It was the gorgeous grounds that first attracted
Rein Sommerfeld to Parkwood Manor in Coquitlam, British Columbia, and they still draw
him outdoors almost every day. Rein, who uses
a walker after complications from hip surgery
affected his mobility in one foot, is comfortably
able to use the pathways that wind through three
landscaped acres. It’s a bucolic setting, hedged
by natural woods, wild with spring blooms, and
crossed by a stream where fish spawn in the fall. And yet it’s only a block from the shopping
mall. “But we’re hidden away, so we don’t have the
noise,” says Rein, 84.
A widower for 13 years, Rein had been living in
an apartment and struggling to look after himself.
Meals were the hardest. “With this bum leg of
mine, I couldn’t drive and the grocery store was
too far to walk,” he says. He tried having frozen
meals delivered, but they just didn’t have the taste
of home cooking. Plus, Rein says, life got a little
boring sometimes. “I had no one to talk to.”
Since making the move to Parkwood Manor more
than three years ago, Rein eats much better than he
has in years and has found intellectual and social
stimulation. He does the exercise classes regularly
and participates in Saturday morning current
events discussions. A retired business manager
of a private school in Regina, Saskatchewan, Rein
has also become computer literate. “Recently they
bought a very easy computer with a touch-screen
monitor. Even I can operate that,” he says.
Rein, who used to volunteer as a church organist
and choir director, has also found his voice again.
He sings baritone in the choir, one of 11 men in
the 27-member ensemble. While they have a lot of
fun performing around town, they take their music
very seriously. Even when they perform for fellow
residents, they dress professionally in sharp white
shirts or blouses, black ties and black pants or
skirts. “When we sing in our dining room, man
alive! We have people crowded in there all the way
back to the kitchen,” Rein says. “If I say so myself,
I think we put on a pretty good show.”
