United Presbyterian Home News

Sisters, Linda Boston and Connie Bauer, took a two-week trip to Europe last month. They flew to Zurich, Switzerland to see the tallest mountain in Europe and then connected with a Tauck River Cruise down the Rhine River from Baden Baden, Germany, to Amsterdam, Netherlands. They went through five countries and saw many things along the Rhine and Mosele Rivers. The five countries were Switzerland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. This area is beautiful wine country with thousands of vineyards on the steep slopes along the river. They saw many medieval castles, churches, the Luxembourg Cemetery and Memorial to those servicemen who died in the Battle of the Bulge, the Bridge at Remagen that was the subject of the movie ?A Bridge too Far? that happened to show on TV after they returned home, and several towns were toured along the way. It was a memorable trip!

Gene and Judy Driscoll enjoyed a long Memorial Day weekend visiting their daughter, Darcy Morter, husband Andy and children, Tucker, 9, and Maggie, 6, in Middlebury, Vermont. Several days later, they enjoyed a visit from Navy friends of over 45 years, Don and Mary Ann Sills who live in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their friends especially enjoyed the tractor parade through the United Presbyterian Home and had an official and complete tour of Washington given by Gene. The Sillses were very impressed by all of the facilities in Washington including the hospital and number of doctors, the new high school and new auditorium, new jail, plans for a new YMCA, two retirement facilities, Kirkwood, airport and residential areas. It was a perfect remake of The Country Mouse and the City Mouse.

Residents got out the lawn chairs for last week?s tractor parade through the United Presbyterian Home Campus as part of Washington?s Summer Classic Celebration. Approximately 100 tractors of various makes, models and vintages paraded the streets. Residents Marion Turnipseed, Carl Chalupa and Dick Wehr drove tractors and helped with the parade. Spectators were able to wave greetings to many familiar tractor drivers as they passed by.

As part of Washington?s Summer Classic Family Day the United Presbyterian Home hosted a family Strut and Stroll Friday morning around the Mary Cottrell Walking Path. Residents, employees, and families from the community showed up to exercise together while promoting a healthy lifestyle within the community.

Jean Wells was enjoying a quiet birthday on Friday evening when she was surprised by the arrival of her grandson, Braden from Portland, Oregon. Braden arrived with Jean?s daughter, Lynn and friend, Fritz of Madison, Wisconsin, whom Jean knew was coming. Another surprise came on Saturday when Jean?s foster son Phil arrived from Arlington, Wisconsin. They were joined by the Dick and Betty Colby family and neighbor, Mary Case for dinner at the Riverside Casino on Saturday afternoon and returned to the Colby house for cake and ice cream where more Colby family members joined them. Jean says that it was a wonderful birthday made special by her family.

Carl Chalupa and fellow veterans participated in the 2016 Annual Ridiculous Day Parade riding in a 1970s fire engine advertising the Sockum Ridge Fire Department on the side. The ridiculous part is that there is no such thing as a Sockum Ridge Fire Department.

Carol Ray said goodbye to members of Art Class on June 6 of this week exactly 10 years to the day that she spearheaded the first class at the United Presbyterian Home. Carol reports that it was a desire to do something creative and challenging that led her to that first class and it was made worthwhile by the amazing participants that discovered their innate creativity and talent over the years.

Young people participating in the Day Care Summer Kids Program planted a variety of pumpkins and gourds in the community garden this week. Lauren Drahota, Layla Hesser, Chase Jones, Izzy Jones, Brady Krantz, Joey Pacha, Nic Pacha, Braedon Tappan, Parker Tschantz and Sawyer Tschantz planted mounds of mini pumpkins and a variety of odd-shaped gourds. They intend to care for the plants this summer, watering and weeding through the growing season and harvest the crop in the fall.

Herb Yoder celebrated his birthday in the Town Center Wednesday morning. Herb brought cupcakes to share with friends and neighbors.

Gwen Ying received a visit this week from a former music student, Nicki Dayton McVicker of Centerburg, Ohio. Nicki is the daughter of Washington residents, Tom and Cindy Dayton and a great-niece of Don and Ethyl Dayton. Now a Suzuki violin teacher herself, Nicki was traveling in this area with two of her students; 13-year-old Riana, and 11-year-old Cecelia. The young students serenaded Gwen and Ying on the cello and violin. They later went next door to the home of Mary Case to play a Scottish duet, as they had just come from a Scottish music camp.

Our fearless leader of the Classics Et Cetera program, whose name is not to be mentioned, decided that he would take a week off. He will be back at it next week.