August 22, 1974 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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August 22, 1974 |
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Jake Smith welcomes you
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Page S-14 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, August 22, 1974
426-4642
Through housing designed with the older
generation in mind and catering to their
comforts, needs and budgets and with facilities
formulated to fit the recreational and social
requirements of the elderly while offering
specialized services, a new lifestyle has
opened to the senior citizens of Mason County.
Such an apartment building is Fir Tree Park.
and such a facility is the Senior Center. Such a
citizen is 77-year-old Alice Cortese, widowed
and legally blind.
Born in Iowa and reared on a Minnesota
farm, Alice Cortese literally grew up on a horse.
She has led a life of outdoor sports, hard work.
and action-packed hobbies. She's still going
strong.
She and her husband shared a love for
gardening, and on a three-lot site in Minnesota
grew more than one hundred different
perennials in a park-like setting complete with
pools and rock-gardens and naturalized
wild-flowers. Now she must settle for house
plants, but she will tend a row of vegetables in
the Senior Center's community garden spot, the
Pea Patch.
Once she was elbow-deep in handicrafts.
which in her blindness tend to elude her; but she
has learned to make ribbon roses by touch, and
she believes that other projects as well will
become possible for her knowing fingers.
In Minnesota she rode motor bikes and
snowmobiles with her grandchildren, and she
enjoyed camping. She swam at night in clear,
warm lakes. Now, with other senior citizens, she
swims at the Shelton Pool.
"It's wonderful for me," she states, "as I
need have no fear of bumping into things, or of
swimming straight out into an unlimited expanse
of water!"
For three years during World War 11 she
worked in an iron mine near Calumet,
Minnesota.
"! took ore samples," she says. "It was
considered man's work, but they hired women
for the duration of the war. I often worked two
shifts, and occasionally even three."
"1 tagged the ore cars," she continues, "and
then I climbed on top of each car to take a
sample with a scoop. After every five cars
samples had to be taken to the grinding room,
and then to the lab.
"It was skilled labor. Many other duties are
involved in evaluating the ore,"
After she was widowed, Mrs. Cortese sought
to build up her social security benefits. She
labored for three years in a box factory,
operating a swing cut-off saw. At one time she
was employed by a post office, hauling mail
from the depot to the office, and working as a
substitute clerk.
In 1969 infection following a bout with
influenza resulted in the loss of an eye.
Subsequent strain weakened the other. Minimal
vision prompted her to accept the help of a
teacher for the blind.
"You wouldn't believe how difficult the
little tasks can be," she remarks. "Actions
previously taken for granted suddenly become
major undertakings when one loses eyesight."
There are many little tricks to be mastered
to enable the newly blind to be reasonably
self-sufficient. There is a long, solemn period of
adjustment.
Alice Cortese learned to use a funnel to pour
liquid into cups; she switched to ladle-shaped
measuring spoons, and substituted tongs for the
cooking fork; pot-holders were replaced by
oven-mitts, and a spatter-shield was used to fry
the bacon, cooked to desired aloneness by sound
alone.
"Breakfast is the hardest meal for me to
prepare," says Mrs. Cortese. "For lunch and
dinner I use the oven a lot, and 1 have the timer
to make it easier."
The White Cane, now her most prized
ALICE CORTESE, legally blind, has developed a keen sense of touch.
possession, was for a long time rejected by Alice
Cortese, who was extremely sensitive about her
unprecedented helplessness. Because she could
not judge distance, the cane eventually became a
necessity.
"! remember very well," she laughs, "how
one day 1 was walking alone and charged into a
telephone pole. 1 politely exucsed myself and
wondered why the surly brute didn't
acknowledge my apology."
Her embarrassment when she learned the
truth of the incident prompted her acceptance
of the cane.
"1 am glad to carry it, now," she explains.
"It helps others to be aware of my handicap,
and people are much more courteous."
Alice Cortese has a son and a daughter in
Minnesota and a son, Sam Foster, whose home is
in Sheiton. For 15 years she was a periodical
visitor to Mason County. In February of 1973
she came to this area to stay.
With the help of her daughter-inqaw, she
manages very well. Mrs. Cortese can accomplish
a lot of housework and she is an excellent cook.
Utensils hang upon her kitchen walls within easy
reach, each always kept in its assigned spot.
Alice Cortese participates in Senior Center
activities, and in those of Fir Tree Park Social
Club. She is a member of the United Methodist
Church, active in the Dorcas Circle and with the
United Methodist Women. She has pieced a quit
top since her blindness.
No longer can she read, but she writes letters
and she operates a pre-focused camera. The
resulting pictures are to her a mere blur.
"I wish I knew Braille," she sighs, "but at
my age it seems like just too much trouble to
learn it.
"I'm glad," she adds, "that I've had such an
interesting life. Memories are my greatest
blessing."
Thursday, August 22, 1974 - Shetton-Mason County Journal. Page S-19