The Gorham House visited MGRS Today

The Gorham House held a special outing today at Overlook Garden Railway in Buxton. Pat and Carl, Jeff Waring and his wife, Mac, Scott, Dick Cosgrove , John and Sophie were there to meet them and they brought in a great group of people! Carl set up a shady 'cook tent' area to house the nice looking grill he has set up out back. As soon as two of the ladies got off the bus, I heard one comment to the other about the lilies. They knew their flowers and they were impressed. I think Pat gets the credit for picking out the spectacular looking plants. The Garden is really looking great! The Trains were running and looking/sounding good. Controls were functioning perfectly, sun was shining, it was a very good day. The folks from the Gorham House made us a great lunch and served us too, thank you very much!
The best part was a dozen or more residents that came to visit. I think they really did enjoy the trip. And it's not like these folks don't go places, I mean they have a busy schedule! Thanks goes to the activity director Donna Davis who has been there 16 years. She explained all the very good things that Gorham House does to provide for their residents. One great program she mentioned is bringing in pre-school children. They are there M-F and they give residents an opportunity to make use of all those grand parent skills they have. They oversee the children in supervised periods and really help them to develop. They are called 'Grand Friends'. I would not be surprised if some day we saw some of the children on a visit of their own, who knows!

I met a very nice man named Forest. We talked about the old Lionel trains that we used to have. He said, well I am older than you and I remember one that I had to wind up. (I think I remember one also.) He said, boy those engines were heavy. Yes, they were, they don't make em like that anymore. Forest remembers liking real trains too. He told me a story about growing up in Westbrook and said he loved the old steam engines and described the 'slipping' sound they would make when straining to pull a heavy load of cars. He said one day he remembers he and his friend jumped into an empty box car and they ended up in Rigby Yard! Wow, I said did they catch you? No, he said we did not get in any trouble. Now, that is the kind of story I like to hear. One that has a good ending. Forest said "Do you like baseball?" Well, he asked the right guy! What he really meant was do you like the Red Sox? When he mentioned "the Splendid Splinter" and said that Ted Williams had missed several years due to military service, another women joined in and said " Wasn't that in the Korean War?" WWII someone said. "Both" replied Forest, settling the question to every ones satisfaction. He had a very good presence about him and I am sure he is an exceptional Grand Friend.
As they prepared to board the bus, we shook hands and told each other how much we enjoyed the conversation. But, that was typical of the visit. As the two ladies that were talking about the lilies boarded, Scott thanked them both by name. And they thanked him. You could tell they had a great time. Probably on one of the Golf Carts rides which are very popular. All the members that where there talked and joked and enjoyed the company of the residents and staff. I am sure that they all have a story to tell. Carl was of course in charge of everything and he really deserves a lot of credit for setting all this up and keeping it all going smoothly. He seems to have the right knack. Well, Thanks from all of us, Great Job. We had a great time too.

Here are the slideshow pictures from today: Click here:

Link to the Gorham House: Click here