Halcyon House News

Alice Rademaker celebrated her 101st birthday on Saturday with her family, Ann and Gary Churchill along with their daughters, Heather Weaverling and Lindsay Westemeier and families from Ankeny. They had a family dinner in the Day Lounge. The celebrant was serenaded 101 times with the Happy Birthday song on Monday, the day of her actual birth date. With her quirky humor, she feels blessed to be able to sit up and take nourishment. Alice has been a resident of Halcyon House since 1990.

Mabel Lenz is enjoying the company of her granddaughter, Donna Seawell from Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Maxine Davisson welcomed her brother, Keith White from Los Osis, California, and his daughter, Linda Herd who resides in Lompoc, California. The traveling duo made the trek across the country by car. Maxine and her brother had a grand time catching up over the weeklong stay. Linda spent part of the time visiting her son who is studying at Palmer Chiropractic in Davenport. Keith was a former farmer and hoped to see the fields being harvested. Well, Tammy Vittetoe got wind of Keith?s wish and reality set in. She met him and they drove across the field where he was introduced to sons Joel, Josh and Jonathan. Keith climbed aboard the combine and was in his glory as he listened to the Vittetoe boys explain the farming process and my, how things have changed. The hospitality of Tom and Tammy Vittetoe will long be remembered.

Recent visitors of Rex Severt were his daughter, Linda Dasovic of Omaha, Nebraska, and son, Alan Severt of Des Moines. They dined together in the Timmins Dining Room.

Sybil Thornton invited five of her friends to the Applewood Bistro for lunch on Thursday. Helen Baker, Carla Brunk, Ethel Hendrickson, Carolyn Kaufman and Mabel Lenz ordered and enjoyed the chicken berry salad. It was a treat for all of them. Thank you to Denise for arranging the transportation. The fun didn?t end there as some of the group played Canasta after lunch with Carolyn Kaufman being declared the prize winner and Carolyn went on to end the day by playing Pepper that evening.

Pastor Dean Elmore of the Washington Church of God delivered the Sunday afternoon sermon ?Growing in Knowing Jesus? and the Scripture was from Peter 3:18. Marie Elmore served as the pianist for the service.

This tribute was recently received via e-mail with a picture of a train moving through the flat ground and a beautiful background with greenery and mountains with billowy clouds in the background: ?At birth we board a train and meet our parents. We believe they will always travel by our side. However, at some station, our parents will step down from the train, leaving us alone. As time goes by, other people will board the train, and that will be significant love of your life, children and many others. Some will step down and leave a permanent vacuum. Others will go unnoticed, that we won?t realize they vacated their seats. The train ride will be full of joy, sorrow, fantasy, expectations, hellos, good-byes and farewells. A successful ride requires having a good relationship with all passengers. We must give the best of ourselves. The mystery to everyone is, we do not know at which station we ourselves will step down and leave the seat empty. So we must live in the best way, love, forgive and offer the best of who we are. It is important to do this because when the time comes for us to step down and leave our seat empty we should leave behind beautiful memories. I wish you a joyful journey on the train of life. Reap success and give lots of love. More importantly, thank God for the journey. Lastly, I thank you for being one of the passengers on my train and remember it only travels forward.?