Page 2 — ReflectionS 2014
Sisters celebrate 50th anniversaries
ReflectionS PUBliSHeR Elizabeth Gorske
By Sherry Barnum Managing editoR Eric Young editoRial Staff Sherry Barnum Tim Barnum Kimberly Landenberg Jason Ogden Emily Walker Thomas Williams adVeRtiSing SaleS Jama Gates Anthony Kachiros Carla Reeves coMPoSition Sharon Ehlert Jesse Karbowski eMail sherrybarnum@ogemawherald.com cover Photo
Photo by Sherry Barnum
West Branch resident and veteran Ron Zarem stands in front of the USS Edson in Bay City. He is an active volunteer in getting the ship restored.
Vicky and Larry Winslow of Au Gres got married June 22, 1963, the same year as Vicky’s sister Kathy and her husband Ken Zettel of West Branch, who married April 20, 1963. Kathy said she and Ken met while she was babysitting for his brother. “His brother and his brother’s wife were going out to dinner so I was babysitting for his brother’s children, then things took off from there,” Kathy said. “It’s crazy how things work out.” Kathy said she got married at 18 years old. “Ken is nine years older than I am,” Kathy said. “But there was a pretty good connection between us, and he was a goodlooking guy, so I think we had something.” Kathy said when she got married at 18 her parents were good with it because Ken was older, had a stable job and was secure in that sense. “I didn’t know at first my sister had planned to get married,” Kathy said. “If I would have, I would have planned it differently so we could have gotten married together, but we are very close and it worked out.” Kathy said her parents never disputed having two daughters get married the same year. “When we were getting married there was never an issue,” Kathy said. “Ken
“Marriage is a commitment and you have to work at it. We have had multiple things happen in life that we never expected, but we never gave up and got through things together.” — Kathy Zettel being older was an issue in a way, but my parents knew that the road I was taking was a good one.” Kathy said her wedding took place at the Klacking Creek Parish. “It was a smaller wedding and it was all at one place,” Kathy said. “It was very nice and memorable.” Kathy, who will be 69 this year, said she and Ken have made it to 50 years because they never gave up on each other. “Marriage is a commitment and you have to work at it,” Kathy said. “We have had multiple things happen in life that we never expected, but we never gave up and got through things together.” “Bottom line is you can’t give up when things go wrong,” Kathy said. “Even today we try to take one day to spend time together, just him and I.” Kathy said Ken is very active in township things doing behind-the-scenes work, and she works part-time. “We will go out to appointments, do side
trips, take time one on one,” she said. “Just small things, like taking time to have a cup of coffee together.” Ken and Kathy have nine children. Vicky said she and Larry went through high school together as sweethearts. “I went to the Withey School and he went to the Red school,” Vicky said. “But we would go roller skating, ice skating, ice fishing, and do other winter sports together.” “We got married at Klacking Creek where I grew up and went to church,” Vicky said. “The year before we got married my sister graduated from high school and my other sister graduated from a twoyear college and I graduated from a fouryear in June, so we had three graduations and open houses all in a month in the same year in 1962. Kathy got married in April 1963 and I planned to get married in June. I don’t know how my parents did it.”
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See sisters, 10
ReflectionS 2014 — Page 3
Bird houses are Comins man’s flights of fancy By thomas Williams Building and decorating bird houses in his spare time enables a Comins shopkeeper to brighten the day for others by sharing his projects with others. Bob Baiter, one of the co-owners of Comins Market, said although his bird houses are not for sale, he does share them with others in the community. “I don’t sell them,” he said. “They are produced as gifts. If you are looking at one and it clicks with you — if it makes you smile — then I say here it is. It is yours now.” Baiter said his creations can take as long as a week or more, or he can turn one out in a single day. “If I am just painting it, I can get it done in a day,” he said. “The one I made with the buttons took me a week. I stood there with a jar of buttons and glued them on one by one.” Baiter said the bird houses are a satisfying outlet for his artistic needs and he would encourage everyone to find their own method of expressing themselves. “Everybody has it in them,” he said. “You just need to find out what
you enjoy creating and take the time to get good at it.” Baiter said he has been living in Oscoda County for about five years, seeking refuge from the desert climate of Tucson, Ariz. “Tucson was changing too quickly,” he said. “There were too many people. They were expanding too fast.” Baiter said he was attending a family event in Comins when he made the decision to move to Oscoda County. “I was attending a 60th wedding anniversary and I took a walk and that was when I made the decision,” he said. “It really was on a whim. I just loved it up here and decided to make the move. It has been an adventure.” Baiter said the climate in Northern Michigan is much more suitable to his tastes than the desert of Tucson. “I get to see the four seasons again,” he said. “One might think the desert is a nice place to live until they actually live there. I missed the rain.” Baiter said there are not a lot of things he enjoys more than tending his store and building his bird houses. “It can be tedious work, but I really enjoy making them,” he said. Bob Baiter stands by two of his undecorated creations.
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The best age to retire: the impact of Social Security benefits By Kevin Wray When should you officially retire? This is a difficult question to answer but one we’re often posed with. The importance we place on the age you retire is related in part to your Social Security benefits. Studies have shown that Social Security benefits typically only replace 40 percent of your pre-retirement income, leaving you with the need to draw additional income from sources such as savings, pensions, investments and more. Although Social Security benefits may not cover your income needs in retirement, they do play an important role in your financial plan during this important phase of your life. Deciding when you should apply for benefits is a unique choice for every person. Conditions such as your date of birth, finances, health and marital status all play parts in determining the best time to apply for Social Security benefits. Social Security has created three retirement age categories: minimum retirement, full retirement and maximum retirement ages. Let’s look at each category. • Minimum Retirement – According to the Social Security Administration, the minimum retirement age is 62. More than half of Social Security recipients apply for benefits at this age. Recipients receive reduced benefits for applying early. This reduction in benefits is 30 percent, on average. • Full Retirement – According to the Social Security Administration, the full retirement age is based upon your date of birth and varies between the ages of 65 and 67. Waiting to file for full retirement means that your monthly benefits check will be 25 percent higher, on average, than if you had you applied at the age of 62. • Maximum Retirement – According to the Social Security Administration, the maximum retirement age is 70. If you don’t apply for benefits at your full retirement age, you can increase your potential benefits by eight percent each year until you reach the age of 70. This means that your maximum retirement benefits would be roughly 30 percent higher than if you had applied at your full retirement age, and more than 50 percent higher than if you had applied at age 62. Which is right for you? That’s a question only you can answer. It’s important to note that Social Security benefits are typically viewed as neutral. According to the Social Security Administration, the average retiree who begins receiving benefits at age 62 will typically receive the same amount of money over
“Studies have shown that Social Security benefits typically only replace 40 percent of your pre-retirement income, leaving you with the need to draw additional income from sources such as savings, pensions, investments and more.” -Kevin Wray Financial Planner
their lifetime as if they had applied for full or maximum retirement. The person who retires at age 62 will no doubt receive smaller monthly checks, but they receive those smaller checks for many more years than if they’d waited and applied for full or maximum benefits. These calculations are based upon average lifespan in the United States. The Social Security Administration has calculated that the neutral point where benefits balance themselves out is between ages 78 and 82. For example, women typically live longer than men do. If the applicant is a female and other women in her family have typically lived into their 80s and 90s, waiting until full or maximum retirement age could mean she receives tens of thousands of dollars in more benefits during her lifetime. If the applicant is male and other men in his family live only until their 70s, applying for minimum benefits at age 62 may be the best decision. Again, life expectancy is only one part of the equation when determining what the best age to retire is. Other factors like finances, marital status, etc. are also contributing factors that should be examined and taken into consideration. Determining your retirement age should be done with careful consideration and planning with the help of a financial adviser. Although Social Security benefits aren’t the only source of income in retirement, they could make the difference between a comfortable or less desirable retirement lifestyle. For more information and to get your free, no-obligation report visit www.knowyour ss.com.
We want to hear your story. Call 989-345-0044 or email sherrybarnum@ogemawherald.com
ReflectionS 2014 — Page 5
World traveler settles in Michigan, active in local Lions Club By emily Walker
Photo courtesy of Jimmie Hicks
Jimmie Hicks sits at a Lions Club booth during a Fabulous Friday event.
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Jimmie Hicks said one of the most rewarding things he has done since his retirement is joining the West Branch Lions Club. Hicks, a retired veteran, spent years working and traveling all over the world but is now proud to call West Branch home and is pleased with the work the Lions Club has done. Hicks said he grew up in Texas and joined the Navy after college. “What you think of in West Texas is tumbleweeds, sandstorms and oil wells,” he said. “I didn’t have any oil wells around. After I joined the Navy, I sailed around the Far East on a cruiser for three years. I worked in Japan for a while — which I loved.” After Hicks served in the Navy, he took a job as a contractor for NASA working with tracking stations. “Just about the time I was getting ready to go, I got a call from a friend who I had worked with in Dallas,” he said. “Tracking stations were all around the world, and I wanted to go somewhere overseas. I must have got it in my blood when I was sailing around the Far East.” Hicks said he worked all around the world as an electronics technician for NASA.
“I worked at the Cape, and on Guam and Hawaii,” he said. “I was a contractor — electronics technician. I worked at the tracking station during the Apollo at the Cape.” Hicks then had several other jobs, taking him to several different states and countries. “I worked in the space center in Florida,” he said. “I worked there all through Apollo. I met my wife there. She worked as a secretary. I moved to Guam and sailed around Norfolk on a research ship for maybe a year. From there I went to Saudi Arabia — spent 13 years there. Every six months, we got leave so we traveled all over Europe. We came back to the States and I went to Alaska for a contract to erect some antennas.” Hicks then worked at a few other jobs in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Lafeyette, Ga. “We went back to Florida where my heart was really,” he said. “I had gotten a job before I went in Germany so I went over there. I was there about six months then came back to the States and worked in Florida. I got laid off from that job and decided to retire.” Hicks said the move to Michigan came after he received a call from his daughter and son-in-law, Jenny and Mark Meyer.
See traveler, 10
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Page 6 — ReflectionS 2014
The sweet life Harrisons stay busy providing syrup to community, wine to friends and family By tim Barnum
Tim Barnum
Ruth and Roy Harrison stand outside on their porch. The Harrisons have been married for 59 years and making maple syrup for nearly 20.
Roy and Ruth Harrison’s Maple Ridge homestead has been a lot of things over the years — a swimming hole, a hockey rink, hunting property — but to many the couple provides something a bit sweeter. For several decades the Harrisons, who have been married for 59 years, have been making maple syrup, and roughly 20 years ago they also started making homemade wine. Roy, 84, started making maple syrup when he was just 16 years old, making his own spiles, which are tapped into maple trees to release the sap, out of wires and roadside sumac plants. “It was up in Atlanta, where I lived at the time,” he said. ‘We had maple trees all around and I just tapped the trees.” Roy’s teenage operation produced about 10-15 gallons of maple syrup. Back then, Roy was not selling syrup like the Harrisons do now. According to Ruth, 80, it was not until they had a couple of children that the production ramped up. “He went in the Navy for a while and he didn’t really start doing it again until he had
some little kids to show how to do it,” she said. “The little kids were Sam and Walt.” “We had a big old iron kettle, and he decided to show them about it,” she added. The maple syrup tradition does not appear to be slowing down, as one of their eight great-grandchildren, their granddaughter Leslie Kenney’s son, is already taking an interest in it. “Now Leslie’s little boy, he comes in here and he says, ‘I’m going to tap trees,’” Ruth said. “He’s three years old.” Although they do sell the syrup, Roy said the main goal is to just make enough money to cover their production costs, and much of it is given away every year. However, sometimes new customers do swing by the sugar shack. “They’re anxious to get it,” he said April 18. “I had somebody walk in here the day before yesterday that wanted two quarts. I’d never seen them in my life.” Ruth said several quarts are distributed in the community. “We give it to the church and the arts council and pretty much every event that’s going on, the Cardinal Club,” she said.
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See harrisons, 9
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ReflectionS 2014 — Page 7
Restoring History West Branch veteran works to restore destroyer ships in New York and Michigan By Sherry Barnum Picking the pearls from the peanuts is something that Ron Zarem, 79, of West Branch has learned to do after being an active part of restoring two Navy destroyer ships. Zarem served in the Navy on two different class destroyers and has been volunteering his time to restore two Navy destroyer ships in New York and Bay City. Zarem said he got started working on the USS Edson because of his ship experience on the East Coast in Albany, N.Y. “Before coming to Bay City, I volunteered, and still do, on the USS Slater in New York,” Zarem said. “The Slater was one of our Navy ships during the war, then it was given to Greece. The Greeks had it for 40 years and they were getting ready to scrap it, and out of 565 of them that’s the only ship that was afloat in the United States, so we brought it back.” Zarem said the Slater was in deplorable condition, but with volunteers and the Destroyer Escort Sailors Association that he belongs to, they were able to restore it. “We go back to New York every year around the first week of May to work on it,” he said. “There are about 20, 30, 35 men that stay on board. We bring our own cooks and live on board to work to restore it. With the locals in New York and volunteers, the ship went from one that should
have been dropped off in the middle of the Atlantic on the way over to being one of the top three in the United States, as far as museums go, and it has taken us 16 years to do it.” Zarem said it was after his work on the USS Slater that President of the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum, Michael Kegley approached him to help on the USS Edson. “I have known Michael for quite some years and he knew of my involvement on the Slater in New York, and when they got this ship he asked me if I wanted to be on the board because I could bring some knowledge of restoration with me,” Zarem said. “So I am here at their request and because it is a little closer than New York.” Zarem said the USS Edson is a postwar ship commissioned Nov. 7, 1958, and is named for Colonel Merritt Edson. “It served for 30 years in the Pacific fleet, had three deployments to Vietnam and earned three meritorious unit citations,” he said. “The USS Edson was decommissioned Dec. 15, 1988, and served as a museum ship in New York City from 1987 to 2004.” “But due to pier downsizing in New York City, the ship returned to the U.S. Navy in 2004,” Zarem said. “After it left New York City, it was moved to Philadelphia. It was in 2004 when the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum applied for ownership.”
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Ron Zarem stands in the wheelhouse aboard the USS Edson. “Now it is on its way back to becoming a museum ship again with restoration and volunteers,” he said. Zarem said he never understood the term
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See history, 9
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Oscoda County Council Cares By Jay ogden
Jay Ogden
Oscoda County residents sit down and have a hot lunch at the Oscoda County Council on Aging’s building located at 429 Mount Tom Rd. in Mio. The center, in one form or another, has been helping seniors since the late 1970s, according to Director Mark Grantner.
A hot meal cooked five days a week for seniors at the Oscoda County Council on Aging building in Mio is, for a lot of seniors, the only hot food they will get all day, according to council Director Mark Grantner. Grantner has been working for the council since the late 1990s, and has experience before that as a nursing home administrator. He said the council has a history that goes back to the 1970s, however, when the operation was created in response to a need to take care of senior citizens in the county. The center is paid for by funding through the Northeast Michigan Community Service Agency, as well as a county millage. Grantner said the council started as a group of volunteers in the 1970s in the Fairview and Comins area. Grantner said the group used to lease what is now the Comins Open Mike building, until it purchased the current location, which is at 429 Mount Tom Rd., in Mio. The current building is a repurposed tool and die shop that was converted into the senior center. He said with assistance from NEMCSA, the council was able to get a millage and more funding to help fund services for the agency. Although there are many services that
See CounCil, 11
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ReflectionS 2014 — Page 9
Harrison’s: keep active with syrup operation, winemaking FroM PaGe 6 While Ruth knows the syrup operation quite well, she said she tries to keep her distance from it. She said in her opinion, it’s gotten a little out of control. “It’s really a hobby that got out of hand,” she said. “With the maple syrup, it started out with the iron kettle and the little buckets on the trees, and then we got into the higher tech.” Because of the high demand for the syrup from family and friends, Ruth said they make a lot of breakfast for a lot of people. “We have to buy pancakes and sausage like crazy,” she said. While the maple syrup is enjoyed by many people, including strangers like Roy’s recent customers, the winemaking — a fall venture — is kept a little closer to home, since selling it would require a license. Ruth said the winemaking is a nice interlude between gardening in the summer and making syrup in the late winter. “It’s a fun thing to do in the fall when you start getting bored and there’s no gardening,” she said. Roy said his son Sam’s father-in-law had the equipment to make wine, but had stopped doing it. Like the unused equipment, Roy said he also noticed an abundance of unused grapes. “People all over the county have grapes, a few grapes,” he said. “They don’t do anything with them.” “We get them from everywhere,” Ruth added. “All of our friends add to the grapes.” After the grapes are collected, Roy said they are ground up and put in a barrel or tote
to ferment, and then put through a winepress after the fermentation is complete, extracting the juice. Eventually, after all of the ingredients are added to the juice, the wine has to sit again. “Then it takes about 7-11 weeks,” Roy said. “The longer you leave it in there, the better it is.” Ruth said that after the wine is typically ready for maple syrup season in March, but before that time rolls around, Roy starts to get a little stir-crazy waiting for his next chance to work on one of his projects. “He goes through withdrawals after Christmas waiting for something to do,” she said. “You’ve got to understand the person you’re with,” she added. “They’ve got to be doing something or they don’t know what to do with themselves, so you let them go.” While Roy has some downtime between his projects, Ruth stays busy year-round working at Faith Lutheran Church in Prescott. “I keep track of the attendance and the activities that are going on, bulletins and all of the different advertising,” she said. “There are so many things that we have going on at that church that we have to make posters and signs for.” “She should take her cot down there,” Roy said. “She’s there all the time.” Perhaps like her husband, it’s good that Ruth stays busy with different projects. “It’s something to do, otherwise my house might get too clean,” she said. Roy and Ruth have four children — Sam, Walt, Rebecca and Craig; 10 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
History: Zarem plays active role in helping bring the USS Edson and USS Slater to life FroM PaGe 7 “I know what it is like to work toward something you really truly enjoy doing and what makes the ship so important to me is that it is here in Michigan,” he said. “The Edson is the only surface ship in the Midwest, and what better place deserves it than Bay City because of their shipbuilding history during the war and postwar,” he said. “I physically started volunteering here when the ship arrived in Aug. 2012, but five to six years prior to that we met with no ship.” Then in May 2012, the Navy approved the transfer of the ship to the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum, Zarem said. “We had it towed from Philadelphia and brought to this spot, which is now its permanent home in May 2013,” he said. According to Zarem, his favorite part of volunteering is seeing the ship come back to life. “Having worked on the ship in Albany, I can see the light get brighter and brighter at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “And I can see it just as pristine as it was in the ’30s and ’40s.” “And to give you a comparison, this ship is 500 times in better condition than the one in Albany at this point,” he said. Zarem said the mission for the USS Edson is to establish this vessel as a major
museum destination on Bay City’s cultural scene, and a memorial to those members of the U.S. Navy who served on destroyers, as well as educate the public on the role played by the destroyers in time of war. When Zarem isn’t working on the ships, he is the deputy clerk for West Branch Township and a member of the Victorian Art Fair committee and is very active in making that event successful for the city. He also enjoys keeping track of rain and snow totals for the year. “It’s interesting when you go back and say, ‘Wow, April was the wettest April we’ve had in 12 years,’ or something like that,” he said. “But the two ships take up most of my time right now.” “Currently, we are in the process of having to put all new water lines in the ship in order to have running water and groups from an educational standpoint be able to stay in the ship overnight,” he said. “We also have a work party coming here the first week of May, where five to six men will come out and stay and sleep on board.” “It takes time and I get a lot of questions about the work on the USS Slater in New York, which helps them with their thought process in which ways to go,” he said. “You have to pick the pearls from the peanuts and get things done first that need to be done.”
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Page 10 — ReflectionS 2014
Sisters: share words of wisdom on marriage FroM PaGe 2
Traveler: enjoys working with the community FroM PaGe 5
“I made my own wedding dress and bridesmaids gowns for the wedding to help save money,” she said. Vicky said after she and Larry got married he ended up being drafted into the Army. “I taught school in Riverview, while he was in the Army in Kentucky and Oklahoma, and then I went out to Sierra Vista, Ariz., to be together,” she said. “I worked for a business while he was still in the Army.” Vicky said after two years of running around the country they came back to Michigan. “We lived in Midland and he worked for Dow Corning,” she said. “I taught school for 30 years before we retired early and moved to Au Gres.” Vicky said Larry loved to fish and that’s why they ended up in Au Gres. “Basically we spend five months in Florida in the wintertime and seven months in Au Gres,” she said. “We were married when we were 23 and now we are both 73.” Vicky said she believes having the same interests has played a role in why they have made it to 50 years. “We both believe that church is important and every relationship should have some kind of faith,” she said. “But we also both love to travel and do volunteer work.” Vicky said they do volunteer work around the Au Gres and Tawas area. “I have helped at the K of C, township, hospital and elder care,” she said. “I have knitted about 400 baby caps for the hospital and 1,500 scrubbies.” “We also traveled to different car shows with our 1967 Mustang convertible for 10 years,” she said. “We’ve been on three different cruises, traveled to every state except Hawaii and love to golf.” Vicky said they have golfed 457 different golf courses. “Larry has had three holes-in-one and I’ve had two,” she said. “My advice to couples today is to stay happy and forgive each other,” Vicky said. “Overlook things, don’t be so nitpicky and have a good time together.”
“My advice to couples today is to stay happy and forgive each other. Overlook things, don’t be nitpicky and have a good time together.” — Vicky Winslow
The Meyers now own Downtown Books in West Branch. “I was in Florida and got a call one day,” he said. “She said, ‘Hey dad, we are moving to Michigan.’ I thought, ‘Who in the world would move to Michigan?’ But I came up and this is my third year here.” Hicks said living in Michigan reminds him of his days living in the South. “The first morning I was here I was up fairly early and I was walking downtown,” he said. “I was just walking up a sidewalk and a man said, ‘Good morning,’ and I almost fell off the curb. I thought, ‘They don’t do that in the frozen North. That’s what they do in the South.’ I have been very pleased — this is not like the north at all.” One of the first things Hicks did after moving to Michigan was join up with the Lions Club. “When I got up here the first thing I did was find the Lions,” he said. “It is a very, very small club and we are always looking for more people to join.” Hicks said he originally became active with the Lions Club while living in Tennessee. “In Tennessee, I was going to a little church there,” he said. “One day after church this guy came up to me and said, ‘I understand you know a little something about electronics.’ He asked me to take a look at a truck that had some electronic equipment on it to make eyeglasses. It hadn’t been used in years and they wanted me to check out the equipment for them. One day when we were pretty much through with it, they wanted to thank me and took me to dinner. The next thing I knew I was a Lion.” Hicks said the Lions Club is an organization that is in the business of helping people. “I never really knew what the Lions did,” he said. “We help out a lot of people with a lot of things. We furnish people with eyeglasses. And we do a lot of other things like help people pay for surgeries and work with other charities in town. It’s a wonderful, wonderful thing to do. It makes every morning worth getting up for. I think I would do anybody a favor if I could convince them to be a member of our club.” Hicks said he plans to stay in West Branch for a while and continue to be active with the Lions Club, but would still like to do more traveling in his lifetime. “My wife, Joyce — bless her heart — always wanted to go to Mackinac Island,” he said. “I want to fulfill that for her if nothing else since she never made it up there. I plan to stay here for a while. It’s awful hard to leave. I really like the people. Everybody I have met is really nice here and I like that I can feel useful with the work that the Lions Club does in the community.”
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ReflectionS 2014 — Page 11
Council: offers a place for seniors to come and fellowship together FroM PaGe 8 are offered to seniors, those 60 years old or older, one of the main programs is the food program. As Grantner said, the one hot meal is the only hot food many seniors — who are often unable to cook — get during the day. Most of the meals served are delivered to hungry seniors for a suggested donation. For people who live in the farthest reaches of the county, Grantner said frozen meals are provided seven days a week. “Everything we do here is by donation only,” he said. “That is what we’re here for; the whole purpose is to take care of the impoverished and the people who have no socializing.” And the agency delivers a lot of meals. According to a report filed by Grantner, meal delivery drivers gave out more than 30,500 meals last year, and put more than 30,000 miles on delivery vehicles to get the meals to individuals. The center also provides a place for seniors to gather with each other, socialize and utilize services like help with learning the ins and outs of Medicaid and even a chance to get on the internet. “I have guys who come here just to use the computer,” he said. Grantner said there is even a medical equipment share program where if a person needs something like a walker or a wheelchair, they can borrow it from the center if it is available. Other services include are home making
and respite, according to Grantner. The agency works on a bare-bones and shoestring budget, but Grantner said it provides a major service to the community. It is not only the services offered to seniors that help them navigate their daily lives, Granter said; he feels that if there was not a council on aging, a lot more seniors would be in nursing homes in Oscoda County. “I know that for sure, and it’s not like there is a competition, but people want to live and die at home,” he said. “If we can keep them in their homes for a while longer, not only is it saving people money — because we’re paying for it through tax — but who wants to share a room? You have people you don’t know taking care of you, you get used to it, but I’m more comfortable in my home.” Grantner said he also thinks that senior abuse would be up as well, as the Meals on Wheels drivers keep an eye on what is going on at senior homes. “I think there would be a lot more abuse and a lot more people being admitted to the nursing home,” he said. Area seniors who attend the lunches at the center seem to like the setup and are appreciative of the services, including Mio residents Jim Randall and Bill Eaton, who come to the center almost daily to have lunch. Eaton, 93, is a veteran of World War Two and said he likes to come into the hall early most days. “It’s better than going to a restaurant,”
Jay Ogden
The council’s head cook, Pam Tanghe, uses a dishwasher to clean a load of dishes after serving a group of seniors lunch, April 16. he said. “And the price is right.” Others, like Eaton, come to the hall to socialize with other people. For Mio resident Donna Clark, the center was an opportunity for her to get out during the long winter months. “We really like to come here and talk to people,” she said.
Mio resident Ed Clark said it also allows a senior to save money for other things. “When two people can eat for $25 a week, that is a good thing,” he said. More information about the services provided by the center can be found by calling 989-826-3025.
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Page 12 — ReflectionS 2014
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