thedrifter
12-11-05, 06:58 AM
Woman who helped others is grateful for assistance
By ROBERT BRILL, City desk editor
First published: Sunday, December 11, 2005
COXSACKIE -- "Listen, guys," Charlotte Hunter told her four children a few years ago, "if I make it to 80, you better have a bash."
She made it, and the kids came through, too. Her daughter, three sons, 11 grandsons, two granddaughters and a great-granddaughter were all part of the celebration this summer in North Carolina.
"I'm proud of them and happy and grateful to God," she said.
Like so many men and women her age, Hunter has health problems -- and then some. She was referred to the Times Union Holiday Fund by the Greene County Department for the Aging. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease makes her breathing labored. She often needs oxygen to help her sleep through the night. Still, she said, "I try to walk every day."
She had a series of heart attacks and is being treated for skin cancer. Her eyesight is failing, so she can no longer read the best-sellers and Bibles (eight different editions) that fill her bookcase.
But her hearing is good. She has the Bible on tape in a box of 48 cassettes. Talking Books arrive regularly by mail. "Maybe I'm a better listener," she said.
She summoned that same optimism when her marriage failed. She moved from Harriman, Orange County, where she grew up, to Coxsackie, got a job at Albany Medical Center in the emergency room and carried on as a single mom. "It was just me working," she said. "We ate a lot of oatmeal and hamburger."
Back then, she said, "women who were alone didn't get the help they do now. I made too much money for Medicaid and food stamps."
Her church was the one place that came to her assistance. "Most people don't believe God works in our lives," she said, "but he sure does."
Her darkest day came during the Vietnam War, when two Marines and her pastor came to her door in Harriman. "They frightened me to death," she said. They told her that her son was badly wounded. David Hunter recovered and today, the 58-year-old retired Marine Corps captain and his wife live in Mississippi.
Her other sons also served in the military, and her oldest grandson is in the Navy stationed in Norfolk, Va.
In 1976, she moved to North Carolina just outside of Camp Lejeune to be near her family, not knowing she would be staying in the South for three decades. Most of that time, her job was in nursing homes. She also worked for a dozen years for "a family who treated me like family" until she retired in her early 60s. A decade later, when keeping up her own home got to be too much, she downsized and wound up back in Coxsackie. She sent in an application to a local federally subsidized senior housing development and moved in a month later. She's loved living there ever since.
The rent for her one-bedroom apartment is $113 a month, but her Social Security check goes only so far. Her children send money to help make ends meet.
Along with faith and family, Charlotte Hunter said there's another essential part of life. At home, in church, through her work and, until a few years ago, as a Senior Companion, she strived to serve people. "I think I fulfilled that calling as long as I could," she said. Now she realizes she must rely on the assistance of others. And for that -- as for the blessings of her life -- she is grateful.
Robert Brill can be reached at 454-5423 or by e-mail at rbrill@timesunion.com.
Ellie
By ROBERT BRILL, City desk editor
First published: Sunday, December 11, 2005
COXSACKIE -- "Listen, guys," Charlotte Hunter told her four children a few years ago, "if I make it to 80, you better have a bash."
She made it, and the kids came through, too. Her daughter, three sons, 11 grandsons, two granddaughters and a great-granddaughter were all part of the celebration this summer in North Carolina.
"I'm proud of them and happy and grateful to God," she said.
Like so many men and women her age, Hunter has health problems -- and then some. She was referred to the Times Union Holiday Fund by the Greene County Department for the Aging. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease makes her breathing labored. She often needs oxygen to help her sleep through the night. Still, she said, "I try to walk every day."
She had a series of heart attacks and is being treated for skin cancer. Her eyesight is failing, so she can no longer read the best-sellers and Bibles (eight different editions) that fill her bookcase.
But her hearing is good. She has the Bible on tape in a box of 48 cassettes. Talking Books arrive regularly by mail. "Maybe I'm a better listener," she said.
She summoned that same optimism when her marriage failed. She moved from Harriman, Orange County, where she grew up, to Coxsackie, got a job at Albany Medical Center in the emergency room and carried on as a single mom. "It was just me working," she said. "We ate a lot of oatmeal and hamburger."
Back then, she said, "women who were alone didn't get the help they do now. I made too much money for Medicaid and food stamps."
Her church was the one place that came to her assistance. "Most people don't believe God works in our lives," she said, "but he sure does."
Her darkest day came during the Vietnam War, when two Marines and her pastor came to her door in Harriman. "They frightened me to death," she said. They told her that her son was badly wounded. David Hunter recovered and today, the 58-year-old retired Marine Corps captain and his wife live in Mississippi.
Her other sons also served in the military, and her oldest grandson is in the Navy stationed in Norfolk, Va.
In 1976, she moved to North Carolina just outside of Camp Lejeune to be near her family, not knowing she would be staying in the South for three decades. Most of that time, her job was in nursing homes. She also worked for a dozen years for "a family who treated me like family" until she retired in her early 60s. A decade later, when keeping up her own home got to be too much, she downsized and wound up back in Coxsackie. She sent in an application to a local federally subsidized senior housing development and moved in a month later. She's loved living there ever since.
The rent for her one-bedroom apartment is $113 a month, but her Social Security check goes only so far. Her children send money to help make ends meet.
Along with faith and family, Charlotte Hunter said there's another essential part of life. At home, in church, through her work and, until a few years ago, as a Senior Companion, she strived to serve people. "I think I fulfilled that calling as long as I could," she said. Now she realizes she must rely on the assistance of others. And for that -- as for the blessings of her life -- she is grateful.
Robert Brill can be reached at 454-5423 or by e-mail at rbrill@timesunion.com.
Ellie