Senior Living

At age 80, Joan Silverberg is just getting started as a volunteer at Birthright in Wentzville.

"I only started about six months ago. I'm still learning a lot," said the member of Sacred Heart Parish in Troy.

Some of the women come for help because they are determined to have their baby but need assistance, Silverberg said. Others are still open to various possibilities but are willing to listen to the reasons why choosing an alternative to abortion is best.

Louisette Moorie, wearing a new white dress, stood reverently before the altar holding her baptismal candle.

"Walk always as a child of Christ," Deacon David Willis said in prayers before her and about 25 people gathered at a noon Mass at the DuBourg House chapel in south St. Louis.

Moorie couldn't conceal the broad smile on her face. That smile never went away as she later was confirmed and received her First Communion.

Oliver W. Siebert is a husband, father, grandfather and member of Christ Prince of Peace Parish in Manchester. At age 88 he is retired after a long career as a engineer, business owner and a faculty member at Washington University.

He is also a veteran of World War II, a period in his life that he has discussed very little over the years -- a conscious decision Siebert said he made because "I saw too much" in the war. In recent months, however, Siebert's war years have been in the spotlight.

Tim Rhoades knows how to work an audience.

At the Cardinal Ritter Adult Day Program recently, he worked what normally is a tough group to engage, but had them not only paying attention but enthused in a dialogue.

Rhoades, a volunteer who is a student at Washington University's school of social work, gave a presentation that is part of what is called reminiscence therapy.

As she walked the hallways of Mary Queen and Mother Center in Shrewsbury on a recent afternoon, Sister Suzanne Giblin had a smile and greeting for each person she met -- residents of the skilled nursing center, their families and staff.

"Hey, how are you?" she exclaimed as she approached a resident.

Sister Suzanne, a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet, is a former teacher and administrator. While that work had it rewards, it doesn't match her current efforts. "I love what I do. I can't think of anything else I'd rather do," she said.

Marcella Koebbe -- AKA the "Pretzel Lady" -- joined with her visiting family members at "Happy Hour" at Nazareth Living Center Sept. 17, listening to a piano player and enjoying conversation.

Koebe, whose father and husband operated the iconic, still family-owned Gus' Pretzels in south St. Louis, likes several things about living at Nazareth, an assisted living, skilled nursing and short-term rehab facility in Oakville. There's the music and the ice cream parlor that her visitors like so much too, but the main thing is the people and the fact that they are so easy to talk with, she said.