But when you’re living in a senior’s home, that can be a bit of a challenge, due to both space constraints and the lack of a place to go.
That problem is a thing of the past at Chez Nous, thanks to Lloyd Hackel, his family, and a crew of volunteers.
Hackel donated a brand new gazebo with four gliding rocking chairs that has been in use since last October. A dedication ceremony was held this past Saturday.
He donated the gazebo for good reason: the Hackel family’s connection to the building – both as a senior’s residence and as St. Louis College in the past – goes back many, many years. His mother, Cecelia, taught at the college back in the early 1960s before both his parents stayed at the residence in their later years.
“It started out as taking an opportunity to give back to Chez Nous, on behalf of both my father and mother, since they both stayed here,” Hackel explained. ‘Everyone in the family was for it, because every family or every person has something in their life that has a significant meaning to them. The connection of this building’s former life as St. Louis College and as a residence for my parents, that was it for us and it made sense.”
The idea to honour the couple started out simply, with an A-frame swing the original plan. But, as Hackel related during his dedication speech, he remembered an elderly couple sitting on a swing and one of them wanting to swing, the other not. Conflict ensued.
So Hackel went with the next plan.
“We wanted to give them something everyone could enjoy, there was no use giving a picture that hung on the wall because after you’ve seen it a million times you just keep walking by… (after the swing idea) it evolved further because we wanted something that people could sit outside and enjoy even if it was raining. Some of those perfect days, we all sit out on a hot summer day and then you have the afternoon shower and there’s nothing nicer than that smell.
“So after humming and hawing and figuring out what we wanted, in the end we came forward with this idea and the gliding chairs. If you don’t want to move you don’t have to, you can just relax and enjoy the nice summer days.”
There was no urgency to the project, which took a few months to complete through work of Hackel, Jim Thorn – himself a former St. Louis College student – and Roger Martynook.
“We’d start and then we’d stop and say ‘we’d better get going again,’” Hackel said. “But we got it done and brought it in last fall and people have had a chance to use it.”
It didn’t take long for that to happen.
“One couple basically used it right up until the snow started to fly,” Hackel said with a chuckle.
“These types of things are important for the elderly. They don’t have the bodies or the ability to go around the block for a walk, so to get out and enjoy and be a part of nature is important to them and this will let them enjoy the summer days.”
