Audrey Mae SpencerSpencer Historical CemeteryHenry Straight / William Spencer Family Cemetery
Vaughn Historical CemeterySpencers of East Greenwich, RI
Life at Alpine Nursing Home
21 September 2003

Would it be easier to lie down and talk?

Audrey: No. No. No.  I have a nice chair. I like to sit up and talk.

21 September 2003

Heather: Who have you seen lately?

Audrey: They come and go. I see them all the time. Oh, there goes Sir Sobersides. He is long and lanky and has a black cap on! He never smiles when he takes out the trash. Vivian, she is a nice quiet lady. Everything is going along smooth. I don’t have to do a thing.

27 September 2003

(No Answer)

19 October 2003

Heather: Hello, Mother, I tried calling you last Saturday, but there was no answer.

Audrey: We get along!  They (Alpine Nursing Home staff) take us places. They push us around. I stand up and turn around two or three time a day. I get a little bit of exercise.

19 October 2003

Heather: Is life easier here at Alpine Nursing Home than living with Crystal’s family?

Audrey: Life is easier.  Poor Crystal couldn’t take care of me. I was happy to be home but Crissey, she can’t take care of me. She deserves to be free to come and go.
I am glad I am not a burden to any of my children now. I have a nice place here at Alpine. They take good care of me. I’m feeling good. I have no pain. I take long naps. I enjoy sleeping. I wouldn’t go back for anything. Crystal and I laugh about the “boring chair” that I named boring because I was always sitting in it. My boring chair here at Alpine moves faster than I do. I’m healthy enough. I ride around everywhere. This is a beautiful chair (the companion chair). It moves so easily. Every which way I turn, it moves so easily. I just go out in the hall.
19 October 2003

Heather: What do you like best about Alpine?

Audrey: Here I can do what I want.  I’m not bossed around.  Spencer will take me out and wheel me around and I don’t have a boring chair. Spen drops in every other thing.  Oh, my hand is fast asleep, so I switched hands.  A girl came in and made my neighbor Vivian’s bed. Vivian walks with a walker.  She is in and out all the time. She is always on the go.

Yesterday a hundred million black birds were flying up and down outside my window. The road was covered with birds.  They stayed there even after I left.  The phone fell on the floor. I’m going to put it back.  I backed up so far the phone fell off the table.  Oh, Dawn is coming in!!  Who am I talking to?

(H: Heather)

A: Oh, I’m not getting that bad yet?  Wasn’t that funny.  I get along pretty good with whom I talk with.

(Heather: Of course, you do, Mother.  It’s just that you are excited and happy to see Dawn.  And besides, if you forget whom you are talking to, just say,  “Whom am I talking to?”  And then you will get the answer and we keep going with the conversation.  No one will be upset if you forget for a moment.  We all forget at times. That is natural.  Let me say Hi to Dawn and then I’ll call you next Saturday.  Love you.)

15 November 2003

(No Answer)

22 November 2003

(No Answer)

26 November 2003

Heather: I have not been able to get you for the last two Saturdays. I even tried Sunday. So now I will call you at 8:30 AM sharp (EST) and if you have not finished breakfast I will call you back in 5-10 minutes. Once you leave your room for the day, it is hard to track you down.

Audrey Mae MacDonald

Audrey: I have a very good life. I have friends. We are always talking.  We are all one big family here.  I would rather stay in the house and look out the window. Spencer pushes me around outside.  When I am outside, I need a scarf, just like Grandma*. She always said her neck was cold.  I have a pink scarf that I tie around my neck and make a bow.

*Grandma is MaryJane (née Vaughn) Spencer, Audrey’s  mother.
26 November 2003

Heather: Who do you talk with most of the time?

Audrey: I’m always going out in the hall. Tom stops there. I just go out in the hall and old Tom, he is pretty good to talk with. Old Tom. He was the last of the eight boys. His mother wasn’t very good. She was a kind of wild thing. Each one of the children would come down our street, so I knew of him and his family. The first seven boys always got into trouble. He was the good one of the family and turned out all right. The rest were all getting into trouble. We are great friends. We see each other each day. We argue most of the time. We enjoy our arguing. He gets out there every morning at a certain space in the hall. Tom’s son comes along and off goes Tom.  His son pushes him around. Every elderly man should have a son to push him around.