Butterfield Residential Care Center's Butterfield Express December 2019

Butterfield
EXPRESS
Volume 30, Issue 12
December 2019
Butterfield Residential Care Center is an affiliate of CMH, Bolivar, Mo., 417-326-6000
Facility Location: 1120 N. Butterfield Rd., Bolivar, MO 65613, 417-326-5200
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Resident of the Month 1
Activity Photos 2
Upcoming Events 3
Residents’ Birthdays 4
New Residents 4
Discharges 4
Wishing all
of you
Happy
Holidays
from
all of us at
Butterfield!
Darlene Gray,
Resident of the Month
Darlene Gray was born in Richland, Mis-
souri, March 18, 1940, to Ivy and Alberta
Powers. Darlene was the oldest of three girls.
Her sister, Kathryn (Kat), was born when Dar-
lene was four years old and fifteen months
later the family welcomed the youngest sister,
Kay.
“Mother and dad were great Christian par-
ents,” said Darlene. Ivy was a WWII veteran
and during the War, to finish his tour of duty,
he guarded five German prisoners at Ft. Le-
nard Wood, which just happened to be only
fifteen miles from home. The family was
thrilled to be able to see him on the weekends.
After WWII, the family moved to Athens,
Illinois. Ivy worked as a farm hand and Alber-
ta was a self-taught seamstress. She made
most of the girls’ school clothing. She would
always put three yards of material in the girls’
skirts. Can you imagine nine yards of skirt in
the back seat of the car while riding 30 miles
to attend church! Darlene learned to sew on
her mother’s treadle sewing machine.
Darlene and her sisters went to a very nice
red brick school with two large rooms. Miss
Nellie taught 1 st - 4 th grades and was nice and
compassionate. Miss Ruth taught 5 th -8 th grades
and was kind, but had no fear of using her 18-
inch wooden paddle to discipline! When the
girls joined the Boy & Girl Country 4-H Club
they began raising Berkshire hogs and showed
them at the county fair. It was a lot of fun!
They won ribbons and money and would use
the prize money to buy school clothes. Their
pigs became their pets which allowed them to
be shown successfully. A couple times they
were so successful they became the Grand
Champions, but weren’t very pleased because
they only received a large purple ribbon as a
prize!
In 1958, Darlene graduated from Athens
High School with about 60 classmates. In the
fall of 1958 she entered the Missouri Baptist
School of Nursing and graduated in 1961 as a
registered nurse. She truly enjoyed her nursing
career and worked in all areas except
surgery.
Darlene was married in 1962 and to
this union the loves of her life, her fantas-
tic twin boy and girl, John David and
Julie Darlene, were born. John currently
resides in Oak Grove, Missouri and Julie
lives in Bolivar, Missouri. John and Julie
gave Darlene six fantastic and delightful
grandchildren, three grandsons and three
granddaughters. From those grandchil-
dren, of course, came even greater and
more fantastic great-grands, four boys
and three girls. Darlene truly enjoys be-
ing a Granny! She has also enjoyed many
exiting trips, many with her family, and
has done a lot and seen a lot. Darlene
recognizes the imperfection of people
and the importance of loving the Lord,
family, and country.
In 2018, Darlene moved to Butterfield
where she has enjoyed the staff and resi-
dents. She suggests not aging past 49
years old, where she jokes she has con-
tinued to stay because, “I have really had
fun with that age. That’s my story and
I’m sticking to it.” Darlene is always
willing to extend a helping hand and has
been a blessing to the Butterfield family.
Thank you for sharing your story with us
Darlene!
Are you a caring individual who would like to assist in caring for the elderly?
Butterfield Residential Care Center has opportunities in its volunteer program.
For more information call Tammie Callaway, BRCC administrator, at 417-328-6380.