ESTELLINE, S.D. (KELO) — All told, 53 residents live at Estelline Nursing and Care Center; two are 101 years old, two are 98, and one is 99. Thallis Jensen, the most senior resident, will turn 102 in September. In the meantime, she has different pursuits which occupy her time, such as crocheting potholders.
“I’ll show you these, what I do,” Jensen said.
And she kindly shares her handiwork.
“I brought one for you,” Jensen said before handing one to KELOLAND’s Dan Santella. “That’s yours.”
There’s enjoyment in keeping the mind active, no matter how many birthdays you’ve celebrated.
“I like to go play cards,” Jensen said. “Tomorrow, we’ll play pinochle.”
“These days I’m grateful to have a place like this to be in at this stage,” Sister Marmion Maiers said. “I get the care I need and the relaxation and rest and so forth, so I appreciate that.”
Maiers is the other 101-year-old resident at the facility; viewers and readers might remember her from a 2024 report about her 100th birthday party.
“I’m grateful that I have my mind and enough body movement, so, to make life livable,” Maiers said.
Livable and with purpose.
“We try to make life the fullest as we can for our residents,” Jason Hanssen, the facility’s administrator, said.
Hanssen says “every day’s a ball.”
“Our size, to have the population that we do at the age that we do, is really quite unique, and we take a lot of pride in that,” Hanssen. “And every day, like you said, is a gift.”
And an opportunity to utilize gifts, as 88-year-old resident Carole Weinrich’s art displays.
“What am I going to do next,” Weinrich said. “Well, I had to come up with something. So, I decided I’d watercolor, and this is what I’m doing. I talked to a, to the arts teacher over at the high school for one hour, and then I went to work on my own.”
Still, despite what her pieces showcase, Weinrich doesn’t feel like a talented artist.
“No, I don’t,” Weinrich said. “I just feel like just a plain old Carole.”
But, as she points out, she can improve. And she plans to put the time in to do just that.
“I’m going to work to get to be better,” Weinrich said. “Maybe then I’d feel like an artist, but right now, no.”
Her room doubles as her artist’s studio.
“This is not boring,” Weinrich said. “By the time you look around, you’re thinking, ‘She is crazy, isn’t she.’ But I do what I like.”
Why wouldn’t she? And sure, her kids might have questions.
“Their favorite saying is, ‘Oh mother, you can’t do that.’ ‘Oh mother, you can’t take all that stuff to the nursing home.’ I said, ‘Do you want to bet?’ … This is my home,” Weinrich said. “I don’t care what they say, and this is how I lived at my house. I had stuff, and that’s what I like. So, who wants a plain ol’ room?”
Conversations at Estelline Nursing and Care Center easily yield life lessons for visitors and staff; all someone has to do is start chatting.
“I think enjoy life, enjoy the work you do, enjoy the people you meet and make sure you remember that God is with you,” 95-year-old resident Geri Gantvoort said.
“Do what you can do the best you can do,” Maiers said. “Don’t try to avoid things when they seem a little difficult.”
“Even though it doesn’t come out just the way you think, try it again,” Weinrich said. “So, that’s what I do. I just keep trying and trying and pretty soon, I’ll get better.”
