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 LaRee L. Ewers, creator of Making Tired Eyes Smile® expands “who a person with Alzheimer’s” is defined. She believes touching
stories and poems that thread throughout life connect a person to something
that runs deep within.
LaRee learned at an early age growing up at her parent’s
rustic motel in Rochester, Minnesota
that the beauty of people is more than the diagnosis. She played with children
who were often visiting the Mayo Clinic as a last hope for an extended life.
She learned to look into faces and give and receive smiles. As LaRee’s Mother
says, “There is not anyone LaRee cannot talk with. Within minutes she is a
friend to a stranger.”
LaRee’s first career after graduating from the University
of Minnesota in 1969 was as a
kindergarten teacher in Pinellas County, Florida.
She was a master teacher recognized by her community as an Outstanding Educator
(1976 – Pinellas Suncoast Chamber of Commerce). She was part of the team that
wrote the first guide for kindergarten teachers in Pinellas
County.
Her classroom was often host to other educators to see
creative and innovative approaches to learning. LaRee calls herself an
‘environmentalist.’ She believed that putting children in a room purposefully
planned immersed them in learning. Would you believe there were things taped
under chairs and tables so that during naptime a wide-awake five-year-old had
something to engage with?
This success in the classroom is the cornerstone of the
success in Making Tired Eyes Smile®. LaRee took the philosophy of
drawing out the potential with five-year-olds and molded it to the closing down
world of our friends with Alzheimer’s.
LaRee believes in the possibilities. She is a witness to
friends living on the edge of memories who rise up to her expectations.
October
17, 2003 – A Diary Entry – The Possibility
- When I taught five-year-olds, I always believed in the possibility that the
child could succeed. Maybe the success didn’t come on that day. It didn’t
matter because I fed the possibility until it did.
I realize that I carry this “possibility attitude” with
me to my friends with Alzheimer’s. I believe in the possibility of connection.
I believe that moments of opening appear. I believe words are a passageway. I
believe body language is an unspoken word on this trail.
I believe they feel the respect I have for them. I
believe they know I will not embarrass them or block them into a mental corner.
I believe they know I am an ardent cheerleader. Sometimes I believe until they
believe. And then the possibility collapses into laughter.
I believe in the possibility. If I reach out, the door
will open and the tired eyes will smile. |
LaRee’s goal is to create a national network of
volunteers facilitating story/poetry circles.
Please join in
this vision.
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