By BEN KLEINE

Staff writer

Residents at Legacy Park in Peabody bowl every other Thursday at Peabody Lanes. The star of those trips has been 96-year-old Dorothy Whistler.

“She’s a great bowler,” Legacy Park Human Resources Director Melissa Parmley said. “She bowled a 190.”

Judy Mellott, Whistler’s daughter, said Whistler has rolled a high score of 209.

To assist older bowlers, Peabody Lanes built a ramp that guides the ball after it is released at the top.

Whistler said she had never bowled before taking the trips to Peabody Lanes this past fall.

“I didn’t know I could do it,” she said. “I just tried.”

Whistler has been a resident at Legacy Park since February 2008. She has lived in Peabody since she was a teen and retired from Boeing in 1970 after working 18 years for the company.

Mellott said bowling is one of the activities that Whistler truly enjoys at Legacy Park.

“She looks forward to it,” Mellott said. “There was one time when they didn’t get to go because the van was broken down. She was really unhappy.”