Editor’s note: This is the third and final installment of Sharing Stories-A Life Review project, which will be one of three seminars to be featured at the Senior Resource Fair on Saturday, Oct. 1 from 8 a.m. to noon on the Mt. Blue Campus.
FARMINGTON – Sharing Stories—A Life Review is a unique project underway by Steven Quackenbush, a professor of psychology at the University of Maine at Farmington, Karol Maybury, a UMF associate professor of psychology and their participating students. The ongoing project explores the role played by stories in understanding ourselves and sharing our lives with others. Each participating volunteer senior storyteller brings “an ideal opportunity to celebrate life in its richness and complexity,” Quackenbush said.
In the third interview, UMF student Allyson Hammond asked Beth Hatcher, 65, of Wilton, what was the single most important experience in her moral development. That is, what experience did she believe has had the greatest impact on the values she holds today?
Hatcher, a retired College professor, grew up in Texas. Here is her story:
“When I was in junior high, my mother arranged with some neighbors for me to be in a carpool to get to school, as it was a long ways away. The bus ride was very, very long so we decided to carpool instead. I joined a carpool of two or three other girls. One was my neighbor and there were some other girls from the neighborhood.
“It wasn’t long before I realized these girls were mostly ridiculing and saying other cruel things about each other and their peers… and probably about me when I left the car, but I wasn’t too concerned about that. Sort of like Mean Girls. Back then, we didn’t have much information about bullying, but that’s what it was. I was a very shy and quiet person and it began to bother me. I would try to say something nice and redirect the conversation and it didn’t work.
“So I decided I wasn’t going to be a part of that. That took some courage on my part. I talked to my mother and told her what was going on; that I couldn’t ride with them anymore. I was very happy that my mother didn’t question that at all, she didn’t think about how the driver was her good friend and how it might embarrass her. She just called her and told her.
“It meant for me I had to get up two hours earlier and ride really early with my dad. On the way to work he would drop me off, and I would wait outside the school until the Early Room opened up, where you could have a study hall, and that’s what I did for the rest of the year.
“The reason it’s important to me I think, is that it was the first time I found my voice about what I was and was not going to do. I drew the line there, in deciding who I wanted to be, and it was not one of the mean girls.”
Hammond asked her interviewee Hatcher what lesson she would like young people to learn from this.
“I’d like them to learn that you don’t have to go along to get along. That you really can make a stand, even if you’re the only one who knows it. You can do it. Be true to yourself.”
Who you would like to hear this story?
“I think probably kids who are very shy, who really don’t speak out and who feel very nervous about that. Maybe to hear that you can do it, and gain some power. It was the first time I realized I could speak out, and the world wouldn’t come to an end, and I could go on. It gave me the courage to do more difficult things as they came up later on,” Hatcher said.
The Senior Resource Fair on Saturday, featuring senior-related seminars and many support organization presenters at information booths, is a free learning opportunity open to the public.
It will kick off with a free buffet breakfast from 8 to 9 a.m. at Chef’s Table on the Mt. Blue Campus. The breakfast will be catered by the Culinary Arts program students of the Foster Career Technology Education Center.
The fair is geared for seniors 55 and older who are interested in learning more about all of the agencies that serve Franklin County and to become familiar with programs and services they provide. Family members and caregivers are encouraged to participate so they can gather information and provide guidance for their loved ones as they grow older and are in need of support.
The first seminar, Sharing Stories—A Life Review, will be held from 9 to 9:45 a.m. in The Forum auditorium, adjacent to the information booths and breakfast area.
The second session, “Scams in Franklin County” will be held 10 to 10:45 a.m. A member of the District Attorney’s Office will present an overview of the latest scams that are targeting seniors in Franklin County. The presenter will showcase how to recognize a scam and what steps to take if you have been a victim. The seminar will provide seniors with an opportunity to ask questions and provide tips to protect identity and personal information.
From 11 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. seminar three presents “Living Courageously and Outrageously.” Connie Jones, formerly from SeniorsPlus, will provide seniors with an overview of all of the wonderful opportunities and challenges that face seniors, as they grow older. She will also focus on the important preparation and legal planning that all seniors must consider for supporting themselves, as well as their families.
Vendors providing information throughout the fair include: SeniorsPlus, Franklin Community Health Network Education Department, Western Maine Community Action, Western Maine Transportation, United Way, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Farmington Police Department, Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice, Franklin Savings Bank, and Senior Planning Center.
The Senior Resource Fair is presented by SeniorsPlus in collaboration with its community partners on a three-year MeHaf “Thriving in Place” (TiP) grant that focuses on the Farmington and Rangeley communities. The goal of the TiP grants is to assist people with chronic health conditions to stay healthy in their homes rather than needing hospital or nursing home care.
For more information, contact Mary Richards at mrichards@seniorsplus.org or 864-2645.
I wanted to attend this but I had other commitments . I think it would be nice if the seniors could maybe put together a collection of stories ( life experiences) to share with people who would like to hear how other people became who they are today.