Seniors find creative ways to keep busy
When the Rev. Allen Forsman was a student at Berkeley Theological Seminary in the early 1970s, he built a 16-foot Windmill sailboat.
Forsman, 80, a retired pastor who lives on the campus of the Lutheran Home at Topton with his spouse, Harriet, still has the boat housed in a nearby barn. Dry docked for years, the craft is showing signs of middle age.
In recent months, Forsman has turned his attention to refurbishing the cherished boat he sailed on San Francisco Bay 50 years ago.
The COVID-19 crisis, ironically, has provided the thing he needed to take on a project that has languished for years — time.
“We don’t go out as much as we used to,” Forsman confided. “Basically, we’re landlocked by the virus.”
With restrictions on social gatherings in place, seniors are finding creative ways to keep busy.
LuAnn Oatman, Berks Encore CEO, said more seniors are participating in virtual exercise and watercolor painting classes.
A group of women knitted stockings for homebound seniors during the Christmas season, and there’s been an increase in seniors volunteering to pack meals-onwheels and do grocery shopping for shut-ins, she said.
Oatman emphasized the need for seniors to keep engaged.
“Many seniors are already isolated, and the worst thing that can happen is to isolate them further,” she said. “That can lead to cognitive decline.”
Kate Fisher, director of admissions at Berkshire Commons Senior Living Community in Exeter Township, said seniors gain strength, balance and flexibility by staying active.
“Keeping their minds and bodies sharp,” she said, “makes seniors feel happy, more relaxed and improves their mental health and well-being.”
Going bonsai
When the COVID-19 crisis hit 10 months ago, Ron Owens knew basically nothing about bonsai, the Japanese art of growing miniature trees.
In the interim, the 88-year-old retired milkman has become a committed devotee to the ancient art.
His apartment at Berkshire Commons is somewhat of a bonsai nursery.
There are bonsai on the window sill, bonsai on the tables next to his easy chair and bonsai in the bathroom. Owens’ daily routine includes watering, trimming and planting new trees, which he grows from seed.
“That’s how I keep myself busy,” he said. “It’s getting to be that I don’t have enough window sills.”
Owens knows a thing or two about being busy.
For 25 years, he delivered milk door to door in Reading for the St. Lawrence and Clover Farms dairies. Seven days a week, 365 days a year, he worked a route from midnight to noon in all kinds of weather.
He relishes telling stories about driving a Divco milk truck — while standing up — through snow and ice to ensure that milk would be on his customers’ doorstep before breakfast.
If that weren’t enough, he worked the afternoon shift driving a school bus in the Exeter School District.
“It’s important to have something that keeps you interested,” Owens said. “You need something to do besides watching TV.”
That said, Owens makes no apologies for taking time to watch “Ocean’s 11,” the original with Frank Sinatra and the remake with George Clooney.
A window into the world
Allen and Harriet Forsman’s cottage at Luther Haven in Topton is a repository of memories from 14 missions they made to remote areas of Africa, Asia and South America.
A scarf woven by an Ethiopian man harbors memories of dancing at farewell celebration beneath the spectacular African night sky. A large head basket evokes memories of life in a Haitian village.
Regretfully, travel restrictions related to COVID-19 prevented the Forsmans from traveling abroad in 2020.
Grounded, as it were, they undertook a fundraising effort for Medical Ministries International, the Canada-based agency that organized their missions.
They sell handmade crafts at Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm in the Poconos, where they have demonstrated craft making for more than 40 years, and donate the proceeds to the agency.
Harriet, 77, a retired nurse who has treated villagers from Cambodia to Bolivia, makes gloves from yarn she spins on a spinning wheel. She also weaves baskets from rye grass using an old German method.
“Our missions have given us a window into the lives of people in the rest of the world,” she said. “We feel privileged to have touched the lives of so many wonderful people.”
In demand
If many seniors have more time on their hands due to the virus, Dr. Anton J. Kleiner is an exception.
A resident of The Highlands at Wyomissing, the 76-year-old retired OB/GYN physician has had hardly a moment to himself over the last 10 months.
As president of The Highlands residents coun
cil, Kleiner is a member of the facility’s Pandemic Response Team, which meets regularly to discuss residents’ concerns.
Kleiner helped coordinate volunteers who made frequent calls to residents to identify problems and check on their physical and mental status.
“Social isolation can have a negative effect on everyone’s health and well-being, especially seniors,” he said. “Uncertain times like these can often bring grief, fear and negativity.”
Kleiner, who instructed medical residents at Reading Hospital, also had a hand in seeing to it that groceries were delivered to residents and helped teach computer skills to those unfamiliar with online platforms like Zoom.
All this left little time for Kleiner’s passion, watercolor painting at the Yocum Institute for Arts Education in West Lawn.
“I haven’t done a painting since March,” Kleiner said. “I haven’t had a lot of spare time.”
Music man
If music soothes the soul, Robert G. Masenheimer is a true peacemaker.
Music has been an integral part of 83-year-old Masenheimer’s life since he learned to play piano when he was 10.
An ordained minister and holder of a master’s degree in music, he heads the music ministry at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in Robesonia and plays piano and organ at Phoebe Village in Wernersville, where he is a resident.
Since the coronavirus struck, Masenheimer’s musical mission has taken on an added dimension.
He has coordinated three virtual concerts and is working on a fourth streamed on Phoebe’s closed-circuit television system. They feature residents playing piano and organ.
“I don’t feel any more retired today than I did before retiring in 2004,” Masenheimer said. “I have something to do every day.”
Masenheimer and his wife, Suzanne, 80, take the virus seriously. They wear masks, social distance and have not been in a restaurant since March. They shop at Shady Maple Market, but go early in the morning to avoid crowds.
They vowed not to dwell on the virus, however, and focus on keeping active.
Masenheimer is bothered, though, by not being able to to celebrate his birthday last year and, he predicts, not again this year.
“In 2022, when I turn 85,” he vowed, “We’re going to have a blast.”