I grew up in Beaver Falls, Western PA and I have Cerebral Palsy. One of my favorite things growing up was when my sister Nancy and I used to play school. I used to take trips with my parents to Longwood Gardens to see the flowers and go and visit my grandmother. We went on trips such as to Niagara Falls and my favorite trip was going on a cruise ship to Canada with the Gaithers, the singing group.
When I was 32 years old I was in a car accident on February 7th 1982 the accident crushed all the bones in my legs as a result I spent 6 months in the hospital followed by rehabilitation for a while. I tried to be a testimony at the hospital during my recovery and kept a positive attitude which made my recovery easier. When I was in the hospital a radio station WBYO held a card shower for me and I received over 300 cards.
I moved into Sunny Crest Home after the death of my father and then moved out of Sunny Crest and moved in with my brother and sister in-law for a time. Four years later I moved back to Sunny Crest Home. I chose to move back to Sunny Crest Home because I liked it and had friends at Sunny Crest. I worked in the gift shop at Sunny Crest Home and worked at the register which I enjoyed very much. One year I took a trip to Bermuda, on a cruise ship, with my friend Faith who also lives at Sunny Crest Home the food was great and we had a lot of fun. I always like to stay busy and because I am a Christian I searched around and found out that I could do bible studies through the mail and decided to learn the bible better through taking these bible study courses. I began these courses in 2007 and have completed 88 of them since. I am currently working on Hebrews, the whole book, and I am on Chapter 8, Pastor Bill Wright from Morgantown Community Church helps me by answering any questions I have and Pastor Jim Hertzler grades the tests for me.
I have recently started to go to church online and listen to Morgantown Community Church every Sunday. I look forward to the days that I can go in person. One of my hobbies is knitting and I am finishing a blanket I am also making a scarf with hand spun wool from a sheep. We had the Lancaster County Spinners Guild at Sunny Crest for a sheep to shawl and they gave me some pink wool yarn to make things with because my favorite color is pink.
Sunny Crest Home is a nice place to live where I am able to ‘do my own thing’ and I enjoy being able to come and go as I like and still have a nice comfortable place to live. I enjoy that I am able to keep my doll collection of over 50 dolls. My collection started when I was working in the gift shop and I try to make pairs of sister and brother dolls. People come to visit and are amazed at my collection.
My future goals include possibly having a job somewhere and I just celebrated my 70th birthday! I hope you have enjoyed getting to know me and if you want to come and see me and my doll collection I welcome company. In ending my column story I share my favorite bible verse:
Neamiah 8:10 ‘The Joy of the Lord is MY Strength’
