There are few moments in life more touching than when a father and daughter dance together during her wedding; nostalgia blends with the promise of a hopeful future, and hearts melt.
For Jillian Munsie, who was able to both walk the aisle with her father and share a dance with him when she was married in the spring of 2024, words can barely describe how wonderful it felt.
Her father, Louis Citron, is the type of person everyone loves to be around. He’s charming, funny and kind, and has always lived life to its fullest. He loves fast cars, has a black belt in karate, used to dance the Viennese waltz, owned his own companies and he’s apparently even dabbled in movie acting.
“He’s a remarkable person,” Jillian says. “He’s the nicest, sweetest guy I’ve ever known and I think I’ll ever know.”
When a major stroke hit in 2014 at the relatively young age of 65, life for Louis, Jillian and her brothers and sister dramatically changed. Jillian and her youngest bother still lived with him, and the reality quickly struck that their father would need more care than they would ever be able to provide.
“Of course, we were all devastated,” Jillian says. “It was a shocking and life-changing thing having to put him in a care home, but we simply couldn’t meet his needs.”
Yet 10 years later in his home at The Village of Taunton Mills, Louis remains the same joy to be around he has always been. He charms the team members with stories of the past and his smile is always wide, so when news of Jillian’s upcoming wedding landed in the Village, everyone supported Louis to help him out of his wheelchair so he could dance with his beloved daughter on her wedding day.
Karen Sepetis, a registered practical nurse who knows Louis as well as any team member, says everyone was honoured to help him gain the strength he needed. The Village’s Program for Active Living Coordinator, Farrah Sadiq, outlined how to safely help Louis make progress, and then it seemed everyone wanted to help. Personal support workers would help him take short steps in his room, placement students from Durham College helped him learn the dance steps, and encouragement came from every corner.
“It was wonderful,” Karen says; “so lovely to see how happy it made his daughter and how happy it made him.”
Louis smiles brightly as he recalls the wedding day. His short-term memory may be less than reliable, but he remembers the feeling of dancing with Jillian, and the pride he felt in doing so.
“It was very beautiful,” he says. “It takes determination, but it’s just something I had to do – she’s such a doll and I love her very much.”
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