Mesquite Retirement Center Starts Scrapbooking

MESQUITE (CBSDFW.COM) - A life well lived deserves to be documented. That's the philosophy at a retirement community in Mesquite, where a group of volunteers are spending time with residents, detailing important life events for a special scrapbooking project.

Community volunteers at Christian Care Center in Mesquite asked the faciliy's senior residents 50 specific questions about their childhoods, families and careers – all in an effort to permanently preserve the past for future generations.

Pictures of our past are a snapshot in time – a reminder of who we are and how far we have come. "I've had some mighty good memories," said 93-year-old John Melton, as he went through a collection of old photos for the scrapbook.

"I used to smoke pipes all the time."

"That's me and my wife."

"That's an old square in Temple. We was just showing off."

"I'm bad about looking back in the past. I just feel good all over."

Melton recalls all of the hardships that he and his family endured during the Great Depression. "We moved to Dallas, to Oak Cliff, and I went to work during the war at North American Aviation." Now, those details of his life are being documented with the help of volunteers.

Debbie Anderson is one of the volunteers from Eastfield Community College. She is helping residents like Melton carefully chronicle important milestones and memories. "You never forget the past. But when you can see it, it brings back more memories and it means more," Anderson said.

The story of how Kenneth Odle met his wife, Ruth, is a prominent entry in their scrapbook of memories. "I grabbed her and wheeled her around. I planted a big ol' juicy kiss on her. It was all over then," Odle said. An enduring love that is still going, 63 years strong. And their story will live on -- not only in their hearts, but now on paper for many more years to come. "I can still see you sitting on that golf course, on that bench."

For volunteer and elderly care worker Sam Baker, this project is a colorful glimpse into the past, something that inspires her to be a historian. "Just to listen to them and hear their stories -- I can't write it down fast enough," Baker said. "It's just so amazing."

"I've always said, one of God's greatest gifts is memory," Odle said. "And each time we tell the stories, we can recall that."