Alma Brown, center, is honored at the Denver East Lions Foundation High Tea.

As we were walking away from the quiet building, on the quiet street, on a quiet Saturday afternoon, Tina Griego said, “I just love that even with so much else going on for a Saturday in Denver, there’s still this little gathering.”

We had just finished witnessing a celebration for seven local centenarians that honored their lives, their faith, their commitment to family and community. Most of them had lost the strength of their memories over the many years of their respective lives, but as Tina noted, they hadn’t lost their gentility and manners and grace.

On a Saturday last month – the same Saturday that I pulled my first full shift as a freelance photographer for The Denver Post – I joined Tina at the Denver East Lions Foundation High Tea that honored these seven. I met some extraordinary people. To sit there, surrounded by them all dressed in their Sunday best, hats and frocks and suits donned in their splendor, it was truly awesome to be in the presence of their combined 700+ years of life. Just to imagine all they have been through, to see such depth in them, it was really quite humbling to share in even a small part of their story.

Please read Tina Griego’s column: “For local centenarians, memories elude but manners and grace do not” on The Denver Post site.