Grandpals

I went with my dad to visit the Kenney on January 27, 2014, and we had a chance to meet with Amy Bernhoft and two Kenney residents: Elmer and Patti. Like many other residents at the Kenney, Elmer and Patti grew up during a time called the Depression. I didn't know what the Depression was, but my dad told me that it was a time when most people lost their money and their jobs. We’re not really sure how that happened, but it was a problem all over the world, and lasted for more than 10 years. Let me tell you about Patti and Elmer (my Dad is helping some with writing this). Elmer is a very nice and interesting man. His family came from Norway, which is a country in Europe. He was born in 1925, and was only 4 years old when the Depression started. Most people were very poor. His Dad sold chickens and eggs to make money, and changed to selling things from a company called Watkins Products. Elmer helped his dad do things to earn money. The first thing he learned was to chop wood. He also picked berries, and would sell wood and berries to help make money for his family. When he was 19 years old he became a soldier and fought in a huge war called World War II. He was on a ship in the Navy, so he was actually not a soldier but a sailor. He worked on a ship that helped to fix problems that happened in other ships. He was an expert on radar and sonar, which are machines that can see other ships or planes from far away or submarines under water. During that time he visited Shanghai, a city in China, and remembers that everyone was so poor. A lot of people were starving and had rags on their feet. When he came back he went to the University of Washington. After that he worked at a company called Bethlehem Steel in West Seattle. He has traveled to so many interesting places. He has been to Istanbul Turkey, which is where my mom is from, and he was in Antarctica just a few months ago. I asked him what is the biggest complement that he could give himself, and he said that it was his wife was married to him for 43 years. Elmer and his wife moved to the Kenney about 6 years ago because she was sick, and she died last year.

 

 

Patti is also a very interesting person! She doesn't know for sure how old she is! Her mom told her that she was born in 1918, but her birth certificate says that she was born in 1919. Her dad and her grandfather were farmers. She said that her grandfather had homesteaded. My dad said that means that he came here when land was free, and he got his land by building a house on it and living on it. They had a very large farm - 400 acres. She grew up with chickens and ducks for pets. They also had geese, but the geese (especially the boy geese – called ganders) were mean, and chased her and bit her and hit her with their wings. She had 6 brothers and 4 sisters and walked more than 2 miles to go to school. She know a lot of people who got TB, which is a kind of infection of the lungs that made people cough, and many people died. After she finished college she was a teacher in Bellingham. That was very interesting to me because I want to be a teacher some day. Her first class had children from 8 different grades. The next year she taught 3rd and 4th grade. She thinks 3rd and 4th graders are delightful, and that makes me happy because I’m a 3rd grader. Then she got married, and her husband went to the Navy – just like Elmer. After he got back she moved to Seattle. She had her own children and didn't teach any more. She worked in her church, and then went to work for the Seattle Schools, where she made lunch for kids. She was very good at making 40 gallons of gravy.After her husband died she lived alone. One day she went to the top of a 40 foot ladder to change a light bulb. When she saw how high she was she got very scared. Then she called the Kenney. She had to wait for 2 years because there wasn't any room, but then she moved here and has been at the Kenney for 14 years.She says that the biggest complement she can give herself is that she liked people and liked working with people. She says that tomorrow is the best day of her life.