United Presbyterian Home news

Visitors are again welcome to visit loved ones outside on the United Presbyterian Home campus while wearing a mask and allowing for the six-foot social distance mandate. Several family members have already enjoyed a long-awaited time together using the pavilion near the Cottrell Walking Path. Bert Lampkin welcomed her long distance family and Esther Bordwell's daughter visited from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to visit Esther and the rest of her Washington family members.

An All-American lunch was enjoyed by over 30 residents on July 4th. Red, white and blue streamers and stars greeted the diners who entered the Moore Family Dining Room. A star-spangled drape covered the piano in the room with pyramids of red, white and blue boxes. Nearly everyone who attended wore the colors for the day and were in a happy and spirited mood.

Several nights of fire crackers and a light show of fireworks lit up the sky west of campus. Some nights the show lasted for several hours to the enjoyment of residents. Herb and Dorothy Yoder sat on their veranda to enjoy the show which neighboring residents provided.

Esther Bordwell dropped off a 1983 history book of cottages and residents on the UPH Campus during that time. It is a good book to reminisce over, conjuring up familiar names and plenty of photos. Each cottage resident was asked to add a biography to go along with the history of the cottage they occupied. Some staff members of 1983 still reside here today such as Richard and Betty Colby, Mary Holmes, Gertie Loder and Charlane Tanner. Other residents and longtime volunteers still here today are Esther Bordwell and Thelma Wagner; UPH Board members Jim Lloyd and Harvey Holden now call this home and young staff member Carol Enfield is still on the job.

Many more names are recognized as they have the distinction of having rooms, hallways and buildings named after them as a credit to the years of dedication and hard work they put into this institution, William McIntyre, Clifford Ramsdale, George Kerr, Tim Campbell, Murry McCreedy, Maude Jackson, Mary Stewart, Richard Stewart and Senator Smith Brookhart who built the original house. Many of the residents in 1983 have relatives who reside here now.

A photo album of a different sort is also the topic of conversation. Former WHS girls track coach Max Cousins has a beautiful book of photos and notes written by former athletes during his coaching career. The notes are personally complimentary and the photos are stylishly dated which makes them wonderfully fun to look at. Former WHS track star and now UPH staff member, Carol Enfield has an entire page devoted to pictures of her. It is a trip down memory lane for both Max and Carol.