Miss-Delectable
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Middletown Centenarian Full of Love and Life - Melissa Pionzio | Greater Middletown / Shoreline
I hadn't been in her presence two minutes, before 100-year-old Margaret Lehtinen, a resident at Water's Edge Center For Health and Rehabilitation in Middletown, was blessing me and telling me she that she loved me.
Margaret's way, her daughter Carol Gauthier of Cromwell told me.
"Mom just loves everybody" she said.
And it seems everybody Margaret meets loves her too, from the nurses and health care providers to her fellow residents, even the surly ones, who don't generally socialize, said Carol.
"It's her soul," said Water's Edge Rec Director Darlene Behr. "She's so active, she says she's going to live for 20 more years!"
Margaret showed me her feelings for me with her hands, through the sign language she has used to communicate with the rest of the world, including her husband and three children, for nearly her entire life.
Born deaf on Dec. 29, 1908, Margaret learned to sign at a young age at a school for the deaf in Flint, Michigan near where she lived. She eventually met her husband John at the school during a social gathering.
"The story is that Dad put ice down the back of her shirt, and that's how they met," said Carol.
John, a carpenter by trade, wasn't deaf, but he was hard of hearing and later wore a hearing aid. Carol said her Dad took an active role in advocating for deaf people by urging the local television network in their hometown of Saginaw, Mich., to provide closed captioning on the local television station.
John and Margaret's generosity and helpful natures became well known.
"We always had people who were deaf or hearing impaired at our house, coming by for help," said Carol. "He couldn't keep up, so he opened a VOICE office, which offered interpreters for the deaf."
So how does a deaf mother know when her children need her, get them out of bed in the morning, place a phone call to a friend or arrange a play date? Like all mothers, she did what worked for her.
"In the morning, she would flick the lights on and off to get us up and if that didn't work she would bang her hand on the stairpost and we knew then that it was time to get up," said Carol, who would often run next door to use the neighbors phone for her mom.
Margaret loved to bake and taught Carol and her daughters how to make pie crusts from scratch.
"It can't be too moist," she told me, after I explained my own feeble attempts a making crust.
After her husband died, Margaret lived on her own in Michigan, far away from Carol who by then had moved to Cromwell. Margaret had plenty of friends who checked in on her regularly specifically three special women who were members of the Sisters of St. Claire. But when Margaret broke her arm, Carol decided it was time to bring her mom to Connecticut.
Margaret came to Water's Edge for rehabilitation on her arm, and the place became a home to her. She has thrived here over the past four years, making friends, playing cards, hamming it up on the air guitar and, until she broke her hip recently, danced during socials.
When I asked Margaret what it feels like to be 100, she said "I feel like I'm 50. I feel just the same. I feel fine, thank God."
"You wouldn't even know she's 100," said Darlene. "Beause she's got so much vibrancy and energy. She has taught us all to sign, the staff and the other residents. She understands what you are saying for the most part, but she communicates so well. She may be 100 and in a wheelchair, but she's always helping others."
"I cant' believe her strength," said Carol. "Living alone, the way she raised us. She always said, 'I just had to, so I did. She's such a special gift, it's her love that she gives and receives.' "
Not even two minutes, and I felt Margaert's love, imagine 100 years of it swirling around!
I hadn't been in her presence two minutes, before 100-year-old Margaret Lehtinen, a resident at Water's Edge Center For Health and Rehabilitation in Middletown, was blessing me and telling me she that she loved me.
Margaret's way, her daughter Carol Gauthier of Cromwell told me.
"Mom just loves everybody" she said.
And it seems everybody Margaret meets loves her too, from the nurses and health care providers to her fellow residents, even the surly ones, who don't generally socialize, said Carol.
"It's her soul," said Water's Edge Rec Director Darlene Behr. "She's so active, she says she's going to live for 20 more years!"
Margaret showed me her feelings for me with her hands, through the sign language she has used to communicate with the rest of the world, including her husband and three children, for nearly her entire life.
Born deaf on Dec. 29, 1908, Margaret learned to sign at a young age at a school for the deaf in Flint, Michigan near where she lived. She eventually met her husband John at the school during a social gathering.
"The story is that Dad put ice down the back of her shirt, and that's how they met," said Carol.
John, a carpenter by trade, wasn't deaf, but he was hard of hearing and later wore a hearing aid. Carol said her Dad took an active role in advocating for deaf people by urging the local television network in their hometown of Saginaw, Mich., to provide closed captioning on the local television station.
John and Margaret's generosity and helpful natures became well known.
"We always had people who were deaf or hearing impaired at our house, coming by for help," said Carol. "He couldn't keep up, so he opened a VOICE office, which offered interpreters for the deaf."
So how does a deaf mother know when her children need her, get them out of bed in the morning, place a phone call to a friend or arrange a play date? Like all mothers, she did what worked for her.
"In the morning, she would flick the lights on and off to get us up and if that didn't work she would bang her hand on the stairpost and we knew then that it was time to get up," said Carol, who would often run next door to use the neighbors phone for her mom.
Margaret loved to bake and taught Carol and her daughters how to make pie crusts from scratch.
"It can't be too moist," she told me, after I explained my own feeble attempts a making crust.
After her husband died, Margaret lived on her own in Michigan, far away from Carol who by then had moved to Cromwell. Margaret had plenty of friends who checked in on her regularly specifically three special women who were members of the Sisters of St. Claire. But when Margaret broke her arm, Carol decided it was time to bring her mom to Connecticut.
Margaret came to Water's Edge for rehabilitation on her arm, and the place became a home to her. She has thrived here over the past four years, making friends, playing cards, hamming it up on the air guitar and, until she broke her hip recently, danced during socials.
When I asked Margaret what it feels like to be 100, she said "I feel like I'm 50. I feel just the same. I feel fine, thank God."
"You wouldn't even know she's 100," said Darlene. "Beause she's got so much vibrancy and energy. She has taught us all to sign, the staff and the other residents. She understands what you are saying for the most part, but she communicates so well. She may be 100 and in a wheelchair, but she's always helping others."
"I cant' believe her strength," said Carol. "Living alone, the way she raised us. She always said, 'I just had to, so I did. She's such a special gift, it's her love that she gives and receives.' "
Not even two minutes, and I felt Margaert's love, imagine 100 years of it swirling around!