As I look back over my life, I think maybe I was destined to work with elders. Elders
have played major roles at various times along my journey. The "home" of my childhood was
my grandparents' house. My father, my hero, was an Air Force pilot and we lived in many,
many different places - I had attended twenty different schools by the time I was a high
school freshman. So that wonderful old farmhouse in northern Illinois is the place we
returned to again and again. I have such cherished memories of that old place, and all of
those memories involve my Elders: my grandfather, my grandmother, and my great-grandfather,
Paw-Paw.
I remember Paw-Paw so vividly. I must have been 5 years old and he and I delighted in
being with each other. I don't remember hearing him talk, but we communicated nonetheless.
We would bat a balloon back and forth, or decorate the Christmas tree, or just sit
side-by-side on the sofa.
My grandmother was a hard-working woman who always had a twinkle in her eye. When she
kissed me, she would bite my cheek. She would let me follow her all day long - such
patience, and such an awesome variety of exciting things to learn, like reaching under a
live chicken to retrieve an egg, stirring the cake batter, hanging the clothes on the line
in the sun, wringing the clothes in those magic rollers on top of the washing machine in
the kitchen, or caring for her peonies. She always had time to listen.
My grandfather spent hours and hours with me down in his basement, allowing me to build
anything I wanted to tackle. All of his nails and bolts were neatly organized in wooden
cheese boxes. He let me use real tools. What a magic place that was - it had its own
special fragrance.
My great Aunt Daisy was a single woman living on her own in an apartment in Chicago.
That was quite unheard of in her day. I loved to visit her "flat" and peruse her many
wonderful books and listen to stories of her travels and teaching experiences. It,
somehow, wasn't so hard to "be good" in her presence even when confined indoors.
"Miss Irma" came into my life when I was in my early thirties. She was in her
mid-eighties. I drove 20 miles every week to her studio and learned to paint tiny flowers
on porcelain. She allowed me the freedom to express other concepts in my art, and I
developed my own style, quite different from hers. Each week I sat around the table with
four or five other ladies (the youngest was 75) while I experienced the joy of listening
to their stories and appreciating their wisdom.
My career in long term care started in a small 40-bed home in southern Louisiana. I'd
not had any training in the field - in nursing school, we never even went into a nursing
home. Once I got involved, I sort of just stayed in the field. Whether working in a home
or just visiting in some capacity, I continue to meet such wise and special elders. They
have so much to share - I have a string of wonderful memories from the many Elders who
have touched my life over the decades.
Sandy Ransom is the Director of the Texas Long Term Care Institute at Texas State
University-San Marcos, Eden's Regional Coordinator for Region Seven, and the Vice
President of the Eden Alternative Board of Directors. She is mother of four children,
grandmother of four, and loves to garden and paint.
