My brother Ron Herrington is a resident of Heritage Heights Retirement Home. His good friend Bob Katz visits Ron every week. Bob also picks up my brother once a week and brings Ron to his home for dinner where he cooks Ron’s favourite foods for him. I get invited which is nice.(No cooking and no dishes.)
Ron got his nickname ‘Satch’ because he looked a lot like the character ‘Satch’ in the Bowery Boys’ movies. Bob has hooked up his computer to his TV set and shows Ron some of the old clips of the Bowery Boys, Red Skelton and various performers from the past. Ron loves the old reruns of the Lawrence Welk shows. Whenever he comes to visit Bob, Ron sees lots of them. One thing I noticed about these shows is that you can hear and understand every word the singer sings. The other thing is that no one has any wrinkles, even the aging performers. The makeup is so fantastic and I would like to know how to get a few jars of whatever it is please, ASAP.
I love the gorgeous costumes and the happy smiling faces of all the performers. . We know the words to all the songs whether it is some of the 50’s Rock and Roll, songs from the movies or Broadway shows, Western or Pop..they sang it all. Lawrence Welk was on TV for over 50 years apparently and there are still weekly reruns on Saturday nights on PBS. Nice family entertainment. A big thank you to Bob for making this a wonderful treat for Ronnie.
I had the opportunity to spend some time with Matt Cinnamon and Daniel Orr, developers of the new, ‘The Care Center’ which is the old Cornwall General Hospital site. I am very impressed with both of them. They are both enthusiastic about making this center benefit our community in regards to Health and Seniors care. They are hard at work renovating and it looks like a big and expensive job ahead for them. However, I don’t see difficulties deterring them from their quest. They are sincerely interested in helping our community. I am very excited about it and am so grateful that we have two very caring and committed men who will be offering needed services through this center for all of us..
A Cornwall Senior just celebrated his 90th. birthday. Joe Campbell moved to Cornwall in 1963 with his family from Cape Breton Island. Cape Breton’s loss, Cornwall’s gain.
I met Joe about 8 years ago through a mutual friend. We hit it off right away because we had some interesting and fun things in common: baseball and curling. When we spoke of ‘Jennifer, Kevin and Howard ‘ or ‘Mariano, Jeters , and Carter’ we both knew who we were talking about and why. I have spent some nice moments visiting and talking with Joe about our two favourite sports. I have also enjoyed his keen sense of humour and pleasant manner.
Joe is a retired long time employee of Domtar and has been a member of the Knights of Columbus for many years as well as a Parishioner of St. Columban’s Church. Until about 3 years ago, Joe was still an avid curler. He likes to walk and you can see him out and about walking in the heat or the cold. He has been a great asset and athlete in our community for many years.
On Saturday Aug. 8th, his family hosted a festive birthday party for Joe at the Knights of Columbus building on Second Street. Friends and relatives got to celebrate this milestone of 90 years with Joe and give him a big hug.
Joe married Margaret McNeil in 1950 and had 5 children which include: Hector, a retired Air Traffic Controller with two children James and Katie, (Hector’s wife Judy is deceased) ; Duncan, a retired Corporate Facility Manager with Sears, his wife Karen and children Joseph and Jason (Grandkids Joshua and Leah) and Paul, a Nurse in Ottawa, his wife Denise and four children, Ian and Elizabeth Campbell and Ryan and Brianna Beauchemin. Joe’s daughter Maureen and son Frank and wife Margaret are deceased. He has a wonderful family and it is obvious they love him very much.
A highlight of the afternoon celebration was a song written by his son Duncan and sung by Trevor Lewington, with accompaniment by vocalists and musicians Miranda Mulholland, Christopher Wood, David Schultz and James Campbell. The melody was by Trevor and Shawn Cleary. They recorded the song on a CD and played it for Joe and all of us at the party.
Trevor and James were apparently in the Celtic rock band ‘Enter the Haggis’ for about ten years, (go to w.w.w.enterthehaggis.com )They had several CDs, toured all over North America, U.K. and parts of Europe during that ten year period.
Joe was born on Cape Breton Island and his love for his home inspired his son Duncan to write it, titled “Back Where I Belong’. It is a beautiful song.
After I heard some of the words such as,’where the crashing waters spray the air on the shores of Pleasant Bay’ and ‘salt in the air, wind in your hair, the blue -green in the sea’, I thought how wonderful it would be to visit Cape Breton Island. The song ends with ,’From the harbors to the highlands, I’m back where I belong.’ Very moving and beautiful.
The gentleman attending to the beverages and food was Rick Lalonde.He did a great job. Usually at these functions I can’t eat very much, if anything, because of my four food allergies. When the food came out I asked Rick if there was anything he thought I could safely eat. He took the time to review everything with me which I appreciated very much and, hallelujah, I could eat everything..even a very large and scrumptious piece of chocolate cake.
This celebration for Joe’s birthday was a fabulous tribute to a wonderful man by his family and friends who respect, admire and love him.
Happy Happy Birthday Joe.
The Child Haven International Spring Newsletter is out and as usual it is wonderful to read and always inspiring. There is a note with the Newsletter from Fred Cappuccino (Co-founder) thanking everyone for the tremendous outpouring of support for the Earthquake Relief Fund for the Home in Nepal. The money is being used, according to the Newsletter, to repair the damage to the Child Haven facility and also to provide water from their well, food and temporary shelter to people in the community affected by the Earthquake. CHI was very happy with the massive support from donors. Now they will need to raise money for the other nine Childrens’ Homes and other programs to make up for the regular funds that were diverted to the earthquake relief.
Go to www.childhaven.ca or email Fred at Fred@childhaven.ca for more information.
The happy faces of the children tell it all.
The CHI Newsletter always finishes with this quote from Rabindranath Tagore: ‘Let me light my lamp, says the star, and never debate if it will dispel the dark.’
As nurses we love to reminisce about the old days in the hospital. As student nurses we were taught Nursing Arts which included classes in Massage Therapy. We often got the job of giving the back rubs. In those days, all the patients got their backs rubbed three times a day, morning, afternoon and evening. We would fill up a small metal basin with hot water and put a bottle of rubbing alcohol in the hot water to warm it up
One of my classmates in training was a very pretty girl. She was rubbing a guy’s back one morning and he got a bit fresh with her. The head nurse just happened to be passing by the doorway and heard him. Ho! Ho! Ho! Did the fur fly that day!! Needless to say, that was the end of all his back rubs.
Here are cute answer to a school test given to some 16 year olds:
Q. Name the four seasons?
A. Salt, pepper, mustard, vinegar.
Q. How is dew formed?
A. The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.
Q. How are the main 20 parts of the body categorized (e.g. the abdomen?)
A. The body is consisted into 3 parts-the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity. the brainium contains the brain, the borax contains the heart and lungs and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels: A. E. I. O. U.
Q. What is a fibula?
A. A small lie.
Q. What is a terminal illness?
A. When you get sick at the airport.
Have a good week, Dawn
Very Nice
Great job, Dawn. Thank you very much for taking the interest in Dad and family. It is very much appreciated. .
I enjoyed your articles. Well done.
Dawn you brought back all the great shows of the past and I thank you for those great memories. I had so many good laughs at Red Skeleton and what a great man. I remember the Bowery Boys a little bit and yes I remember the name Sach. We don’ get those good programs anymore – all there is on TV is garbage. My husband watches a lot of nature and I like the computer.
Loved Mr. Welk. My mother never missed him for at least 50 tears. Enjoyed your whole column Dawn. Thank you!
Thank you for the nice comments. I appreciate them very much.