Scroll through the residents' gallery and read a short biography for each.
In Memoriam
June 30, 1908—Sept. 20, 2009
Ada spent most of her life in Norwich, NY; she turned 100 years old on June 30, 2008. Her birthday weekend was celebrated by all of the residents, staff and volunteers of St. Luke’s. Though Ada did not have children of her own, she remained close to step-children and grandchildren who gathered from far and wide to join the celebration.
As a young woman, Ada taught grades K-8 in a one room schoolhouse. She would light the fire in the wood stove, be the janitor, and teach reading, writing and math.
In later years, despite objections and many barriers, she passed her test to become the FIRST woman real estate broker in the state of New York. “Just to let them know it wasn’t a mistake,” she soon became President of her county’s Broker’s Association.
Ada came to live at St. Luke’s in December, 2003, at the age of 95. Until that time, she had been living with friends for whom she would house and dog sit. While they traveled a great deal, they worried about Ada, who had become unsure on her feet. That’s when she found her new Home at St. Luke’s.
Ada loved horses and sports, especially UA basketball and Lute Olsen, but mostly she just “loved everybody.” Soon after she came to St. Luke’s she started the Talk About Club where residents gather monthly to share their life stories and get to know each other better. That legacy continues today. She was proudest of all the good friends she made and kept over the years and at St. Luke’s Home. Ada left St. Luke’s in spring, 2009, needing a higher level of care. She passed away on Sept. 20, 2009 at Catalina Care Center. She is missed by everyone who knew her.
Alex will proudly let you know that he was a pilot in WWII flying a Lockheed P-38 in the 54th Flying Squadron. He relates the story that thousands of pilots were being trained in a “Keep ‘em Flying” campaign and when he took charge of his P-38, he hadn’t fired any guns before combat. One of his missions was at the Aleutian Islands where 28 pilots went on the mission and only seven survived. He received an Air Medal for this mission.
Alex and his wife, Vera, spent their years after the war in Michigan and New Mexico. A son and his family also live in New Mexico. Alex moved to Tucson to spend time with his daughter and family. He was an elementary school teacher for TUSD for three years.
Alex has been a resident of St. Luke’s for three years. He is taking part in the activities at the Home and one will see him playing Bingo, listening to music events, and enjoying the theme parties and dinners. Alex knows French and German and continues to keep active by singing in the Sts. Peter and Paul Choir. He also has a wonderful sense of humor.
Alex maintains his independence, enjoys the comfort of being near his daughter and her family, and now has a second family in St. Luke’s Home.
Betty was born Betty Schoepp on January 17, 1925 in Michigan. Of German descent, Betty got her accent from her Grandpa. Betty tells a cute story about how here mother was traveling by boat and was seasick when she was born.
Betty and her older sister, Elaine, grew up in Milwaukee. Betty graduated from the eighth grade and was always very close to her “Mama.” Though Betty “wasn’t so crazy about boys,” at an young age a marriage was arranged by a neighboring matchmaker. Her betrothed was sent to France during the war so Betty didn’t marry until the age of 23. Unfortunately the marriage didn’t work out and Betty returned home to take care of her Mama.
Betty’s work life included working in a print shop and for candy companies in Milwaukee. Elaine had married and was living in California. Betty and her Mama moved to Glenwood for two years, then decided to go back to Milwaukee. In the late 1960’s, Milwaukee had become a dangerous place to live with a high crime rate. Betty’s aunts and uncles had moved to Tucson so Betty and Mama moved to Tucson too. Betty started working at the Pioneer Hotel in housekeeping until the fire of 1970. She continued to work in hotel housekeeping and laundry services until her retirement. Betty remembers the day of the fire very clearly. It was a rainy Sunday and Betty was listening to the radio when she heard about the fire. Betty was sad because she really liked her nice boss—he later hired Betty to work for him at the Park Tucson Hotel.
Betty’s favorite companion was her cat Amy. Amy was a fluffy white and gray calico cat that really liked to snuggle. Betty always liked going to the Cinerama. She also liked to take long walks, had many interesting travels (by car—she hates flying) and to go to the park for ice skating and dances as a young woman.
Today, Betty enjoys listening to Bruce’s guitar and singing along. A devoted Catholic, Betty enjoys her prayer time each day and loves to read the daily newspaper. The thing she likes most about St. Luke’s are the holiday parties with special treats and activities.
resident since 2011
Charlene was born in Denver Colorado 1954. While she was still a little girl, her parents moved to Alaska. She has many wonderful memories playing with her three brothers and two sisters in the wide open space of Alaska. Charlene remembers fishing and how much she enjoyed it.
Charlene married Willie and raised two boys and one girl while still living in Alaska. She loved being a mother and was able to stay home and be there for her children. They are grown up now and between them they have given Charlene three granddaughters. She doesn’t get to see them very often, but did go to Alaska in 2007.
Tucson became her home in 1988 after getting remarried to Paul. They enjoyed the weather here. Paul died in 1996 and Charlene misses him very much.
Charlene enjoys crocheting, jewelry making and any kind of crafts.
She loves St. Luke’s Home. “I have many friends here, I’m safe and I don’t have to worry about anything”.
resident since 2006
Diane was born in Brooklyn, New York. She lived there until the age of seven when her parents decided to move to Woodland, California. Although Diane did not want to move to California, she soon realized how much she loved it there. Little by little she met some friends and joined the Girl’s Scouts. She remembers taking trips to Catalina Island with her troop and really enjoying it. Diane grew up with one brother and one sister. She remembers them getting along and having a good time.
As Diane grew older she remembered the good times she had in Catalina and would go visit and hang out with her friends on her free time in high school. Diane left southern California when she was about eighteen to live in Wyoming with her boyfriend. After a few years she went back to California where she went to college and worked as a nanny for a while. She later worked for Capitol Records, which she remembers being a fun job. She later became an office administrator and started her family. Diane later served as the President of a Wellness Center in Los Angeles, a volunteer position of which she is still very proud.
Diane has two daughter’s that she is very proud of, Connie and Ley. She also has two granddaughters and one grandson. Diane’s most memorable moments are the birth of her children. She still remembers it fondly. Diane really enjoys bowling, walking and let’s not forget Solitaire. She also enjoys sitting out in the sun and reading.
Diane loves living at St. Luke’s because she loves the residents and staff. She enjoys the activities provided and the liberty she has here. Diane appreciates the privacy she has, either going to her room if she wants or staying out and using the computer. She describes St. Luke’s Home as a “neat place to live.”
The residents of St. Luke’s Home come from many places. Our own Jack Parish was born in London, England, the only child in a “modest” family, in 1921. In fact, Jack’s mother was almost forty when he was born because his parents had refused to marry until the end of WWI.
At the age of seventeen, during WWII, Jack joined the Royal Air Force feeling it was his duty to serve. He served as a pilot for many years, during which time he was sent to Washington, DC, for training.
It was in Washington, in 1945, that Jack met and married his first wife. They later returned to his family in London and had three wonderful children. When the marriage ended some years later, Jack returned to the U.S.
Jack worked in advertising for the Washington Times Herald for the next fifteen years. He also worked for the Miami News and spent some years in the restaurant business.
Eventually, Jack moved to Tucson, at his son Phil’s request. Phil has followed in his father’s footsteps, flying as a captain for Alaska Airlines.
Jack enjoys building model ships and airplanes, collecting memorabilia, reading history and watching classic movies. It’s always a treat to visit Jack’s room where you can see his latest model in process or enjoy his photos and medals from his WWII service.
Jack enjoys the Arizona weather and likes living at St. Luke’s because he has the freedom to come and go, mingle or be alone. He really enjoys playing Bingo with other residents and adds that St. Luke’s has been “lucky” for him. We’re lucky Jack’s road led to St. Luke’s Home!
Juanita, with her special smile and sparkling eyes, has lead a very colorful life. She was born in Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico in June 1935, the youngest of ten children, four boys and six girls. She will tell you that she was “spoiled”; they called her La Princessa. She was the “fairest of the family” and they would give her silver pesos just to get all dressed up. Her father was the treasurer of the mine and miners’ union in Parral while her mother worked at home to raise the children.
In 1970, Juanita met her husband, Dave Young, at a Saturday night dance. He immediately asked if he could see her on Sunday. She liked, she says, with a twinkle in her eye, riding her bike past his store to see him; they were married a month later. She became a US citizen and raised her two sons, Johnny and Randy, in New Mexico. She loved to sing in the Apostolic Church choir and do handcrafts such as crocheting and sewing.
Through those years, she worked as a nurse’s aide in a nursing home and ran a motel in Lordsburg, NM, with her husband. Sometime after his death in 1991, she returned to Juarez, Mexico, coming to Tucson in 1998 to live near her son, Randy, a Tucson artist. Johnny now lives in Alamogordo, NM, with Juanita’s grandchildren, two girls and one boy, ages 1-12.
Juanita moved to St. Luke’s Home in September 2007 from a duplex in our same neighborhood. Randy helped her select St. Luke’s because it was affordable on her low income and “she would have the best quality of life here, interacting and living on the same level of understanding” as her peers. Her option was to live with him in his working sculpture studio but he was concerned about the tools, hot metals and lack of companionship.
One of Juanita’s favorite things to do is go to Epic Café with Randy for vanilla milkshakes. She also likes to go to a seniors’ day program at El Rio Center four days a week, where she enjoys ceramics, exercise, having lunch and being with her friends. Juanita is “very happy” at St. Luke’s where the food is great, she is close to Randy and El Rio Center, and she has made many new friends.
resident since 2008
Lying on the shore of the St. Lawrence Seaway, Quebec City the capitol of Canada’s largest province is home to our Marilyn. Growing up in a family of 10 with 4 sisters and 3 brothers, Marilyn lived an idyllic life as a young girl. Her father was a retailer and importer of goods from Europe and her mother a devoted, loving housewife. Being French Canadian, everyone in the family was fluent in French and English, but Marilyn is quick to point out that there is some hardy Irish blood there as well. Marilyn and her sisters attended the same catholic girls’ school and they ALL had the same nun as their teacher from the 1st grade until they graduated! One can only imagine having just one teacher for 12 years.
After studying languages at Marymount College, Marilyn went to work for Air Canada, establishing a very successful career as an airline passenger agent. So successful in fact the Air France “spirited her away” with an offer too tempting to pass up. Working for the airlines allowed Marilyn the luxury of travelling extensively. If you ask her where she would most like to revisit she will tell you, without hesitation, Greece. It is one of her favorite places. 1965 found Marilyn moving to Los Angeles and raising a family, a son who currently lives in Florida and a daughter who lives in Vail Arizona. Marilyn is a doting grandmother to 2 lovely girls and 2 wonderful boys.
In 2005 she moved to Tucson to help her daughter and son-in-law with 3 of her grandchildren. Feeling the need for a place to call her own, Marilyn decided it was time to move out of her daughter and son-in-laws home. Marilyn’s case worker at La Frontera introduced her to St. Luke’s Home and it was magic.
On her first visit, Marilyn felt something special about St. Luke’s. “Everyone was so nice and welcoming” she recalls. The staff she met made her feel wonderful and cared about. Marilyn immediately made it her goal to make St. Luke’s her home and she did.
Marilyn will tell you she would never think of living anywhere else. She has the independence to do what she wants, go where she chooses and be her own boss. You may find her absorbed in a good mystery novel or reading a history book. You’ll always find her at Bingo on Wednesday afternoons and shopping every Wednesday morning. Marilyn loves her relationships with other residents and considers them her family.
As Marilyn herself says, “A better choice I could not have made. After a year and a half I’m still here and hope to be a long time resident enjoying the fruits of everyone’s sharing, loving and caring.”
resident since 2009
Quiet and unassuming, Robert is one of a RARE breed - born in Bisbee in 1921, Robert is a native Arizonan!
Robert’s father was a miner at the Copper Queen, one of the world’s richest copper mines. As an infant, Robert’s family moved from Bisbee to Globe where the mining was equally important to the copper industry. Robert is quick to tell you that in the 1920’s, Globe wasn’t much of a town - just one main street, no traffic lights and the J.C. Penney store was “the place” to go shopping in town.
As an only child, Robert’s mother spent her time caring for her young son. When he was 12, Robert and his family moved to Phoenix where his father was a carpenter building homes but Robert will tell you his father preferred working in the mines.
After graduating from high school and with World War II looming on the horizon, Robert chose to serve his country and enlisted in the U. S. Navy. He spent the next two years stationed on the U.S.S. Iowa. Although Robert spent his duty time in the engine room, he was involved in 14 major battles including Iwo Jima and Saipan. The U.S.S. Iowa was instrumental in providing fire support for U.S. troops going into battle.
After the war, Robert returned to Phoenix and went to college to study English, Math and Accounting. He continued his college education in Oakland California and worked for 7 years as a railroad traffic controller for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Robert’s college education came to good use when he went to work for the Veterans Administration in Austin Texas. Robert worked for the VA for 35 years and then retired moving back to Tucson in 1987 to care for his mother.
Robert enjoys collecting miniatures of classic cars and has a very nice collection in his room.
Robert found his way to St. Luke’s when he realized it was no longer possible to maintain his own residence. Robert enjoys St. Luke’s because he has the independence to do what he wants. He very much enjoys watching videos in his room and spending time visiting with his good friend Ruth who comes to visit him.
Roger Lynch is a quiet man, a gentle man, a peace-loving man. Roger was born in Chicago in December, 1930. Roger had two brothers, one older and one younger.
Roger’s mother died when he was just 6 years old. It was very hard for Roger and his family. Roger spent many of his younger years at the Institute of Living in Hartford, Connecticut. Roger’s father died in 1952 and shortly thereafter he went to live with Monsignor Hagerty where he worked as a caretaker, gardener and helped maintain the house. Roger describes the Monsignor as a very generous man. Roger liked the house where he had his own room. He enjoyed mowing the grass, taking care of the garden and shoveling snow. The Monsignor had two friendly Dobermans that Roger cared for and liked very much. Since that time, Roger has been a real animal lover.
After many years with the Monsignor, Roger came to Arizona to live with his brother and wife on a farm near Pearce, Arizona. He loved the farm which was quiet and peaceful and where he again helped take care of animals. Roger had his own dog, a black Labrador retriever named Mack, who he loved to walk up and down the country roads. They also had a donkey named Nickodemus that Roger was in charge of. He had his own little house at the farm, which he really enjoyed.
Roger moved to St. Luke’s Home about 4 years ago, after his brother died and his sister-in-law returned to Chicago. Roger’s sister-in-law describes him as a very nice man who “always wishes you well.”
Because of his experience on the farm, Roger still likes to take long walks today. You will often see him walking around the halls of St. Luke’s “because it’s just good exercise.” He also likes to take long drives with his friend, Senior Companion Don.
Roger also likes a good cup of coffee and an occasional smoke. Today you are likely to find Roger in one of his favorite spots in a living area of the West wing where he enjoys the company of the ladies and can watch all the comings and goings at St. Luke’s Home. Though very quiet, don’t let that fool you. You can bet that Roger never misses a thing that is going on at the St. Lukes Home.
resident since 2010
She’s 99 years young. Ruth was born in a small town called Crestline in Ohio to parents that were in their 40s before they started their family. Ruth was an only child and remembers always having everything she needed. “My childhood was happy, I had lots of friends and I felt very special”. Her Grandmother lived with them for many years; she has many memories of the time the two of them spent together.
Ruth was married to John for 40 years before he died. They had one son who has since passed away. She still has a granddaughter and great grandson who lives in New Mexico.
For many years, Ruth worked with government contracts at a construction company in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was a good job.
Ruth retired in Tucson and loves the climate. She enjoyed golf and bowling in her younger years. She has been a member of the St. Luke’s family since Christmas, 2010. Ruth say’s “It’s a very nice place, everyone is kind and the food is good”.
resident since 2000
When Viola Mae Fleeger was born in Butler, PA in 1928, the oldest of 4 girls following 4 older brothers, her parents didn’t expect she would be the first in her family to graduate from high school, 8th in her senior class of 100. Born of an Irish mother and father of German descent, Viola was the only child with auburn hair and brown eyes. Viola also received 19 college credits before starting her family.
Viola married John in 1950 and raised 3 girls and a boy with him. Viola helped put John through engineering school; they came to Arizona in the 1950’s and John worked at Hughes Aircraft, RCA and Motorola. During those years, Viola helped John build 4 residences, including 1 cabin that was pre-built then moved to the mountains for assembly. Though Viola doesn’t do electrical or plumbing work, she is proud to say that she can lay floor tile, install sheetrock, paint and do all kinds of handiwork around a construction site.
Viola is very independent and, when she could no longer live alone, found that living with family meant there were “too many cooks in the kitchen.” In 2000, Viola’s daughter found St. Luke’s Home, a place her mother would be able to afford and continue to live with independence and dignity.
In June 2007, Viola suffered a stroke. Though she has recovered well from the stroke, she has experienced some vision impairment, having two eye surgeries as a result to put in artificial tear ducts. Viola has had to give up working jigsaw puzzles, one of her favorite pastimes. Today, you will find Viola in a quiet area reading. She enjoys visiting her children and grandchildren when possible.
