Twilight Foundation's gift helps North Irwin's Grandma Moose keep typing

A magnifying glass donated by the Twilight Foundation will help Grandma Moose as she types up information to spread the word about the bus trips she organizes.

Her real name is Virgie Smith and she lives in North Irwin. Since 1980, she’s billed herself as Grandma Moose and she organizes bus trips for senior citizens.

“This is so important. I am able to see what I am typing, now that I have a magnifying glass to see the keys,” on the word processor that she uses, Smith, 89, said.

She can now see the letters and invitations she is typing on her word processor, thanks to a lighted magnifying glass she received recently from the Westmoreland County Chapter of the Twilight Foundation, a Doylestown-based nonprofit that helps senior citizens.

The problem with the word processor she uses is that the font on the letters is not large enough for her to see the words, said Carol Trent of Hempfield, a volunteer with the county chapter of the Twilight Foundation.

“We could not find a typewriter with a large enough font,” for her to see the letters, so they purchased a large lighted magnifying glass that can be placed over her typewriter, Trent said.

In addition to the magnifying glass, Twilight Foundation bought her office paper, envelopes and stamps for Smith to send her flyers Grandma Moose bus trip flyers individuals and organizations and other typewritten correspondence. To top off the gift, Trent said they plan to take Smith to lunch at an area restaurant, Trent said. The gifts and luncheon are valued at about $400, Trent said.

Smith organizes the bus trips through the Crackerjack Tours operated by Lucy Wargo of Hopewell, who said that Smith still is attentive to the details of the bus trips.

“She has attention to details. She’s very, very sharp. She cares about her North Irwin group,” said Wargo, who has been working with Smith on the trips since 1990.

Wargo said she recalls when Smith adopted the moniker of Grandma Moose as a way to getting people to remember her bus trips.

Smith recalled she was searching for a name when her son, David, a shipyard worker at the Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, told her about seeing a moose along the highway.

“I thought that was it,” Smith said of finding a name for her bus tours.

Smith, who is a great-grandmother, has taken the Grandma Moose nickname to heart. She has about 1,000 moose dolls in her home, including several Christmas-themed moose and a whole zoo of them in her bedroom.

Smith, an East McKeesport native, said she has no plans of retiring from her job as bus tour organizer.

“She’s very upbeat. She’s an inspiration,” Wargo said.