- A Welcome
Visitor,
- Wilmington,
Delaware
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- It’s a treat for
Margaret Richardson to see Edwin DeFrain Taylor, a friend
she knows affectionately as Eddy.
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- Richardson’s
husband is deceased and only a few visitors stop by her
room in Shipley Manor health center to say hello.
Taylor’s three-nights-a-week visits are company to
the 89-year-old Richardson and other nursing-home
residents. Sure there are other volunteers who visit
Shipley Manor as well as other Delaware retirement homes.
But there is something special about Taylor, of Highland
Woods.
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- He pushes wheelchairs
at dinner time, has a natural interest in older people
and knows how to draw them out. "He almost acts as a
mentor," says Kathy Scott, director of resident
services. "It never takes him long to establish a
rapport with residents.
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- Taylor, 77,
understands that older people can get set in their ways.
He accepts their idiosyncrasies and fantasies. Scott says
he has the gift of patience and knows about the
tenderness of feelings. "Give someone a pat on the
back or a ‘Hi,’ and their face lights up like a
Christmas tree," said Taylor who’s been a
regular at north Wilmington retirement homes for 16
years.
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- Taylor started
visiting Riverview House when his parents moved there in
1976. At the time, Taylor observed there were "a lot
of lonesome souls, with few people to keep them
company." He focused on filling the void. When
Riverview closed several years ago, Taylor helped
residents make the transition to their new home in
Shipley Manor.
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- In addition, Taylor
has taught CPR and the Heimlich maneuver through the Red
Cross at the nursing home. He and his wife, Alice, have
made centerpieces foe the dining room too. This is not
Taylor’s only volunteer activity. He’s picked
up cans in the neighborhood and collected them from
friends, recycling 25,000. With the money he earned, he
designed a red oak library chart and had it built for the
Delaware Nature Center.
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- Taylor also bought
excess library equipment … desks, tables, chairs,
shelving, magazine racks and a card index … from
Joseph Bancroft & Sons, his former employer and
donated it to the Nature Center. "Believe me,, this
is not a chore," says Taylor of his activities.
"I enjoy every minute."
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- Gary Soulsman
- Copyright 1992, The
News Journal, Wilmington, DE
- Posted for Non-Profit
Educational use under the Fair Use Provisons of the
InterNational Copyright Laws.
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