Celebrating with John H.

John was waiting patiently for his mail. He is excited about a new book that will be coming, “I Remember Television” by Ira Skutch. In fact, John proclaims that he is Extremely patient because he is on a waiting list for possibly moving to a new home in the future. He was thrilled to share about his life and how happy that made him as well as very happy to be getting support to help him move in the future.

John enjoys attending the day program at THRIVE. He is excited at the idea of returning soon. There he gets to spend time with friends and do activities he enjoys.

He has several meaningful goals at this time, two of which are senior meals and money management, or “budgeting” as he calls it. He loves to use his laptop to research his favorite things and creates scrapbooks from information he prints off the internet. He also enjoys going to McDonalds and purchasing a Carmel Frappé for a treat and “had a wonderful time going to Stewart’s with Jamie” and hopes to do that again soon. Jamie interjects that they had banana splits. He feels very proud that he accomplished budgeting goals and money management goals so that he can enjoy these types of activities.

It is absolutely fascinating to listen to John talk about his passions, which include television game shows and the Yankees! He is quick to name his two all-time favorite television producers, Bill Todman and Mark Goodson and is a long-time fan of WPIX television station based in NYC. He loves the music from all of the old television game shows. He has all the music and listens to it frequently. He named off several game show hosts as he visited, too fast to write all of them down.

John was equally knowledgeable about all things Yankees. He went to Yankee stadium in 1976. He likes scorecard programs, 1982, 1983, and 1987 particularly. He shares that the 2020 one will be the 70th-anniversary edition! He liked Billy Martin best and shared exactly when and how Martin died in an automobile crash. He also said, “I used to like Thurman Munson. He was a favorite catcher of mine. He died in a plane crash, you know.” He lists the names of Micky Mantle, Phil Rizzuto, Butch Wynegar, and Fran Healey. “Please write down the name of Fran Healey…”, spelling it, “he was a catcher and a broadcaster.” He adds, “and Bobby, Mercer. He was a broadcaster for a long time, don’t you know.”

At this point, trying to keep up, I mention Reggie Jackson to which John immediately adds, “He hit three home runs in the 77 world series.” then adds, “Then Dave Righetti (he spells it for me) pitched a no-hitter in the 83 World Series against the Red Sox.”

As John comes to the end of sharing his best life, he adds, “I look forward to going on visits to see my friend Laura. We like to watch Lawrence Welk together. I also visit with my friends Wendy and Tina on the phone. They used to live here.”