Y’ROVTNG GROUNDS FOR SENIOR CHEERS:

Thesis {or the Dam o! M. A.
MlCHKiAN STATE COLLEGE.
Blanche: Braun Cogga’n M .

.1950 , '

c159 ‘

This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

"Proving Grounds for
Senior Citizens"

presented by

Blanche B. Coggan

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

_N._A.___damwein_juncaiion

£11ng professor ‘

Date W

 

 

P307130 GROUNDS FOR SENIOR CITIZENS

By

Blanche Braun Ooggan

A THESIS

Submitted to the School of. Graduate Studies of lichigan
State College of Agriculture and Applied science
in partial fulfillment of the requirement.
for the degree of.

“STIR 01' LETS

Divieicn of Education

1950

 

 

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[Ill ll|l|.1|"l
* Jl I

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER
I. THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED . . .
The problem
Statement of the problem .
Importance of the study
Definitions of terms used . . . .
Vegetative existence .
Good adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Senior citizens . . . . . . . . .
Organization of remainder of the thesis .
II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE . . . . . . . . . . . .
Who are the old? . . . . .
Major problems that confront older peOple
Institutions and forced leisure . . . .

What happens to the unemployed old outside of
institutions?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Does retirement begin at 65? . . . . . . .
What happens to the employed old? . . . . . .
Is our old age economy sound? . . . . . . . .

III. A SEARCH AMONG BUSINESS AND CIVIC LEADERS TO

FIND EFFECTIVE USE OF SENIOR CITIZENS . . . .
Methods used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Organized groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Attitudes of leaders toward organizations
for senior citizens . . . . . . . . . . . .

PAGE

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13
15
21

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CHAPTER

IV. TECHNIQUE AND RESU TS OF RESEARCH IN TEN

HOME
The

S FOR THE AGED

experiment

The problem .

Description of home

Preparation period .

Effectiveness of program .

Other homes visited
V. A CASE STUDY OF AN OLD MAN TRYING TO FIND A

“av-\‘f'

Penn

ANENT JOB

Techniques . . . .

The

VI. SUMH RY AND CONCLUSIONS
Restatement of problem .

Restatement of grooedures

case of John .

Summary
Conclusions
BIBLIOGRAPHY .

APPENDIX A.
APPENDIX B.

0

Organizations for Older Peeple

Suggested List of Occupations for

Older PeOple

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE PAGE

1. Age Period at Which Retirement is Desired

O O O 16

II. Effects of Retirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

III. Number, Sex, Supervision,and Social Attitudes
of Members in Ten Homes for the Aged .

fllll‘fll‘fllII‘fl-‘ll‘
[i[[[[[lllil|llll! lllllll lll

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE

1.
2.

Life Curves of Vital Functions .

Labor Force Decline . . . . . .

CRAP TER I

THE PROBLEM AND DEFINITIONS OF TERMS USED

The past half century has seen rapid advancement in

the conservation and effective use of human resources. In»
deavcre to conserve human resources, during childhood, youth,
and young adulthood, have been especially noticeable in the
fields of medicine, guidance, and social work.

Cf comparative endeavors in the field of older adults,
little has been recorded.

I . THE PROBLEM

gtateaent _9_f_ the problem. It was the purpose of this
study

(1) to gather information on the major problems
the confront older people;

(a) to find organisations, public or private, the
aim of which was to provide opportunities, be-

yond vegetative existence, for good adiustment
and effective use of senior citisens;

(3) to discover attitudes of Mayors and Chambers
of Commerce toward the need for organisations
of this kind; and
(s) to make available a list of the organisations
surveyed, how they began, grew, and have served.
Igportance 2g_thg_stud1. This study was believed he-
luortant because

(1) the average length of life (in the C. 8. A.) increased

 

 

 

more from 1900 to 1948 than from the time

of Christ to 1900. In the year One A. D.

the average length of life was twentyafive
years; in 1900 it was fortyatwo years;

(2) in the forty years, 1900-1940, the average

_ duration of life for men in the United States
has increased fourteen and one-half years;
for women, fifteen and one-third years.
In 1940 the expectation of life fo men was
62.6 years; for women, 66.4 years, and in
1949 it approximated seventy years;

(3) the number of people sixty-five years and over
increased as follows:

Year 1900 1940
Number 3 million 9 million
Percent e of

pOpula ion 4.1 6.8

It has been estimated that by 1980 one in
every six Americans then alive will have
attained three score years. More than half
of the children.born in 1948-49 will live
to be seventy years old;3

(4) the lowest cost of living, estimated by
several Social Service agencies, for one
person annually (3500) would provide only
vegetative existence. The average amount
of insurance paid by Social Security to
men who for twenty years have averaged a 4
$3,500 salary was $45 a month or $540 annually.
In the U. S. A. (1948) $33 million a month
was paid in Old Age Insurance to about one

‘

1 Alfred C. Schwab Jr., 'Are We Ready For the New Life
Open To Us?,' lhat'g New _I; Hearing, (Maico Foundation for
Better Hearing, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1949), pp. 10-12.

3
Ralph Barton Perry Ple £93.; gag Ag; Movement (new
York: The Vanguard Press, I942), p. 23. ,

3 a... Tibbitte, “Adjustment in Old Ageu'l‘he Beginning

01' a Universit E eriment " The ggrterlz Review-2M1 h g
Alumnu , 55mg: 8(1)}: 234-241, May , . ' c 1 an

4 Mary Berkeley Finke and Helen Knox, 'Family “039?."
1'he American Magazine, 147:158, May, 1949.

 

 

 

“

\ III III
[llll

and one-half million persons; 890 million
was paid in Old Age Assistance to about

two and one-half million persons. This
made an average of $30 a month livlihood
for four mill on older people-~one third of
our senior citizens on vegetative existence;

(6) statistics have shown that the average life
span has lengthened rapidly, the average
birth rate has lowered, the hiring age in
most industries has fallen to forty years
or below, and Social Security has called
people 'old' and expected them to retire at
sixty-five years; and

(6) at the time that the number of old.pecple
increased there was less offered for them
to do; as they have lived longer there has

been an earlier and more rapid turnover and
depreciation.

The purpose of this study was to determine if there
were any emphasis, anywhere, placed on the conservation and
effective use of human.rescurces in the growing latter half
of life. lhat ways had been found to use this 'lew'Life'?

II. DEFINITION OF TERIE USED

Igggtative exigtence. Vegetative existence was inter-
preted to mean food and lodging, in I'needed" amounts barely

adequate to maintain life, usually granted by lelfare Agencies.

Good gaggtment. Good adjustment was meant to imply a
feeling of belonging, of doing something for society worthy
of themselves and of their culture.

{figgigg,01ti§gng. Senior Citizens was interpreted to

 

 

III-{ll

4

mean.people of sixtyhfive years and older, since this was the

accepted retiring age in the Social Security Program.

III. ORGANIZATION OF REMAINDER OF THESIS

The findings summarized in this study were determined
through

(1) the review of pertinent literature;

(2) questionnaire interviews with seventybfive
Mayors, secretaries of the Chamber of Commerce,
and other agencies to which they referred;

(3) the visitation of ten Homes for the Aged in-
cluding three county infirmaries, and comp
parison based on control data from a three
month project in Social Organization in a
Church Home for Old People; and

(4) a case study of an old man trying to find a
permanent job.

It was the thesis of this study that a chronological
date does not measure 'oldness', and that a.program can‘be
devised .m in the smallest community which will provide op-
portunities for the effective use of senior citizens, preferably

outside of institutions.

 

 

[Ill-bl

CHAPTER II

REVIEW 01' THE LITERATURE

Minimalist

Life's processes are continuous, but we have labeled
certain divisions as infancy, childhood, adolescence, maturity,
and involution.

Involution is a term applied to the degeneration of
bodily organs, i.e. their atrophy, shrinkage, or disappearance,
which leads to functional decline or cessation.

Involution is present during the entire life, including
prenatal growth.1 Modern science has outdistanced the late
Anton Dvorak's song M which stated, We begin to die

at birth.‘

Dr. Carl I. teller, noted pathologist at the University
of lichigan, also has found a great variation between indivi-
duals and a great variation in the decline of capacities within
each individual.

lietabolism, motor activity, and reproductive functions
undergo early involution, and cerebral functions persist into
old age, as shown in figure 1, page 6.

Strata and larthin found these curves of proportionate
activity in the successive decades of life. (Adapted by teller)

 

'1 Clark Tibbitts, 'Aging and Living,‘ Adult ldgcgtign
Bulletin, October, 1948, p. l.

 

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TIGURE 1. Life Curves of Vital Functions

From the time the human egg is fertilised to the time
of birth, the increase in weight is eleven million times,
whereas the increase in weight from the time of birth to aver-
age maturity is only about twenty-two times. ‘

During the nine months of prenatal growth, the living
organism has exhausted over 99 per cent of its capacity for
growth. One per cent has been exposed to our so-called en-
vironment.

The placental blood vessels show senile changes at time
of birth. Aging is a part of living. Conversely, Carrel found
that cells themselves do not age. They mature and divide into

 

3 Carl v. teller, BiolOgical mm 2;, m m
Process(Clark Tibbitts, editor, Livigg Thrgggh the Older legs,
Ann Arbor, llichigan: University of lichigan Press, 1949),

p. 33.

7
daughter cells. His classical epoch-making studies of growing
a bit of chick embryo heart in a flask containing a nutrient,
which began in 1912, reveal that in 1946, thirty-four years
later, much beyond the life span of a chick, the descendants
of these heart cells are growing just as rapidly, just as
vigorously, utterly unchanged in appearance. Carrel concluded
that the cells themselves are immortal when given an appro-
priate environments

The age span used in the following research in litera-
ture has followed the one used by Burgess-~the four decades
of the sixties through the nineties—as long a period as young
adulthood and middle maturity combinec.‘

A combined statement made by Theodore L. Clumps and Dr.
Maurice L. Tainter6 concluded that medical science is faced
with the challenge to give man health so that he can live to
be 125 to 150 years old.7

Dr. Clump said that only a few die of old age; most die

prematurely from degenerative diseases. Dr. Tainter cited six

 

3 Edward J. Stieglitz, _hg Personalc o_f_ _Agigg:
Biolggicfi _ngggg in; Maintenanceo _9_f Health Clark Tibbitts,
editor, iLigg hrc h _hg Oldegd'9 ,Inn Arbor, Michigan:
University of Michigan Press, , p. 46.

4 Ernest W. Burgess, Ph. n., is Chairman of the Depart-
ment of Sociology at the University of Chicago.

5 President of the linthrop Chemical Company.
6 Director of the Stirling-winthrop Research Institute.

7 News item in the m State JourpLI, May 82, 1947.

8

of the medical advances since 1870 which have lengthened life
expectancy from thirty-four to sixty-five years, the average
in l947-anesthssia, Pasteur's bacteria findings, sulfa drugs,
penicillin, anti-molarials and nutritional aids.

The writers of the literature reviewed emphasized that
'being old' in itself did not entail inefficiency. The pace-
making leaders mentioned in 'The Half Century' in_1;mg Magazing
for January 2, 1950, were men.in their sixties or beyond:
Morgan, Churchill, Compers, Stalin, Roosevelt, Clemenceau,
Chiang Kai-Chek, Lenin, and Ghandi. Our own Supreme Court and
the men we choose for President affirm the ability of years.

Major Problem! That Confrgnt Older Pegple
Today the United States boasts of fourteen million

persons, or one-tenth of the population, who are sixty or more

years of age. Of these there are five or six million unoccue

pied. To many of these, lack of occupation is 'forced leisure.“
lhile the words "force'I and 'eompulsory' are generally

attributed to use in other countries than ours, we find that

some industries have voiced what many others have done in action.

h. D. Marshall, assistant secretary of General Electric Company,

at an industrial relations conference in Detroit, January,

1950, stressed 'a compulsory retirement age would be good,"8

and Michigan Bell Telephone definitely states, “Retirement is

‘

‘1950 3 News item in the Lansigg State Journal, January 29,

compulsory at 65."9

In his studies of leisure, Samuel Wyer, Economist,
found that the proper use of leisure has created every civili-
zation in the past and the improper use of leisure had killed

every civilization in the past.10

Institutions _a_n__d £93393 Leigpgg

How is this leisure time used?

In the United States, during the nineteenth century, a
program of care for the indigent old evolved the County Poor
Farm-following the same pattern as that developed for the
mentally ill and the criminally inclined. The general idea
was to institutionalize them, separate them from all social
and economic contacts with the world, offer non other, and pro-
vide medical care only for acute illness with barely enough
food to keep them alive.n Today these institutions are little
changed.

A step-sister to the County Poor Farm, according to
Senator Elmer R. Porter of Michigan and C. J. McNeill, legis-
lative controller of the same State, is the State Mental Hospital

_—.

5: , "Minimum Pensions for Bell Employees Hiked,
Now $100 Fer Month,‘I News Lines, Vol. 10, No. 1, January, 1950.

10 Samuel S. lyer, Primer 93 Economics: How We Live Off
m 9139; (Columbus, 'Ohio: Better Iorld Fund, 1945), p. 2.

11 Robert A. Moore, “The Medical Approach to the Problem

§§4$gingfl The Journal 2; Gerontolggy, Vol. 4, No. 2:93, April,

10
with its ward of elderly people. McNeill said that in the
past five years nearly 3,500 persons more than seventy years
of age were admitted to state mental hospitals.

'The trouble is,‘I Porter said, 'that it is very
simple to get a person committed to a state hospital
now. All you need is the signature of two medical
doctors and a probate judge. If a family has a
troublesome elderly person on their hands, it is
easy to get a couple of doctors to certify to inp
sanity and the probate judge orders the commitment.‘

State hospitals, according to Porter, must take the senility
cases upon a.probate judge's commitment and then cannot get
rid of them.13

Albert Deutsch writes, with the approval and cooperap
tion of mental hospital officials, of his visits from Manhattan
State Hospital, New York, across the country to California.

'I saw plentiful evidence of railroading. Many of
these old folks die within a few days or a few weeks
after they arrive here. They don't die of any mental
or physical disease. They die of a broken heart.
They feel themselves betrayed. They commit psychic
suicide.'13

I

Commenting on this sad situation, Dr. David A. Boyd Jr.,
well known psychiatrist on the staff of Mayo Clinic, urges the
establishment in all states of a new type of institution for
older peeple built on a colony or village plan to minimize

:Physical dangers while permitting maximum freedom of movement.14

 

’13 News item in the Lansigg Stgte Journal, January 6, 1950.

13 Albert Deutsch, "Committed,'l Ioman's Home Companion,
P. 39, January, 1950.

14' Ibid., p. 53.

11
Dr. E. M. Bluestone, who has made extensive research in
the medical care of aged, when asked for suggestions for an
ideal institution said:

'An ideal institutional life for the aged is a cone
tradiction in terms. Under the best of circumstances,
an institution, and the general hospital is included
in this category, cannot help adding insult to injury
when a client is admitted, and the home for the aged
is no exception.'15

_I_hai Happens _t_o_ 1113 Unegxployed 91d Outside 9_f_ Institutions?
About four million old peeple are receiving either Old
Age Assistance or Old Age and Survivors Insurance. A few are
on private charity. These groups comprise approximately one-
third of our senior citizens.
Charles V. Kidd, a.member of President Truman's Scien-
tific Research Board (1948), supplied the following informer

tion on the adequateness of our public security for older per-

IOM: 16

(1) Old Age Assistance-~the average oldsage benefit
of twenty-four dollars today will purchase only
70 per cent as much as the average old age benefit
of twenty-four dollars in 1940. '

(a) The amount which the Federal Coverne
ment will grant to a state approximates
the amount which the stats provides for
old-age assistance. (This does not

ive adequate weight to wide variations
n economic and fiscal capacity of
states.)

 

~ 15 Dr. . M. Bluestone, 'Medical Care of the Aged,’
Journaligprgrontolggy, Vol. 4, No. 4:307, October, 1949.

16 Charles V. Kidd, Economic Security for Older Persons
(Clark Tibbitts, editor, Livipg Through the Older Igggg, Ann
Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1949), pp. 160-70.

)1!" All! I I‘ll‘

13

(b) An elderly couple needs from 8120
to $150 a month, depending upon
place of residence, to support a
minimum standard of living.

(c) The Federal Government will match
no part of any payment over $50 a
month per aged erson. (This has
been raised to 60 (1950).)

(d) About two and four-tenths million
persons are receiving old-age assis-
tance.

(e) Over $90 million a month is being
disbursed for old-age assistance--
over one billion a year.

(2) Old Age and Survivors Insurance
(a) Inadequate for basic security.

(b) Now actually less important than old-

age assistance. About one and one-half

million persons are receiving old age
insurance.

(o) About 845 million a month is now being
. dianursed.

(d) About $33 million goes to aged persons.

(e) About twenty-five million persons--
two out of every five in the labor
force-~do not work in jobs covered by
this insurance.

(3) Private Group Pension.P1ans-Social Security

(a) About six million workers covered.
(All ages)

(b) Private plans can never approach uni-
versal coverage.

(c) Many plans are so designed that employers
are reluctant to hire older workers be-
cause of potential pension cost involved.

13

(4) Recommendations for Improvement

(a) The benefits increased by at least
50 per cent.

(b) Beneficiaries permitted to earn at
least $40 a month--rather than 815--
without sacrificing benefit.

(c) Beneficiaries over seventy years
of age permitted to earn unlimited
amounts without sacrificing pensions.

(d) Expand devices for providing income
to older persons as a matter of right,
rather than a matter of charity.

(e) For older persons who want to work
and who can work, continuing employb
ment is the most satisfying means of
securi an income so far as the in-

divid is concerned and the most
productive so far as the economy is
concerned.

Does Retiggmgnt ngin 51 §§7
Late in the 1930s it became apparent that not only the

older workers but men over 45 years old were experiencing con-
siderable difficulty in reentering employment.

This lowering of employability age tended to make large
numbers of peOple not only idle at 65 but totally dependent.
rew had savings to support them over the twenty intervening
years. Many had their life's sayings confiscated by the de-
pression.which hit our economy in the early 30s. This gave
rise to a resurgence of pension movements such as the Townsend
IPlan.which in 1944 claimed to have ten thousand clubs, some
‘with.two thousand members and none with less than thirty-five.

 

x, ,l|.))ll|(

l4
Basically the Townsend.program has changed little since it be-

gan fifteen years ago. It proposes a 3 per cent income tax

to pay pensions to persons aged sixty and older on the base of
citizen right-~not on a basis of disability or need. The amount
of the pension would depend wholly upon the sum.produced by

the tax, thus fluctuating with the volume of national income.
Townsend said, 'If the old people have enough money to spend

to hire what they need, the young people will have enough
jobs.‘17

The Ham ‘n Eggers, the Thirtbeollars-Every-Thursday
Club and other movements have been overtones of deep need
among older peOple.

The Citizens Committee in California led by George
McLainp-a rich.man's son who saw his father's business wrecked
and the proud broken parent forced on the 'dole,‘ is one of
these movements. I"I'he welfare authoritiee,‘ George relates,
"finally okayed father for an old age pension of $18 a month,
‘but when they found he was a Christian Scientist they deducted
$4--which was an allowance for people who bought medicine."18
The extreme tension brought death to the father in a few months,
and fired by this unfortunate memory, McLain has proven that

he can line up a tremendous majority of California's quarter

I’ News item in the Lansigg State Journal, January 9, 1950.

18 Albert I. Maisel, 'The Pension.Preaoher: He lants to
'be President,‘ Look, Vol. 14, No. 3:21-25, January 31, 1950.

15
million pensioners into a political phalanx that can bargain
its way into alliance with other powerful groups. The main
aims of the Citizens Committee are: Bigger pensions with no
responsible relative clause, paid for by higher taxes on
larger incomes.

Ewan Clague, commissioner of the United States Bureau
of Labor Statistics, Iashington, D. 0., warns that if unemploy-
ment and destitution are chronic among the millions of older
men and women in this country, they will be numerous enough
to force us to some kind of social action. What we may get
from such pressures may be very unsatisfactory--socially, eco-
nomically, and politically. If we can use these millions of
able and willing men and women as part of the productive labor
force of our nation, we may raise the standard of living of

Americans to levels far beyond our present dreams.19

1mm amine 3.9. the _ulLEm 1 a me?

Do older people want to retire?

Research has shown a conspicuous reluctance on the part
of our older people to submit to retirement.

The results of two studies, one by Edrita G. Tried and
one by Dr. Clark Tibbitts, show the attitudes of the older

POpulation groups toward activity and inactivity.

¥

19 Ewan Olague, m and Emplozabilitz (Clark Tibbitts,
editor, Livipg Throggh the Later Years, Ann Arbor, Michigan:
University of Michigan Press, 1949), p. 153.

16

(1) Summary 9; 2;, Fried's study?O Seventy-five in,
vi uals between fifty and eighty years were

interviewed with the intention to examine their
attitudes toward activity curtailment, activity
modification, and retirement. The individuals
were drawn from all socio-economic strata of the
pOpulation, averaging one-third in each division
named of Lower Class, Middle Class, and Upper
Class.

(a) It was found that the percentage of in-
active subjects in the lower class was
six times higher than that of the mid-
dle class and almost three times higher
than in the upper class. The majority
of inactive subjects in the lower class
group desired to be active again.

(b) Adaptations were more frequently desired
than are actually received.

(c) The desire for part-time arrangement ex-
ceeded the actual number of accommoda-
tions.

(d) The tendency among the sample was to
postpone the date of retirement, to give
little thought to post-retirement plans,
and to react to retirement with acute
disturbances such as depression and ill-

he'se
TABLE I
AGE PERIOD ST WHICH RETIREMENT IS DESIRED

 

Active and inactive

group percentage
'Before 65 20.0

After 65 25.4

 

Want to go on

indefinitely 54.6
W

_IR 30 Edrita G. Fried, 'Attitude of the Older Population

Groups Toward Activity and Inactivity,‘ Journal 52 Gerontology,
Vol. 4, No. 2:143, April, 194.9.

17
. TABLE II
EFFECTS OF RETIREMENT

Effects mentioned‘
Percentgge

Satisfaction 30.3

Ambivalent reaction 15.2

De ression 36.3
€91eeplessness, loss

of appetite, apathy,
suicidal ideas, etc.)

Serious illness 18.2

Home subjects mentiaaea‘nar. than an. effect.

     

(e) It appeared from the findings that our
economy was not geared to extract the bene-
fits from the changing abilities of aging
persons.

(2) My g; _D_;. Tgbbitts' study. This was a year-

long survey in ashtenaw cunty, Michigan, con-
ducted by personal interviews with older peOple,
1948-1949.

(a) People over sixty years of age have many
problems and desires similar to those of
younger pecple, but they have little cp-
portunity to find satisfaction.

(b) Older people are not willing nor eager
to give up responsibility for children,
for work, and for community activities.

(0) They do not enjoy the prospect of having
nothing they are required to do. They
do not willingly withdraw into lives
of inactivity.

(d) Their savings, contributions of children,
social security payments, and.pensions

do not provide adequate retirement in-
come.

18

(e) With insufficient funds they skimp on
recreation, church, medical care, heat,
and food.

(f) They are not willing to have their lives
planned for them by their children, or
Otharae

(g) Two-thirds of the older people in the
United States are partly or wholly depene
dent on others for support.

(h) A very large number of those interviewed
complained of feeling “useless.“

(i) The two circumstances that stood out
most clearly were first, the desire of
older peOple to maintain their own inde-
pendent homes, and second, the determinap

tion to live apart from their married
children.

(j) The I'need for companionship' was expressed
more strongly than any other need.3

Observations and experiences of medical doctors and
economists agree with Fried and Tibbitts.

Dr. Carl D. Camp warned Michigan‘s state medical men
that old age is no‘bar to work. From his experiences he said:

(1) It is not wise to retire a man from his regular
occupation at a.particular age.

(2) Peo 1e do not age at the same rate, and they
don t grow old in the same ways.

(3) People who give up their occupation often degener-
ate rapidly. Insomnia, restlessness, and stomach
trouble often disappear when a man goes back to
work.

(4) A hobby doesn't necessarily serve the same pur-

31 News item in the Lansipg State Journal, May 5, 1949.

19

pose. The individual has to have something that
really keeps his attention.32

Dr. Frederick Swartz, Lansing M. D., suggested that the
retirement age should be raised beyond sixty-five years so
that the more vigorous elderly pOpulation can find means of
gupport for themselves. 'Old age,‘ the doctor emphasized, 'is
no reason for decline in.mental vigor.‘ He also emphasized
that I'more than 50 per cent of the chronic diseases coming to
the attention of medics today are found among people under
fortybfive, rather than among the so-called aged.‘83

Experiences during the late war, as recorded in the fol-
lowing statistics from the Social Security Board, showed that
there was an actual shift from retirement back to gainful em-
ployment when the opportunity to work was given:

(1) Many thousands of oldpage beneficiaries dropped
the benefits and voluntarily returned to work.

(2) By April, 1945, there were one and one-half mil-
lion ‘extra' workers aged fifty-five years and
over.

(3) About three-fourths of a million workers, eligible
for retirement under Social Security, had cone
tinued to work.

(4) About seventy thousand beneficiaries had returned
from retirement to covered employment.

Many of these older people were found still working;

33 Clinical Institute, Detroit, March 25, 1949.

1950 33 News item in the Lansigg State Journal, January 26,

30
nevertheless, the following graph of our labor force of men“

over sixty-five years of age showed the trend.

Per cent in labor
force of men sixty-
five years and over

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

70

so K\\ .
40 ._.____i.i _ .1 _ L_ \4\

so WW--. 1 _ _ _W __ __\.--_
so ___- W ____,

lo AW £ WW

Tears

TIGURE 2. Labor Force Decline“

From the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, it
was found that the papulation of men sixty-five years and over
was rising approximately 2 per cent each year, while employ-
ability for the same age group was lowering approximately 2
per cent each year.

Pressures against hiring men over forty-five were evi-

_—

3“ chun- v. Kidd. Ms M £93; 9.1.92: Ear-.212
(Clark Tibbitts, editor, Livigg Through the Older Tears, Ann
Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1949), p. 157.

81
dent. The American Federation of Labor recently urged a Massa-
chusetts legislative committee to amend the State FEPG law to
protect middle-aged workers against discrimination. The union
said that the insurance companies were 'ooercing' employers
to prevent them from hiring men over tortybfive. A man of
tortybfive is twenty years closer to pension eligibility than
a man or twenty-five and is thus a bookkeeping liability.35

Yet John M. Convery, speaking for the National Associ-
ation of Manufacturers, said that surveys showed that the
older workers, in many instances, were more reliable, had bet-
ter work habits, less absenteeism, were steadier workers, and

showed less turnover than younger workers.26

gummmm onom 3.21.34?

Society, as well as man, has proven itself to be a
living changing organism.

In 1850, only 16 per cent of the people of the United
States lived in communities of 2,500 population and over. In
1947, 59 per cent lived in urban areas and 19 per cent lived
on farms-approximate1y a complete reversal in one hundred
years.

The farmer and wife, in 1949, who owned their farm, as

 

35 News item in the Detroit Free Press, March 13, 1950.
26 Lecture, Industrial Relations Division of N. A. M.,

Second Annual Institute 2; Living in the Later Years, Ann Arbor,
July 31, 1949.

22
in society a hundred years ago, were able to make a relatively
easy and simple adjustment to their declining physical powers.

Very different was the lot of the unskilled worker in
the city. Typically, by sixty-five he was out of a Job and
probably had lost it some time before.

There was also an increasing number of skilled voca-
tional activities subject to compulsory retirement at the ages
of seventy, sixtybfive, and even sixty.37

From the findings, the life-line of our economy seemed

to divide itself generally into the following sections:

 

School and Production and . ...... . . . . I ......... . . .
. College I Reproduction. L 1
Years 0 2.5 50 75 100

Statistics showed that the productive worker had on his
back an average of two and one—half members of his family, the
unemployables, the chronic invalids, and the retired oldsters.
To assist the productive worker, we should change our view-
point from 'what capacity has the older person lost' to 'what
capacity has the older person retained which can be utilised.“38
Surveys of men receiving federal old-age benefits in 1940

 

37 Ernest W. Burgess, The Growing Problem gf_Agigg_
(Clark Tibbitts, editor, Ling Through the Older Years, Ann
Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1949}, pp. 1-35.

38 Charles V. Kidd, Economic Security for Older Persons
(Clark Tibbitts, editor, Living Through the Older Years, Ann
Arbor, Hichigan: University of Michigan Press, 1949), p. 160.

33

showed that only about one in twenty stopped work voluntarily
while he was in good health. More than half of them had been

discharged.

Roger W. Babson, famous economist, who at seventy-five

‘was experimenting on a way to 'circumvent the law of gravity,‘

said:

IIWhether a man is twentybfive or seventy-five makes

no difference if his work will earn money. The more
peOple there are earning money, spending and saving
it, the better off everyone will be. A well or anized
study ought to be promoted to find how to exp the
work opportunities for senior citizens. The idea

that old men at work deprive young men of Jobs is
largely nonsense. The greater the total number of

people earning money to spend or save, the more jobs
there will be."39

The major attack on the problem will have to come withp
in industry itself which employs the vast preportion of the
labor force. lith agriculture declining (in employment) and
urban self-employed‘being limited in numbers, the real Job is
to discover how industry can provide gradual self-adjusting-
employment for its older workers.

But industry is not alone in this responsibility. The
worker's distinct responsibility is

(l) to accept different kinds of work;

(2) to accede willingly to changes in pay for such
work;

(3) to undertake any training or retraining which

 

39 Roger Babson, 'Work for Seniors,‘ £51h1i2921, P. 31.
February 9, 1950.

24
might be required to keep emplcyability.30
The community-combined agencies could be responsible
for providing facilities for assisting industry and workers
to make these adaptations.
(1) Training and retraining facilities.
(3) Adequate public placement service.
(3) Educational opportunities for older peOple.

(4) Counseling and guidance services for older
people.

(5) Other kinds of professional service to meet
the needs of our growing population.

0f the costs involved in normal industry, Consulting
Engineer Wyer of Columbus, Ohio, concluded that in normal oper-
ation in industry the men, due to age, wear out Just as capital
(machines) wear out. The social costs for meeting the medical
attention for the iniured, fair compensation for permanent
maiming, fair compensation to the dependents in case of the
accidental death of a worker, and old age pension after the
worker's usefulness is over, are a definite part of industry‘s
obligation and should be included in all cost computations.31

The above statement made in 1949 became actively alive

 

30 men Clague, gig and miolebiiitl (Clark Tibbitts,
editor, Livigg Throggh the Older Years, Ann Arbor, Michigan:
University of Michigan.Press, 19495, p. 153.

31 Samuel S. lyer, Primer of Economics-~How We Live

Off Each Other (Columbus, Ohio: The Better World Fund, 1949),

p. 10.

25

33

March 16,'l950, by the Nash-CIO Pact. The three basic prc-

visions were:
(1) A trust fund to secure pension payments.
(2) Joint administration by the company and the union.
(3) Financing by the company alone.

(a) The company pays a flat ten cent hourly
allotment per employee.

(b) Seven cents goes into a.pension fund.

1. Pensions of $100 a month, including
social security benefits, will be
paid to workers retiring at age of
sixty—five after twenty-five years
service.

2. Employees retiring at age of sixty-
five with less than twenty-five
years service will be paid.prcpor-
tionately.

3. Employees between sixty and sixty-
five with twenty-five years service
may retire on a.pension of $32.50
a month until they reach sixty-five,
after which they will receive the
full pension.

(c) Four-tenths of a cent pays for administration
of fund.

(d) Two and six-tenths cents pays for life in,
surance, disability benefits, and sickness
and accident benefits.

(Employees will contribute and receive
‘benefits in prcpcrtion to their hourly
rates.) ‘

(4) Seventeen hundred hours of work a year is required
to obtain a full pension.

 

33 lews item in the Detroit News, March 16, 1950, and
verified in Interview with Asst. Regional Director of 010,
Lansing, Michigan.

36

(5) Adjusted credit will be given for all over
seven hundred hours work.

(6) Employees may continue working until sixty-eight
years of age, after which future employment will
be subject to decision through regular contract
procedure (a distinct arture from compulsory
retirement at sixty-five .

A summary of the foregoing literature seemed to con-
firm.the following:

(1) One-tenth of our population.was living in an
'lxtended Age,‘ the rules and uses for which
the world has no precedent. This group will
increase in number.

(2) The number of people involuntarily unemployed
because of their age was on the increase be-
cause cf increasing life span and lowering of
the hiring age.

(3) Chronological age was found to be the only
measure of aging and there seemed great need
of an instrumen that would provide a realistic
index of aging in its physiological, psycho-
logical, and social uses.

(4) 'Bei old' in itself did not necessarily
entai inefficiency, but that present disuse
of older people develOped deterioration of
physical and mental capacities and abilities.

(5) The major problems confronting older people
, were found to be loneliness, apathy, physical

and mental illness, loss of ability and skill,
the lack of belonging to or receiving the es-
teem cf cne's community, penury, and the general
feeling of being a burden. This could be
largely allevia ed by gearing our economy to
screen and match Jobs and men. A basic know5
ledge of how to retire peOple to something,
rather than from something, was needed.
As one elderly man said to an occupational
therapist, 'Give me the occupation and you can
have the therapy.‘

27

(6) Although in the last few years some determined
studies have been made and a few organizations
put into Operation, the combined efforts of in-
dustry, the older workers themselves, and com-
munity agencies would be needed to solve the
problem. A chapter “Aging Belongingly' in
George Lawton's new book AEAEE Creatively will
give a detailed description of recreation
centers and clubs for older people. This book
just off the press should be available at an
early date.

(7) There was a noticable lack of organization or
service in vocational guidance or placement
for older psOple in all of the literature studied.

CHAPTER III

A SEARCH AMONG BUSINESS AND CIVIC LEADERS
TO FIND EFFECTIVE USE OF SENIOR CITIZENS

Well adjusted older peeple show these characteristics
in their life's pattern: plenty of work and a liking for it;
strong and varied interests; economic independence and secur-
ity; good health; many social contacts; hobbies and recreations;
living in the present rather than in retrospect; a desire to
live life over again; and a predominance of spiritual and
mental factors.1

Lawton emphasized four things needed to maintain mental
and physical well being, and to keep one's self respect in

older life:

(1) A job or its equivalent—~an activity judged by
standards set by others.

(2) Close relationships with individual human beings.

(3) To participate in the work of one's community and
contribute to its life.

3

That society has recognized a lcpsided socio-economic

(4) To express one's self.

condition and would be willing to stopgap the emergency with

more taxes was found in a recent survey poll in the State of

1 Wilma Donahue, Room 1510 Rackham Building, Ann Arbor,
Michigan.

3 George Lawton, Ph. D., Association for Successful Aging,
New York City, New York.

89
lashington by J. n. ledemeyer. He found that only a per cent
of the people were definitely not willing to pay more taxes
for the support of older people, and that seventy-six were
clearly willing but disagreed on the particular kind of tax-
ation. A summary of other findings by Iedemeyer recommended
that communities and legislators give more consideration to
such subjects as:

'(l) Deferred retirement, rather than mandatory
retirement schemes.

(2) Selected employment of olger people, and jobs
fitted to their capacity.

(3) Incentives and other provisions which will en-
courage individual planning for retirement
security.

(4) Services and facilities which will provide
needed sources of social satisfaction; other-
win, money will continue to be the primary
means of social expression by older people,
and there will be increasing resort to pressure
tactics.“

Loy B. LaSalle, Director of Adult Education in Lansing,
lichigan, voiced a need beyond money for older people. He
said, I'security alone dulls initiative and stifles the spirit
of risk and adventure that is needed in progress.‘

'Creation's greatest event,‘ according to lysr,

'was when man became more than a mere animal. Crea-
tive ability and spiritual elation became man's

 

5 Suggested list of Oc ations for Older Pe le
Appendix B. cup op in

‘ J. I. ledemeyer, Supervisor, Division of Old Age
Assistance, lashington State Department of Social Security.

30

generic mark. The unknown author of Genesis
pogiically describes this as 'Man became a living
so . 5

Harry A. Overstreet, professor emeritus of the Depart—
ment of PhilosOphy and Psychology, College of the City of New
York, asked, “What has community environment done to peOple
that permit themselves in older adult life to be victimized
by all kinds of forces that hold them back from maturing?"

When asked "How can we make our adulthood move toward
maturityl', Overstreet answered, "Groups of adults in con-
tinuing education studying

(l) t know about themselves as individuals.
(a) Physical-~how to keep in good shape and
grow in vigor;
(b) Psychological-~to understand their mental,
emotional,and social selves;

(3) to get a true insight into the community environ-
ment in which they live. What does it do to them,
their children, and their fellowmen?

(a) Educational--how it influenced them in
their early years and now. .

(b) Economical--do older adults have enough
to live on and how can we gear the earlier
economic earning years so that older adults
will be kept happily growing?; and

(3) to read, discuss, and study to be intelligent
makers of public opinionp-to have good judgment
on public affairs, to understand and contribute
to the social and political world.“
But where was this continuing education practiced?
Were older people divided into two classes--the toughest

*who would fight to retain their rights as individuals, and

¥

5 Samuel S. Wyer, 325 Cambridge Boulevard, Columbus, Ohio

81
those that felt themselves inter10pers and slipped gradually
into rocking chair spheres trying to be “as little trouble as
possible?“

In all previous cultures-~primitivs, ancient, medieval--
older persons have had a recognized and, with few exceptions,
the most importanttrole.

Research comparisons seemed to show that older persons
have a much lower status in America than in any other society
today. Our modern society seems to have failed to redefine
the functions in our modernpurban world.

Our traditional attitude is that increasing years bring
progressive worthlessness to society and that if older peOple
have food and shelter they should wait contentedly to die.

Again, with Overstreet, one asks, “What has community
environment done that peOple permit themselves to be victimized
and arrested in their maturing?“

It has long been known that when the effort of the mind
to grow into new knowledge and new insights ceases, the mind
ceases, becomes fixated, settledp-the pattern of an arrested
develOpment. As one elderly man who just walked seven miles
a day to try to keep his sanity added, “The dead in this coun-
try are often not buried for quite a while.“

A sign “Pioneer Club“ cleverly executed over the door
of a small building centrally located in Iron Mountain, Nichigan,
was largely the deciding factor in starting a search to find

32
what older citizens were doing. What were the major problems
of older people, especially in our urban centers? Were there
organizations working for good adjustment and effective use of
senior citizens, and what were the attitudes of civic leaders
toward the need for organizations for their older peeple?

Inquiry about the Pioneer Club moved, step by step, to
the Chamber of Commerce, the Mayor, and the editor of Iron
Mountain-Kingsford News. Here was found an organization of
older men, self-manned, that had for two years been providing
companionship, recOgnizing individuality, rebuilding self-
esteem through usefulness and belonging.

Started as the result of a suggestion to the city council
by the Mayor, and assisted by the Chamber of Commerce, news-
paper editor, radio station, and other individuals, this move-
ment represents an unique combined city movement. This social
group, organized January; 1948, when elderly men were refused
the use of the local railroad station as a “hang out,“ has
good potentialities for future expansion into co—social, edu-
cational, and vocational guidance.

The opinion of the leaders is that their present old
peOple are the ones to whom they are indebted for the greatest
half century of progress the world has known, and who are
‘watching, with great interest, the progress of others in the
community who have come along to take their places in the local

IOBDO e

33

The simplicity and naturalness of this assumption made
the movement easily understood and everyone's father and
mother, grandfather and grandmother, became a live member of
their community. The gracious acceptance of the club was ex-
pressed by David T. Reese, 77, retired engineer: “It's the
finest thing that has ever been done in this town. We, of the
older generation, have often talked about it, but we never
thought it would be done.“

It became the thesis of this study that programs could
be found or devised even in small villages and towns that
would result in improved mental and physical health by effec-
tive use of senior citizens.

The growing ego, health, and mental elation that come
to citizens from contacts with their city's leaders was strongly
evident in the members of the Pioneer Club and their immediate
families. They talked of their letters and visits from the
Mayor, the members of the Chamber of Commerce, the editor? and
other business men, and were proud of their membership cards
reading “Compliments of the City of Iron Mountain.“

Introspective proof of the ego strength in the above
response can be felt in one's own personal reaction when re-

“ oeiving a letter from the Chamber of Commerce as compared to

receiving a letter from the Welfare Department. Both agencies

—__

5 L. D. Tucker, Editor, Iron MountainpKingsford News
Office, Iron Mountain, Michigan.

34
-are useful, but contacts with one builds ego.
Methods Used

From these visits came the decision to interview Mayors
and Chambers of Commerce for the study of our older peOple and
what they were doing. Conviction grew, that if senior citi-
zens were to again add a well adjusted natural sequence to so-
ciety, the movement to achieve this must stem from a combined
force of the highest esteemed civic, business, medical, reli-
gious, and educational groups-~the focal point of Operation to
be through present established business or educational organi-
Zations, preferably the former.

Ours is an industrial age and the Chambers of Commerce
are the “eye“ of business and industry.

The purpose of the interviews was:

(1) to locate organizations of and for Senior Citizens;
(2) to stimulate interest in such organizations;

(3) to create a desire for movements of this kind; and
(4) to exchange information between them.

Seventy-five interviews were made in three states-—
twenty-six in Michigan, twenty-four in Indiana, and twenty-five
in Ohio. Sampling was divided equally among three groups:
villages with up to 10,000 pOpulation; towns on up to 25,000;
and cities of 35,000 and over.

These three states were believed to be typical of indus-

trial regions.

Investigations did not aim to show average coverage, but

35
were more concerned in finding organizations serving older
people.

Because no precedent could be found for gathering in-
formation on this subject from Mayors and Chambers of Commerce,
the first week was spent explaining the problem and develOping
a brief questionnaire with the help of those interviewed. No
set of questions was found completely satisfactory as each
situation was markedly different, generally originating from
a.peculiar local condition. In order to find every worthy of-
fort, it was decided to keep the formal part of the questions
guide to a brief outline merely to form a working basis for
establishing good rapport and “building in“ valuable data during
the “thinking together“ on the problem.

Some of the most excellent ideas came from those whose
communities, as yet, had no organized movement in this direc-
tion, but who had sensed the growing need and were anxious for
suggestions to meet it.

Only four of those interviewed felt no need to provide
any assistance other than Federal Old Age Assistance for people
over sixty-five years of age.

Seventy-five per cent asked for a summary of the results
of this survey and for a list of groups now in operation. In
return, they will send a report of any further activity along
this line in their own city. Those who had organizations
working were willing to answer letters of inquiry about their

deveIOpment and function.

Organized Groupg

. In order to facilitate exchange of information among in-
terested readers of this study, the names and addresses of
leaders of organized groups will be given in the footnotes.

Organized groups were found in fifteen communities.
Three were in Indiana, five in Ohio, and seven in Michigan.
Some of the larger communities (cities) had more than one group:
Port Huron, two; Fort Wayne, three; and Cleveland, twenty-four.

That the size of the community did not determine its
likelihood or ability to have activity was shown in the pepu-
lation of the fifteen communities having groups. Seven were
cities of more than 35,000, 812 were in villages of less than
10,000, and two were in towns varying between villages and
cities.

Six colleges, varying in enrollment from 300 to 20,000,
in or near the communities visited were interviewed. Contacts
were made with the educational and psychology departments.
Three of these colleges were over one hundred years old, all
offering doctors degrees. One offered graduate work for Doctors
of Divinity. 0f the five, only one had courses or was doing

research in geront010gy.
From those having no activity in this field came the
following comments, and all asked for a summary of the survey:

“The need is evident, the project extremely interesting,
and it merits thought and effort.“

37
On studies for or about older adults, one (a member
of the National Vocational Guidance Association)
said, 'We don't have, we should have.“
After explaining an excellent project for graduate
placement, one said, I'Older peOple have vocational
problems as well as do young people. Hitherto we
have concerned ourselves only with the young.”

Another felt, 'We need a department in this field
in the N. V. G. A.‘

Of guidance, placement, and education for the older
adult, Dr. Lawrence Hess of the N. V. G. A. stated,
"The survey you are making is in a hitherto untouched
field. It's interesting because it's new. It's inp
teresting because it's needed.'7

Second only to the thoughtful counsel given by Mayors
and Chambers of Commerce, was their ability to refer to other
agencies and individuals for source material.

At the beginning of the interviews, 90 per cent said
they thought the Welfare Department would have the information
wanted. To which the following statement was made: I'They do
have valuable information, but we wanted also to find what
your father and mother and my father and mother were doing.‘
Later in the same interviews, only one per cent again referred
to the Welfare Department.

Whenever possible, all references were followed. In-
teresting attitudes and ideas came from the Welfare conferen-
ces. lost of the workers were well trained, efficient, and

1anderstanding--carrying a load that could be largely lifted

¥

7 Dr. Lawrence W. Hess, 1130 8. Barr, Ft. Wayne, Indiana.

38
by screening and adjusting our vocations. For under the ori-
ginal Social Security Law, old age assistance payments were
supposed to be only a temporary 'stop gap" to handle the situ-
ation until workers had been able to build up retiring pensions.
But instead of decreasing, old age assistance has mounted stea-
dily, rising from 430 million in 1939 to one and one-third bil-
lion in 1949.

One County Director of Welfare when asked where the ex-
perience and training of older people was going answered, "Mentally
and physically the oldsters are going to hell.‘ When asked how
old peOple used their added years, he said, I'Doing nothing.“

Two Welfare offices had well started.pr0posals for hous
sing projects of older people. One office planned to work with
the local Chamber of Commerce. The other had organized the
Welfare workers in Iextra projects beyond the line of duty,‘
bringing together ideas from clients, counseling among the
workers, and in turn influencing the interest of the community
through conferences and the press.

The first plan was a home for both men and women, housing
:not more than sixty people, with three hospital beds, and a
staff trained in receiving members, finding out their past ex-
periences, what they are interested in now, and using their
skills (such as shoe repair, tailoring, etc.) to help other
:members (for an established.price). A committee would search

out abilities, desires, and “gripes.“ Each one could do some-

39

thing to earn a little if he so desired, inside or outside.
A paid recreation director, having committees of members,
would plan weekly programs including speakers, contributions
from members, receptions, exhibits, and cpen house. Rates
were to be established so that Old Age Assistance recepients
could live there and have a little spending money left.8

The second idea was an outgrowth of interest aroused
through the Caseworkers' Christmas Project of letter-writing,
magazine distribution, and a radio project of supplying radios
to shut-ins. It was called the Homewood Cottage Community for
Older People--a group of small low rent cottages arranged
around a square court of lawn with a Chapel Hall for Community
planning and pleasure at one end, a grocery nearby, and the
community as self-governed as possible. This is a.plan well
worth consideration. Drawings of plans and more complete de-
tail can be obtained from F. H. Clary, Subdivision Manager,
Division of Aid for Aged, Citizens Bank Building, Norwalk,
Ohio.

Some referrals were to ministers and priests who felt
the need and were glad to give of their experiences. One Ohio
minister said, “You have put your finger on a sore spot in our

society.‘ It was the general admission of these clerics that
although older people are welcome to attend church and all of

_—

8 Mrs. Bertha Ochiltree, 489 Central Avenue, Cambridge,
IndiaMe

40
its functions, nevertheless there are very few, if any, groups
especially designed to promote the older adult's continued
growth, and that in mixed age groups the tendency was for the
oldsters to feel that the younger ones should have the offices
and do most of the managing. This was especially true of an
older parent who was living with a son or daughter and attending
their church.

A good example of how an organization can be formed by
the combined churches of a city was a 'Good Will Industry" for
older citizens in New Albany, Indiana. It was originated by
the late Dr. Bartle, sponsored by the Women's organizations of
the Churches, governed by a Board of Directors from the Churches,
and was self supporting, but had the assurance of the backing
of the Community Chest if needed. Its two greatest services
were to provide some occupation for older peOple who needed
work, especially supplementary work, and to provide articles
of clothing and home furnishings at moderate cost. Suitable
quarters and heat were furnished by the city. Furniture and
clothing were made and repaired by workers who were paid on an
hourly basis. The articles were sold at the lowest possible
cost to give families with low incomes an opportunity to have
good furnishings and clothing. Older experienced workers
trained newcomers, and some handicapped workers were being re-
trained for occupations suitable to their abilities. There

‘were no officers chosen from among the workers themselves,as

41
yet. Future plans may include more self-government and worker-
management.9

The Recreation Opportunities for Older People of greater
Cleveland coordinated by the Welfare Federation was the most
expansive and the oldest organization found.10 Cleveland was
a pioneer in this movement, beginning in 1908 when Benjamin
Rose, a Cleveland industrialist, died and left the greater
part of his estate 'to provide relief for respectable and de-
serving needy aged peoplell because his own last days had been
empty, following the death of his wife and children.

The Cleveland Program for Older PeOple was organized
on an experimental basis by the Benjamin Rose Institute.

Aided by funds from other sources, it conducted a demonstra-
tion project for seven years. The first club started in a set-
tlement house. Later clubs were started in churches, housing
estates, women's clubs, and other agencies who furnished only
room and heat.

As the value of these clubs became apparent, many of
the agencies assumed responsibility for them and provided.bud-
gets and leadership.

The Rose Institute turned the project over to the Wel-

fare group in 1948, where twenty-four clubs now cperate under

_*

*9 Mrs. Wm. D. Bartle, 1819 State Street, New Albany,
Indiana.

10 James H. Woods, Recreation Project for Older People,
1001 Huron Road, Cleveland, Ohio.

42
the Group Work Council. The aim is to have recreation for
older peOple which provides

(1) mental stimulation;
(2) satisfactory social relations;

(3) encouragement in the acceptance of responsi-
bilities; and

(4) the security of belonging to a group where
one is wanted.

These Golden Age Clubs, run by the old folks themselves,
provide lectures, music, games, teas, picnics, and tours of
interesting places, and always refreshments to provide light
conversation and make for friendliness. They range in size
from twenty to sixty members, and each one is suited to the
neighborhood and cultural background of its members.

Membership is secured by

(1) names furnished by Division of the Aged and
Family Service, hospitals, and clinics;

(2) news items in daily papers--pictures and stories
of activities;

(3) direct invitations to oldsters in the immediate
neighborhood;

(4) posters in store windows;

(5) pastors of all denominations;

(6)k ggpeoplet of neighborhood who help with planning
suggest names; and

(7) word of mouth--interested oldsters tell others.
Occasionally, several clubs join together for a picnic

or dance. In October, four hundred oldsters cheered the Cleveland

43
Indians toward a World Series victory.

Cleveland's next step was the organization of Hobby
Clubs. These smaller groups are given supervision by trained
leaders and are a real solution to the greatest enemy of the
aged--idleness. Members are encouraged to try new things, to
sell what they make, or work for fun and exhibition. Each
September brings a ten-day Golden Age Hobby Show. Last year
there were two hundred exhibitors and they sold over one thou-
sand articles. A list of these clubs and their sponsors is
given in Appendix A.

Other projects in Cleveland are the Cleveland Church
Federation that sponsors worship, vesper services, and coun-
seling service for older people, and the Women's Volunteer
Committee—-eixty women who give four hours each week helping
at Cooley Farms, Cleveland's giant home for the aged and chro—
nically‘infirmw-an institution which now rates as a model in
its field.

Another town houses its older men in a different way.
'<3abin homes for elderly men,‘ said the real estate dealer.
"A Lum and Abner village," said the storekeeper from whom the
amen bought homemade sausage, hamburg, bread, and the companion-
ship of a warm stove. "A Shack camp for old fellows across
the track! said the townsman.

Three names covered half of one trailer house--John-

George-Ike. The storekeeper explained that these were the

I ,. a .Q.‘
7r

44
three who first began the village--that John was a Belgian
who couldn't get a pension and worked when he could find work;
George didn't live there any more, but Charles had bought his
rights; and Ike drank. All of them worked a little. One was
a watchman on the R. R. They paid $8 a month rent, had no
modern plumbing, and got water from the back of the store.
The grocer furnished electric light from his meter and the
one man burned it all night, probably because he just had an
operation. The men could bring their own furniture if they
owned any; otherwise, a few simple articles were furnished.

There were three villages within a radius of approxi-
mately a half mile, each housing from eight to twelve men.
These men sat around the stove in the store for their commu-
nity life.

Loathe to give any information at first, the owner
gradually visited freely. He had bought the place in May,
1949, was enlarging it, and showed his extra stocks and sup-
plies as he commented. I'Men alone in the world need a private
home, one that they can afford and manage. They need many
things. A lot of good could be done for their thinking, by
the right person.‘I

His customers received a happy welcome with some per-
sonal questioning or banter. Living and movement here seemed
more natural, if frugal, than in any institution or home for
old folks visited.

f 45
One important question developed from this survey:
'Why are there many more homes for older women than for older
men?‘ In the communities visited, four homes for women were
found and none for men. There was a greater percentage of
women in small private and public homes and a greater percen-
tage of men in large public institutions and in cheap rooming
houses.
Quoted answers to where older men congregate and what
they do were quite uniform:
I'I've been wondering what they do myself, especially
since I've had my 0 fice off the hotel lobby. Many
just come in and sit around with nothing to do day
after day.‘I

'They congregate in the two pool rooms across the
street." .

'The older fellows just walk along the water front.“

“Older men attend local ballgames in the summer or
sit on park benches. Winter habitat unknown.“

'Our old people congregate mostly on the street.
There is a need for a place for them, but no action
to meet it."
One answer in seventy-four, a woman's, an Old Age As-
sistance Visitor, was different:
I'I see no need for entertaining older folks. If they've
ever been any good, they are doing things for themselves
at any age.‘I
All four of the homes for women were clean and comfor-
tably furnished and each member had some of her own private

furniture. 'None of the homes had more than sixteen members,

46

none less than twelve, with one or two in a room. Each had
her own bed. All homes had one Sunday Service. All had a
piano. None had planned programs for recreation, education,
rehabilitation, or vocational direction. The duties of the
home were shared according to desire and ability. None had a
trained nurse on the staff. The members had been carefully
selected. Three had waiting lists. One had television. One
was endowed, one a private venture, and two were sponsored
Jointly by Women's Groups and Community Chests.

The private venture was the result of an early dream
by Virginia Monk, who is now the wife of a State Representae
tive. Her aim was a congenial home for old people who could
bring their own furniture, pay $10 to $15 a week, and share
the duties of the home as they desiredP-a kind of “cooperative
in which the guests furnish the money and the hostess furnishes
labor and comfortable care, lacking crystalized efficiency."
She believes that more couples would open their homes to older
people, providing them with home-like protection and comfort--
EL foster home--if it were not for the present licensing neces-
sary with Welfare. She will work with her husband in the le-
gislature to have the law amended that requires homes having
three or more people sixty-five years old and over to Operate
tuuLer Welfare as a Nursing Home. She believes inspection and
operation should be controlled by the local city housing agen-

ciea.11

_—

ll The Merritt Monks, Winchester, Indiana.

47

The Gratiot Memorial Home originated five years ago
through the ingenuity of four women who canvassed and obtained
enough $100 donations to make a down payment on a house and
lot for aged women.

One woman gave $15,000 to complete the payment. Most
of the women guests are Old Age pensioners. Five dollars is
returned to them for spending money. Any deficit is paid by
the Community Chest. In addition to buying this home, the
sponsors have since placed more than two hundred older women
in private foster homes.12

The need for directed activity and outside contacts
was expressed in a chat with a member of one of these homes
who had traveled extensively when she was younger:

“We used to have a Bible Study on Wednesday afternoons.
A missionary who could play the piano taught us. She
died, and we women tried to keep it up, but we seemed
to lack ability to teach regularly and didn't have

the strength to keep going.

This lack of opportunities for further mental maturing
was evident in all of the homes for women.

When interviewed, Fort Wayne's Mayor promptly contacted
the Board of Park Commissioners who sponsor three Older Adult
Groups:

(1) The Bloomington Oldsters Club organized about
five years ago when about twenty—five men in a

rooming house, assisted by the Park Board and
Mayor, organized a social club which has added

13 Mrs. Rhue Bradley, 604-12th Street, Port Huron, Michigan.

48

continuing education, recreation, and self-planning
activities. One of its present services is fur-
nishing programs to the County Infirmary members.

(2) Jefferson Center Oldsters Club, March, 1949, began
in an older school building leased to the park
board for a Community Center. Membership was re-
cruited by canvassing and newspaper articles.
There were three at the first meeting, sixteen
at the second, and now about forty members at-
tend. They have $90 in their "free-will“ trea-
sury, have an independent program, refreshments
each week, and Dance with an rchestra at Christ-
mas. They expect to purchase window drapes this
spring. A sorority furnished magazines, and ac-
tivities include shuffleboard, card games, lec-
tures, home talent evenings, movies, and square
dancing.

(3) McCulloch Oldsters Club is just organizing. It
will be 99 per cent Negro and will be a part of
the $63,000 Negro Community Center that has been
in Operation one and one-half years.

For these clubs ground level rooms are renovated and
painted by the city, electric outlets are provided for hot
plates, and heat and light are furnished. Tables and chairs
are loaned until the Clubs can furnish their own.13

An interesting comparison in life expectancy between
‘whites and non-whites was disclosed in the estimated popula-
tion census (1945-1946) by the U. S. Bureau of the Census:
Idafe expectancy is greater for whites up to about sixty-five
years of age, but after that the non-white exceeds the white.
So, in our plans for older people, special emphasis should be

placed on the non-white above sixty-five.

 

13 Martin Nading, Recreation, City Park Board, Fort
Wayne , Indime

49

That more women live longer than men should also re-
ceive consideration.

An example of unique brotherhood was shown in the be-
ginning of one Golden Age Club sponsored by the Salvation
Army. It was championed by the Mayor, Chamber of Commerce,
and City Editor, who bring their parents to the weekly meetings.
The membership of sixty—five is composed of fifty-seven white
and eight non-white (the excellent pianist is non-white).
This is a fair representation of the percentage of mixture of
population in the United States. The club is partially fi-
nanced by the Community Chest, to which the Club itself paid
$10. It cooperates with the Board of Education for buses and
music, has both Catholic and Protestant members and leaders,
was started in September, 1949, and follows loosely the fol-
lowing weekly program:

(1) Opening with a verse of America, or other familiar
hymn. ’

(2) Lord's Prayer or short prayer by one of the leaders.

(3) Play dominoes, checkers, or other games for about
a half hour.

(4) Volunteer numbers--songs, recitations, mouth organ,
piano, or other.

(5) Two motion pictures, one colored and one black and
white.

(6) Refreshments--tea or coffee, doughnuts or cookies
(free). Monthly birthday table with cake and ice
cream for all birthdays in the month.

50
Their suggested.plans for the coming months included:

(1) Preparing a "Radio Program“ from their own voluns
teer numbers for the County Infirmary members.
School bus and speaker system to be borrowed
from school for trip to Infirmary.

(9) Historical and biographical sketch of each meme

‘ ber to show past experiences and training that

might be used for "part time” jobs or free ser-
vice in the community.

(3) Have group select one of their members to speak
before Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, or
other civic groups on subject, "What We Do In
the Golden Age Club.“

(4) Sponsor Wilma Donahue from the University of
Michigan to speak before the Combined Social
Group of sixty to eighty social workers in the
city.

(5) Crown the oldest lady as May Day Queen. Have

two oldest men escort her. Club members to wind
a May Pole.

(6) Hold summer picnics.l4
Fenton's five thousand villagers have a modern Commu-
nity Hall, a gift from a former village girl whose father set-
'tled the land on which it stands. Here a group of Golden Age
peOple meet every two weeks for social recreation, some dri-
ving as far as fifteen miles to get there. Sponsored by the
Kiwanis, the club began about two years ago, has 150 members
with an average of ninety in attendance, and, according to the
caretaker, 'It holds up better than any other group.“ It

books its dates and plans programs a year ahead.15

IA John Ward, Brigadier, 607 Huron Avenue, Port Huron,
Michigan.

15 J. Chesnut, Director, Community Hall, Fenton, Michigan.

51

Greenville, another village of 7,500, has just appointed
a City Committee of Recreation, hired a full time director,
and begun a building to house the City Recreation Program on
land donated by the city. Sponsored by the business men of
the city and the Gibson Refrigerator Company, the program will
serve all ages. Both the Mayor and the Secretary of the Cham-
ber of Commerce stated, “The program will include the older
adult.'16

Findlay's Chamber of Commerce is a picture gallery of
historical city events--pictures showing Senior Citizens and
past members in good proportion and in line with former inter-
ests.

Chamber of Commerce Civic groups, Masonic order, and
'lElks Club all have so-called 'Senior Groups." These former
active members have life memberships and meet regularly with
the organization. The Chamber of Commerce began the movement
by calling and using its past members for consultation and
for social occasions. Birthdays are honored with a large cake.
Pictures are taken, and histories and newspaper articles are
written by older men. Older men are used for receptionists.
Some write periodic news releases on 'Why a Chamber of Commerce?"

They have reserved seats at local stadium, plan programs, and

send out gifts to County Infirmary. They furnished a law of-

_—

15 Fred Bock, Director, City Recreation, Greenville,
Michigan.

53
fice for the rehabilitation of an older lawyer. The attendance
of oldsters is encouraged at the I'Ignorance Club'I whose motto
is 'Bay nothing good about those present and nothing bad about
those absent.‘ This breaks formality and encourages repartee.

The city is planning a “Toll Taylor Day' in honor of a
local composer who wrote 'Down By the Old Mill Stream.‘ Older
inhabitants will be used to find history, in planning, and in
presentation. They send congratulations to older statesmen
on their birthdays, and had, when interviewed, just received
an answer from Herbert Hoover with his autographed photo as a
'thank you.'

A Palmer Home for elderly women is being built from a
legacy trust fund.

* The llks Club, which has a public cafeteria, uses their
three oldest members to greet newcomers and visitors-~they
know all the members so can 'spot' strangersu-and call them
the Three Husketeers.17

During the spring of 1948, the University lxtension
Service and the Institute for Human.Adjustment at Ann Arbor

offered a course for older people called |'Problems and Adjust-

ments in Later Maturity and Old Age.'18 This was a six month

 

1" Floyd J. Habien, lxecutive Secretary, Chamber of
Comerce, rindlay, Ohio.

19 Dr. Clark Tibbitts, formerly Director of the Insti-
tute for Human Adjustment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
now in public health work with I. 8. A., Iuhington, D. C.

53
experimental course. It appealed to more than fifty persons
ranging in ages from twenty-three to eighty-four years. Many
were timid. Some were ashamed to admit they were old or get-
ting old.

This was a six month experience, and only a short sen-
tence summary can be listed here of the many interesting re-
sults.

(1) Initial Experiences

(a) As the course developed, both sponsors
and students expressed need to trans—
late discussion into practical experience.

(b) Class members formed a social group to
promote sense of belonging, to make friends,
to express themselves, to enjoy the feeling
that something was being done for them.

(c) They wanted to continue meetings after
end of course, but practically no one had
any suggestions or knew exactly what he
wanted to do. (Important)

(2) Beginnings of a Continuing Program

(a) In c00peration with the Department of
Physical Education and Recreation of the
Ann Arbor Schools which supplied equip-
ment, tables, benches, and reserved the
only shuffle board court in Ann Arbor
for Thursday evening.

(b) Picnic suppers were enjoyed before games.

(o) Croquet, horseshoes, badminton, conversa-
tion, and just being spectators supplied
entertainment.

(d) The summer group grew from fifteen to fifty.

(e) Leadership was provided by members of the
Institute for Human Adjustment Staff.

54

(f) PeOple became more relaxed, suggestions
came more frequently, and it was finally
decided to organize, to elect officers,
and to experiment with a varied program
of discussion and recreation.

(g) The winter program consisted of singing,
dramatics, games, sports, lectures, and
discussions of current and cultural
topics.

(3) Mechanics of the Program

(a) Ground floor location and transportation
are important. This group used a high
school cafeteria that had a piano, tables,
chairs, and cooking facilities.

(b) School recreation department furnished
equipment: games, instruments for toy
orchestra, projection equipment for
movies, and other items.

(c)'Relationship between the group and the
school was mutually beneficial. Group
is now sponsored by the Board of Education.

(d) Approximately forty regular attendants
divided by chance into small groups of
five individuals in each group electing
a chairman seemed to function best. Each
group planned for one of the discussion,
recreation periods.

(4) Results

(a) The most interesting and rewarding thing
observed was the number who made new
friends.

(b) They had an opportunity to do something
for others--exchanged reading material,
shared cars in transportation, brought
unusual cooked food for lunches, adopted
a family for Christmas food and clothing,
and contributed time, effort, and materials

for the patients at the local County In-
firmHIYe

55
(0) Leadership was deve10ped. A new set of
officers was elected for each twelve
weeks and committees rearranged.

(d) The group voted to name themselves the
Senior Citizens Club.

(5) Short Comings

(a) Individuals should be stimulated to par-
ticipate further in communities--estab-

lished organizations such as churches,
YWCA, YMCA, Red Cross, Salvation Army,
public evening school, Council of Social
Agencies, etc. should enlarge their pro-
grams to include active participation of
older peOple.

(b) Some always remained spectators.

During the fall of 1948, this course was given to eighty
people in Detroit, and arrangements were made so that it was
offered in Flint during the winter. Local groups in Traverse
City and Windsor, Ontario, also offered it in their communi-
ties with the assistance of the University speakers.

In September-November 18, 1949, this Extension course
was repeated in Detroit and a continuation course added from
November 35-January 27 of this year. This included instruc-
tion in Legal Problems of the Older Person and Community Pro-
grams for Older People. University Extension workers are
available for other communities.19

Dr. Harry A. Overstreet, at Ann Arbor, spoke of a growing

interest of late among business men and others to find what

 

19 Dr. Wilma Donahue, 1510 Rackham Building, University
of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

56
they might best do in their years of retirement. The consen-
sus among them has been that they must plan early in their
adult years, with years still ahead of them, for dependable
riches in the years to come instead of 'a dying-back of the
brain.‘

He suggested five important practice periods:

(1) Practice creating-~music, drama, story, painting,
sculpture, woodwork, sewing.

(2) Practice obligations--debt to past traditions
and to their human fellows.

(5) Practice research--some area of life's problems
with thoroughness and exactness.

(4) Practice happiness--sociability and play.
Being happy with people is a way of being wise.

(5) Practice Code-envisaging "a way of life.‘l

A growing interest for "a way of lifefi that started
among older business men but now claims an equal number of
younger men, was evidenced on a Friday afternoon not long ago
when a group of twenty prominent business men of New York
boarded a train for a sequestered farmhouse in a hill country
about fifty miles from New York to spend “a quiet weekend with
God', as one of them put it. Roman Catholics, Episcopalians,
Quakers, Presbyterians, and Lutherans were included in this
amazing movement for inner peace. Retreats are being held in
every state, but this was the best organized group found of
men and women who are seeking new strength for facing life's

problems by making religious retreats. Probably not fewer than

57
two hundred thousand Americans benefit from this little publi-
cized mental therapy.20

Kalamazoo, the city whose ramps and railings at street
crossings show thoughtful consideration for children and others
who find steps difficult, has a Three Quarters Century Club21
that admits social members at sixty years of age and grants
full membership at seventy-five. It began sixteen years ago
by the personal visitation of Mr. Muffly to older people.
Room, heat, and light are furnished by the County, and the
meetings are held every two weeks on the fourth floor of the
County Building, which has an elevator. Starting with a very
few, the Club now has more than two hundred members, a choir
of its own that also does community singing, brings in outside
speakers, plays cards and games for recreation.

The Marleborough Building, in Kalamazoo, is the home
of an excellent class of older women who have means to pay for
good small apartments and wish to live alone, and the Salva-
tion Army has purchased a forty room hotel on North Burdick--
a housing project for older men.

Kalamazoo also has a Flower Fund Memorial built from

sympathy gifts for bereavements in place of flowers. This is

 

30 Rev. w. Robert Hampshire, Chairman of the Retreat
Committee, American Church Union, New York City.

31 Mrs. Doris Stearns (Program Chairman), Marlborough
Building, Kalamazoo, Michigan. Phone 7004.

58
a Senior Citizens fund earmarked for an Apartment House for
Older PeOple.2é

Several cities, like Lansing, are laying the ground
work toward good adjustment between "Our Age and Our Aging”
by enlarging their adult education pregram in the night schools
and by lectures, panel discussions, and conferences, sponsored
by individual organizations such as the Ingham County Council
of Social Welfare and the City Women's Inter Club Council.

The Adult Evening School sponsors the Lansing Senior
Community Club which began last fall (1949). Its forty regular
members, sixty to ninety years of age, have had prominent
speakers on their weekly program and have engaged in hobbies,
including metal-work and upholstering. They opened a dancing

class in February at Eastern High School.33

Attitudes 2£_Leaders Toward Organizations for Senior Citizens

The following expressions came from communities having
no organizations for older people. Quotations from those in-
terviewed best express their attitudes:

"There is a real need for some agency to utilize the
great storehouse of ability and experience of older

peOple, but we don't know how to use it. Juvenile
delinquency is misuse of assets. Older Adult delin-

 

33 Senior Citizens Fund, 1203 National Bank Building,
Kalamazoo, Michigan.

33 Loy B. LaSalle, Adult Education Center, 419 N. Capitol,
Lansing, Michigan.

59

quency is disuse of assets.‘

Charles Morris
Cambridge, Indiana

'If we can et the people interested, the city will
go along. an't think of any meeting place, but if
we got to thinking, that probably would come too.
I've visited a Florida Camp of 8,500 Older People
with a Community building and planned recreation.

It was fine. It was operated privately for profit,
but we could use the general idea without the profit

motive.‘
Fred Williams
Bryan, Ohio

'A very worthy cause. It's very pleasant and sur-
prising to find someone, especially from a.1arge
educational institution, interested in older peeple
and their use. Older peeple need to feel that they
are contributing in order to have satisfaction.
Recreation (basketball games) is enjoyed vicariously
by most older peeple in Madison, but that isn't
actually doing something to help the community.‘

James looden
Madison, Indiana

'There is needed a central cleari house (could be
a Colle e Adult Department Project of records and
files 0 older people, their abilities, and vocap
tional desires made available to communities regu-
larly. It would serve two ways, for smaller cities
hare a financial problem.of insufficient funds to
pay for the best personnel. Older persons from
larger cities or higher positions might retire to
similar positions in smaller places and be used to
train and enlarge ideas of younger assistants. For
example, a former retired Chief of Police from.lew
York City is head of Mt. Clemens' force and has a

'The retirement plan.of our college could be improved.
It should not be according to age. Our educational
plan should, in some way, provide for the continued

60

use of most of our experienced educators. The
present plan loses much from the education field.

Dr. Clyde M. Campbell
East Lansing, Michigan

A typical example of 'thinking through” by a civic
leader, who has never really thought of his Older People and
their problems, is shown by these periodical quotations taken
from an interview with the Mayor of a city of fifty thousand

in Indiana:

'No, I guess we have no organizations of, or for,
our older peOple.

Hadn't thought much about it.
Both my father and my wife's father are dead.

My mother runs a small hotel back home. My wife's
mother has edited a weekly newspaper for the last
twenty-five years. Both like independence and have
been in good health. The paper is quite a load for
her since her husband is gone.

My son is taking journalism at college and will
help her upon graduation.

I guess there aren't too many old people that need
attention.

There was a man of seventy-five in here yesterday,
hale and hearty, can't find work. Wondered if I
could help him find part-time work. I've known him
for a long time. He's fighting transferal from a
room to the County Infirmary.

I support his independent attitude. I'm going to
see that he gets aid to stay in that room. I 11
try to find work for him.

There's about one thousand old age pensioners in our
county. Eighty per cent are inside the city limits.

ll

 

61

There must be as many more out of work and not get-
ting assistance.

There's an elderly man, about ninety, walks past
here every day to his son's sales room about three
blocks away. That's all he does. He needs social
and recreational outlets through contacts with
people of his own age.

I'm a member of the Lion's Club and they are looking
for a project.

They can 'epearhead' a movement to investigate these
needs and find a building and ways to use it.”

One of the greatest values of having more than one in-

terview in each town was the Opportunity it gave to promote

concerted future action. Quotations from three interviews in

one town will illustrate this:

“We need an agency or organization to promote social
life and part-time vocation for both older men and
women. A date on the calendar should not determine
efficiency. Our laws and education need adjustment.
I will talk to the City Council about it.”

Mayor Butcher
Union City, Indiana-Ohio

'The need is clear. What shall we do?...I will sug-
gest appointing an Exploring Committee to locate
older citizens, try to determine their needs and de-
sires, and formulate plans to meet them.‘

President of Chamber of
Commerce Stewart
Union City, IndianaPOhio

'I will introduce the idea at the next meeting for
discussion."

Secretary of Chamber of
Commerce Bickle
Union City, IndianaPOhio

ll

 

62

Many believed that since public agencies have assumed
responsibilities for basic living needs, private agencies,
private funds, and personal interest have been curtailed.
Another strong feeling expressed was that public agencies, es-
pecially when they assume Federal prcpcrtions, have a tendency
to 'get the job done" rather than "serve the individual.“

When one can think of older peOple in terms of his own
parents or grandparents, the attitude toward their problems
assumes better perspective for a more permanent solution.

Of the fifteen organizations found, all were social or
recreational. None were vocational. However, three plans
were suggested for vocational procedure. These plans are now
in operation on an experimental basis by individuals actively
interested.

(1) The Luker Block Plan
(a) One person employed by each community to

contact Mayors and Chambers of Commerce,
business firms, religious organizations,
civic building managers, educational
building and ground directors, and others
to find “by the job“ occupation for older
peOple.

(b) Job worth to be estimated by time study
based on normal hour output, but rigid
adherence to hours not required. Paid by
the job.

(0) The establishment of a centrally located
office and invitations sent to older
citizens to record their experience and
work desires with the object of obtaining
employment.

63

(d) Goal of plan to be "Every establishment
use one pioneer."e4

(2) Sedan's Central Clearing House'65
Given on page 59.

(3) Sternman's Screening Plan
(a) Screened all requests for help from em-
ployers, to see if work could be done by
older peOple.

(b) Personally contacted employers to see if
older peOple would be acceptable.

(c) Encouraged acceptance and use of older
- workers.

(d) “Followed-up" to record mutual satisfaction.26

There seems to be a general growing awareness that "new
life" has been added to our years,and adults are beginning to
ask, lTomorrow and I, What?"

The same trend in public thinking was shown at the An-
nual Conference of the National Education Association (October,
1949), when the Department of Adult Education created a commit-
tee to report on "Education for an Aging Population." The com-
mittee recommended that the Department of Education transmit a

resolution to the Federal Security Administration looking toward
the establishment of a facility within the Administration which will

 

34 Dr. L. Luker, Mason-Abbott Hall, East Lansing, Michigan.
25
Michigan.

26 Director of United States Employment, E. North Street,
Fostoria, Ohio.

Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, Mt. Clemens,

h

 

 

64

(I) collect and disseminate information about all
types of programs for aging and older peOple;

(2) stimulate the develOpment of experimental
programs, demonstrations, and research; and

(3) promote OOOperation and effort among profes-
sional groups working in the aging field at
all levels.

This search among business and civic leaders to find
effective use of senior citizens confirms the following:

(1) One-tenth of our present population are receiving
an extended period of "new life“ with no apparent
use for it.

The remedy suggested was to create and re-allocate
jobS.

(2) The number of people involuntarily unemployed be-
cause of their age will increase because of in-
creasing longevity and constant lowering of
hiring age.

The solution is obviously "jobs."

(3) The erroneous chronological measurement of aging
is obsolete. Another instrument of measuring
efficiency is needed.

Jobs to suit the worker could be this.

(4) The deterioration of physical and mental capa-
cities through disuse was found to be the most
vicious problem of older peOple.

Vocations for all that want to work would largely
solve this problem.

(5) Other ma or problems were loneliness, physical and
mental i 1ness, loss of abilities and skills,
lack of belonging to or receiving the esteem of
one's community, penury, and the general feeling
of being a burden.

Work with pay would be the answer to most of the
above needs.

(6) Some organized movements are being made for
recreational and social improvement, but none
were found for vocational placement.

The remedy would be movements to find jobs.

(7) Three plans to find and reallocate jobs were
given.

_.n unrefi.‘ Ls}

ll

 

 

 

CHAPTER IV

TECHNIQUE AND RESULTS OF RESEARCH
IN TEN HOMES FOR THE AGED

Specialists in the new clinic for gerontology and geria-
trics established at "Moosehaven"1, Home for Older PeOple, are
putting old age under the micrOBOOpe. The investigations will
include physical, nutritional, social, educational, and emo—
tional factors. Beside these eminent scholars, there is a
resident physician, four nurses, and a new hospital wing of
thirty-four rooms.

'A job for everyone“ is Moosehaven's philoBOphy. Near-
ly all the work is done by the folks themselves. Every per-
son able to work, helps. This provides occupational therapy
for the individuals and help for Moosehaven. Everyone re-
ceives some compensation for his labor. Those unable to do
physical work can be 'Sunshiners,‘ and they too receive some
compensation for being friendly and cheerful.2

The Hodson Community Center in New York has found a
program of activities that promotes continued use of skills

and talents suitable to the individual, and yet offers the

 

#1 The Moosehaven Research Laboratory at Orange Park,
Florida, began September, 1949, and is headed by Dr. Robert
W. Kleemeier, Northwestern University psychologist, and Dr.
Anton J. Carlson of the University of Chicago.

3 Dorothy Anderson, “Science May Yet Outwit Old Age,"
Moose Magazine, p. 7, March, 1950.

 

67
warm companionship of others. It has also found that such a
program will recover and reestablish a feeling of usefulness
and belonging. "A rediscovery of himself...as an integral
creative part of his times." There has never been an admis-
sion to a mental hospital in the six years Of existence of
this center for seven hundred members.
On the other hand is Dr. Bluestone's caustic comment
on institutional life:
summariseearnestness: . was.
stances an institution, and the general hospital is
included in this category, cannot help adding in-

sult to injury when a client is admitted, and the
home for the aged is no exception."4

The general attitude of Mayors and Chambers of Commerce
concerning the commitment of peOple to County Homes in seventy-
five communities was expressed by Schendel's, "To the County
Home to Die."5

That the aged do prefer social living and that the need
for companionship is their strongest expressed need, beyond

vegetative subsistence, was found by Clark Tibbitts6 in his

 

3 David Laurence, "What Is Case Work for the Aged?,"
Public Welfare, 7:188, October, 1949.

4 Dr. E. M. Bluestone, "Medical Care of the Aged,"
Journal 2; Gerontology, Vol. 4, No. 4:307, October, 1949.

5 G. Schendel, "To the County Home to Die," Colliers,
p. 15, October 8, 1949.

 

6 Clark Tibbitts, "Aging and Living," Adult Education
Bulletin, pp. 1-4, October, 1948.

68

study of the older peOple in Washtenaw County, Michigan, and

by John Griffin's thorough analysis of the living arrangements
of nineteen hundred old people in Somerville, Massachusetts.7
Only about 13 per cent lived alone. Institutions are the exact
Opposite of living alone, and yet the most lonely are found

in these two places. "Institutions represent the last desper-
ate resort," according to Griffin, because it means removal
from familiar old neighborhoods, acceptance of regimentation,
routine, and constant mingling with the terminally sick.

Ju Shu Pan also found the influence of institutionalism
deteriorates personality.8 I

According to the records, being in an institution and
living alone, two seemingly Opposities, shared the ignominy
of being the least desirable places to live. What have these
two extremities in common?

Through past experiences, the feeling of being alone in
an empty house in a period of illness with a lack of funds and
friends can be understood by almost everyone. During this ex-
perience, personality definitely changes. If no relief comes,
deterioration and apathy follow. At any age in life, there
will be a decay of personality when the physical, social, in-

 

‘7 John J. Griffin, "The Sheltering of the Aged," Journal

.gbeerontology, 5:31-45, January, 1950.

8 Ju Shu Pan, "A Study of the Influence of Institution-
alism on the Social Adjustment of Old PeOple," Journal 2:
Gerontolo , 5:276—280, March, 1948.

 

 

69

tellectual, and spiritual functions are not exercised. The
using of these combined functions is thought of, in this study,

as human exercise.

THE EXPERIMENT

The Problem

The conviction that lack of this human exercise was the
evil common to "living alone" and "institutionalism," the two
places where the most lonely and apathetic are found, motive»
ted a desire to explore homes for the aged to find if there
was relationship between the amount of human exercise and the

state of loneliness and apathy.

Description 2; the Home
A Home for Old PeOple in a city in Michigan was chosen

 

to furnish control data because it was a medium sized, modern,
recently built, church home. It housed about one hundred old
peOple, was financed by endowment and free will gifts, was
away from central meeting places yet inside the city limits,
had mostly paying members but some nonepaying, had one regis-
tered nurse (for children and old people), a chapel, a social
room, and spacious grounds. ’

It was assumed that this home was near the average in
size, location, equipment, and personnel, and that a three—

month prOgram, one day a week, could be developed that would

_g--_..‘-.‘ A‘t.‘ - nih-

'5‘”.

 

70
result in improvement in the mental and physical health of
its residents. The results of this program would be the basis
for determining the 'human exercise quotient" of other homes
for the aged to be visited later for comparison.

There were about seventy-five members, twenty of whom
were men living on the first floor. One couple, husband and
wife, also had a two room apartment on this floor. The second
floor was for women and the third floor was the hospital.
About 10 per cent were in the hospital or confined to their
rooms. The rooms were private with one exception where two
women shared a room. More than 50 per cent were over eighty
years of age.

The Home was under the supervision of a pastor, who had
been there for twenty-five years. He was appointed by a Church
Board. The building was intensively clean and coldly inviting.
The supervisor was OOOperative in a friendly, passive way, but
made no active contribution to the project beyond supplying
names of members he thought might be interested if contacted.
The office secretary found their room numbers. It was neces-
sary to plan and execute the experiment completely within the
existing schedule. The attitude of the supervisor was, "Most
of my peeple come here for rest. They are tired.‘I

The activities found in the Home were weekly church
services in the Chapel and visits from Women's auxiliaries in

the social room, which usually consisted of songs, announce-

 

‘S'T‘T‘T‘i

'

1.: .«n ‘st‘lib .A" "v.3 u-u "

 

 

 

s, 1.33 no-4
s l

71
ments, and a speech by the pastor. There was no mental activity
in which the residents of the home were other than observers.

A few helped occasionally in the kitchen or laundry room. The

 

nurse tried to help by encouraging handwork among the women
and bringing the necessary work materials to them as she came
past the stores on her way to the Home. For the men, there was t

nOthinge

Prgpgration.Period

Recorded observations of group situations (dining room,

I! l_ .-‘_:I-a . u‘.‘ e‘

sitting rooms, hallway standing waiting for meals) were made
the first day (Tuesday) and used as control data for this ex-
periment.
These group situation observations were recorded as:
(1) Changes in facial expression
(3) Conversation
(3) Physical activity
(4) Bodily posture
Among the men there was almost no changes in facial ex-
pression, very little notice of others entering or leaving,
and an occasional word of conversation, but no use of sentence
structure. There was some notice of presence of the observer
(woman) in downstairs living room where men generally eat, but
soon they looked out the window or Just sat. There was no

laughter, no smiles, no animation. The man whose wife also

73
lived there showed the most activity and spontaneity. One man
walked incessently up and down the hall.

There was more activity among the women and some visi-
tation as they came down the elevator for noon-day meal. But
then they lined up against the walls, dully waiting for the
dining room door to cpen. Inside, they moved as quickly as
possible to their places, a strong matron stoically and firmly
said grace, everyone ate, and the room was empty in twenty
minutes .

In the first afternoon, the research worker made five
room calls on those whose names had been suggested by the sup
pervisor. These contacts were made to

(l) establish rapport;

(2) discover past interests or activities through
personal articles in rooms, building, or grounds;

(3) gather other facts and ideas for future plans;

(4) find something in which at least two peeple were
interested on which to begin group work; and

(5) be constantly alert for possible leadership in
the group.

The observer's attitude in approaching these interviews
was, “Where they from their experience speak, and I from my
inexperience ask and answer.‘

Good rapport was established by asking these older
peeple for their guidance and assistance. The notes made from

the first day's contact show this:9

 

9 Names have been changed to protect identity.

73

Mr. Adams--First met walking to outside mail box.
Eighty-four years of age. Retired minister and
farmer. Would enjoy singing. Hymns preferred.
Reads music. Can sing tenor, bass, or seprano.
Need,mental activity.

Mr. Mills-~Met while visiting Mr. Adams. Rheumatic,
but able to walk with cane. He and wife have a
two room apartment. Attitude very normal and ex-
cellent. Has had his children and relatives pro-
vide entertainment at Home. Plans to have ano-
ther program on his birthday (Mother's Day) this
year. This might be a beginning for group activity.

 

‘rT—‘_.:—_—__—‘-’..t-*

Mrs. Mills--Called on her at husband's suggestion.
Friendly. Making a small rug. Has good health,
physical and mental. Active. Could be good group
worker. Took me to library, nurse's room (who
was out), and laundry room, where she was going
to iron. Doesn't think she could do anything in
group work because of lack of practice, but re-
fers constantly to her children and grandchildren
and their abilities to help on programs. Joins
with Mr. Mills in wanting a program on Mother's
Day.

_f'

'Tm——‘*

.1. ._

Mr. Neller—-New member of Home two weeks ago. Eighty-
two years old. Seems in good health. Talks of
his daughter's first visit from Cleveland in two
weeks. A little wistful and new. Seemed interes-

ted in singing with a men's group, but thought he
couldn‘t.

Mrs. Carl--Dowager type. Unusual mental abilities.
Had recently completed and published a family
history through assistance of a nephew. Formerly
liked to sing, but sang too loudly and was asked
to step. Loves music, but thinks she couldn't
contribute in that way anymore. Feels that with
so many personalities in the Home, little can be
done in group thinking. Liked praise of her his-
tory and request to display it. Her abilities
should be utilizedp-her forcefulness guided into
leadership channels.

As members gathered in the halls for the evening meal,

the observer met friends of those who had been interviewed in

74
the afternoon. This visitation made the waiting in line more
flexible and pleasant, and a little curiosity and interest were
aroused in other members.

It is evident that these folks have achieved in the past
but have been losers for such a long time that they will need
much and varied encouragement in order to try anything again.
If they can feel that they are only in a new community, rather

than outside of all communities, it will help.

 

The superintendent's comment was, "Communities have done ‘
little or nothing for their aged peOple. Old peeple trust no a—
one, or very few.‘

The second Tuesday's work was a continuation of private
visits to encourage acceptance of the idea that activity might
be possible or profitable and to stimulate more suggestions.

Another aim was to use the indirect method of guidance
and have the ideas come from the members themselves, from ac-
tivities they had previously enjoyed. This method took more
time and required more patient searching for avenues of ap-
proach. A diary report was written at the close of each day.
The one for the third Tuesday shows the trepidation and ex-
periences of exploring these unchartered depths of disused
abilities:

I left at 7:80 for the Evangelical Home with the
plans as outlined in last week's report. It is a good
thing to have plans written. It is quite another thing
to convert plans into flesh and blood. This process

 

 

1!." Us!”
.-
G 7

 

continually appalls me, and it never happens exactly
as planned. It is doubly true with this project--
trying to think with and beyond folks who have such

a store of past experiences and maturity. It is like
telling your parents how they should "bring you up.‘
Work and plans for children and young people can be
built upon one's own past experiences, but that is
not true in planning for the generation beyond you.
One senses a new meaning to the message of the latch-
less door, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.“

While searching for methods of approach, the idea
came to take a flower for each member of the Home as

an introduction to the group, so sweet peas, some fern,
and two packages of pins were purchased, although the

way to distribute them was left to be worked out after
reaching the Home.

On my arrival, the superintendent met me with a
cordial handshake. Some of his comments concerning
our present project were, "More than 50 per cent of
my people are over eighty years of age. Most of my
people have come here to rest. They are tired.“ I
liked the way that he said "my peonle.” I was not
sure that I liked the finality of 1'to rest' and ”are
tired.‘ Then another guest called and the superin-

tendent had to leave.

The flowers were still in the car. The first
Plan on my list said, “Contact the head nurse, as she
was mentioned by the Pastor as the one who had tried
to plan for some mental motivation in the past." I

inquired where she was, but none seemed to know.
'She could be anywhere in the building.” The building

is a three story structure covering more than an acre
or ground.

Most of the next hour led me through a modern laun-
dry, kitchen, chapel, heating plant, gymnasium, music
practice rooms, auditorium, a children's dinning room,
and one for adults. Then I came to a small library
that had a sign on the door, "Open Thursday, Friday,
and Saturday afternoons.‘ Through the glass it looked
a little too neatly kept, too new and unused.

On the second floor, my coming surprised a little
aged lady dressed in blue who was emptying her waste
basket. I smiled and began chatting with her. In a

 

 

few minutes she was visiting easily. Two other el-
derly women came around the corner, and she called
to them in such a happy voice, "Come here and meet
this friend who came right up and talked to me."
Within a few minutes, one was telling about the daily
housekeeping tasks that she was doing, and the other,
Mrs. Ring, when asked about her youthful looks, said
that she would have a birthday April 25. Mrs. Timer,
who peeked out a door and was invited to join us,
said that she had thought about having a Ladies' Club.
As we walked toward the ladies' parlor, a slow-minded

woman, who has been a helper in the Home for twenty-
six years, joined the group.

Birthdays seemed to be a good topic of conversa-
tion, and one woman knocked on doors as we passed,
calling out two women, whom she introduced, and asked
for their birthdates as we all slowly walked toward
the parlor. Two women there, dejectedly sitting at
different ends of the room, stirred a little and
then looked up with mingled surprise and a little
suspicion. Walking over to the further one, and fol-
lowed by the group, we asked if she had seen the head
nurse, then began telling her about "all these birth-
dates' we had collected. She smiled as we wrote down
here, and the woman in the other end of the room
slipped halfway around the room in curiosity, so we
included her. The list was handed to the one who
seemed the most aggressive and she was selected, by
suggestion of the visitor and node from the women,

to try to get all the birthdays for April. By that
time it was 10:45.

The mid-day meal is at eleven o'clock and from
twelve to two is the rest period. The head nurse
sleeps during that time, so I made short calls on
some of my friends of last week: Mr. and Mrs. Mills
and Mr. Adams. The two men were not so well as be-
fore. Mr. Mills was walking with a crutch and cans
because of arthritis. Mr. Adams was mentally depressed
and feels that his usefulness is entirely passed so
would welcome release from this life.

Mr. Charles, just across the hall from Mr. Adams,
came out of his room and inquired about his neighbor's
welfare. His speech and manner were highly cultured.

He is a retired attorney with musical (piano) training,
and was formerly an accompanist for his wife, an ac-

76

 

77

complished singer until her death. He may be the
possible leader for the men. Next week will give
more information about him.

A small man walked incessantly up and down the
hall. After he had passed a number of times, I
talked to him about hiking as soon as the weather
was warmer. He spoke eagerly about taking walks.
Later two other men referred to him as the “walker."

I shall try to see him next week.

 

Five minutes after two o'clock, I knocked on the
head nurse's door. She was hardly awake as she ad-
mitted me, but insisted that I stay, saying that she
should be up at two. She was an attractive, inter-
esting, mature woman. We had an hour conference in
which she told of many things she had tried to do
for the people there. The more able of the women
are invited to assist her occasionally in serving
for special groups, and last Christmas at their ens

tertainment a few of the women did extemporaneous
The men find

singing, speaking, and a little jig.
it more difficult to adjust. They do very little
visiting, but occasionally listen to the ball games

on the radio in their own parlor, where they sit
stiff against the wall without comment. This situav

tion troubles her, but she has no solution.

We then visited her "shut-in" women. Mrs. Made,
very overweight, is trying to reduce and needs daily
light treatments. Her hand-made bed spreads, baby
jackets, laces, and doilies would excite the envy of

any art shop. This refined educated lady doesn't
like to “just sit around. " She would enjoy discussion

groups.
Mrs. Sander, a little German Grandmcther, eighty-
seven years old, when visited became happy and gay

about getting dizzy and falling out of the elevator
on her way to dinner, showed us how she could still

dance a little with her one good foot, while both
bandaged wrists and one wrapped foot were waiting to

get well.

A snow-white-haired woman, that hated white hair,

extremely depressed and lonely shared adjoining rooms
with a stolid Matilda, who co uld speak bo h German and

English, but who spoke German mostly because her com-

 

78

panion spoke only English and they were not too
compatible. This case merits more study and help.
A determined planned effort to save the mind of
this depressed woman is needed. She has been there
only since September and isn't able to adjust as

yet.

Millie, a fifty-seven year old child with an
eight year develOpment in mind and body, cherished
and protected by a noted father and his wife while
they lived, is really a misplaced member of this
Home. She has her meals in her room. It would seem
that she should be in another institution.

During our trip, the distribution of the flowers
I had brought was discussed, and it seemed best to
distribute them at the evening meal--at each place
in the dining room and on the trays for the shut-
ins. Preparing them was a happy experience.

The next day a followbup Birthday greeting let-
ter, with return stamped envelope, was sent to Mrs.
Ring and repeated the suggestion that because of
the interest she exhibited in birthdays, she might
be able to find the names and dates of all, both
men and women, who have a birthday in April, and
we would meet next Tuesday for an April Birthday
Visit. She is to notify the peeple and I will
bring light refreshments. She is to answer my let-

ter with her decision.

Plans for Next Week:

(1) Get cepies of questionnaire mimeographed.

(2) Secure cepy of Family History from Miss
Carl for class display. Secure a few
samples of craft work from others.

(3) Contact Mr. Charles about music and ques-
tionnaire.

(4) Locate and visit “the walker.“

(5) Visit Mr. Adams for mental stimulation in
some way. .

(6) Visit 'white—haired' lady and try to find
some way for relief for her depressive

state.

79
(7) Work with Birthday results from Mrs.
Ring.

Effectiveness 9; Program

The conditions did not make it possible to have experi-
mental and control groups. The comparison of the behavior ob-
served during the first two weeks with that during the last
few weeks was the measure of effectiveness.

Change in the desired direction was assumed to be evi-
dence of the positive effect of the program.

Favorable response was judged by:

(1) Increased conversation with members, experi-
menter, visitors, and staff.

(2) Increased participation in the activities pro-
vided.

(3) Initiative and imagination in suggestions for
new activities.

(4) Improved personal habits-—more baths and rooms
ready for callers.

(5) ReOOgnition of other residents' worth.

(6) More signs of expressions to direct their own
lives.

Visitation was continued throughout the project. Out-
side community, world, and weather tOpics were introduced
whenever possible. Some of the activities suggested by the
members were:

(1) Remembering Birthdays

(2) Group singing of old favorite hymns and songs

80
(3) Story telling and travel talks
(4) Games such as flinch and checkers
(5) Spelling Bees

(6) Research study on civic affairs, public of-
ficials, and voting

(7) Hiking and trips

(8) Study and discussion groups on history and
missions

(9) Exhibitions of members' collections (hobbies).

Efforts were made to help members carry out their

own suggestions. Evidence of this is given in the diary re-
cord of the April Birthday Party:

All members having birthdays in April had been
contacted by Mrs. Ring and other women she had asked
to help. (List was checked at office to be sure no
one was omitted.) Dishes, napkins, card tables, and
the largest private room were reserved by committee
of women guided by head nurse. Zither music and group
singing was chosen for the first part of program.
White cake decorated with pink rosebuds and fruit
cocktail would be furnished by experimenter. Nine.
ladies were at the party and two shut-ins who couldn't
come sent extra chairs and good wishes. The group
took them cake, fruit, and a lighted candle during
the party.

One April man, who was thought visiting away from
the Home, arrived that afternoon but didn t want to
come to the Women‘s Party. A committee, accompanied
by the experimenter and nurse, knocked at his door
with refreshments and candle, and sang ”Happy Birthday
to You.“ He was so surprised that he stood stiffly
at attention and never moved a muscle. Then everyone
laughed and explained what was happening. He invited
them inside and after a short enjoyable visit, the
committee reported back to the group.

Another interesting 'find“ came as the experi-
menter, who in order to assist with the serving, laid

- -11. (”A 4.. "‘J‘m. I d

81

the zither down on the lap of one member who had
sung well. Someone started humming '0 Du Lieber
Augustine,“ others joined, and the woman with the
zither drew her fingers across the strings. When
showed how to operate the chord bars, and assisted
by the nurse who sat beside her, she played and

the group sang several old songs. (They were
working together and liking it.) Then she sang
Schubert's "Heiden Rosen” and Brahm's "Cradle ong.“

Visiting the shut-in unreachable men was the most dif-
ficult activity of all, but the experimenter had promised to
I try because several men had become so intensely depressive and
apathetic that they were approaching removal to another insti-
tution. One of the men seldom slept, but formerly had played
Flinch. The visits to four of these men are recorded from

the daily diary:

After lunch most of the members na until two
o'clock, but as I walked past the men s parlor the
“sleepless" man sat gazing out of the rain-soaked
window across the wet lawn that stretched away to
the clump of bushes lining the boulevard. Buses
passed occasionally, and one turned around and
parked on the opposite side before starting back.
I walked to the window and talked of the grass
growing greener and the expanse of lawn that could
be used for outside enjoyment when warm weather
came. Nature or an accident had made the man's
back different, and I thought of the Hunchback of
Notre Dame. He had a strong square face, but
talked frettingly about the weather, the inconve-
nience of etting away, and most of all about the
fact that he bus insisted on parking behind the
bushes making it difficult for him to watch it.
The rain dripped from the trees. I suggested that
we play Flinch or Pedro on the wide window sill.
He sat quietly for a long five minutes and then
said, 'Go upstairs and try to get the women to
play. They might like it.“ He was still gazing
out of the window at the bus in the rain when I
passed by a half hour later.

"I’

‘3 4—». .MMM .m—gm- “an

82
Mr. Adams had fallen during the week. A bruised
forehead and a three inch cut in his head made par-
tioipat ion in any interest group a future experi-
ment, but we had a bri ht exchange of repartee about
his assailant (a table . He really seemed less
melancholy than on previous visits and even suggested

that. he would like to have the men try an Old Fashioned
Spelling Bee for entertainment.

A few doors away was Mr. Hoover's room, a paralytic
whom I had visited once before. He was better and
managed to tell me that his name was John Plover in-
stead of Hoover. He told me that he felt better but
that he never could use his right hand again. Mr.
Adams had told me that Mr. Plover had been a minis-
ter in northern Michigan, so I suggested a game of
Elinch. He tried hard to remember how to play it,
and we enjoyed trying together. I won the first
game. He won the second and third. From the middle
of the second game, he began occasionally to trans-

fer some cards over to his right hand and after
several attempts, managed to grip them in his fin-
gers. He was winning in more than cards.

Mr. Charles, the retired attorney who played the
piano, mentioned on page 76, was slowly recovering
from the effects of pneumonia, heart trouble, and
arthritis. He became interested and showed me some
of his writings--theses, he called thew-concerning
needed improvements in our government structure.
Together we tried to think of some definite plan on
which to start group work, but he felt that "These
men can, and will, contribute very little."

The clock chimed five. My zither, that needed
tuning, and I came home quietly.

“Whew! Lazarus Is Not Dead, He Sleepeth.‘

Those were the words that came to me as exhausted,
baffled, and almost stymied I closed. my day's work
with the men--a day spent in seeking for ways and
trying out avenues to awaken desire to participate in
some group thinking and activity that would cultivate
friendships and dispel the mind isolation that en-
tombs so many. Men who have managed important parts
of the world in the past, with ideas of rest and se-
curity in their last years, now having found both,

.I" #1...- .n- _II'A- --.

1'

 

 

83
discover that they have forgotten, or never knew,
how to play with or enjoy other peOple just as
friends, instead of co-workers or competitors.
After a careful study of their abilities and limitap
tions, a general questionnaire to find the needs and desires

of these peOple did not seem feasible, so whenever an interest

was found, follow-up letters were sent. For example:

- gar-rt".

(1) Miss Carl was asked for information on the E
preparation and permission to use her family 5
history book. i

(2) Mr. Adams, who suggested a Father and Son Ban- i
quet,_was requested to contact and return names
of other men who might help.

‘7. ‘n—w—T ' L
I

(3) Mrs. Good (the white-haired lady,referred to on
page 77, whose only shown interest was in chil-
dren) was asked for ideas about making puzzles
for sick children by mounting pictures from
magazines and cutting them.

(4) Letters of appreciation for things already
done by members and requests for further sug-
gestions.

A Six Member Planning Group was an example of movement
toward group coOperation. Two men and four women came. This
group met at the close of the sixth week of work and planned
a group program for the following week. The meeting accom-
plished three immediate visible results:

(1) One mixed gathering.

(2) Mr. Charles and Miss Carl, excellent leaders in
the past, had met for the first time and had ex-

perienced working together for a common good.

(3) The library had been opened for meetings and used
by the older peOple for the first time.

84
The successful carry-over of this planning group can

be estimated from the diary account of their executed program:

I found the library unlocked at one-thirty, and
wondered if there would be a half dozen there at the
two o'clock meeting. There were three tables in the
library with three chairs on each side of the tables.
I arranged six of the chairs in a semi-circle near
the door, cpened the window, and waited. At five
minutes of two, three ladies came. They looked un-
easy and out of their accustomed habitat as they
came to the door. A few minutes of friendliness
put them more at ease and by that time several other
peOple came, including Mr. Charles. When Mrs. Mills

. saw him she said, “My goodness! I wish I'd brought
Mr. Mills.“ Mr. Charles offered to go after him,
and did. By the time they returned, there were
twelve others there. I had to hurry and re-arrange
the chairs in a circle around the outside of the
tables. Thrilling, excited little chills ran up
and down me as each new arrival met others, almost
suspiciously at first, and with a strangeness as to
what was happening. -Still they kept coming. We sang
choruses while the folks were arriving, favorites as
they were suggested by members of the group, and by
the time all were seated, we felt like a party.
There were only eighteen chairs, and when an extra
lady came, Miss Carl, who always knows what to do,
eat on a table. _

We decided together that instead of calling a roll
we would pass a paper around and each put our name on
it. Then I turned the meeting over to Mr. Charles.
He confessed that he had been invited out to dinner
on the night he was to have listened to the radio
broadcast on which he was to report. He had asked
Mr. Mills to listen in for him, and Mr. Mills had tried
to but had fallen asleep and couldn't remember any of
the report. We all had a good laugh and then talked
about the general idea of having a club or group
gathering regularly. It seemed best to meet at least
twice a month so we wouldn't forget, and then they
decided to meet every Tuesday at two o'clock until we
decided otherwise.

Among the suggestions offered for future gatherings
was group singing, and two women offered to get song

8‘... 'MH--Iw-L- I

T

85

books from the chapel which we could use. Another
suggested a missionary study. This suggestion was
followed by one by Mrs. Socks that we have studies
but that they should be about something besides
religion, probably history. She had been keeping
history clippings of early Detroit for the last
fifty years. (When I went to her room after the
meeting, she showed me two very large scrap books,
one of news articles and another of pictures.)

She offered to bring her pictures for exhibition,
but the lady who had requested missionary study

said she thought all the members had seen the early
Detroit pictures. Then Mrs. Grimes told us that _
her niece had just arrived in Detroit on a furlough
from work in China and had planned to visit her soon.
She would ask her niece to make the visit next Tues-
day and tell us of her work. This was accepted by
the group as the main part of our next week's pro-
gram. Mrs. Noon and Mrs. Jackson, whom we nick-
named "Mrs. Jax," were to bring song books and se-
lect the songs. The serving of refreshments was
discussed, but it was decided that because dinner
was served at five o'clock, it would be better to
use all out-time--S:OO to 3:15—-for meetings. We
all joined hands in our circle, sang one verse of
"Blest Be the Tied That Binds,I and prayed the Lord's
Prayer as a closing to our meeting. Mr. Charles
and Mr. Mills hurried away to hear their 3:30 broad-
cast, but others lingered and seemed to enjoy un-
hurried fellowship as they moved slowly down the
halls.

The Eloise Hospital Lecture was a develOpment from the
May Meeting. This was a substitute lecture because the woman
from China had another engagement. The substitution was ar-
ranged by the woman who had been made responsible for the
speaker. [Group singing preceded the lecture.

The next meeting had to be discontinued because a Woman's
Auxiliary had arrived without notification and the members of

the Home were supposed to be the audience.

86

The Study of China showed further develOpment in group
participation. Preliminaries of this meeting included reading
of a poem, exhibition of a command invitation issued by Kaiser
Wilhelm to one of the women on her former trip to Europe, and
his autographed picture presented to her at the time of the
visit.

After much discussion, it was voted to hold the next
regular indoor meeting the first Tuesday in September, having
special outdoor gatherings occasionally during the summer.

Mr. Charles suggested that at our next Program we should di-
vide into four groups: The Bible, Parents, Community, and
the Boy, and discuss from two angles, punishment and protec-
tion, the case of a boy from Imlay City who had recently shot
four of his companions. Then we listened to a forty-five
minute description of the back countries of China. The speaker
had lived there for several years and was going back. This
was a long meeting, but nobody seemed to mind and all lingered
for another half hour visiting, taking up an offering for the
bus expense of their speaker, and expressing appreciation for
the three months they had spent working together.

Near the close of this research experiment, four col-
lege women who had heard about the project offered their help

to continue the work.

Conclusion

This three month study was made to find if there was a

 

8?
relationship between the amount of mental, physical, and spiri-
tual exercise and the state of loneliness or apathy. Original-
ly it was planned to include all seventy-five members, but be-
cause of limited time, cOOperation, and facilities, only about
sixty people were contacted. Of these about twenty-five ac-
tively participated. The others were spectators. Some lea-
dership develOped. This sometimes showed growth and sometimes
emphasized the disintegration that had occurred in the indi-
vidual. I

In the aggregate there seemed to be a gain in attitude
toward the future,conversation with members and staff, laughter
was heard in the halls occasionally, there was less staring
blankly into space, and they liked each other better for having
met and sang together.

Those who had contributed most seemed to be the least
lonely, and the majority wished to continue future planning.
This seems to affirm that a simple program can be devised and
carried out by members of Old PeOple's Homes and that some
loneliness and apathy can be relieved by exercising the human

faculties in a three-month project.

OTHER HOMES VISITED

Other communities have developed programs for older
people--programs designed to counteract the tendency for older

Persons to become increasingly inactive and isolated.

 

88
One experiment by the extension workers of the Univer-
sity of Michigan in the restoration and preservation of per-
sonality in the aged at the leshtenaw County Infirmary was
outstanding in this respect.10
Donahue found this institution filled with chronically
ill, defeated, fearful, insecure, old people. They had I.

strong sense of personal inferiority and were deeply ashamed
that they were no longer financially able to take care of

Allah r.“ 14"“... _

themselves. They had lost their own sense of personal worth
and appeared passive and disinterested in life.

rm trained observers spent their first thirty hours
recording observation, which showed a 'shocking degree of
deprivation and deterioration of personality.' This record
was used as control data for an intensive three month experi-
mental activity program to stimulate the residents physically
and psychologically toward greater happiness and better per-
sons]. adjustment. A second objective was to stimulate com-
munity interest so that some permanent program would continue.
I Members of the newly organised Ann Arbor Senior Citi-
sens' Club, students in training in occupational therapy at
the Michigan State Normal College of Education, students of
Recreation, the local Garden Club, and other groups helped.

Some of the projects were:

(1) The weekly newspaper (Iashtenav Home Sunshine

 

1° Wilma Donahue, Coordinator, 1510 Rackhem Building,
Ann Arbor, Michigan.

89

Weekly) which used reporters, newswriters,
poems, jokes, riddles, and general obser-
vation.

(2) Articles made--dish gardens, rugs, mats, pot
holders, slippers, etc.

(3) A garden project of flower and vegetable plots,
a combined group of the men of the home and
members of the Garden Club working together.

(4) Movies of history, science, agriculture,
foreign countries and customs, travel, music,
sports, parks, animals, and comedy (created
the most anticipation).

s.‘ i4?'

(5) Auction sale: (Created most interest and first
bursts of laughter) Articles in excellent cons
dition collected from community--suits, dresses,
coats, shirts, ties, slips, jewelry, books, etc.
were on sale by a good auctioneer. One hundred
and fifty dollars of paper money purchased at
the toy counter was distributed to each person.
"At the end of the sale they went back to their
rooms with loaded arms and it was not until
after midnight, when all the new possessions
had been examined and tried on, that the lights
went out."

'“TT‘ . .

(6) Weekly parties in winter; picnics in summer with
outdoor games.

(7) Picture-taking project.

(8) Off-campus activities--movie party, private in-
vitations took several of the residents fishing
and to ballgames.

To compare homes for the aged using the Home described
in the first part of this chapter as control data, visits to
the following were made:

(1) Three county infirmaries

(2) One fraternal home

(3) Two religious homes

90
(4) Three privately owned homes for women
(5) One privately owned camp for men

Only one visit was made to each establishment. The in-
formation was gathered from the supervisors, a few members,
and general observation.

From these comparisons, shown in Table III on next page,
it was assumed that the political—controlled County Infirmaries
were the most restricted and resulted in the greatest defeat
in personalities, and that very little was attempted to pre—
serve, use, or develOp maturity in many homes for the aged.

The Home listed on the Table as Religious No. l was the
control group. It seemed, from the compilation, that it ap-
proximated the average in size, adjustment, and opportunities
for further maturity. It also confirmed the thesis that a
program can be devised in any institution for the aged, which
would result in improvement in mental and physical health of

the aged.

Of the two methods of approach, indirect in the Religious

Home11 and direct in the Washtenaw County Infirmaryz, both
seemed effective in relieving loneliness and apathy. Both
helped reestablish interest, curiosity, and ability, and a re—
liable comparison of their value could not be ascertained from

the data.

 

llffxperiment on page 69.

12 Experiment on page 88.

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HHH MAm<H

CHAPTER V

A CASE STUDY OF AN OLD MAN TRYING TO FIND
A PERMANENT JOB

Recently, newspapers and periodicals have emphasized
the preparation for and the use of the older years of life.

Attendance at lectures and panel discussions on how to
add life to the added years shows growing interest among older
peOple themselves in the art of continuing maturity.

Of all the changes which age brings--physical slowing,
reactions to aging, loss of old friends, children and spouse,
loss of home, loss of health, and loss of occupation-~reclaiming
of the last one has the most potentialities of being a panacea
for the others.

Work with pay maintains one's self respect, gives sus-
tenance, relief from too deep concentration on sorrow, loneli-
ness, and health, and provides for a home, however simple.
These rewards are the roots of our culture.

Urban life seems to reward youth and reject age. This
appears to be especially true in the field of employment.

It was the object of this study to find some of the

problems that age encounters in seeking employment.

Technigues
In order to help determine the actual experiences that

confront an older adult seeking employment, a single case was

 

e- use—m

. III!" II]. All" i

 

 

.I)Iu\n.n.ll..i.F§-s? .
e .
3i
/

93
selected and close personal observation and concentrated ac-
tivity was used by the experimenter, Mrs. A, to help find work
for this case by contacting and directing him to employment
agencies, Old Age Assistance, Red Cross, and Veterans Organi-
zations; in seeking the advice and assistance of local leaders
of panel discussions and lectures on Old Age; in visiting or-

ganizations and agencies with jobs that could be done by less

_“nl ‘II A-‘_’_.‘-u.5

active workers, such as janitor work, handy man, watchman,
keeper-of-grounds, inter-office mail; in conversation and
phoning among individuals, friends, and neighbors; and by the
use of newspaper want—ads, letters, and interviews.

A visit to any Old Age Assistance waiting room will
show many cases similar to this one, and as no previous com-
parable experiment was found among recorded literature, it was
assumed that this case was typical of many of our 11,500,000
older people, especially those whose greatest handicap is
chronological years.

A day by day record was kept for simplicity of language
and to retain as much warmth of personality as possible. Wa-
terman says, 'One of the greatest boons that has ever been
conferred on human life is the growing sacredness of persona-
lity . The increasing lack of this trait is an ominous sign

of our times.'1 We are afflicted with assembly-line movement.

 

l Leroy Waterman, Religion and Religious Observance
(Clark Tibbitts, editor, Living Through the Older Years, Ann
Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1949), p. 105.

 

 

 

 

r [1.73.31 .Eirnm./
I 4/

94
‘We watch and move with kleig-light massiveness. We see the
crowd but not the person. The intent of this study was to see

the person.

Early one snowy February morning, John was walking west

along M978 carrying a heavy black bag. Four inches of freezing

slush on the pavement and his white hair influenced Mr. and
Mrs. A, driving to Kalamazoo, to offer him a ride. His hands

were bare and his feet were wet. He brushed the snow from his

‘bag, shook his hat and collar, and climbed into the back seat. '“
Bits of conversation during the two hours ride to Kala-
mazoo disclosed that John was seventy-five years old and had
lived in Petoskey for twenty-eight years. He had been married
for over forty-eight years. He was married at about twenty-five
years of age. His only relatives were one daughter, married
and living in Denver with her husband, a salesman, and three
children of early teen-age. He said that he missed his wife,
who had always out his hair and made his sweaters. She had
been ill for two years with heart trouble and had died shortly
before Christmas. The expenses of illness and burial took
their small home and furniture. Her last few months had called
for constant care, so John had lost his job as boiler engineer
at a hospital and home for the aged. ’

After selling his home and furniture to pay hospital

95
and funeral expenses, he was unable to find another job. The
Sisters of the institution, where he formerly worked, wrote
to several other institutions trying to locate a job for him.
An answer came from South Bend that work of a similar nature
was available there, so John left Petoskey with $4 for South
Bend ( a distance of over 325 miles) and was working for his
food at odd jobs, sleeping in bus stations, and hitchhiking.

Peering intently through the storm, Mr. A mentioned
that he had a headache and John said, "Maybe you didn't have
any breakfast. If you stOp, I will buy you a cup of coffee.
I still have a dollar left.“ He pulled a crumpled bill out
of his vest pocket and offered it over the back seat, but Mr.
A smiled appreciatively and said that he had just had break-
fast and would wait until he reached Kalamazoo.

When they arrived there, the storm had increased and
Mr. and Mrs. A bought John a bus ticket to South Bend, gave
him money for supper and breakfast, their card, and best wishes
for success in his new location.

A few days later, the A's received a card of thanks
postmarked South Bend saying that John had arrived and was re-
porting for work the next day.

On Saturday morning, ten days later, John came to the
A residence stating that the job at South Bend had called for
an engineer's license issued in Indiana. He had had no funds

available and another applicant had, so John lost the Opportunity.

 

“.a" . 1.4a

.lu‘h Lani. will
I.
a;
/
I!

 

96

He had worked at odd jobs for food and then started for
Detroit, where someone had told him he might find work. He
had tried for jobs in each town as he passed, with no success.
Too many younger men out of work. Friday and Saturday morning,
on his way to the A residence, he applied for work at the
United States Employment Office in their city, at one of the
city hospitals, and at a drive-in restaurant.

Locating nothing, he thought he would locate the A's,

-‘._n 7" f. .:__.-..q
. s j . _ .

thank them for their previous kindness, and resume his hike

toward Detroit. He was again penniless, had worked for his

'5‘... .. nil-_n_

breakfast, and had slept in the bus station the night before.
But he was sure that in a city as big as Detroit, someone
would 'find out that he could work."

It was Saturday--not a good day to contact business
places and offices. After consideration, John was given work
for the day painting A's screens. He was furnished a cot in
the furnace room and his meals until Monday, when phone calls
and contacts could be made for possible work placement.

John was a good worker. He shoveled snow from the
walks and brought twenty-eight screens from the garage to the
basement, gave the frames a coat of paint on both sides, and
replaced them in the garage in two days of eight hours each.

It was found that he was of German-Bohemian descent, a
Catholic, could read and write fairly well, a United States

citizen, a former boiler engineer, general handyman, carpenter,

97

painter, and construction hand. He smoked a pipe occasionally,
was quiet, unobtrusive, and had a droll quaint humor as he
told about his sore toe due to too much hiking.

His pay was $.75 an hour plus board and cot. He was
anxious to find a permanent job in an institution where board
and room would be available--but most of all he wanted work-- b
any kind of work that would pay for board, lodging,and clothes.
He had good health and eyesight, didn't wear glasses, had keen 3
hearing, no teeth, but a good sense of humor. j

Sunday afternoon Mrs. A called a friend, a professor J
in the Adult Department of a nearby college, stating John's
case. The professor suggested that the Secretary of the City's
Combined Social Agencies, Supervisor of College's Buildings and
Grounds, Old Age Assistance, or the local church might help.

Monday forenoon John washed windows for Mrs. A. Mrs. A
phoned to all places recommended by the professor and made ap-
pointments.

Monday afternoon John made calls with the following re-
sults:

1:10 Old Age Assistance: Room full of applicants.
John was to come back about three o'clock.

1:30 Local church office (Protestant) for custodian
help: The office called custodian, but he was
out right then. John could call later.

2:00 College, Director Building and Grounds: “Part
of the veteran's village is being discontinued
and this situation is causing reallotment of
workers from that area." Director will try to
think of some personal work John could do and

2:30

2:45

5:00

98

will call him. "Hard to place man over
seventy years.“

John said that he had intended to say that
he was sixty, but when the Director asked his
age he couldn't lie.

Back to the local Church Office: The main
custodian had left word at the office that
there was no work.

Catholic Rectory: Priest had gone for two days
to attend funeral of a brother. John could
come back Wednesday or later.

‘ _‘Ilbdv -mhr~. in

Old Age Assistance: John filled out an appli-
cation. They will send a letter to Petoskey

,for verification of the age of the applicant,

and recommended that since John had served ;
forty-two months in World War I, he should be hm
eligible for a non-service pension. John be-
lieved that during the years since the war,
maybe in the selling and moving of his fur-
niture, his discharge papers were lost. So
further recommendation was that he visit the
Red Cross office and see if he could get help
in finding a record of his discharge. The

Old Age visitor encouraged and praised John
for his determination to get work and remain
independent. When he mentioned all the places
he had tried, and asked if she knew of any
job, however small, that he might do she an-
swered “We are so busy with our work here,

we can‘t think of employment." Then added
that if Assistance was available to John, he
should receive it about the first of May.

While John was in the interviewing room,
Mrs. A quietly told the receptionist that
"Work'I was the thing John wanted most. The
answer, given in an off-handed manner, showed
that such a request had long ceased to regis-
ter any importance or even regret, 'Oh, they
all ask for work.” The tone and attitude
said that for them the matter was satisfac-
torily closed.

Of the prcposed visit to the Red Cross,

Rue ’5’...sz- PA
I!"
/

t

 

John answered, "If you put a five dollar bill
in their hand, they might do something."

4:30 Catholic Social Service: They promised to
write to two institutions (Sisters of the Poor)
in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Bloomington,
Illinois. They thought one of these homes
could use John, but board and room only are
given for work there.

John told Mrs. A that he had once applied
at such a place but, "Once you enter, you can't
go away again. I'd rather die on the street

than to go there."

John was depressed when the day was over.

u w n .v .M- w -4... —‘.,_.i_.~-. i...-

Tuesday

John was unfamiliar with phones and the dial system con-
fused him, so he painted the walls, ceiling, and cupboards
(approximately 550 sq. ft.) of a hall at the A residence, while
Mrs. A phoned. Two private residences (neighbors) and a school
were called for possible work; also the Red Cross was asked
what information John should bring to facilitate the duplica-
tion of his Veteran's discharge papers.

There was no work available at the school. The two
neighbors could think of nothing for John at the present, but
would call if they needed help later toward spring.

The Red Cross seemed anxious to help and asked John to
call there and they would help him fill out a request for his
service papers and non-service pension. They also suggested)
calling the Employment Office and asking for an appointment

with the man in charge of Veteran's Affairs.

100

The Office in charge of Veteran's Affairs seemed in-
terested and,when told John had tried twice for work at the
Employment Office, tried to find.under what code John was regis-
tered. Finally, unable to do that with only John's name, he
asked for the number on John's employment card. When Mrs. A
called John and asked for the number, John simply said, "I
tore it up. I had been there twice and they wouldn‘t do
nothing." Mrs. A tried to convince him that the man in the
Veteran's Office there was really interested now, but John
hotly answered, "I don't want to have anything to do with them.‘I
Then he paused and added stolidly and quietly, "Don't feel
hard about me, Mrs. A, but I have been there twice. You don't
know, but when you're poor and have no home address, they
treat you like a dog." His pained eyes showed that further
persuasion, at that time, was useless.

A woman enthusiast in organizing old age groups, who
owned two retailing establishments, was next contacted for
possible painting, cleaning, or repair possibilities. She
said that her brother did all that work for her.

John finished painting the hall, two coats including
the ceiling, in eight hours. He was proud of well-done work,
received a check of $12 for this and past work, and looked
forward to painting woodwork the next day. John's paint brushes
were well kept, and there was no cleaning to do after he fi-

nished a job.

*lm ._. 4

101
Wednesday
John enameled woodwork in the hall and two closets and
' painted the closet walls. -
Mrs. A placed two advertisements in the local paper.
One read, "Clean, fast painting, $1 an hour, or by the job."

The other, "Experienced caretaker or general handyman wants

«any.

permanent job. Phone--."

.4“...—

Then she remembered that she had listened to the head
of the Adult Education Center and the Director of the Council
of Social Agencies discuss ”Older Age and Its Needs“ on a city
meeting panel two weeks before. Believing they could help,
she phoned, giving the nature and need of the case. The first
man seemed very interested, but explained that he was just
leaving for an interview and would call back in two hours--
took name and phone number, but hasn't called yet. The other
couldn't think of any immediate help, but recommended Old Age
Assistanbe, Employment Office, and would call if he could think
of any other Opportunity. He also hasn't called.

Thursday

John painted woodwork upstairs. No answer came to the
advertisements. Mrs. A phoned two more private homes. One
lady, Mrs. R, said that she had three rooms upstairs to decorate
and asked John to come to see her after work about five o'clock.

The interview at five develOped the following plans:

103

The would begin work next Wednesday and continue the rest of the
week. His noon meal would be furnished as this home was in the
suburbs.

On his way back from this interview, John asked for work
amt several gas stations. One said, "Come in Monday morning.

We may want a permanent man."

Friday ?
John painted the stairway at A's. Two answers came to

'the annertisements. One woman wanted.papering done, but John

said.that he couldn't do that well without equipment, and would in
rather not do a bad job. The other needed a handyman around a

restuarant and bar, and asked John to come for an interview

Monday afternoon. Then a neighbor, Mrs. M, called for John to

;paint several days week after next, and she would give him

room and board as she lived in the country.

§s£2£§sx

John, bright and early, shoveled snow from 7:30 to 8:30;
then, with a $30.75 paycheck for his week's work, started to
find a room. A modest one, centrally located, was found for
$4 a week. It would be ready Monday, so John returned to the
A residence with a gift box of mints for the family and offered
to work Sunday free for the money and ride that had been given
him when he first met the A's. He also needed a room until

his was ready. He was jubilant and talkative, and said that

103
he wanted to work everyday. Work, he said, kept him from
thinking too much of the past, and he couldn't go to church
with the clothes he had.

Sunday

He enameled nine windows and a French door in the dining
room. His quaint droll humor and relaxed friendly face was an
interesting study as he worked and refused offers of pay. The
work was finished about two o'clock. Then he did a small wash-
ing, shaved, bathed, rested, slept, and played solitaire to
finish the day.

Mondaye—Second Week
His former hesitant step had changed to a stride. He
fed crumbs from the breakfast table to the birds and whistled
for a black dog nearby to share a scrap of toast. A safety
pin held his collar points neatly together under a bright clean
tie. He re-examined, satisfactorily, his paint and enamel work;
then he left to check on the gas station appointment, take his
bag to his new room, and go to the place needing the handyman.
Monday evening John trudged back about five o'clock.
The gas station man had hired a younger man. The restaurant
manager said that he, himself, hadn‘t answered any ad and didn't
need any help. No one there could be found who had asked John
to report. Then he had gone to his landlady's and she had

given him back his $4 because she didn't want to rent the room

 

104

for one week only. John ate the evening meal with the A's.
.About.seven o'clock, the neighbor for whom he was to paint
Wednesday phoned that she had decided to wait until warmer
~weather when she could move the furniture out on the airing
porch.

The A's invited John to stay with them for the night
and.paint the kitchen walls and ceiling while more work leads

could.be found. 5

Tuesday
John gave the kitchen its first coat, and in the eve- T
'ning Mrs. M., who was going to have her painting done the fol-
lowing week, visited the A's, looked over the paint jobs, and
met John. When she found that John's work with Mrs. R had‘

been postponed, she asked him to do her work a week earlier.

Wednesday
The kitchen was painted its second coat,and in the eve-
ning John, leaving his bag at the A residence, went to Mrs. M's,

'where he worked on screens and painting woodwork until Saturday

noon.

During this time, Mrs. A talked with her brother, Mr. B,
a realtcr in Detroit, about John. Mr. B thought he would need
a man for painting and repair work for about a month as soon

as the weather permitted outside work. He would look over the

105
painting at the A's home on Sunday. If the work was satisfac-

tory, he could use John.

Saturday
About two o'clock, Mr. M brought John to A's, where he

had left his suitcase. There he asked permission to shave,
wash up, and leave a hat that Mr. M had given him. John had f
no place to carry it with him. The possible work in Detroit i

was discussed, and John, who now owned about $60, felt more

D .“-.-__A_‘_-___,_._

secure and decided to get a cheap room near the depot for the
next two nights. Sunday afternoon at five he would phone the la
A's home where the realtcr would be visiting. They would then

decide if there would be work in Detroit for John. Otherwise,

he would go to Battle Creek, where he had been told there

would be help needed at a hospital there soon.

Sunday
At five o'clock John phoned. Mr. B had inspected John's

painting and thought it satisfactory. He told John that as
soon as the weather was warm enough to paint outside, he would

phone the A's residence and have John report for a month's work.

Monday--Third Week

The Old Age Assistance interviewer phoned A's residence
to tell John that the Old Age Assistance office in his home

town could not find the record of his application, so they

106
would have to write to New York to try to find the date of the
issue of his marriage license for verification of age. She
also said that she could use John to wash walls in two of her
rooms. Mrs. A tried to locate John, but he had evidently left
the city for Battle Creek.

Tuesday

Another answer came to the advertisement that had been
in the paper. Mrs. P had a house to paint inside on Pine

Street, and, if work was satisfactory, she would have another

. 'n' ‘ 3". as ‘.~q.u7u._—-u-

that she owned on Walnut Street painted. When told that John L—
‘was out of the city for the day, she requested him to call her
as soon as he returned.
Mrs. A phoned John's room again but was informed that
he had definitely checked out and they did not have any idea
that he intended to return.

Wednesday

An Easter card arrived at the A's residence from South
Bend. John had hitchhiked to Battle Creek, but finding nothing
there had gone to South Bend, faintly hOping that the “man who
had his job there because he had had money to buy a license"
might be unsatisfactory. John now had money for a license,
but the job was being satisfactorily filled and the other man
had it permanently. There was no return address on John's

card.

107
Wednesday afternoon, Mr. B phoned from Detroit that he
had decided to redecorate the rooms of his office so could use
John at once if available. Mrs. A answered that he was out of
the city, but would probably return at the end of the week,

and she would have him contact Mr. B immdiately upon his return.

Duh .

Thursday
A neighbor, who owned a chicken ranch, phoned A's and
asked if John was capable of helping in the chicken business.

Mrs. A wasn't sure, but promised to call back as soon as John

—__'. .*.\ ‘_‘! 't...‘.fl.finfi.rr~

returned. ' *‘

Friday

No word from John.

Sgturday and Sunday
Still no word. Maybe John had found permanent work.

Two Want advertisements appeared in the Sunday paper
and might have been of value to John. One read, "Handyman who
can do all kinds of odd jobs. $1 per hour." The other read,
"Men over 50 who have been turned down because of age, who are
strong and willing to work 6 days a week. Have steady year

around Opportunity for you."

Mondaye-Fourth Week
About two o'clock John came back walking through the

mud and the rain to the A's home. He had been to Battle Creek,

108
and Detroit, Michigan, South Bend and Fort Wayne, Indiana,
and Lima and Toledo, Ohio, hitchhiking, following suggestions
and leads, and working for meals wherever he could. He car-
ried two cellOphane sacks of mints, one for the A's, one for
the M's, and a little celluloid easter rabbit for the baby.
John was wet and tired.

While John dried his sore feet, Mrs. A told him of the
six possibilities for work and carefully wrote the names, ad-
dresses, and phone numbers on a white paper to keep them from
being confusing.

John‘s mints were arranged attractively on a tray and
sampled while he decided where to go first. There was about
time to make two contacts before five o'clock and find a room
for the night. The two locations in the advertisements were
near the same section of town, so he would try them. If suc-

cessful, he would phone A's that evening.

Tuesday
The middle of the forenoon found John back at A's with

this report: "The place that wanted men over 50 was for the
sale of Watkins products and the man should have a car. The
other was a clothing firm and they had already hired a negro
man. The woman on Pine Street that wanted painting done wasn't
home, but other painters were at work there." Of the offer of

work from the Old Age Assistance office, John said, "I don't

.‘y‘nmauwna—Q“ .

 

109
want to bother her any more. She would want to give me only
board and room because she knows I need it so much.”

John had two prospects left, and was now on the way to
one, the chicken farm.

It was still raining, and the farm was over a mile away,
so Mrs. A suggested phoning to be sure the owner would be home.
He was, but was just leaving for town and couldn't wait, but
made an appointment for that evening at seven o'clock.

John sat in silence, folding and unfolding the white
paper and looking through the window in the rain. Then, sen-
tence by sentence he spoke his thoughts. 'I have almost a
whole day before that man comes home. I would like to get
work in this town so I could come over to your house and do
something for you sometimes evenings and Sundays. It wouldn't
cost you a cent. I can't understand you folks. Maybe I could
go to Detroit while I'm waiting and see Mr. B. Do you think
that job would still be there?”

Mrs. A told him that Mr. B had said that as he was in
no special hurry he would wait for John to call him, and Mrs.

A offered to call long distance to find out. John asked how
much it would cost, and, when told sixty-five cents, he reached
in his pocket and emptied out his change--fiftybtwo cents.

"No,” he said, “that costs too much and I won‘t let you pay for
it. I'll hitchhike, if I can get a ride before noon, and I'll

be back tonight if he don't want me. fill you phone that man

 

llO
tonight at seven if I don't come back?”

He stood straight, buttoned his worn marine coat tightly,
pulled his hat down firmly on his forehead, and, with his head
to the wind, started a six block hike to the trunk line for
Detroit.

As he passed out of sight, Mrs. A went to the telephone
and called Mr. B's office. He was in, and said, "Put him on
the bus and send him along. I have about six weeks work for
him and I've talked to some of the other fellows. Maybe we

can keep him busy." But John was gone.

Wednesday

The Old Age Assistance phoned Mrs. A. The answer to the
letter they had sent to New York asking for the date of John‘s
marriage had said that no public records were kept of marriages
at that early date. Old Age Assistance, therefore, couldn't
find verification of whether John was seventy-four or seventy-
five years old. Mrs. A suggested that the orphanage in which
he was raised at Syracuse should have the birthdate, but Old
Age Assistance said that Syracuse was a big city and they might
have trouble locating the orphanage with only its name for
reference. They asked that John come to the office and give
them more information when he returned to the city. Then they

could start again to check for verification of age.

r* '4“ u---._
.

111

As no further word came from John for two weeks, it
was believed that he found work for six weeks in Detroit.

You may see him along the highway. A circle of white
hair showing beneath a worn, but well fitting, felt hat. Keen
brown eyes and a neatly clipped mustache--bare hands carrying
a heavy black satchel, the handle of which, like his hold on p
society, keeps coming off.

He is one of our 11,500,000 who have had years added
to their lives.

John has a daughter, but as it is difficult for parents
to hire and pay their children for work, so it is more diffi-
cult for children to hire their parents. A civic agency geared
to extract the benefits from the changing abilities of aging

persons would fill this need.

CHAPTER VI

SUMXARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The inquiry of this entire study was to determine the
conservation and effective use of human resources in the

field of older adults.

Restatement g§_the Problem

 

It was the purpose of this study

(1) to gather information on the major problems that
confront older people;

0’)

(

) to find organizations, public or private, the
aim of which was to provide opportunities, be-
yond vegetative existence, for good adjustment
and effective use of senior citizens;

(5) to discover attitudes of Mayors and Chambers of
Commerce toward the need for organizations of
this kind; and
(4) to make available a list of the organizations
surveyed, how they began, grew, and have served.
Restatement‘9§_£;pcedures
The findings summarized in this study were determined
through

(1) the review of pertinent literature;

(2) questionnaire interviews with seventy-five Mayors,
secretaries of the Chamber of Commerce, and other
agencies to which they referred;

(3) visitation of ten Homes for the Aged including
three county infirmaries, and comparison based

on control data from a three month project in Social
Organization in a Church Home for Old PeOple; and

.a 4. - Hf‘A—n_~.‘__.._h.
‘ . .A’

 

113

(4) a case study of an old man trying to find a
permanent job.

It was the thesis of this study that a chronological

date does not measure "oldness," and that a prOgram can be de-

vised, even in the smallest community, which will provide op-

portunities for the effective use of senior citizens, prefer-

ably outside of institutions. ;

ngmary _i he Findingg

The most important answers to the problem, as found in

the literature, in contacts with civic leaders, and in the

1_mm

selected case study, follow. They are listed under three head-

ings: Major Problems, Organizations, and Attitudes.

(1) Literature

(a) The major problems confronting Older People

(10)

(0)

were found to be loneliness, apathy, physi-
cal and mental illness, loss of ability and
skill, the lack of belonging to or receiving
the esteem of one's community, penury, and
the general feeling of being a burden.

Of organizations for adjustment and effective
use, it was found that although in the last
few years some determined studies have been
made, only a few organizations have been put
into Operation. None were found for voca-
tional adjustment.

The attitudes of Mayors and Chambers of Com-
merce toward organizations could not be de-
termined by the literature reviewed. The
slowly awakening general public appeared to
be mildly favorable.

(2) Questionnaire-Interviews with Mayors and Chambers of
Commerce

114

(a) Of these civic leaders, less than half
had given definite thought to the problem
of older peOple. All but four had sensed
the need in a vague way. The major prob-
lems were expressed as ”Extended life
with no use for it, social need, and the
greatest was economic need."

(b) Fifteen organizations were found in
seventy-five communities. These were for
recreation and social improvement--none
were found for vocational placement.

-.—-_—...1 .-

(c) Interest in organizations was shown by ;
the request of over 75 per cent of those
interviewed, for a summary of the find-
ings of this survey and the names of
existing organizations. Several commu-
nities were initiating movements for or-
ganization and three experiments to find
and reallocate jobs were found.

F“ -_

Beside finding organizations, these in-
terviews with civic leaders seemed to
stimulate interest in having such organi-
zations.

(3) Ten Homes for the Aged

(a) The major problems found among institu-
tionalized old peOple were intense loneli-
ness, loss of self respect, and compelled
mental and physical inertia.

(b) One home had a trained leader and a pro-
gram for effective use of the mental and
physical capacities of its twenty-four
members. The total membership of homes
visited was six hundred.

(c) The attitudes of the other supervisors of
homes visited toward organization for men-
tal and physical stimulation of their
peeple were essentially one of the follow-
ing: “Hadn't thought about it. This is
the way it's always been. These peOple
wouldn't want it. O.K. if somebody else
does it and it doesn't interfere with our
schedule.“ Two experiments, one by direct

method of approach and one by the in-
direct method, were tried in two Homes
for the Aged to find if activity would
increase h ppiness and health among aged
peOple.

(4) Case Study of Old Man

(a) His major problem was penury, with loneli—
ness and added chronological years, about
which he would not lie, as close seconds.

(b) His ability for adjustment and effective 3
use was excellent and he was continually 3
seeking Opportunity for expression in a
stubborn society.

 

(c) Organizations, for him, were half-vicious
groups that asked humiliating personal
questions and gave help only when receiving
mercenary returns.

Conclusiong
A concensus of findings from the above four fields

show:

(1) A greater percentage of the pOpulation was
living in "Extended Age" than ever before.

(2) ChronOIOgical age was the only measure of ef-
ficiency for work.

(3) The number of peOple involuntarily unemployed
because of their age would increase because of
a constant increasing of age span and concur-
rent lowering of the hiring age.

(4) Major problems accruing from these conditions
were loss of job, loss of ability and skills,
loneliness, penury, mental and physical illness,
lack of belonging to or receiving the esteem of
one‘s community, institutionalism, and lcpsided
socio—economy.

(5) Our economy was not geared to use the present

(6)

(7)

(8)

116

11,500,000 older peeple effectively because we
had no precedent of rules and usage of so many
older people.

Of the six hundred members found in.Homes for
the Aged, only four per cent had programs for
effec ive use of their mental and physical
abilities.

The combined efforts of industry, the older wor—

kers themselves, and community agencies would be

needed to solve the problem.

That 98 per cent of our effort and money was

spent on childhood, youth, and college age for .

two main purposes: I
(a) How to act with people
(b) To have a vocation tr"

this early intense training on these two purposes
created its own;prob1em when.in old age, without
preparation, two other forces are substituted:

(a) Ion-active isolation in a room or
institution

(b) lo vocation

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. BOOKS

Burgess, Ernest W., The Growing Problem of Agggg. Clark
Tibbitts, editor, Living Throggh the—Older Years. Ann
Arboi,3Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1949.
Pp. -' 5e

Clague, Ewan, Agigg and Egployability. Clark Tibbitts, editor,
Livipg Through the Older Years. Ann Arbor, Michigan:
University of Michigan Press, 1949. Pp. 141-153.

Donahue, Wilma, Chapges ig_Psychologica1 Processes With.§gipg,
Clark Tibbitts, editor, Living Through the Older Years.
Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1949.

Pp . 16-84.

4‘2; 8" "A‘ 'as.:.:-. .-- n.- “w W.
u .. I._ . ‘A n ’.‘ i l
.

Lawton, George, Agggg Creatively. Clark Tibbitts, editor,
Livipg Through the Older Years. Ann Arbor, Michigan:
University of Michigan Press, 1949. Pp. 113-129.

Lawton,'George, Psychological Guidance for Older Persons.
E. V. Cowdry, editor, Problems 2; Aging. Baltimore, Mary-
land: Williams and Wilkins, 1943. Pp. 785-808.

Lennox, William G., Rehabilitation. New York: Prentice Hall,
1942. 312 pp.

Perry, Ralph Barton, Pleg for ggiggg_novement. New York: The
anguard Press, 1942. 320 pp.

Waterman, Leroy, Reli ion and R 11 ious Observance. Clark
Tibbitts, editor, EIvipg T 93g t e Older Years. Ann
Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan.Press, 1949.

Pp e 99-113 0

Wyer Samuel 9., D ic Reli ion for 9; Atomic Agg. Columbus,
Ohio: The Better orld und, 1949. 34 pp.

Other. Columbus, Ohio: The Better World Fund, 1949. 31 pp.

118
B. PERIODICAL ARTICLES

Anderson, Dorothy, “Science May Yet Outwit Old Age," Moose
M azine, p. 7, March, 1950.

Babson, Roger, “Work for Seniors,“ Pathfinder. p. 21, February
8, 1950.

Berkeley, Mary, and Helen Knox, “Family Money--What Will Our
Family Get From Social Security?", The American Mggazine,
pp. 147-152, May, 1949.

Bluestone, E. M., “Medical Care of the Aged,“ Journal 2;
Gerontology, 4:No. 4, 505-509, October, 1949.

Byrnes, James F., “Crisis Government Can Ruin Us,“ Colliers,
p. 14, March 4, 1950.

Deutsch, Albert, “Committed,“ Woman's Home Com anion, pp. 39-53,
January, 1950.

, Editorial, “Minimum Pensions for Bell Employees, Now
$100 Per Month,“ News Lines, lO:No. l, 1, January, 1950.

, Editorial, “The Half Century,“ Time, 55: No. 1, 26-42,
January 2, 1950.

Fried, Edrita G., “Attitudes of the Older POpulation Groups
Toward Activity and Inactivity,“ Journal 9; Gerontolo ,
4:No. 2, 141-1 1, April, 1949.

Griffin John J. “The Shelteri of the A ed s Jo rnal of
Gerontolo ,’5:s1-43, Janua§§, 1950. 8 . ._Ja____.__

Hall Clarence W. “Old A'e Assistance--Cleveland Style,“
The Reader's Di est, 8:5—9, February, 1949.

Hampshire, W. Robert, “Week Ends With God,“ The American Mgga-
in , 149:No. 1, 46-93, January, 1950.

JupShu, Pan, “A Study of the Influence of Institutionalism On
the Social Adjustment of Old People,“ Journal.g£_Gerontology,
5:276-280, March, 1948.

Laurence, David, “What is Casework for the Aged7,“ Public
Welfare, 7:No. 10, 186-188, October, 1949.

Maisel, Albert 1., “The Pension.Preacher--He Wants to be Presi-
dent,“ Look, l4:No. 3, 21-35, January, 1950.

I'u‘h‘“. —_ ”_ts _ w; rg.‘~*,r_§- .

 

119

McMillen, Wheeler, “Work for Seniors,“ Pathfinder, p. 21,
February 8, 1950.

Pfeffer, Francis R., “Working With the Aged,“ Public Welfare,
7:No. 10, 183-185, October, 1949.

Schwab, Alfred C. Jr., “The Best Is Yet to Be--Are We Ready
for the New Life Open to Us‘n’,“ What'g _Ngy _I_p_ Hearipg
(Maico Foundation for Better Hearing, Minneapolis, Minne-
sota), P. 10, Spring, 1949.

Schendel, G., “To the County Home to Die,“ gglliggg, p. 15,
October 8, 1949. .

Tibbitts, Clark “Ad ustment in Old Age--The Beginning of a
University Exper ment,“ The Quarterly Review-Michigan
Alumnus, 55:no. 20, 234-241, May7, 19497

Tibbitts, Clark, “Aging and Living,“ Adult Education Bulletin,
pp. 1-4, October, 1948.

T”?"“"“"‘ fl‘i‘fir‘ W 7:13 '

Wedemeyer, J. M., “How Much Can We Pay for Old Age Assistance7,“
Pgblig Welf re, 7:No. 10, 170-172, October, 1949.

C. PUBLICATIONS OF LEARNED ORGANIZATIONS

Qgpagtmeny g; Lgbor Stati tics, United States Bureau of the
Census, Washington D. 0., United States Government Printing

8001;; Security St tistics, Information Please Almanac, 1949.
New York: Farrar Straus and.Company, 1949.

D. UNPUBLISHED MATERIALS

Donahue, Wilma, “An Experiment In the Restoration and Preser-
vation of Personality in the Aged.“ Unpublished Doctor's
dissertation, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
Michigan, 1950. 19 pp.

Donahue, Wilma, “Program: Problems of Old Age.“ Carnegie
Report, The University of Michigan, 1950. 9 pp.

Hunter, Woodrow, Clark Tibbitts, and Dorothy Coons, “Activity
for Older People—-The Development of a Program,“ Institute
for Human Adjustment, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1949. 24 pp.

rill-I. .

P3 0-5
(D (D

E. NEWSPAPERS

Detroit Free Press, March 13, 1950.

Lansing State Journal, May 22, 1947; May 5, 1949; January 9,
1950; January 26, 1950; January 29, 1950.

 

 

. Have... I31 1 n)...ls.

 

APPENDIX A

ORGANIZATIONS FOR OLDER PEOPLE

 

 

Sponsor

Name of Group

Information Source

 

 

Kiwanis

Mayor, Chamber of
Commerce, Commu-

nity Chest

Golden Age Club

Golden Age Club

Mr. J. Chesnut, Director
Fenton, Michigan

John Ward, Brigadier
SO? Huron Avenue
Port Huron, Michigan

 

Board of Park
Commissioners

Board of Park
Commissioners

Board of Park
Commissioners

Bloomington
Oldsters Club

Jefferson Center
Oldsters Club

McCulloch

Oldsters Club

Recreational Director
City Park Board
Fort Wayne, Indiana

 

Mr. Stanley Gloss ,
Director, Jefferson

Community Center

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Miss June Dilts
City Park Board
Fort Wayne, Indiana

 

City Council

Pioneer Club

Mr. L. D. Tucker

Iron Mountain—Kingsford
News '

Iron Mountain, Michigan

 

 

Welfare Homewood Cottage Mr. F. H. Clary
Community Division of Aid for Aged
Citizens Bank Building
Norwalk, Ohio
Churches of New Good Will Mrs. Wm. D. Bartle
Albany Industry 1819 State Street

New Albany, Indiana

 

City Council

Older Adult

Group

Mr. Fred Bock
City Recreation
Greenville, Michigan

 

Chamber of
Commerce

Senior Groups

Mr. Floyd J. Habien, Sec.
Chamber of Commerce
Findley, Ohio

 

University of

Golden Age Clubs

Dr. Wilma Donahue

 

 

Michigan 1510 Rackham Bldg.
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Independent Three Quarter Mrs. Doris Stearns
Century Club Marlborough Bldg.
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Independent Flower Memorial Senior Citizens Fund
Club 1203 National Bank Bldg.
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Board of Senior Community Loy B. LaSalle
Education Club Adult Education Center

Carver Park
Homes

Cedar Apartments
& Joint Recrea-
tion Board

Jewish Community

Centers & Council

of Jewish Women

Jewish Community

Centers & Council

of Jewish Women
First Unitarian
Church
Goodrich Social
Settlement

Phillis Wheatley
Association

Karamu House

 

* All following clubs are located in Cleveland, Ohio.

Golden Age Club

Old Times Social
Club

Golden Age Club

1949 Social Club

Good Times Club

Golden Age Club

Golden Age Club

Golden Age Club

419 N. Capital
Lansing, Michigan

Mrs. Edna M. Gardner
Carver Park Homes
2382 Unwin Rd.
Cleveland, Ohio’

 

Miss Rosemary Nagy
2202 E. 33th Street

I I
AVA

r. Arthur BernknOpf
895 E. 132nd Street

Mr. Arthur BernknOpf
2049 E. 105th Street

Miss Ann Berkson
Euclid Ave. and
E. 82nd Street

Mrs. George Markow
1420 E. 51st Street 5

Miss Mary F. Eaves :
2174 E. 46th Street 3

Karamu House l
2259 E. 38th Street 9

 

 

 

 

Cleveland Public
Library

Independent

Joint Recreation
Board, City of
Cleveland Board
of Education

Friendly Inn
Lakeview Terrace

& Joint Recrea-
tion Board

Valley View Homes

& Merrick House

Outhwaite Homes
& Joint Recrea-
tion Board

Independent

Hough Avenue
Evangelical and
Reformed Church

Euclid Avenue
Baptist Church

Welfare
Federation

County Receiving
Home

Chagrin Falls
Public Library

Live Long and
Like It Library
Club
Borrowed Time
Club
(for men only)

Golden Age Club

Golden Age Club

Golden Age Club

Sunset Club

Golden Age Club

Sunny Monday
Club

Golden Age Club

Golden Age Club

Hobby Center
(a craft group)

Hobby Club
(a craft group)

(not yet selected)

Jewish Community
Centers & Council
of Jewish Women

Golden Age Club

123

Miss Fern Long
Adult Education Dept.
325 Superior Avenue

Rev. Thomas Hughes
15300 Detroit Avenue
Lakewood

Mrs. Eleanor W. Gordon
10e13 Detroit Avenue

Miss Katherine Clement
5734 Woodland Ave.

Mr. Norman Payne
1290 W. 25th Street

Miss Genevieve Maloney
2545 W. 7th Street

Miss T. B. Mayfield
4390 Scovill Avenue

James H. Woods
1747 Lakefront Avenue

Miss Katherine Scheef
Hough Ave. & 65th St.

Rev. John Wilkes
1926 E. 18th St.

Miss Margaret Mulac
223 E. 55th Street

Miss Frances Bittman
2845 Franklin Avenue

Miss Humphries
Chagrin Falls Public
Library

Mr. Arthur BernknOpf
Icels Kinsman Rd.

.1 -.-_V!’. 1215:.» I. '1_“mn
.

"-"a o-..
a

Glenville Area Golden Age Club
Recreation Service

& Greater Abyssi-

nia Baptist Church

City Recreation Golden Age
Dept. & Euclid Choral Group
Ave. Baptist

Church

134

Mrs. Katherine Tyler
1181 E. 105th St.

Rev. John Wilkes
1933 E. 18th St.

 

 

 

APPENDIX B

SUGGESTED LIST OF OCCUPATIONS
FOR OLDER PEOPLEl

Advertising Grocer Painter
Billing Machine Opr. Hotel Plumber
Beautician Housework Printing
Banker Inspector Physician
Barber Interior Decorating Photography
Bee Keeping Insurance ' Poultry
Butcher Jeweler Psychologist
Chiropractor Journalism Real Estate
Clothing Librarian Restaurant
Clergyman . Law Salesman
Clerical Laborer Shipper
Carpenter Laboratory Stage

Clerk Laundry Shoe Repair
Circulating Library Locksmith Social Work
Corsetier Mechanic Secretarial
Collector Medical , Store Mana er
Cook Messenger Telephone pr.
Dentist Millinery Tailoring
Draftsman Musician Teacher
Designer Metal Worker Travel Bureau
Dietitian Nurse Welfare Work
Dressmaker > Newspaper Writer
Electrician Nursery Flowers

Factory Office Work

Farmer Optometry

1 William G. Lennox, Rehabilitation (New York: Prentice
Hall, 1942), p. 9.

 

 

ROOM USE ONLY

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