Welcome to part three of my three part series about four amazing 91 year old seniors: Caroline Burkhardt, Rose Gaal, Millie Christiansen and Anne Sharp. I introduced the ladies and told you a bit about their families, I talked about their careers and the type of work they did all their lives and today I will tell you a bit about their hobbies and I will share with you their feelings about surrendering their drivers license.
I asked Caroline (Schneider) Burkhardt about her hobbies and she proudly said, "I used to do paper tole and I did quite a bit of rug hooking." Then the fun began; the other ladies laughed and teased her and said they did not know that she was a hooker. It was hilarious but you had to be there to appreciate it. I want to be like these ladies when I am 91.
Caroline said, "I voluntarily gave up driving when I was 90. In fact my car is still sitting out in the parking lot!" She actually sold her car to another resident. The car is a 1988 Delta Oldsmobile and had a mere 60,000 kilometers on it.
I asked Caroline to tell me something that no one knew about her and she replied, "I do not have any secrets. There was no need for secrets. Life has been great and I love everyday."
Rose (Domonkus) Gaal said, "I used to crochet for a hobby but I gave it up years ago. In fact, I had so much thread left over that it would have reached from here to Halifax. I gave it all away.
I voluntarily quit driving my car at the age of 89. Up until then I was driving a 1968 model and I had 31,000 kilometers on it. I sold it to another resident and he is taking really good care of it. He is always polishing it and that makes me happy.
There isn't much about me that people don't already know. I love to laugh and make jokes. It does a person good to be happy."
Millie (Hathaway) Christiansen still holds a valid drivers license but only uses it occasionally and for short distances around town. She likes knowing that she still has that independence. I told her I was proud of her and she jokingly laughed and said, "Well, you have never ridden with me!" No, I have not ridden with Millie but after meeting this exceptionally sharp lady I would not be afraid to ride with her. She proudly exclaimed that she had recently been promoted to a better parking spot at Asher Place. Millie explained it like this: "Kathy [Kathy Balcom the owner of Asher Place] came to me one day and said that I had been promoted to a better parking place. I was really pleased because the new parking space was absolutely more convenient for me. I figured I was promoted because I was so good but really it was because another resident wanted the swap in order to make his parking more convenient as well." We all had a great laugh out of her story. Millie cheerfully said, "I love it here at Asher Place because everyone is so good and respectful to one another around here."
Anne (Grant) Sharp voluntarily gave up driving her car about 3 months ago. She said, "My car was a 1991 Sable and I had 96,000 kilometers on it. I just gave it away. It was in great shape but it was just old! My last road test was when I was 90 and I passed it. I was scheduled for a road test this past July. They postponed the test until August for what reason I don't know. I just felt that I couldn't take the hassle of knowing that I was going to have to go through this every year so I just quit driving and gave the car away. I paid my license and insurance all my life and I think they just want to put us off the road. Honestly, this is no laughing matter. I do the speed limit and the other cars just whiz past me. They should be stopping them and putting them off the road and just leave us alone."
When I asked the ladies about their greatest accomplishments they all said family and friends. Anne piped up and said in her sophisticated kind of way, "All my family members are hard workers but I didn't accomplish that - they did."
This is the end of my 3 part series; however it is not the end of the history of these four inspiring women. I intend to keep in touch with my four new friends and just enjoy their company. The odometers and speedometers have stopped turning on their cars but not in their lives. An odometer records the distance that a vehicle travels. A speedometer measures the speed of a moving vehicle. A tachometer indicates the speed of rotation of the engine. Their cars are now parked but these four ladies are not anywhere near being parked.
