Reflections Spring 2019
A special supplement of the Arenac County Independent, Ogemaw County Herald and Oscoda County Herald
Reflections
Page 2 • Reflections - Spring 2019
Spring 2019
© 2019
A supplement of the Arenac County Independent, the Ogemaw County Herald and the Oscoda County Herald
3 - A daughter’s final gift to her mother
9 - Mio is home to man who has traveled the world
5 - 100-year-old recalls bygone era, reflects on life today
11 - Retired band director carries on passion for music
7 - Omer’s very own King of the River
15 - Council on aging stresses importance of exercise
Terry’s Wish
Reflections - Spring 2019 • Page 3
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Terry Schaeffer and her daughter Karla Gusler pose together for a photo while playing with the camera app on a tablet. Courtesy Photo
A daughter’s final gift to her mother By Dominic Trimboli
OSCODA COUNTY — What began as a last birthday present to a mother in her final days has become a memorial fundraiser that will see boxes of pet supplies donated to area animal shelters. Karla Gusler is a Mio AuSable graduate whose mother Terry Schaeffer was recently battling end-stage COPD, among other health issues. Terry used to work for the Oscoda County Council on Aging and, according to Karla, had a wealth of love for dogs and cats. While Karla understood that her mother did not have long, she knew Terry’s birthday was approaching April 30, and wanted to celebrate in a particularly special way. “I wanted to give her something special this birthday that would not sit in a drawer or be thrown out when she’s gone,” Karla said. “Her greatest love is animals, especially dogs.” While brainstorming, Karla remembered an ambition of her mother’s that sparked the idea she finally settled on. “Her dream was to buy lots of land and open a rescue shelter for all the dogs and cats to be loved, fed and cared for,” Karla said. “She loved her dogs and her animals. We used to joke that she would cry more if one of the animals died than one of us.” While Karla knew she couldn’t afford to start an animal rescue in her mother’s name, she knew she could do something that would help the four-legged critters Terry loved so much. Karla placed a large cardboard box at the Oscoda County Council on Aging as well as other organizations around the state, and began a social media campaign asking Michigan residents to donate anything that could be used at an animal shelter.
She called the campaign Terry’s Wish. Bags of food, leashes, toys and good old-fashioned cash were donated throughout the month of April that Karla says she will donate to animal shelters in need. Karla and her daughter also began crafting dog beds, toys and treats of their own to donate. In addition to the donations, Karla began visiting dog shelters and taking photos with the animals in order to start a campaign to get as many of them adopted as possible. Her hope was to show her mother the donations, and the dogs they were able to help, as a final gift. She kept the campaign a secret from her family, hoping to surprise them all with what she, her daughter and her friends accomplished. Unfortunately, Terry slipped away early in the morning April 22 before the donations could be presented. Karla was with her mother in her final moments. “I was planning a party to present everything to her next weekend,” Karla said, sobbing. “I laid with her and told her everything we did hours before she passed, and tears streamed down her face. … My stepdad brought her little dog over after she passed, and he curled up in the crook of her neck and didn’t move for hours. We couldn’t get him away until the coroner came.” Karla said after she and her family are able to get Terry’s affairs in order, she will be driving around the state to pick up the various donation boxes and distribute the contents accordingly. While she is still trying to determine where to go from here, Karla said she is contemplating making Terry’s Wish an annual fundraiser to honor her mother for years to come.
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Reflections - Spring 2019 • Page 5
flowers and a full life
100-year-old recalls bygone era, reflects on life today
Born in Lupton a century ago, Donna Odell can recall details like the railroad in Lupton and the Graceland Ballroom.
Courtesy Photo
OTHELLO, Wash. — Born on a small farm in Lupton in 1919, Donna Odell has seen a century’s worth of change and landed across the country in Washington state, yet once again she is in a scenic setting surrounded by family. With easy familiarity Donna recalled her time in Lupton and Rose City, local family names, connections and places rolling off her tongue. Her parents’ farm was north of the current village of Lupton, near Lane Heights Cemetery, and she attended school from kindergarten to second grade at a schoolhouse split into two rooms, “up on the hill on the east side of Main Street” — a red brick building still standing today and marked as a historic landmark. “My grandmother’s name was Oyster before marriage,” she said. “Dad was a Dobson, he owned the farm up on the hill that Julie Rose has now. Kinyon had a cherry orchard, a half-mile south.” “Reetz had a store in Lupton,” she continued. “It had a railroad, it went through Lupton. Dad sold his milk and cream and eggs at Reetz’s store. There was a post office there, Orlan Rakestraw was the postmaster.” Donna talked of what technology was like when she was young. “We had a telephone you had to ring so many rings in order to get your neighbor,” Donna said. “We did have a car when I was little. You didn’t take it out in the wintertime; you still used horses and sleighs. (A car) wouldn’t go through the drifts.” “I’ve seen a lot of things that’s amazing when you think what it was like,” she said. “We never thought of airplanes when I was small. I’ve flown in an airplane many times.” While she was still young the family moved to Lansing, where she graduated from high school, earned her RN degree at Sparrow Hospital and met her husband Jack. The couple stayed in Lansing until 1947, when they returned to Ogemaw County. “We brought our children up on a farm rather than in the city,” she said. “We didn’t care for the city.” The couple bought 45 acres just south of Rose City, starting out in an old house — “We went with what we had” — and Jack, a carpenter by trade, eventually built a new house on the property. “We had a big orchard. ... We had lots of flowers,” she said. “We always had a big garden, cows to milk, a team of horses, a pony.” At 100, Donna still lives in the natural type of setting she loves. “We still have two gardens and a small orchard and loads of flowers,”
“
I’ve seen a lot of things that’s amazing when you think what it was like. We never thought of airplanes when I was small. I’ve flown in an airplane many times.
“
By Kimberly Landenberg
— Donna Odell
she said, referring to her current home in Eastern Washington. “They grow loads of fruits and grapes and all kinds of vegetables and grains (in the area). It’s an area that not only feeds the country but also the world with all kinds of things. It’s quite a place to be. It surprises me.” She and her husband raised their four children in Rose City, where they attended Rose City School. “It was a fair-size little town with two grocery stores, a drugstore on the corner, a clothing and yard goods store, Cooley’s — his son became the owner of that, he graduated with my son,” Donna recalled. “A gas station on the corner, Gordon Fayette and Jim Kelly had the other one kitty-corner across. They were both busy stations. There was a drug store on the southwest corner; on the northeast corner was an insurance (agency). There was a hardware store right next to the insurance. There was a bakery shop, Jim Bell had it. ... We had a Dr. Williams that was on the south side...” The area had plenty of opportunities for recreation as well, some that are long gone and some residents still enjoy today. “We had a big dance hall down at the Lupton corners, the Graceland,” Donna said. “There was a lot of dances there, get-togethers. We had lots of lakes out there. In the summertime everyone was out to the lake either boating or swimming or picnicking. ... There was lots going on, always something.” Donna said one year when she and Jack went to Florida to visit her parents, Jack built a boat with the intention of selling it. “We didn’t sell it, we kept it,” she said. “We filled it with oranges and grapefruits we gave to our relatives and family in Rose City. We would go See ODELL, 12
Page 6 • Reflections - Spring 2019
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Omer’s very own Larry Daly poses in front of his shanty, which has been stationed along the river for around 47 years. By Trevor Drew OMER — Some may say that sucker fishing in Michigan is synonymous with the city of Omer, labeled as Michigan’s smallest city that attracts people from across the state for the abundance of suckers in the Rifle River. But Omer is also home to a man some might consider sucker fishing royalty. Omer resident Larry Daly, who has been catching suckers along the Rifle for 59 years, is regarded by locals as the “King of the River,” a title which he has displayed on his shanty that has been alongside the river since 1972. After fishing in the area for so many years and getting to know fellow anglers who come from within and outside the county, Daly said the “King of the River” nickname sort of developed and stuck out of recognition for the amount of time he has spent sucker fishing. “I took it as a compliment,” Daly said. “The King of the River, that is nothing to be ashamed of. ... I couldn’t really tell you who started calling me the King of the River, just everybody started calling me the King of the River.” He explained that growing up, his mother and grandmother would can 40 pints’ worth of suckers every year, providing the family with plenty of food for the rest of the year. Daly said the beauty of suckers is the fact that they can easily be canned, smoked or fried. Before it was prohibited back in 1983, Daly said he would sell suckers he caught to various people who visited Omer for the sucker season. Even now, he still rents out the use of his net to visitors from out of town, and has been doing it for so long that children of those who came to his shanty years ago return with kids of their own to maintain the sucker fishing tradition. “They say, ‘I can remember when my dad brought me up here. I was 12
years old and we pulled that net for an hour and had more suckers than we could handle,’” Daly said. He added that one aspect he especially likes is the time spent outdoors and the company of fellow anglers, many of whom have been coming back to Omer for a number of years. “This is like deer camp: I’ve got the same 30 or 40 people come here and sit all day long, shoot the crap and check the net a little bit,” Daly said. “You see these people once a year every spring and you don’t see them again until next year.” After being a part of the sucker fishing tradition for a number of years now, Daly said he especially enjoys seeing kids outside, away from technology, enjoying some good old-fashioned fishing with their families. “I just want people to keep bringing their kids and grandkids because one of these days, this thing is going to be done,” Daly said.
Above, Larry Daly said he spends a lot of time fishing with friends in the area, which has become one of his favorite aspects of the pastime. At left, Daly keeps track of when the ice melts on the river every season.
Photos by
Trevor Drew
Page 8 • Reflections - Spring 2019
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Reflections - Spring 2019 • Page 9
Activities Coordinator Rich Lloyd poses for a picture at the Oscoda County Council on Aging. Emily Tierney
Mio is home to man who has traveled the world By Emily Tierney MIO — Rich Lloyd has traveled the world but considers Michigan home, he said. Lloyd, the activities coordinator at the Oscoda County Council on Aging, said he loves what the Great Lakes State has to offer, including camping, snowmobiling, fishing and mushrooming. While he grew up in Mount Morris, his family traveled to the Oscoda County area, he said. “Growing up, we would come up here for vacation and snowmobiling and motorcycles and stuff like that,” Lloyd said. “And this was always the place to go have fun. I wanted to go live where it’s fun.” Lloyd’s parents later moved to Hale, and he decided to settle down in Mio 20 years ago after retiring from an electric company that installed equipment for the Navy. “I worked my way up and became a technician, where if something broke, I had to fix it,” Lloyd said. “Then I became a project manager before I took an early retirement.” Lloyd has also been to several places overseas, including Japan, France, England and more. “I had a unique job,” Lloyd said. “And I traveled with them for 15 years. I’ve traveled to many different countries and have been to 47 different states. I worked out on the West Coast and East Coast, so I traveled back and forth. It was a very cool job.” Family brought Lloyd back to
Activities Coordinator Rich Lloyd, far left, poses with attendees during a Christmas event last year. Kimberly Landenberg
Michigan, but it wasn’t until years later that he started working for the council on aging, washing dishes and helping in the kitchen to give him something to do. A couple years later he became the activities coordinator and said he has loved it ever since. “Things have improved in the last year a lot, with events and such,” Lloyd said. He said he can’t wait to host the center’s first car show this summer. “I’ve been into cars all my life,” Lloyd
said. “So now we’re doing a car show here. I have a band, vendors coming in. I want it to be people like me who have an old car, and it might not be pictureperfect, but they still would like to show it off. That kind of kept me going this winter, you know — ‘In August, I’m going to have a car show.”’ Lloyd said the center offers a variety of activities and events, including an annual senior prom, tai chi, workout classes and more. He said he is
passionate about his job and loves watching guests having a good time. “It seems like everything is coming together like 10 times better than I anticipated,” Lloyd said. Other than working, Lloyd said he enjoys being outdoors and spending time with his family. He has been married for seven years and has two adult children, he said. “I’m still waiting for grandkids,” he said with a laugh.
Page 10 • Reflections - Spring 2019
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Reflections - Spring 2019 • Page 11
Retired band director carries on passion for music By Emily Tierney WEST BRANCH — John Hawkins, former band director at Ogemaw Heights High School for more than 30 years, has kept music a prime part of his life from a young age and continues to stay active with the community. Since his retirement, Hawkins has been an active member of the East Shore Wind Symphony in Standish, where he plays his trumpet and helps guide young musicians. The group, which performs three concerts a year, includes professional musicians from around the state, many of them teachers or retired teachers. High school students also perform with the group, and Hawkins conducts them “It’s a big thing,” he said. “We’ve been having concerts with some of the students for several years now. One of our missions with that group is to spread the word about music education and try to support it as much as we can.” Hawkins said he keeps busy however he can, with judging band festivals, volunteering his time in high school bands and more. As for his teaching career, Hawkins said it never felt like a job — it was his life. He always told his students if they wanted to be an excellent band, they had to do what excellent bands did, such as being on time to rehearsals, not talking during rehearsals and being prepared. Hawkins first became interested in teaching as a Boy Scout growing up in Kalamazoo, taking on a leadership role in the Scouts. “I was pretty seriously involved with them,” Hawkins said. “I stayed through until I was an Eagle Scout.” Another experience that helped Hawkins realize teaching was for him was during his senior year in high school. “We had a tradition in our high school band where seniors could get up and conduct the band for one piece,” he said. “I’d never done that — I’d been a songwriter throughout high school and into music but had never conducted, and it became my turn to conduct and I got up there to do it, and I just couldn’t believe how much I loved it. It felt natural.” When Hawkins went to college, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be a music teacher or a forest ranger, but ultimately he followed his passion for music. However, he said he continues to be passionate about the outdoors and enjoys camping and mushrooming. Hawkins said he retired from teaching because of health problems, but he hasn’t stopped loving music or helping others whenever he can. “I didn’t stop teaching because I didn’t want to teach,” Hawkins said. “I stopped teaching because my body wouldn’t do it anymore.” Hawkins said he would tell anyone considering a career in teaching music to understand that it is going to be time-consuming, but worth it. “Work ethic is everything here,”
John Hawkins plays his trumpet over the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Hawkins said. “You have to have an indefatigable desire to do everything that is going to be required of you, because if you are not indefatigable, you are not going to be happy. It’s going to be too much.” Hawkins said his grandfather and great-grandfather were both cornet players. “So I was exposed to that as a young kid,” he said. “And I used to play duets with my grandfather when I was 11.” Hawkins said when he was a boy his grandfather often told him that as soon as he could play the song “Carnival of Venice,” he would buy him a goldplated trumpet. “So I tried to play that song,” Hawkins said. “It’s a really hard song to play. You have to basically be a virtuoso to play it, but I played it at my senior recital in college and my grandmother heard it. That was one of those things I wanted to make sure I knew how to do, you know, because it meant something to me. It was a thing our whole life.” Hawkins studied music at Alma College, and even though his grandpa passed away when he was in middle school, he was happy his grandmother could watch him play the song. Hawkins has three kids, John, Katie and James, and two grandkids, Lila and Jacob. He said his family is very important to him. “I got to take Lila to the princess ball this winter,” Hawkins said. “I was her date. I put on my suit, she put on her princess dress and she said, ‘Grandpa, you look so important.’” Hawkins said he also loves cooking and athletics. “I was on a basketball team as an adult until I was 50,” he said. “I never See MUSIC, 14
John Hawkins
Page 12 • Reflections - Spring 2019
Odell
FROM PAGE 5
Though turning 100 in May, Donna Odell hasn’t been afraid to use new technology. She said she has owned a computer since 1982. Courtesy Photo
on the lakes in that boat, the Rifle River area. We really enjoyed ourselves, the kids loved it, we all learned to waterski. ... We’d just have a picnic and enjoy the day (with several families with kids of similar ages). We could swim and boat.” Donna said theirs was a happy family life and marriage. “We just always had a happy home,” she recalled. “I can’t remember any of us yelling at each other or being derogatory at all. We had three meals a day that we ate together. We had an excellent marriage, no problems. He was a good husband and a great father. We all miss him a lot, because he was a great husband to the kids and that’s the reason they grew up to be such good kids.” She said it’s important to keep a balance in the home. “You have to separate your home life from your working life,” she said. “When I was home I was a mother and a wife, and when I was working I was working as an RN. You have to be willing to cooperate with your husband and your kids. Things don’t always go your way.” When Medicare was introduced in the 1960s, Donna was asked to set up the medical records department at Tolfree Hospital, something all hospitals had to have in order to accept Medicare patients. With two girls off at college and the boys still at home, she took a correspondence course to prepare for the task. “I had medical records personnel come from outside the state once a month to explain what had to be done and keep me on track,” she said. “I took some classes at Mercy College in Detroit one
night a week for five weeks. When I took the final exam and passed it I became a medical record administrator.” Having worked in the medical industry, Donna had some things to say about health and nutrition these days. “We have medications now you wouldn’t have dreamed of,” she said. “I stay away from those. We always had quinine on hand when I was little. ... Drugs are so prevalent, people have them in their homes. Children are used to seeing pills all the time, they don’t realize how dangerous they are.” “We used to do blood transfusions, but dialysis we never knew about when I was working,” she continued. “We put people in traction when they broke their leg — I don’t think they do that anymore at all.” Concerning our food nowadays, she had mixed feelings. “Our food is different now, they’ve hybridized so many things and changed our corns,” Donna said. “... Our milk is pasteurized. We never had pasteurized milk. ... I don’t think all this changing, preserving food is good for us. We used to have to use milk up in two or three days or it gets sour, now we have it two weeks and it’s not sour. Something is wrong. I know life changes but I’m not sure if it’s all for the good or not. That’s just my idea.” She said kids would be better off to avoid all the sweet drinks that are so prevalent and opt for water — and not from a plastic bottle. When the Odells’ children all finished college, the couple moved to Wisconsin, where they lived for nearly 20 years. As they reached their 60s and that climate
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Reflections - Spring 2019 • Page 13
became too cold, they moved south to Arkansas and lived there for about 35 years. “I took classes down in Arkansas — there’s a community college there — to learn how to use a computer,” she said when asked about the email address she has. “I’ve had a computer ever since about 1982. I’ve had a cellphone since 2005.” Her daughter gave Donna the phone when Jack passed away, to keep in touch. In 2014 Donna moved in with her daughter in Washington. “I did just fine until I was about 90 — didn’t have any problems, then I started having problems,” she said, mentioning that she had broken her shoulder a few years back and broke her hip last September. Nevertheless, throughout her years Donna has kept up an active, healthy lifestyle. “I’ve never smoked, I’ve never drank liquor or even soft drinks,” she said. “I eat my meals every day and I’m not one to eat in between meals, I don’t snack a lot. I’m active. I’m in a quilting group — I was until I broke my hip — I’d go every Wednesday and make quilts for those that needed them. I still sew the blocks together at home.” “I enjoy reading but I have macular degeneration for the last four years, so now I have audiotapes, I listen to those,” she continued, saying she likes Amish stories like Beverly Lewis. Donna had some advice for young people today. “You’ve got to get an education — not necessarily a college education but an education in some field, a community
college or a trade,” she said. “The young people nowadays don’t find jobs to work on the weekends, they do other things to just enjoy themselves. It used to be you found jobs to work on the weekends or after school. To work, to take orders, to be accountable for what they’re doing — they’ll do a lot better, they’ll enjoy life a lot more. If you don’t work, if you sit around and do nothing, you won’t enjoy yourselves. You see kids walking down the street with their head in their iPhones — it doesn’t seem they’re getting any enjoyment out of it.” With both daughters now living together with her in Washington and her two boys visiting and helping out around the house when they come, and a passel of grandchildren all the way to a couple great-great-great-grandchildren spread all across the country, Donna emphasized the importance of creating a healthy family unit. “Make a good marriage in the first place,” she said. “We all got along well together, enjoyed being together and still do. ... What got us through was we were a very loving family. I had a wonderful husband and he was a wonderful father. We had a really good home life. It’s important in the family to have a good mother-father relationship so the children can feed off that. If they don’t get along I don’t see how the children can have a happy home.” “I was blessed with a very happy family,” she continued. “Most important is that the mother and father love each other and work together and want their children. I can’t imagine not wanting their children.” Donna Odell turned 100 on May 5.
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Furry friends help older adults cope with health issues, get active, connect with others Kara Gavin University of Michigan ANN ARBOR — A curled-up cat, a tail-wagging dog, a chirping parakeet or even a serene goldfish may help older adults cope with mental and physical health issues, according to a new national poll. While pets come with benefits, they can also bring concerns, and some people may even put their animals’ needs ahead of their own health, the poll finds. In all, 55 percent of adults ages 50-80 have a pet, according to the new findings — and more than half of those have multiple pets. More than three-quarters of pet owners say their animals reduce their stress, and nearly as many say pets give them a sense of purpose. But 18 percent also said having a pet or pets puts a strain on their budget. Two-thirds of all pet owners, and 78 percent of dog owners, said their pet helps them be physically active, according to the new findings from the National Poll on Healthy Aging. For those who reported that their health was fair or poor, pet ownership appeared to offer even more benefits. More than 70 percent of these older adults said their pet helps them cope with physical or emotional symptoms, and 46 percent said their pets help take their mind off of pain. “We have long known that pets are a common and naturally occurring source of support,” said Cathleen Connell, a professor at the U-M School of Public Health who has studied the role of companion animals in older adults’ lives. “Although the benefits of pets are significant, social connections and activities with friends and family are also key to quality of life across the lifespan. Helping older adults find low-cost ways to support pet ownership while not sacrificing other important relationships and priorities is an investment in overall mental and physical health.” Poll Director Preeti Malani, who has training in caring for older adults, says the poll results indicate a need for physicians and other healthcare providers to ask older adults about the role of pets in their lives. “More activity, through dog walking or other aspects of pet care, is almost always a good thing for older adults,” she said. “But the risk of falls is real for many, and 6 percent of those in our poll said they had fallen or injured themselves due to a pet. At the same time, given the importance of pets to many people, the loss of a pet can deal a very real psychological blow that providers, family and friends should be attuned to.”
“This study highlights the many physical, psychological and social benefits that pets can have for older adults,” said Alison Bryant, senior vice president of research for AARP. “In recognition of these health benefits, more assisted living facilities today are allowing residents to have pets.” Companionship and social connection were positive side effects of pet ownership for many poll respondents. In fact, more than half of those who owned pets said they did so specifically to have a companion — and a slightly higher percentage said their pets sleep in bed with them. Sixty-five percent of pet owners said having a pet helps connect them to other people, too. “Relationships with pets tend to be less complicated than those with humans, and pets are often a source of great enjoyment,” said Mary Janevic, an assistant research scientist at the U-M School of Public Health who helped design the poll. “They also provide older adults with a sense of being needed and loved.” Other concerns about pet ownership emerged in the poll results. More than half of pet owners said having a pet also made it difficult to travel or enjoy activities outside the home. And one in six said they put their pet’s needs ahead of their own health needs — a figure that was closer to one in four among those with health issues. “Later life is often a time when people have more freedom to travel, and a long list of things they want to do with their free time, and sometimes having a pet can get in the way,” Janevic said. “For people living on a fixed income, expenses related to health care for pets, and especially pets that have chronic health issues, can be a struggle. Older adults can also develop health problems or disabilities that make pet care difficult.” The 45 percent of older adults who said they don’t have pets gave many reasons for not keeping a dog, cat, fish, lizard, bird or small mammal around. Among non-pet owners, 42 percent said they didn’t want to be tied down, 23 percent gave cost as the reason, 20 percent said they didn’t have time and 16 percent said their own allergies or those of someone in their household were the reason. For those who can’t own pets due to allergies, budget constraints, housing circumstances or schedules, there’s often a need for volunteers at local animal shelters or pet-sitting for friends and family, the researchers say. They note that healthcare providers and family may even want to recommend these options to older adults who have no pets and wish to have one.
Music
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lost my love for sports or the outdoors.” Hawkins was on a men’s league in Gladwin and also played on a West Branch team, he said. While Hawkins has many interests, music has always been one of the biggest parts of his life. “I got a little criticism about my zeal for music when I was young,” he said. “People thought I was a little bit narrow
in my vision of what life should be, that I loved music so much, but oh well.” Hawkins said it seems like when people retire they move on to something else, but this will never be the case for him. “I just don’t want to do something else,” he said. “I still love doing all the things I have done before with the music.”
Reflections - Spring 2019 • Page 15
Council on aging stresses importance of exercise By Dominic Trimboli
Above, Nelda Wardell braces her bicep as she does a one-armed exercise. At right, Vickie Brown holds weights above her head during the class. At left, Annie Layman does wrist curls.
MIO — Senior residents from around the county have been working up a sweat every week at the Oscoda County Council on Aging’s multiple exercise classes. Each of the classes are geared specifically for strength and flexibility training for seniors looking to stay active and engaged with others like them in the community. Council activities Coordinator Rich Lloyd said staying active is important for seniors. “It’s recommended that people who are 60 years or older should get 30 minutes of exercise per day, or at least three hours per week,” he said. Lloyd has been teaching his own exercise class at the senior center three days a week for more than two years. His class is a mixture of tai chi, yoga, stretching and strength training. He said participation over the years has grown
dramatically. “Twenty-five people came to these classes in the last two days,” he said. “I never thought when I sat down at that desk for the first time that we’d have this kind of participation.” In addition to Lloyd’s class there is also a newer 30-minute tai chi class that is taught on Thursdays by resident Tim Jenks. That class is geared toward flexibility and breath control, and is geared toward residents of any mobility. Lloyd said he’s proud to see seniors taking advantage of the free services offered to them. “I wake up in the morning thinking about this class,” he said. “Even if there is just one person who shows up, that makes it all worth it.” The tai chi class is held Thursdays beginning at 11 a.m. at the council on aging. Lloyd’s class is held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays also beginning at 11 a.m.
Photos by Dominic Trimboli
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• Board Games • Puzzles • Movies • Crafts • Coffee/Tea Time • Bingo • Holiday Parties • Relaxation • Reminiscence • Socializing • Music For more information, call Deana at 989.345.3010 Ext 203
Ogemaw Commission On Aging Promoting the health, well-being, and independence of older adults.
989-345-3010 • 1528 S. M-33, West Branch • www.ogemawcoa.org
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