Maybe because of his chaotic childhood, Joe Wolofsky, Sr., loves putting things in order. He's always been handy at fixing things, putting pieces together again, and, for the past 20 years, making the East Haven Senior Center shine.

Joe has volunteered for the past 20 years at the Senior Center. He was born in the Bronx but grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and then worked as an errand boy before going into the Army. When he came home from the military, he moved to East Haven to live with his older sister and has been here ever since.

Joe by his own admission admits, "I've lived a hard life."

He describes his early years living as an orphan.

"My mom had a nervous breakdown and was taken to a mental institution, and my dad was too busy working to care for me and my two sisters."

He was separated from his sisters and lived with quite a few different people before he says the state finally took care of him.

Joe recalls attempting to visit his mother as a 16-year-old boy, but being told he couldn't see her because he was underage. His dad would take his mother for walks, and Joe would wait outside to see her.

Joe "waited a long time" before he could finally see her. Joe tears up as he says, "It was very hard, and when I did see her, she was not in good shape."

Joe says he hated school-"I never felt smart enough and hated failing."

He used to ditch school by telling his teacher that he had to use the restroom, and then run straight home. He ran away so much, that the school eventually made him wear a monitor to keep track of him.

Joe had dreams of joining the Navy or the Coast Guard as he loved the sea, but was turned down each time because he is color blind and wouldn't be able to spot Japanese planes. At age 18, however, he was drafted into the Army.

He got married and has a son, Joe Jr., who is 50 years old. Sadly, Joe's wife, Marianne, passed away at just 59 years old from an aneurism. He recalls having to learn to cook quickly and keeping busy with work at Burndy, an electrical connector company, which has since closed down.

Upon retirement, Joe went from just enjoying a good game of Bingo at the Senior Center to helping out in the kitchen and from there becoming a valued treasure at the center, helping out in all areas from fixing locks to refurbishing chairs and tables as well as fixing up the grand piano, which now looks so magnificent.

He got so much done around the center that Jan Lougal, director of the Senior Center, was asked by the Public Works Department to confirm that Joe was indeed a volunteer.

Joe's the only volunteer at the center to come in five days a week.

Lougal says, "I don't know what I would do without Joe"-or, as he's fondly nicknamed, "Grumpy."

Joe continues to enjoy a good game of Bingo at the center, as well as continuing to drive his car everywhere, at the ripe young age of 87. He credits his need to keep busy and, as he puts it "always moving," as his secret to longevity.