Sixty-eight years.
James and Anne Gordon have been navigating the path of life together for nearly seven decades, beginning when they first met in Durban, South Africa. They were living in neighbouring hotel rooms at the time, and James often felt compelled to knock upon her door to ask her to turn the volume down on the radio. He had work early, but she liked her music loud.
She laughs as he recounts this story while they sit in the café in The Village of Riverside Glen in Guelph, where they live together today.
Six months after they met in that hotel, they were married.
James was a restless young man, eager at the age of 18 to explore the wilds of the African continent. He worked with police services in Kenya and once met young Jane Goodall in the mountains of Southwest Uganda. He convinced the Dept. of National Parks in what was then called Rhodesia that he would make a good park ranger when he returned home, and he spent many months in that capacity observing the wildlife and people of the remote wilderness there.
He’s been charged by elephants and buffalo; he’s been close to leopards and lions, and through the course of five years as a ranger, he was part of the effort to protect the wildlife and wilds of the southern part of Africa.
Yet after he and Anne came together, they sensed a change in the political climate and soon ventured to England. Some years later, they found their way to Canada following their son who came to study in Guelph, and they never looked back.
“We found it to be a really splendid place,” James says of Guelph, though he notes how much it has grown over the years. It matters less to them, these days, however, for they live together in long-term care and have all they need in the Village.
James explains that Anne was the first to move in.
“I’m a little forgetful,” she adds, and that was part of the reason long-term care became a necessity. After Anne moved in, James’s mobility became a challenge, and the risk of a serious fall grew. When his name went on the LTC list, it was a priority that he be placed alongside his wife.
Their rooms are once again across the hall from one another – echoes of the Durban hotel a lifetime ago. He could ask her to turn the music down, if needed, but that rarely happens anymore.
Sixty-eight years. That's a long time to share a life, and James and Anne are grateful that keeping spouses together is a priority within Ontario's long-term care system. For any senior, in fact, reunification should be a top priority.
Their experience speaks to the importance of communities where retirement living and long-term care exist side-by-side. When one person's care needs changes, couples shouldn't have to choose between receiving the right support and remaining close to the person they love. Villages like Riverside Glen can make reunification possible, help preserve the relationships, routines and provide the right care in the right place. We need to build a seniors' care system that enables that.
It’s true Anne’s memory isn’t as strong as it used to be, but she loves to hear her husband recount stories of their life together, just as she loves his stories of the wilds of youth. She smiles with adoration as he speaks, and trusts in him to guide her back to their neighbourhood after the conversation ends.
Later, he reads in the corner of his room as she naps upon the bed.
On the wall is a photo of James in younger days. He’s sitting cross-legged by the trunk of a Balboa Tree as a fortune-teller named Ngrisni throws charms to tell the future. James was told then of a long and successful life, and on this day in The Village of Riverside Glen, it seems the fortune has come to pass.
