Volunteer Appreciation
There’s so much to celebrate in spring – warmer weather, longer days, fishing opener, and best of all – our fabulous and wonderful volunteers! We celebrated our volunteers with a rousing game of Bingo on Thursday, April 28th.
We would like to thank publicly Chester Lindskog and Dick Bockovich for assisting with Bingo, Sharon Bloomquist, Barb Wright and Mary Harrelson for all the delicious treats and Doug Sanders for playing piano at our monthly birthday parties. Thank you to Patsy Smith, Lorri Peterson, Barb Heideman, and Duane Hasegawa for coming to our aide when we have needed extra people to assist with all of our shenanigans. Thank you to Sharon Brenner, Renae Smith, Linda Harsdorf, Tracy Scully, Diane Nowers, Penny Ortman and Anne Brataas for helping us whether it was with birthday parties, exercises, Bingo, reading, doing manicures, bringing fresh flowers, watering our houseplants, or simply by spending time with the residents. Thank you to LavonaCzaplicki for lending your crafting talents and piano skills, and thank you Mary, Mark, and Hank Glassnapp for chaperoning Dominoes, assisting with other games and for making our home smell so awesome baking fresh bread, etc. “Volunteers do not necessarily have the time, they have the heart.” – Elizabeth Andrew .
These Hands
As it is Mother’s Day this month, I asked several of our resident mothers what their hands have done during their lifetime. When Delores Saethre was young, her hands ironed clothes, helped her mother and tried to cook. One summer as a teenager, her hands had a job working in the gift shop at Split Rock. Her adult hands found themselves doing housework, cooking, crocheting and knitting. Currently her hands are still doin’ it. It keeps her hands limber.
Nona Smith’s hands when she was young picked many berries, pulled weeds, played and milked a few cows. She didn’t milk very long because she wasn’t good at it. Her teenage hands just sat there and went where she went. They also knit, sewed and crocheted. Her adult hands just did what she wanted them to and now they want to rest. Sometimes they twiddle and do puzzles.
Joyce Hagen’s hands as a little girl had to help take care of her bed-ridden mother. Her dad had her stand on a chair and she baked a lot. The first thing she made was a lemon meringue pie for her dad as that was his favorite. Her teenage hands helped hay in the summer and got cows to the lake for water in the winter. Her hands also did a lot of sliding. Joyce’s adult hands embroidered, worked as a Telephone Operator in Duluth and took care of her children. Now her hands aren’t as agile as they used to be, but they still hold a book so she can read and play Bingo.
Anna Speck’s hands as a little girl babysat, as they got older her hands worked and worked and worked and worked and worked. Her adult hands worked hard, raised children, and played the mandolin. Now her old hands just eat and drink coffee.
Nadine Abel’s hands as a little girl wrote and played baseball, football, and basketball. All the kids came to her house, as it was the home away from home. Nadine said, “My adult hands did a lot of cookin’ and bakin’ for men as they were farmers and there was always someone to feed. I’m a cooker and a baker. Now my hands write a few letters, but that gets hard, as my eyes aren’t that great. You think you are going to do something when you get older and forget it!”
Yvonne Smith’s hands as a little girl played with her cousins and occasionally went out to the barn to milk the cows. Yvonne’s teenager hands babysat for the governor of Minnesota. Yvonne’s adult hands helped her dad in the woods, took care of her brother and embroidered. Now her hands like to color and play games.
Char Anderson’s hands as a little girl took care of other people’s children. She was the town babysitter. Her teenaged hands continued to babysit only they were doing more nanny type work. When her hands were 13 they took care of three little Frogner children while their mom was away for 3 weeks tending to their father in a hospital just coming back from the war. Her adult hands cut and permed hair, sewed, scrubbed floors, did household chores, took care of her mother-in-law, worked for Public Health for twenty years and raised six children. Now her hands are folded as they have no more work to do.
Ethel Walsh’s….”My goodness, they got into mischief when they were little.” When her hands were in their teenage years they babysat children mostly playing outside. When Ethel’s hands were in their adult years they took care of the house, the husband and my kids. They also knit and crocheted. Ethel said, “Now the years went flying by and I think they deserve a little rest!
Birthday’s and Passings
Anna Speck, Nona Smith and Ann Williams celebrated another year on earth. Anna celebrated her birthday at the Hub with family.
Mary Liebsch, who was one of our last few residents who had been with us in the old care center, witnessed the construction of our new facility, and made the transition into her own private room with private bathroom. Mary was our resident council president for a number of years. She was always up for whatever was going on whether it was off to lunch at the Hub, out to view the fall leaves, or watching the Fisherman’s picnic parade. She attended every game, party, exercise group and special event including the Portage Band. She loved to read, watch baseball on TV, do cross word puzzles and hug dogs. She never missed Bingo and always wore her lucky pink hat to the games. You could hear her breaking out in song usually starting with ‘You are My Sunshine’ and before too long, she would have a sing-a-long going in the dining room. Mary was one of our sunshine’s and she will be deeply missed.
In Other News
We filled over 2,500 Easter eggs with candy for the Easter Egg Hunt which took place over at the Community Center. It was so fun filling the eggs, but we can say for certain not all the candy ended up in the eggs as we had to make sure it was edible for the children.
We dyed Easter eggs before Easter then enjoyed open faced egg salad sandwiches on fresh baked bread a few days later. We started playing Scrabble. It’s amazing to see a 101-year-old lady whip out the words. We are so looking forward to nice weather when we can get out and enjoy some fresh air.
We still need more volunteers. Do you play the piano and have an hour to spare? Do you like taking care of birds or baking? This summer we will need someone to do outdoor flower care. You can always stop by to read, play a game or visit with a resident or two. If you are fully vaccinated and would like to volunteer give me a call at 218-387-3518. There is a bit of training you need to do before you can become a volunteer.
Thank you again volunteers! As always, “Old Age Ain’tFor Sissies.”