No Retirement for Aunt Margaret

by Aging & Elderly, Wisdom, Wisdom Podcasts1 comment

A story from Margaret Stanner, as told to Karen Mulder.

Where in the Bible does it say, “When a person reaches the age 65 he or she can retire from doing good and loving his or her neighbor?”

This wisdom is from my Aunt Margaret. She isn’t really my aunt, but I asked her to adopt me because I liked and respected her so much. She is over 65 years of age and she definitely has not retired from caring for her neighbor.

Aunt Margaret told me the following story:

Kenneth Weaver is 82 years old. I have known him since he was a small child. His parents were neighborhood friends.

Kenneth is quite frail, very stooped and no teeth; so, when I take him food, I take him soft food: like cantaloupe and watermelon. He says that the melons are his favorite foods. I don’t think that he can afford to buy anything other than necessities.

Last Christmas, when I was delivering some Christmas goodies, I had trouble getting to his front door because during the severe winter his steps had deteriorated. There were big chunks of cement missing and no railing.

When he opened the door, I found him bruised, skinned and with two blackened eyes—all from falling on his steps. He told me that he had tried to fix them and fell head first onto the ragged cement.

I wondered, “What should I do?” I went to the Trustee of our township. The trustee had only been in that capacity since January. He was also very young. No experience. I told him that it was a disgrace that our township didn’t do something for this poor man. This young Trustee did not know how to handle it. So, needless to say, I gave him several options.

Many weeks passed, and no action had been taken. So I phoned the Trustee and said, “If you can’t or won’t do anything, I will take it to the Board of Elders of our church, and we will take over this project.”

Hopefully, my Aunt Margaret will motivate you to not retire to a rocking chair or a golf course, but that you will continue to find ways to love and care for your neighbor.

Finally after much prodding, the new steps were installed.

When I asked Aunt Margaret, what is next on your agenda? She said “I am also going to see if we can find a screen door and a storm door for this man. Then I am going to encourage him to clean-up his porch; It is full of junk, and I will try to find someone with a pick-up truck to haul the stuff away.

Hopefully, my Aunt Margaret will motivate you to not retire to a rocking chair or a golf course, but that you will continue to find ways to love and care for your neighbor.

Did I mention that my Aunt Margaret is 97 years old?

Karen Mulder

Karen Mulder

Karen Mulder is the founder of the Wisdom of the Wounded ministry. She lives in Holland, Michigan with her husband Larry.

1 Comment

  1. Lois Wales

    What a wonderful story. We should all be doing everything we can to help one another

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.