OMAHA, Neb. — To say 95-year-old Frank Uryasz is a character is an understatement. The resident of Remington Heights Retirement Community in Omaha, Nebraska, is the life of the party at the tight-knit facility.
About a month ago, Uryasz was exercising with his occupational therapist Sarah Zajic when they struck up a conversation about music. Zajic is a devoted fan of Taylor Swift — a “Swiftie”. She told Uryasz all about the pop superstar.
He was hooked.
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“It all started with a conversation. I was just excited about the new album. And so I was having him memorize when the album was going to come out so we could have a listening party,” Zajic told Straight Arrow News. “Then he started bringing me little articles any time Taylor was in the newspaper. And then one day he surprised me with these buttons and everyone in the community wanted the buttons, and then it just kind of has taken off from there.”
Now, it is a movement. Uryasz started listening to Swift’s music, reading about her history and rise to fame. He and Zajic decided to write a card to the pop superstar.
Then the big idea: Starting a Taylor Swift fan club at the 122-resident retirement community.
“We have a fan club and we have tried to keep it to a limited amount of people,” Uryasz told SAN. “But it’s hard to do. “
On a recent Friday morning, a swarm of senior Swifties, decked out in orange in anticipation of the pop star’s upcoming album, The Life of a Showgirl, packed into the Remington Heights meeting room. They pinned buttons to their shirts, loudly proclaiming their devotion to Swift. And they had one particular item on the meeting agenda: Grabbing Swift’s attention, and urging her to visit her newest fan club.
This is the most excitement Becky Schnider has seen at Remington Heights in her nearly two decades as the community’s activity director.
“There’s just so much positivity. The energy,” she told SAN. “Everybody has lots of energy. They come to our dining room, our activities, any time in the building, it’s just hopping around here and we see all of the Taylor Swift buttons and, orange — a lot of orange — in our building. ”
Uryasz is at the center of it all. The fan club, and sense of community surrounding it, has helped fill the void left when his wife died six years ago, he said.
”It’s hard to explain the feelings you have for people because each one of us is different, and we love each other, and we’re constantly doing things for each other,” he told SAN.
Uryasz is also a Kansas City Chiefs fan and is well aware that Taylor Swift and Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce are engaged. He’s a fan of Kelce and even suffered what some would term an injury while cheering on the Chiefs on TV recently. Upon seeing Kelce catch a ball and run for the end zone, Uryasz jumped from his chair in excitement, lost his balance and fell, injuring his shoulder.
He’s now “shaking it off.”
If his club’s pleas are successful and Swift ever does walk through Remington Heights’ doors for a visit, Uryasz has a plan in mind.
The first thing he would do, he said, is give her a hug.
He chuckled. Ever the gentleman, he added: Only with Kelce’s permission of course.
