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Centenarian's Birthday Brings Mirth to Many
SPRING VALLEY, CA (April 22, 2004) - Fred Staubach's friends at Mount Miguel
Covenant Village are baking a cake to celebrate his birthday -103 cakes
to be exact. They're not delivering them to Fred though. Instead they're
donating them to You Are Not Alone (YANA) so the Retired Senior
Volunteer Patrol (RSVP) can deliver them to homebound seniors in Spring
Valley.
Because of the donation, seniors all over Spring Valley will be linked
to Fred, his family, and friends when they celebrate Fred's 103rd
birthday on Friday, April 23, at 2:30 p.m., at Mount Miguel.
At 103, Fred Staubach is still living independently and he's still
volunteering. He starts his day by walking to the dining room to join
friends for breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Then he heads out to volunteer in the
skilled nursing center on campus at Mount Miguel, the continuing care
retirement community where he has lived for twelve years. Fred cheers up
patients with his regular visits.
Fred says he has a lot of cheer to spread, "I'm living my second
childhood at Mount Miguel Covenant Village."
Complimentary and encouraging to everyone he meets, Fred attributes his
longevity to his positive attitude. "I'm still here to make people feel
good about themselves," he says.
In addition to helping others, Fred satisfies his lifelong love of
learning by attending the many concerts and lectures at Mount Miguel.
Fred's motivation to learn began early. Born in Croatia, April 26, 1901,
Fred and his family immigrated to the United States when he was eleven.
From Ellis Island they moved to Chicago and Fred started school.
Because he didn't speak English, Fred was assigned to a first grade
class. Years older than his classmates, Fred worked hard and finished
the school year in sixth grade with students his age.
Fred had to drop out of school to help his family financially, but he
eventually returned to school and went on to earn two bachelor's
degrees, a master's degree in human behavior and industrial psychology
from the University of Toledo, and a doctoral degree in optometry from
Northern Illinois University. Fred was a counselor and psychology
professor in Hong Kong and at San Diego Community College until he
retired in 1966.
Fred and his late wife Carolyn took advantage of their academic schedule
to spend summers traveling the seas on passenger-carrying freighters.
When Fred retired, the couple had time for a leisurely freighter voyage
around the world.
Mount Miguel Covenant Village is one of 14 retirement communities
nationwide that are administered by Covenant Retirement Communities Inc.
on behalf of the Board of Benevolence of the Evangelical Covenant Church.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
