At Westminster Village, Valentine’s Day means more than pretty flower arrangements or cute sayings on candy hearts. It’s about celebrating a loved one in your life — whether it’s a spouse or best friend. Use this day to reminisce about memories you’ve made together, remember everything you appreciate about each other and make sure they know you care.

That kind of appreciative love is in the air every day at Westminster Village, and in honor of Valentine’s Day, I’d like to share two love stories from those who call our retirement community home!

Don Nead and Caryl Matthews

“Friends. Just friends. That’s all they were going to be.” So began a friend’s toast at Don and Caryl’s commitment ceremony — a jab at their insistence that they weren’t in love.

“Neither of us started out with that in mind,” says Caryl, 75, a former classical music program director for WBAA, Purdue University’s NPR affiliate. “But it’s often when you’re not looking that you find love.”

Don and Caryl have known each other for 30 years, their paths crossing at local performing arts events. In May 2010, Don’s first wife, Ginny, passed away. After some time, he sought someone to use season tickets he had purchased. Knowing of Caryl’s affinity for the arts, Don asked if she’d like to join him.

“She turned me down the first time,” says Don, 83, a former campus pastor at University Church at Purdue. “But our first ‘date’ was Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’ at Purdue Convocations.”

As Don and Caryl shared more “arts dates,” they recognized a romantic spark and Don eventually asked Caryl to be his life companion. After their commitment ceremony last October, they held a party with almost 200 friends here at Westminster Village! Caryl has since sold her house at Westminster Village and moved into Don’s house at Westminster, where she teaches piano students.

“A friend said, ‘If you can love once, you can love twice,’ ” Caryl says. “Don is one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. He’s very considerate of the life I brought with me and has a great sense of humor.”

“She makes me very proud to be her husband, especially seeing her work with kids,” Don says. “Caryl is very confident and capable, which are things I admire in a woman, and she’s at the top of the bracket.”

Raymond and Martha Graf

Raymond and Martha have a routine that will be the same tonight as the night they married in 1940.

“Before we go to sleep, we always give each other a kiss,” says Raymond, 96, who has lived with Martha at Westminster Village for almost 20 years, first in independent housing, now in our assisted living wing.

Raymond met Martha after she befriended his younger sister and he drove them to school. Martha used to sit in the rumble seat of Raymond’s 1932 DeSoto coupe.

“When we started dating, I graduated to the front seat,” Martha, 88, recalls with a laugh. “Raymond’s always been kind to me and put me first.”

In 1937, Raymond took Martha on their first date (to a roller-skating rink). And just a few years later, he was down on one knee with a diamond ring. The couple spent their professional lives tending their farm in Remington, where they raised chickens, hogs and c... Love Makes the World Go 'Round at Westminster Village - 2012-02-09

Do you think you spend more than 43.2 minutes each day on grooming?

Well, whether you think that is more or less than what you spend on bathing, combing your hair or painting your nails, that's how much time seniors across all age groups spend on grooming. That's according to the Key Indicators of Wellness – Seniors – 2010 published by the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics (FORUM). It’s 4% of the 1,440 minutes we all have every day.

But it wasn’t the statistics on grooming that really caught my eye. No, it was how much time seniors spent on leisure activities.

Ages 55 – 64 spend 24%, or 5.75 hours per day

Ages 65 – 74 spend 30%, or 7.2 hours per day

Ages 75 and over spend 32%, or 7.68 hours per day

A good portion of the 6% difference between seniors in the first two age groups mentioned is because of the change when outside work is stopped. These statistics tell me that leisure activities are really important for seniors. There is time to pursue interests and hobbies, and they actively take advantage of that.

Some people, like my husband, don’t have much in the way of “hobbies.” I worry that when he retires he will be bored and I will find him parked in front of the TV all day – alone.

When I see all the activities available for Westminster Village residents, it make me realize that you can go into retirement with no hobbies and develop interests simply because you have time to try all sorts of new things from painting to gardening to woodworking to playing cards or other games with buddies.

Or you can spend your time watching TV. I guess leisure time is time spent doing whatever it is you enjoy – and that can include watching movies or re-runs of sit-coms.

When you live in a retirement community like Westminster Village in West Lafayette, you are in close proximity to a wide variety of activities and others who can enjoy them with you. That means you don’t have to get out your coat, get in the car and drive across town – which gives you more time... How Do Seniors Spend Their Time? - 2012-02-02

Consider this:

• In America in 1900, there were about 3 million people age 65 and older.
• By 2008, that number was 39 million, or about 13% of the population.
• By 2030, it is expected the number of people age 65 and over will mushroom to more than 72 million, or about 20% of the total U.S. population.

What does that mean to all those people and their families? It means that everyone needs to start planning! Just like all the thought that is put into choosing a career or marrying and starting a family and home, planning can help families to successfully transition seniors into this new phase of life.

Not only are there going to be more of them, seniors are living longer and don’t consider themselves elderly or aged. They are active. They are pursuing personal interests and hobbies. They are working longer. They are volunteering. They are enjoying life!

We all know that the longer we live, the more help we may need as the years pass. It can be traumatic to have to move into a new home because living alone is not a good idea any more. Seniors can find a quality of life that is all they want it to be from early retirement days to later periods without having to move.

For instance, at Westminster Village in West Lafayette, Indiana, there are different housing options available depending on the needs of the resident:

• Independent Living – Ranch-style homes with two or three bedrooms and two baths or one- or two-bedroom apartments. Services vary depending on the residence, but may include utilities, housekeeping, yard and building maintenance, even laundry services!
• Assisted Living – A Licensed Residential Setting. It’s not just like home, it is home in a one- or two-bedroom apartment with all the safety features. Also available is Memory Care Support (Alzheimer’s/Dementia Care) and Rehabilitative Care – Inpatient and Outpatient Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapy.
... Make Retirement Golden — Plan Where You Want to Spend Your Days! - 2012-02-02

You get up, walk into the kitchen, start the coffee and head to the computer. With a few clicks, you’re deep into learning something new and discovering more about the world than you every really knew existed.

One of the best things about retirement is the time you get. It’s time to rest, sure, but it’s time also to pursue what you want to pursue — and at your own pace. That’s such a luxurious feeling.

On one such occasion recently, I discovered inhabit.com, a website centered on design – in particular, the architecture section. I’m not quite certain how I found it. Must have been one of those things where one interesting thing led to another. Anyway, back to what I discovered:

Each December for the last 100 years, the little hamlet of Mitterfirmiansreut in Bavaria builds a church made entirely of snow and ice dubbed, not surprisingly, the Snow Church. The annual construction commemorates the 1911 snowstorm that left the town stranded and unable to travel to mass on Christmas Day. At the time, the townspeople burrowed into a large snow drift to create a large enough cavern for Mass to be said and so began the tradition.

For the 2011 rendition, architect Alfons Doeringer oversaw construction of the 85 x 36 foot building that can hold 200 people. The townspeople raised more than 130,000 euros to pay for it. It is an amazing structure and tradition.

And having the time to discover this sort of thing and learn about it is pretty amazing, too! In fact, learning is one of the things retirees do best and it can take many forms:

• Lifelong learning courses in subjects like history or science
• Classes or demonstrations for handicrafts or hobbies
• Travel to places of interest
• Events and festivals centered on historical periods, ethnic groups and traditions or hobbies
• Even sharing your expertise by giving a lecture or teaching a class!

Being so close to Purdue and having many Purdue alumni and retirees, the options for residents of Westminster Village are, well, pretty endless. Having the time to investigate, many find themselves deeply engrossed in learning something new or developing a new skill.

Time and retirement, here at Westminster Village, it’s golden. Learning Makes Retirement Golden, Especially at Westminster Village - 2012-01-27

Remember back when you were in your 40s and 50s and putting a name with a face or recalling a fact you know as well as your own name was a challenge? You might have attributed it to the busy-ness of life and how full your head was with work, family and community commitments.

Well, a new study of more than 7,000 people aged between 45 and 70 is telling scientists something new:

“The brain begins to lose sharpness of memory and powers of reasoning and understanding not from 60 as previously thought, but from as early as 45.”

Wow. 45. If you want to learn more about the study, go to the Guardian website. 

There are all sorts of things you can do to keep your brain in shape. Good options include:

• Playing games
• Doing puzzles
• hobbies and handicrafts
• Interacting with others
• Physical exercises

And Westminster Village residents of all ages and capabilities can find a variety of activities to engage in every day if they so desire. We do understand the benefits to the brain — memory and reasoning — but we also know it’s fun and that shows up immediately on the faces of everyone who participates.

It’s important to spend time in your retirement in a place where the options for engagement and fun are close and easy to join. Retirement communities like Westminster Village allow seniors to be a part of vibrant and active groups for as much or as little time as they wish to participate. It’s all about the satisfaction of healthy and happy living!

Posted by Elaine W., WV Blog Team

Dottie Asher’s lifelong love for the arts began as a little girl in a class at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (You may remember it as the building where Sylvester Stallone ran steps in the film “Rocky.”)

As a girl, Dottie sold small, handmade pins to her classmates. Today, as a Westminster Village resident, she’s still making pins for friends — just one of many in our retirement community who make creative art an enjoyable, everyday part of everyone’s lives!

Dottie earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Purdue before working 22 years as an art director at Hallmark, where she designed greeting cards and other gifts.

“I loved it,” Dottie says. “It was fun to do the sorts of greeting cards I was doing — flowers and little animals, that sort of thing.”

Dottie and her husband, William, returned to Greater Lafayette in the late 1990s, where she took up painting as a hobby and pet portraiture for friends. When they moved to Westminster Village a few years ago, Dottie hadn’t painted for some time.

But serving on a council to coordinate Westminster Village’s Fall Bazaar, where residents create and sell handmade arts and craft, rekindled her interest. In addition to painting, Dottie also has branched out into woodworking — for which our retirement community has a full woodshop on the grounds!

“Here we are in our houses and apartments creating wonderful things,” Dottie says. “It’s an amazing surprise to see these beautiful items — fiber art, large quilts, needlework, painting — and I’m proud to say they were made by people here!”

At 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 21, Dottie will deliver a lecture called “A Day in the Life at Hallmark” for Westminster Village’s newly convened art club. The group plans to meet twice a month for lectures or videos about creative arts.

Westminster Village also offers numerous opportunities for residents to express themselves with their own art. Our quilting group meets regularly. We have a variety of watercolor and oil painters in our retirement community. And we’ll hold a jewelry-making class for our assisted living residents at 1:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 3, and a flower-arranging class at 1:30 p.m., Monday, Feb. 6.

Westminster Village has the artistic activities and inspirations you need to keep your creative juices flowing. If there’s something you’d like us to add, please let life enrichment coordinator Kathy Hyman know by phone (464-5116), email or asking her in the hallway!

Posted by Dawn W., WV Blog Team

Falling is one of the most serious injuries seniors can face. According to the Centers for Disease Control, fall-related deaths of people 65 years of age and older continue to climb. We take the issue of safety very seriously here at Westminster Village. It is important to us that every retiree here – or wherever they live – learns to take measures to prevent falls.

There is a vibrancy to senior life that the words “aged” and “elderly” just don’t convey. However, we understand that the body and strength changes as we age and, as those changes occur, having aids helps prevent falls. Families can help their parents or grandparents ensure that the home environment is best suited for them. Being smart about making your home safe is simply a part of being proactive to make your retirement fall-free!

Take time to:

• Make sure your home is lighted well both inside the house and outside.
• Move items that you frequently use to easy-to-reach places so you can avoid tottering on tiptoes or squatting down to find the things you need.
• Keep electrical cords taped securely to the floor or under carpet so you don’t trip over them.
• Avoid throw rugs.
• Place handrails around outside steps and near the toilet and bath/shower.

Just like someone – of any age – might need glasses or hearing aids, giving yourself the aids you need to be healthy and productive and safe just makes sense!

Posted by Elaine W., WV Blog Team

Transform your TV from couch potato buddy to your health buddy! It’s possible, according to a new study recently published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Medical News Today http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/240476.php reported on the results of a new study. The article said that the study “reveals that virtual reality-enhanced exercise called ‘exergames,’ which combine physical exercise with computer-simulated environments and interactive videogame features, can achieve a greater cognitive benefit for older adults than traditional exercise alone.”

Although previous studies have proven that exercise can possibly prevent or delay dementia and improve cognitive functioning, only 14% of people 65-74 years old and only about 7% of people over age 75 exercise regularly.

With the video game exercise programs, participants engage in physical exercise while attending to other aspects such as competition, avoiding obstacles and determining routes. Participants can take part in the indoor activity without the fear of actual physical harm should a mistake be made. The bicycle may crash on the screen, but they won’t be harmed – besides, perhaps, a little bruised ego!

The study was actually completed with participants being residents of independent living facilities using a specially outfitted exercise bike – the conclusion being that exergaming that includes interactive physical exercise with cognitive exercise may provide greater benefits than traditional exercise options. It could add cognitive functioning benefits as well as the physical benefits – all for the same exercise, just done in a little different way!

There are lots of gaming systems out there with a wide variety of exercises and activities. You don’t have to just cycle. You can play all sorts of sports games: baseball, tennis, canoeing – even hula-hooping. If you aren’t sports-minded, you can play other games that are equally as interactive such as balance, dance or step games.

The best part is that you can use the games solo in your own living room or with a group of friends.

Living in a community like Westminster Village http://www.wvwl.org/ means there are always lots of people around who would be interested in joining you. Everyone wants to be healthy, and what better way to stay that way than by having fun with friends?

Posted by Elaine W., WV Blog Team

Most of us packed away the flip-flops at least a couple of months ago. And unless you are one of those true-blue snow bunnies, you probably weren’t exactly excited about the moment you had to dig through the back of the closet in search of last year’s sweaters, ear warmers, coats and boots. Along with this bitter weather, compliments of Old Man Winter, many of us worry at least a little bit about what amounts we will see when we cautiously open our heat bills and take a peek at the damage.

Most Americans have had to tighten their belts because of such a difficult economy. As seniors living on fixed incomes, we know how to squeeze a penny. But it doesn’t mean we aren’t also concerned about the extra expenses. That moment when we hear the furnace kick on is the same moment we see dollar signs floating from the floor vents along with the hot air.

If you have not yet made a decision to move to our beautiful, cozy environment at Westminster Village, we want to pass along a few winning ideas for savings regarding your winter utility bills.

• Here’s a fact you will definitely want to remember: Move the thermostat from 74 degrees to 70 degrees. It can mean a 10 percent savings on your monthly heat costs.
• Invest in some energy-efficient light bulbs. They use half the energy of incandescent light bulbs and also last longer.
• Examine windows and exterior doors to assure cold air is not entering your home. Some weatherstripping or caulk is an easy fix for that problem.
• Have an older-model water heater? Buy an insulation wrap to keep heat from escaping. This can reduce your heat bill by $20 a year.

After you’ve taken all these steps to stay toasty, snuggle up with a cozy blanket and a great book. It will be spring before you know it!

Posted by Elaine W., WV Blog Team