Kendal at Oberlin Blog

Father’s Day is kind of a Johnny-come-lately holiday, having been a national celebration only since 1972. Mother’s Day, on the other hand, got the country’s blessing years earlier.

I was born on Mother’s Day. Over the course of our 63 years together, the second Sunday in May meant dual celebrations, including Mother’s Day 1989, a week after I became a mother (pictured here). The best celebrations, my mother would tell you, were the ones we spent together.

Brendan Ortiz started working at Kendal in the dining rooms when he was a freshman at Oberlin High School. During the past four years he says he learned not just time management and responsibility, but also what life is like at Kendal.

My mother rarely turned down a dinner invitation or get-together with friends. In later years when she lamented that her “social calendar” was skimpy, she tried to find creative ways to fill it.

But like many older adults, my mother also cherished solitude, often with a good book, devotional or Lexi, her toy fox terrier, in her lap.

Northern Ohio residents can get away for a day and feel like they’ve been gone a week. We have a Great Lake in our backyard or we can step back in time, explore a big city and escape into nature.

During her first week on campus, Sarah Dalgleish visited Kendal at Oberlin for Oberlin College’s annual day of service.

“A cool place with amazing people,” she thought.

Sarah’s interest in Kendal continued to grow, and as she looked for a topic for her Winter Term 2018 project, she decided to combine her interest in radio journalism with older adults.

One of the cornerstones of Kendal at Oberlin is a rich intergenerational atmosphere that provides residents with lots of opportunities to engage with younger generations.

Ask a roomful of people to describe today’s young adults and you’re apt to hear words like impatient, entitled, self-centered and fun-focused.

In 2004, the year after Robert Taylor and Ted Nowick moved to Kendal, an Oberlin College professor offered a fall course on death and dying that involved matching first-year students with Kendal community residents. The couple signed up and liked it so much they continue to participate when their schedules permit.

Jewelry box. Photo albums. Recipe box. Bookcase. Artwork.   

These are some of the visual things that tell the story of who we are.

When we are gone, these things will live on, but will our stories?