Norma and I were living in beautiful Bella Vista, Arkansas, in the late 1980s. Our son, Dan, and family were living in Dayton (actually Washington Township), Ohio. In 1991, our daughter, Deborah, and family moved to Centerville. Each year we made a trip to visit our Ohio families. On one such trip Dan began to urge us to move to Ohio and took us to visit Bethany Village. Nothing came of that. After Christmas of 1991 we came to Ohio again. This time Dan took us to see the cottages at St. Leonard. We were shown 8365-67 St. Francis Court. These two units had been built in a conjoined manner so that one couple could occupy the two units. Now they were to be remodeled into two separate units. We signed up for the 8365 unit and then went home to arrange to sell our Bella Vista house. Renovation of the cottage and selling of our house took some time. So it was August 1992 by the time we moved in.
It took some cutting back of furniture and other things from our spacious house in Bella Vista so as to fit into the cottage, but we were quite happy with it. Yet we did find ways to make improvements. We had the patio in the back enclosed. That was done by George Monington. While he was working there his wife suffered a fatal heart attack. I conducted the funeral. During our second summer there I noticed spots in the lawn where grass would die out when the weather got warm and dry. When I prodded these spots I found that there were rocks just a few inches under the surface. I dug the rocks out and the following summer the spots were gone. Except for one spot. When I investigated that one I found that it was a much larger rock. As I investigated further I found it to be a boulder bigger than I would be able to lift out once I had dug around it. So I tried to break it up. I drilled holes in it and with chisel and hammer sought to split it, but nothing happened. So there is still a spot that dies out every summer.
8365 faces south west by south. The high windows take in the sunshine every clear winter afternoon and bring a pleasant warmth to the central room. In the summer, however, that warmth is not so welcome. Even with drapes covering the windows a lot of heat comes in. The solution seemed to be plant a tree in a location that would shade the windows in the summer time. That is, of course, when the tree grows. Maples are fast growing trees. So I chose a scarlet maple. Only after I had planted it did someone tell me that scarlet maples are not fast growing. If you drive by 8365 today you will see the tree after about 15 years of growth. In another 30 years it will provide shade for the windows if it continues to be there.
Eventually the St. Leonard administration had a concrete walkway made down to the original pond. That made it possible for me to wheel Norma down to the pond in her wheel chair. Later a part of the path through the woods also was surfaced with concrete. Thus I could show her the beauty of the woods with its singing birds and high trees.
We made use of many of the activities which St. Leonard provided. A couple of times each year the activities directors arranged for picnics, usually at the park on Caesar's Creek Lake. We also joined others for the restaurant outings all over southwest Ohio. All through the years we made frequent trips to the Dayton Philharmonic concerts at Memorial Hall and later to the Schuster Center.
The people in our pod on St Francis Couirt were always congenial. We had at least one, but usually two, pod picnics each year at various locations around the pod. One was special enough to be reported with a picture in the Campus Voice. The picnic was centered around Charline Olwine's garage and Bill Grill grilled the meat on his electric grill. The residents of the pod have changed over the years but the congeniality has continued. The last few summers there have been the Thursday evening sit-outs. Everyone brings a lawn chair to the island in the middle of the pod, listens to a boom box and visits till sun down. I, like other former residents, have been invited to join the group this coming summer.
Norma was rather reluctant to move here. We had such good friends in Arkansas, and it is so beautiful there. But after only a short time we found great friends here and found the area to be quite beautiful.
As the years passed by Norma's many health problems began to make it necessary for her to have more and more constant care. Someone suggested the Day-A- Way program. After she and I had learned what we could about it Norma enrolled in the program. Each Monday, Wednesday and Friday she would be at Day-a-way from 9:30 a m to 4 pm .She enjoyed observing the other people and took part in many of the activities. It was while she was there that she did a water color painting that took a first prize in the Art and Writing exhibition.
Even with the respite that day-away gave me, my back became more and more troublesome. It showed itself especially in sciatic pain. Finally I decided that if l was to be able to continue to care for Norma I needed to have surgery. That meant that for the time being Norma had to have full time care during my surgery and the recovery time. At first she was in assisted living because there was no room in Health and Rehab. After a couple of weeks a bed became available to her in H & R
The back surgery was quite successful. However, when my recovery had reach almost completion neuropathy struck me quite viciously. I had numerous falls and needed considerable help myself The result was that Norma could not come home. Instead I visited her every day .. She was well cared for at th e H &R and was fairly happy there. But her physical and mental health deteriorated. Then, our youngest son, Paul, had a recurrence of melanoma and after some devastating chemo-therapy, died. That seemed to take away all will to live from Norma. About a month and a half after Paul's death Norma very peacefully left life in this world for the eternal life God had prepared for her and all believers.
My life at 8365 since that time five years ago has been rather empty, though I had wonderful neighbors and great friends from my church. In fact, during the early stages of my neuropathy men from the church arranged for there to be one of them with me for several hours five days of the week Another factor that has helped fill some of that emptiness has been the Memoirs Group. I am thankful to Gerri Ebert who told Barb Clark that Memoirs might be good for me and to Barb Clark for passing on that suggestion.
It was great to be surrounded by the things that Norma and I had shared in our cottage. But eventually, I knew, the time would be for those things to be in other hands. So that it might not be such a huge project for my family after my death, I decided to take a step in the direction of the disposal of my things in the process of moving into a small apartment.
Now it is done and I am glad. So I say, "So Long, 8365 St. Francis Court" So Long means that the 18 Yz years I was in that cottage was longer than I expected it to be. "So Long" also means "Good Bye".
—Art Schultz
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