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Mental Exercises Know No Age Barrier |
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Collectively BVMs have spent a millennium or two encouraging others to share their delight in learning, so it isn’t surprising that, across the congregation, the momentum to derive pleasure and relaxation from using those mental muscles continues. The Roberta Kuhn Center for senior citizens memorializes that commitment to life-long learning. Over the years, many sisters have taught classes at the Center, located on the Mount Carmel campus, in subjects from calligraphy to computer science, from art appreciation to Bridge. Even more have taken advantage of the Center’s offerings by taking classes for the sheer exquisite joy of learning. Tests and grades are never mentioned lest the joy be diluted. Venues differ, the number of participants varies, the required equipment ranges from something as simple as a deck of cards to state-of-the-art computer technology, but the goal is the same. Across the BVM world sisters continue to hone their mental acuity and fine-tune their intellectual agility. Although sitting is the preferred posture for most of these fitness activities, there is nothing passive about them. “A sound mind in a sound body” could be a mantra for these sisters who regularly work out in their mental gyms. It’s a given that people who have spent much of their lives in the business of teaching find that books continue to be an important part of their lives. It is rare that a group of sisters will get together and not share what they are reading. Some belong to formal book clubs. BVM Dolores Kramer’s (Jeanne Michelle) book club attracts members from across the Mount Carmel campus. The Mount Carmel library is an increasingly valuable resource for this type of fitness equipment as Frances Loretta Berger, BVM makes it ever more user-friendly. A deck of cards is all that is required by some of the gymnasts. Two Mount Carmel foursomes meet regularly for Bridge. BVMs Vincentia Kaeferstein and Thomasita Ross are not only avid players but have taught Bridge at the Kuhn Center.
Paul Francis Bailey, BVM, a participant in a Wright Hall Bridge foursome, warms up for games with her foursome by playing computer Bridge. She says, however, that playing against the computer “lacks elements that are on tap when you play with real people.” A venerable card group is a Poker Club that has been gathering periodically in Chicago for almost 25 years. Members of this club are BVMs Mary Catherine (Susie) Beckman, Dorothy Gaffney, Helen Jeanne Hurley, Kate Keating (St. Wilma), and former BVMs Barb Tadin and Jean Donohue. The late K. Therese Hart, BVM (John Stephen) continues to be present to these card-playing friends as the members always play a couple of games in her honor, games in which the person with the high “h(e)art” card takes half the pot. BVM wordsmiths also have their favorite exercise programs. Laurian McDonald, BVM is an itinerant Scrabble player, carrying her game to wherever on the Mount Carmel campus there are other enthusiasts. Dolores O’Dwyer, BVM (Wilmetta) from Southern California pits her Scrabble skills against her computer, only calling it quits when her score reaches 300. Crossword puzzles are another way to use and acquire knowledge. The crossword puzzle posted each week on the screen at Marian Hall is solved by the collaborative efforts of BVMs Genevieve Wilkin (Lourdes), Carolita McMahon, and their team. For Chicago area BVMs Mary Sattgast (de Porres) and Joan Newhart (Joan Michael), solving the daily and Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle is a community exercise.
Jigsaw puzzles give aficionados an arena in which to demonstrate skill at analysis and spatial relationships. Mary Eaton, BVM works her jigsaws in the Mount Carmel Community Room where passers-by are lured to her puzzle by the desire to put in “just one piece.” At Caritas and Marian Hall, Georgia Ann Lange, BVM (Georgelle) and Therese Kane (Thomas Ann) usually have a jigsaw under construction.
Don’t overlook the computer and its work-out potential. Free Cell offers many sisters the opportunity for mental power-training, but Spider Solitaire and Minesweeper also have their devotees. Since most internet servers offer subscribers a wide variety of on-line games, many sisters work through that menu of games. In a community as disparate as the Sisters of Charity, BVM, there are as many ways of keeping mentally fit as there are members. This article is not meant to be exhaustive or exclusive, but intends to salute and celebrate the variety of ways our sisters continue to maintain their mental fitness at every age of their lives while they revel in the joy of play. About the author: Terese Shinners, BVM (Ellena) is retired and does assorted kinds of volunteer work in the Milwaukee area. She exercises her mind with crossword puzzles and assembling three-dimensional scale models which have ranged from Mount St. Michel to an ancient Egyptian temple. Mary Ellen Caldwell, BVM (Eugneio) is a retired faculty member of Clarke College, Dubuque. She lives at the Mount Carmel Motherhouse and enjoys Scrabble, Bridge and the New York Times crossword puzzle. Return
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