LutherCare Living

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Close Up - The Palisades

This past August, The Pali-sades was blessed with the opportunity to celebrate a 100th birthday, complete with many friends, birthday cake and candles.

This birthday was for Helen Schwanbeck who was born on August 9, 1909 on a farm at Dundurn, SK. She was one of seven children with four brothers and two sisters. The only remaining member of her family is her sister, Louise, who also lives at The Palisades.

Helen never married so has no children or grandchil-dren, but she does have several nieces and neph-ews. Helen was educated in Dundurn and later in Saskatoon where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree and her Bachelor of Education in 1930. Upon completing her university training she started her ca-reer in “teaching.”

During the 1930s, she earned very little money -, her lowest yearly salary was $750. She started teaching in Dundurn and

Vol.4 No.4 November 2009

Luther Heights, Saskatoon Luther Place, Outlook Luther Riverside Terrace, Saskatoon Luther Tower, Saskatoon

The Palisades, Saskatoon Trinity Tower, Estevan Villa Royale, Saskatoon

LutherCare Living is published for the residents of:

stayed there for two years. From there she moved to Luseland (1932-1935). It was at that time she de-cided to try her hand in the business world so she at-tended Business College for a year. But instead of starting a new “business” career she decided to go back to teaching.

Helen taught secretarial courses in Wilkie, Swift Current and Saskatoon. During the Second World War, she taught crash courses in typing and short-hand for the Canadian Women’s Army Corps (CWAC).

The “gals in uniform” started new classes every 16 weeks. The course was called “The War Emergency Training Program.” When the war ended in 1945 the program was changed to The Canadian Vocational Training Program and was a crash course in Business Education but was for vet-erans returning to civilian life. By 1947 the program for the veterans was no

longer necessary so the school closed and Helen joined the staff of the Saskatoon Technical Colle-giate. Besides teaching the basics in typing, stenogra-phy, etc., she also taught students how to dress and how to act in the business world. For years, former students have met her on the street and thanked her for the training they re-ceived.

She remained on the staff

until 1965 when she retired. Helen taught for 34 years. She often said that she wanted to be retired for as long as she taught. That came true in 1999.

Helen moved in to the Pali-sades in October 2002 and is an active member of The Palisades community. One can not imagine the changes that Helen has seen in her life.

Happy Birthday Helen!

Luther Heights

We made the most of the warm September with an outing to the Berry Barn. We celebrated with Activity Coordinator, Samantha, on the birth of her daughter, Ella, and welcomed Sam’s replacement, Angela, into our family. At our “Harvest Feast” meal we enjoyed food, fellowship and enter-tainment. Many residents enjoyed a trip to Market Mall for shopping, mini golf and dining. Our first annual bake sale on November 20 supported the Patio En-hancement Fund and the Children’s Christmas Party. Other Christmas celebra-tions will include a Christ-mas Gala and Christmas Banquet.

Luther Place Outlook

The last warm days en-abled trips to the “King’s Market Gardens” for lawn bowling, tours and sam-plings of the produce; a boat tour on Lake Diefen-baker aboard the “Betty Lou;” with stops at the fish farm, and, most recently, a guided tour of the Saska-toon Zoo. A representative from the Saskatoon Zoo Society led the residents in hands-on experiences of feeding and petting ani-mals. We celebrated Thanksgiving with a deli-cious banquet and a band playing old-time music. Other theme meals were the German Oktoberfest,

and Halloween, complete with games and prizes. Our local playschool children entertained with songs and a parade of costumes.

Luther Riverside Terrace

We were entertained by the Ukrainian Orthodox Choir, the Holy Cross Sing-ers, the Saskatoon Jam-mers and After 4 Singers. We continue to get to-gether for the popular Pan-cake Breakfasts and Wine and Cheese Socials, and enjoyed outings to McNally Robinson book store and Traegars Bakery. Resident Bob Hinitt worked with volunteers to make ap-proximately 75 Christmas Trees to decorate the out-side of the building.

Luther Tower

The Fall Prevention Pro-gram involved seven fourth-year nursing students at the Tower 2.5 days per week for two months. This program educated our ten-ants in Fall Prevention while giving the students practical experience in a seniors’ community.

The Longitudinal Elderly Person Shadowing (LEPS) project ran from Septem-ber to November 30. In this, the third year we have been involved, 25 senior partners signed up. Each senior met with three or four students four times over the two months to talk about their lives, their

health concerns and the reason why they moved to Luther Tower. The stu-dents are from the Col-leges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Nutrition, or the School of Physical Therapy.

Many tenants worked tire-lessly to put on the Annual Tower Tea and Bazaar on November 7. More than 180 attended the tea alone! Upcoming events will be Staff Christmas Caroling, and he annual Christmas Banquets Cocoa Party.

Trinity Tower

We celebrated Trinity

Tower’s 20th Anniversary

at a lovely evening that

included visits by dignitar-

ies from Saskatoon and

Estevan. Awards were

given to the board for 20

years of service. We had a

Soup and Sandwich

Luncheon to raise money

for United Way. Public

Health came to give resi-

dents over 65 the Flu Shot.

Life Aid installed the emer-

gency response service.

The residents are very

grateful for the new ser-

vice. We had a Remem-

brance Day Service to hon-

our the veterans.

Villa Royale

At our Pizza Pumpkin Party lunch we enjoyed pizza, with pumpkin tarts for des-

Our mission is to provide excellence in care, shelter, and support in a nurturing

Christian environment for all

entrusted to our care.

Housing Services 1800 Alexandra Avenue Saskatoon, SK S7K 3C7 Ph: (306) 664-0300 Ext. 171

LutherCare Roundup

sert. We played Pumpkin Toss, Trivia, and Guess How Many. Our Remembrance Day service was on Novem-ber 4, attended by the Legion members and a large group of residents. Our 2nd floor showcase is full of pictures of residents and loved ones who gave their hearts and lives to ensure our freedom today. Card Making has started again and we are working on the Christmas Dinner menu cards. We en-joyed our 90+ Birthday Cele-bration with 11 birthday peo-ple at the head table. Cake and ice cream were flowing and we were blessed with the piano playing of a new resi-dent. The residents’ annual Bake and Craft Sale was a huge success both at Villa Royale and the Co-op Store. Many residents participated in the Christmas Shopping Trip on November 20 and the Pot Luck Supper on Novem-ber 24.