Question: What is something you do that has been at the forefront of your life?
Answer: “Sewing has been a big part of my life. I learned it from my grandmother and my mother. My grandmother would let me inch up to the sewing machine and sew my doll clothes and that’s what got me into it. I sewed my own clothes, I sewed my husband’s clothes, as well as my children and grandchildren. All our clothes were hand-made and my kids didn’t even know what store-bought clothes were! It started with my grandmother, who lived with us part time. We had a sewing machine in the house, and she taught me at first – always telling me to watch out for the needle. It’s just kind of been in my blood. We had home economics in my school and I always got A’s in that class. It was very rewarding for me. I loved making dresses and I will always remember the one I made in class. It was stripes and you had to match them perfectly – it was a piece of art. It was turquoise, brownish, and off-white and had three thin stripes going down and a bow. We have seven great-grandchildren and six of them are girls, so I was determined to make these tiny dolls clothes because I wanted each of the kids to have one before we left the house and moved.” – Marilyn Mertz, resident Friendship Village Chesterfield
The above photo and text are part of a project we call We Are Friendship Village. We are posting these photos and brief interviews to our website’s blog section every day as we talk with residents at Friendship Village Chesterfield and Friendship Village Sunset Hills. The idea is to give a short introduction to the residents who make up our wonderful senior living communities and give you a peek at something you might not know about them!
When we’ve completed at least 365 interviews, we will publish A BOOK featuring all the great residents who participated. AND PARTICIPANTS get A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK! During this time, we will also be sharing these photos and stories on Facebook and other social media such as Instagram, so look for them and please follow the hashtag #WeAreFriendshipVillage to stay current with the project!
We think it’s a great chance to share a bit about who we are! Residents’ participation takes about ten minutes, so it won’t take much time to be a part of it and we think everyone will enjoy getting to know their neighbors and friends a little bit better!
If interested in participating (or know someone else who might be), feel free to give us a call at (314) 270-7837 or email at nagysteve@fvstl.com or drop by the marketing suites in Sunset Hills or Chesterfield. We have 365 of these to do over the course of the year or so, so everyone is welcome!
We look forward to seeing you as we get to share insights about the senior living residents who are making our Friendship Village retirement communities so great!
Thanks again!