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12 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday December 5, 2007 www.oakvillebeaver.com Living Oakville Beaver LIVING EDITOR: ANGELA BLACKBURN By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Phone: 905-845-3824, ext. 248 Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: angela@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2007 Students give seniors precious memories E veryone has, at some point, pondered putting their life story to paper. Most of these "epics" never come to fruition, but some local seniors are getting help with theirs -- from T.A. Blakelock Family Studies students. The finished volumes will be presented to the seniors -- and their families -- at a celebration to be held Dec. 17. What the seniors, and their families, will have is a precious personal record that has come about thanks to a collaboration among the school, a local seniors' program and an Acton businesswoman. A visit to Oaklands Regional Centre in the heart of Kerr Village any Monday or Thursday this fall finds seniors from the SENACA (Seniors Enjoy Nurturing Activities Companionship Achievements) Seniors Day Program and students hard at work. Depending on the day, the students are interviewing a senior, prying from them the most intimate details of their life -- or reading the rough draft of a chapter for critique by the senior as well as others. Students and seniors are not only learning about each other through the interaction, but seniors in the program are learning about their peers. Everyone has had a glimpse into lives representing a broad spectrum of experiences. Nora Zylstra-Savage of the Actonbased Storylines facilitates the large group session, in which stories are shared. Each week is devoted to a different chapter in a senior's life -- their young life growing up, their career years and family, retirement, special occasions over the years, and people who have had a profound influence on their lives. Just last week, chapters on career years and family life, as well as special occasions, were reviewed. Those gathered around Savage heard of a woman and her husband who had to continue working into their senior years because of a lack of pension plan. Then there was the psychologist and his physician wife whose careers saw them spending only special occasions with their daughter who resided at a boarding school. One woman, who lived on a farm, had to kill the bird she would serve for special occasion dinners. She also put a stop to anniversary celebrations "It's not always easy, some of the memories are happy, joyous times, but some are sad and the students deserve credit to sit there and listen and have compassion. Some have heard stories that are hard to bear." Anne Torp, SENACA program facilitator with her husband when all the work attached to the celebration fell to her. The memoir book program, officially called Bridging the Gap, began with a Ministry of Health and Long Term Care grant to SENACA. From there, SENACA's executive director Wendy McBride hooked up with Barb O'Neill of Blakelock's Family Studies program and O'Neill stepped in with her class of 16 students. With support from Blakelock principal Stuart Miller, the students are able to get over to SENACA twice a week. Training in interviewing, memoir writing and more is provided to the students prior to them interacting with the seniors, said Zylstra-Savage. "It's a good link for the kids and seniors in getting to know each other," said O'Neill, noting it's "bridging the gap" between the generations. O'Neill said the project fits perfectly with her program, which DEREK WOOLLAM / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER entails study of the family life cycle and enables students to compare family life in the past to the present. TAKE NOTE: T.A. Blakelock High School Canadian Family Studies student Karen Singh works with Gary Taylor to help O'Neill said once the program write his memoirs as part of the Bridge the Gap project between Blakelock and Seniors Enjoy Nurturing Activities wraps up later this month, it's hoped Companionship Achievement (SENACA), which makes its home at Oaklands Regional Centre. the link between Blakelock and brother in Oakville. "Some of us have kept secrets very southern Ontario for 11 years. SENACA will be continued. With no children, but five nieces, close to the vest for a long period of Over six years, Storylines has "It enables the students to do a Taylor watches over his brother's time," he laughed. developed the Bridging the Gap, comparison and have an understand- home as his family is often abroad. When all is said and done -- and it Intergenerational Memoir Writing ing for what the seniors lived through. Diagnosed with Parkinson's seven is, during the sharing sessions as the program for grade school and high It's not always easy, some of the mem- years ago, Taylor has participated rough drafts are checked for accuracy school students. It has delivered ories are happy, joyous times, but with SENACA for two years and said and suggestions made on how they more than 20 of the programs. some are sad and the students deserve the involvement with the teens is may be improved for the final edition This is its first time in Oakville. credit to sit there and listen and have helping him relate to his nieces and of the memoir book, even some sad "I like it. I like it a lot," confessed compassion. Some have heard stories their children. memories may be made lighter Margaret Campbell, 63, who moved that are hard to bear," said SENACA He's doing well with it, too. He has through sharing with others -- and from a farm on the outskirts of program facilitator Anne Torp. designed an apron that he has paint- others with different perspectives. Oakville as a child with her parents, Seventeen-year-old Karen Singh ed with each of his nieces' names and The memoir books will feature Arthur and Alice Lena Campbell, has made a new friend in 59-year-old a remembrance of a family trip to not only the information gleaned when her dad got a job in a local Gary Taylor. Italy for Christmas. through the interview process put hardware store. The Toronto native who worked in Singh said she has an order in for into prose, but also photos supplied Campbell, who attended the forvarious hotels, including The Royal one herself. by the seniors. mer Gordon E. Perdue High School York, eventually came to own a numUpon hearing that Taylor's family "It's big," said Zylstra-Savage of (now St. Thomas Aquinas) at Rebecca ber of Second Cup coffee shops with will be attending the Dec. 17 ceremony, the final product. Street and Dorval Drive, still makes his wife Barbara. Singh said, "I get to meet Barb, sweet." Her company has provided mem- her home in Oakville, said, "You meet It took the couple from London, Taylor admitted it's fun to hear oir-writing classes in many seniors interesting people, listen to other Ontario to British Columbia, return- about the lives of other seniors he centres, art colleges, libraries, retreat people's life stories, it's pretty increding to live at the home of Taylor's knows in the SENACA program. centres and private groups across ible.