09/06/2025
🌿 PERSPECTIVE by Norma Curtis 🌿
“😔 Oh you poor soul,” a friend said when she heard that my husband and I were planning to live at The Gardens, an assisted living facility. “All those old people.”
Yes, dear friend, you are right. All the men and women living at the Gardens are old, but in spite of their ages, they are some very interesting people. 👵👴
🎨 Take Naomi for example. She grew up in California, married, traveled around the country and settled in Rhinelander. Naomi is an artist and at 90, still paints beautiful pictures.
📝 Minnie, 102, once wrote a column for a Stevens Point newspaper when she was in her 70s.
📐 Bob is a former junior high school math teacher.
🎶 Hannah, 98, directed a school choir.
📚 Tim, 76, taught in Florida.
👩👧👦 Many of us ladies – now in our 80’s and 90 were housewives and mothers, and we all have stories to tell about raising kids who are now productive adults, with children and grandchildren of their own.
🏡 The Gardens itself, has an interesting history. It began as a dormitory of nuns who worked at St Mary’s Hospital nearby. In later years, the rooms were converted into one or two-bedroom apartments, and the large atrium became a dining room.
🍽️ The dining room is where the staff serves our meals twice a day. And on holidays and Sundays, our tables are set with crisp, white tablecloths and colorful cloth napkins.
🧼 We are well taken care of by capable, caring staff who clean our living areas and do our laundry.
💛 So, we may be old, but we are comfortable and well taken care of. And we are enjoying life at The Gardens.
*The thoughtful words by Norma were published in the Wausau Times/Buyer’s Guide on Wednesday, August 20, 2025. Names had been changed for privacy.
Established by Homme Inc. of Wisconsin, the Forest Park Village campus is an affiliate of Homme Home of Wittenberg in Wittenberg, Wisconsin. The sister campuses boast historic roots of service and charity to senior adults dating back to the 1880s.
