Aging in America- Our Heritage of Wisdom
a series of thirty-six pencil drawings by artist jim branscum

 

The mood of the visit changed with the discussion on art.  Marjorie is a painter.  Her medium of choice,   on of the most difficult in painting,  is transparent watercolor.  She paints in a loose representational style with colors well selected and "clean."   There are no opaque whites on her palette to dilute the purity of the medium in her work.  Her paintings showed a thorough knowledge of drawing and transparent watercolor.  She had studied music  at Manchester College and was a pianist as well as a painter.  For many years,  she or one of her daughters played the organ at her West Alexander,  Ohio,  church.

Marjorie was born in Dayton,   Ohio in 1905.  The Wright Brothers had a bicycle shop in town.  When she was a little girl,  she remembers seeing them only once.  She married at the age of 23.  Her husband,  Paul,  was a dairyman and farmer.  Together,   they raised four children,  two boys and two girls.  As with all mothers,   Marjorie is extremely proud of her children.  One son is involved in almost every aspect of the long term care field.  He owns the Highland Pines Nursing Home in Longview, Texas that his mother now calls home.

Highland Pines Nursing Home is a well designed, upscale,  multi-level care facility that is tastefully decorated with a staff who are selected for their courteous service and dedication to providing the best of care for the facilities residents.  When I arrived at the home for interview with a number of residents,  I knew that Marjorie, the mother of Dick Stebbins, a sponsor of my series,  was a resident.  I asked for her to be included in my list of potential subjects.  Dick informed me that the decision to see me would be his mother's to make.  I felt Marjorie could give me a unique perspective concerning life in a nursing home.

Marjorie never spoke of anything in the negative,  times or events.  She spoke of life matter-of-factually without coloration to reflect a judgment of "good or bad."  "Living in a nursing home is not always perfect,  but it is the best system I can see.   I heard people say its just a place to put someone while they wait to die--   what's wrong with that?  We are all waiting to die,  even if we don't want to acknowledge it."  She smiles as she speaks further,  "I'm looking forward to meeting God and all my loved ones."  Faith is the only thing in life that is lasting. At best,  life is temporary."  The honesty and truth of her words have come back to me many times as I work on this project.  I left Marjorie to speak to other residents without knowing if Marjorie would agree to pose for me.  The decision would be made after talking to her son.  Dick Stebbins later told me that his mother had asked for her paints and brushes to be brought to her and she began painting again after our visit.  I felt I had a small part in her again finding the joy of creation.  As one who knows that joy,  I was very pleased in hearing of her return to painting.

I can not end my commentary without briefly relating the story of another resident I met at the Highland Pines Nursing Home.  This resident provides a contrast in the lives of two elderly women,  one of wealth and one of abject poverty.  The latter was well known in Longview but shall remain nameless in this account for two reasons;  first,  I did not receive her permission to tell her story and to protect her privacy.  She was one of the elderly homeless that many urban residents pass every day without seeing.  For her,   health care was limited to an aspirin and a dry place to sleep.  While never speaking directly to her,  many residents of the area knew her as "J----- the bag lady."  She was found close to death on a Longview sidewalk one morning and brought to the hospital emergency room for treatment.  The hospital staff saved her life and after many weeks of intensive health care and rehabilitation,  her health had improved enough to release her. 

The hospital's administrator called the Highland Pines Nursing Home's administrator and told him how she had been found and brought back to a state of health that he could not justify her continued stay in the hospital;  however,  he found it impossible to return her to the conditions which brought her to the hospital.  He asked if there was a way that the administrator could make a place for her at the Highland Pines Nursing Home.  While under no legal obligation to accept her as a resident,  she was invited into one of the finest nursing facilities I had visited while working one this series.  She was received by the staff and residents with equal friendliness and care was provided at the same level as any other resident. 

When I visited with her,   she told me about her feelings of being at Highland Pines.  She stated,   "When I first came here,  I thought I had died and gone to heaven,   I couldn't be treated any better."  Her biggest fear was that she would wake up and find it was all just a dream.  "But,"  she told me with a hint of disbelief and a mountain of hope in the accuracy of the statement,   "they told me I can stay as long as I want."  Her story highlights the reality that the worse aspect of long term care is needing it and not having it available.  Her story belies the stereotypical image of uncaring long term care providers.  For her sake,  all are not cut from the same cloth as much of the media coverage of  would have me believe. 

Marjorie Stebbins instilled a high standard of compassion in her son.   That compassion is reflected in the service to the residents in his care.

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