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

 

Ruth Marie is a resident of the Fairlane Nursing Centre in Detroit,   Michigan.  The full care nursing facility is one of the nursing homes owned and operated by my Michigan namesake,  the other Jim Branscum.  I had returned to Detroit to talk to the growing number of individuals who had each commissioned three drawings depicting the humanity and dignity of older Americans.  The concept for the Aging in America series was being developed as I completed Jim's third drawing.  It seemed only fitting to select a model from one of his facilities.  Ruth Marie is a "special resident" who interacts with the staff and other residents.  The walls in her room is covered with cards,  photographs of her family and newspaper clippings on family members or someone unknown who's story caught her attention.

The sharpness of Ruth’s mind is matched only by her sense of humor.   She is keenly aware of her present and her past.  She relates the story of her life in small episodes that happened more than three quarters of a century ago.   "When I was 3,  I had my first ride on an airplane;  it had two wings and one engine.  It was only nine years after Kitty hawk and the Wright brother’s first flight.  I have two brothers who are pilots."  She moves in space and time as fast as her thoughts take her.  I listen awestruck by her honesty and frankness.  Her tragedies were now challenges overcome;  she tells of joys and sorrows with the same fondness for the memories.

Until she was 12,  she lived on a farm,  the second generation of immigrant grandparents who had come to America to escape Ireland’s Great Potato Famine in 1852.  Life was simpler during Ruth Marie’s childhood.  She paints a memory of listening to a phonograph with cylinder recordings- "before flat records,"  and told of listening to Orson Welles’ "War of the Worlds played on the radio, Holloween night, 1937."  The fear created that night was told with amusement.  She brought me through her life to the present,  though her employment and the rare times there was no work.  She was a maid,  a teacher (she taught Henry Ford II in eighth grade), and then worked in engineering during the war at the Ford plant.  She spoke of her family with pride,  relating the accomplishments of each member.  Coming around to the present, She added,   "I never thought I would live to be 82 and be a model for a famous artist."  I smiled, a little embarrassed by her praise and the elevated stature she had given me.  I was in the presence of history.  As I interviewed subjects for this series,  the knowledge that I was talking to a participant in America's history. "I chose you for your beauty, Ruth Marie, you are truly beautiful," I told her as I packed my equipment, saddened by ending of our modeling session and the separation to come. "Could I write to you?" I asked, easing the feeling of loss. "Oh yes, I love to get letters, she replied.

Ruth Marie's last comment touches upon one way each of us can make a nursing care resident’s day a little brighter. Write a letter, a note or a simple card. Tell them that they were on your mind, that you care for them and appreciate their contribution to your life. If you do not know anyone in nursing care, call a local home and ask for the name of someone without a family or local friends. Visit, make a new friend, their lives and you own will be enhanced by the relationship.

We can not turn back the hands of time for our elders, nor can we take away the pains of advanced age or give a guarantee of a better tomorrow; but, we can lift their spirits today by acknowledging them and their contributions to our lives and to America. The health care provider can give the best of accommodations; the government can legislate the most carefully considered protections for America’s elderly,   especially elderly nursing care residents; but it is our collective responsibility to honor their contributions and give them love which is the essence of humanity and dignity.

Post Script:
As I completed the nineteenth drawings of this series,  I received one of my many letters from Ruth Marie Hills.  She was 86 years old now.  Ruth Marie is as sharp as the day we met.  Her beauty still shines through her kindness and encouragement.  She writes of going to a family reunion where her nephew and his business partner were at the dinner.  The business partner was Kevin Costner,   her nephew was the man who gave Keven Costner his first movie role and continued a longstanding friendship as well as an interest in Costner's business dealings.  I should know her nephew's name,  but all I remember was that his first name was also Jim.  (I'll look his name up and update this entry later).  Her nephew's famous guest was "kind and gracious,"  these were the qualities that impressed Ruth Marie.  She adds in a post script that she had given a 1995 White House Conference on Aging brochure, "with my drawing inside," to Keven and her nephew.  Ruth Marie has become somewhat of a promoter of the Aging in America project.

A print of her drawing is hanging at Fairlane Nursing Centre.  Her will, reasoning and a "Dear CEO" letter addressed to my Detroit namesake,  James R. Branscum,  won the right to choose precisely where her image would be displayed in the facility.  I am honored by her concern and by her friendship.

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