Pleasantview Home residents tell stories from yesteryear

    Lois Gugel has led a program called ?Memories of Yesteryears? at Pleasantview Home in Kalona for nearly 20 years. Gugel visits Pleasantview once a month to share stories from her youth and get the home?s residents to share stories about their own. She normally ties each month?s stories into the season or a nearby holiday. Gugel was just at Pleasantview Thursday and led a story-time titled ?February Fun? that included stories about Valentine?s Day.

    ?I choose the theme every month, and I usually tell a few stories to get the other people primed,? said Gugel. ?It?s too bad I didn?t tape their stories today because they were so precious.?

    At Thursday?s story-time, Gugel had the residents try to remember the Valetine?s Day parties they had in school. She said that she usually tells the first story so the others are not so shy about telling their own stories.

    ?They prefer when I start because they may not know how to get going,? said Gugel. ?I give them a beginning to work from. Some of them will tell me stories after we?re done because they don?t want to say them in front of everyone.?

For the full article, see our Feb. 12 print edition.