. Ivan was a pilot for Pan Am. Warren was the president of a bank.

Now, they spend their days at Millennium House, a day-care facility for the elderly and adults with disabilities, located on Bonita Beach Road, southeast of U.S. 41 in the Springs Plaza shopping center.

This week they celebrated National Activity Professionals Week by recognizing their activities coordinator, Lilly Howard, and six program aides - Sue Gilmore, Chris LePree, Lea Merkley, Lise Addis, Lucy Murphy and Roberta Hausman - for taking care of and entertaining them.The clients range in age from 32 to 101, but many are in their 80s or 90s.

"When you get older, there isn't much to do anymore," Howard said. "You need to get out and be with people." "We give them some purpose in their lives," added Millennium House's administrator and owner Cindi Ryerson, RN. "They laugh, have a good time, meet new friends. They don't become isolated at home."

They start arriving at 8 a.m., and Howard divides them into groups to do different activities based on their abilities. On Wednesday, about 20 people came. The center is licensed for up to 30 a day. Since its inception, 141 have participated.

In the morning, a group pasted plastic eyes, noses and mouths, curly wigs and accessories on balloons to make busts of family members.

In the afternoon, Howard threw on a black cape and hat, and her sidekick, Gilmore, donned a straw hat with pigtails, to star in a funny skit where they rob a liquor store.

Charlie Kane, 38, who can't speak because of an injury, played the liquor store owner. Sporting her pink pants, yellow badge and orange plastic pistol, 89-year-old Lee Hogue played the sheriff who arrests them.

Ivan Escott, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, had been practicing his part all week. He played the judge and gave them "about 30 years" in jail. Thirty years later, the robbers reunited and sang a heart-wrenching rendition of the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody." After the play, Howard led everyone in low-impact exercises that involved lifting plastic jars they put beans in, and swinging their arms, legs and "gobble, gobbles" - Howard's name for their necks.

To sharpen their eye-hand coordination, she told them to clap their hands and pat their thighs - and sing.E^

"Hah, I'm tired!" sighed Stella Eloff.

She re-energized with granola bars and ginger ale. Gilmore poured it for her.

"You can give me a little more than that! I want to drink up!" Eloff chuckled.

Then she played about a dozen rounds of gin rummy with her friends, Sue Delfino and Hogue, who always wins.

"There's a purpose behind everything that I do," Howard explained.

She aims to keep their minds and bodies active. She has had them make flowers by crushing tissue paper to keep their fingers nimble.

Howard, who will be 60 next week, moved to Bonita from New Hampshire with her husband six years ago. She was a stay-at-home mom - she has five children, eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild. They all live up north.

"I miss my natural family," Howard said. "This is my family here."

When she arrived in Bonita, she worked in billing at a medical supply store, but she did not feel fulfilled.E^ She became the activities coordinator at Millennium House when it opened in August 2002.

"It was something all my life I didn't realize," Howard said. "This was my calling, my comfort zone."

She serves as the treasurer of the Florida Health Care Activity Coordinators who work at adult day-care centers, assisted living facilities and nursing homes. They meet once a month for continuing education and to exchange activity ideas.

"You can teach aides to do arts and crafts, exercises, help people go to the bathroom, feed them," Ryerson said. "But you can't teach them how to care from the heart."