Garfield School students meet up with senior citizen pen pals

By BECKY WALDROP
Gazette-Times reporter

A ragtag band of musicians assembled in the Garfield Elementary School cafeteria Thursday.

Some of the players held maracas. One girl strummed a washtub base. And a teacher and a retirement center activities director accompanied senior citizens and students on guitar.

Those without instruments joined the chorus to "Shake, Rattle and Roll," including students in Matthew Criscione's fourth- and fifth-grade class at Garfield, and residents visiting from Regent Court retirement center and Corvallis Caring Place.

The unusual sounds caused passersby to stick their heads in for a look at the group that included white-haired women in red hats and students clanging drum sticks. After the first song, Regent activities director Robin O'Neil applauded the effort.

"You guys are sounding hot," she said. "Maybe we could go on the road together."

Making music was one of the getting-to-know each other events for students and seniors who have corresponded through letters since the start of school. The retired residents joined their student pen pals for lunch, games and entertainment at Garfield.

Some of the pairs talked as if they'd been friends for much longer.

Fifth-grader Ashton Borders pushed her pen pal, Corvallis Caring Place resident Connie Hill, in a wheelchair down the hallway and through the lunch line. Ashton helped reach food from the salad bar and lingered near Hill when other students left to play games.

Through the letters they've exchanged, Ashton learned that Hill is health-conscious, she likes to read, and she used to play fiddle.

"She also likes OSU sports," Ashton said.

"Oh yes," Hill confirmed.

A pen pal is someone you can tell when something makes you sad, and they will try to cheer you up, Ashton discovered.

When Ashton's two cats died, she wrote about it to Hill.

"The same thing happened to me when I was younger, so I understand," Hill said.

Another Corvallis Caring Place resident, Winnie Coleman, thought she knew a lot about her pen pal, fifth-grader Taylor Derrick. The letters described a student who loved sports — football, soccer and baseball to name a few.

But what the letters and Taylor's gender-neutral name hid, was that Coleman was writing to a girl.

Coleman, who isn't a sports fan, was delighted to meet Taylor.

"She's very good at sports," Coleman said.

Coleman smiled when Taylor recalled details about things she'd learned about her.

"She likes to garden and her favorite plant is a rose," Taylor said.

Coleman told Taylor about her upcoming trip, a Panama Canal cruise.

Pen pals have always been a component in Criscione's classes. Previously, he had his students correspond with high schoolers or students at a school in another town. When the groups got together, it was always a memorable moment, Criscione said.

But the senior pen pals proved to be more reliable at sending letters and with the help from Wanda Crannell, a parent of one of his students, they were able to accomplish the huge undertaking of making contacts, connecting buddies, writing and delivering letters and coordinating the celebration.

Feedback he's received is that writing and receiving letters has been fun for both his students and the residents at Regent Court and Corvallis Caring Place.

"It is my belief that making connections to other people who we don't normally connect with is of huge significance," Criscione said. "Getting out of our comfort zone makes us grow."