95-year-old Tampa woman still lives on family farm years ago
Weighing in at less than 100 pounds, 95-year-old Helen Schwartzman of Tampa may look fragile, but she has continued to survive and thrive through tragedies and challenges that could have felled the toughest and strongest.
Even Schwartzman's birth was not exactly auspicious. Her right shoulder had a slight deformity, which may have been genetic or may have been caused by the instruments used to assist her into the world.
Although the condition was not very noticeable in her childhood, it became more pronounced as she grew older. Still it was never painful, and Schwartzman says she never felt it was a handicap.
Longevity genes seem prevalent in her family with her mother and maternal grandmother both living to the age of 97. Schwartzman is the oldest in a family of seven children, the youngest being 78. All are still living.
She attended Sunnyside country school, which was between Lost Springs and Ramona. The old school building is still in use, having been moved into Hope and remodeled into a duplex.
After graduation from Lost Springs High School, Schwartzman spent a few years as a "hired girl" doing housework and child care in people's homes. Her first job involved taking care of newborn twins whose mother had died.
Married to Will Schwartzman at the age of 22, Helen moved into a newly built house one and a half miles east of Tampa, where she still lives today. Together they had six children and reared five. Their oldest, Virginia, was born with a heart defect and died of pneumonia at the age of four.
Schwartzman's two other daughters are Helen Jean McConigle of Wichita and Geraldine Noonan of Dallas, Texas. She has three sons: John of Salina, Leroy of Ballwin, Mo., and Wayne of Wichita.
They have presented their mother with eight grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and one great-great-granddaughter.
Schwartzman was always a full-time homemaker who was involved in her children's activities, such as 4-H. Since her children were born in the 1930s and 1940s, her life held much hard work, including cooking, keeping house, gardening, yard work, and raising chickens.
She continued to mow her large yard even into her eighties, doing at least part of the law until about seven years ago. Only two summers ago she planted her last garden.
Stricken with Alzheimer's disease, her husband entered St.Luke Living Center in Marion in 1983 and died in 1990. Since then, Helen has lived alone on the farm for 19 years, and she never wants to leave it.
During the past several years, Schwartzman has undergone four surgeries and suffered a fractured pelvis in a fall. Following one of the surgeries and the fall, she spent about 10 days in Marion Manor, but she could hardly wait to get back into her own farmhouse.
Schwartzman's greatest challenge yet came in September 2000, when she had to have her left leg amputated because of a malignant tumor. Upon leaving the hospital, she spent 10 days at a rehabilitation center in Salina.
"They taught me how to do things around the house," she said.
Her son John and his wife Pat stayed with Helen her first three months at home until she felt able to live alone. A home health nurse comes twice a week to help with her shower and make her bed, and someone else has to vacuum the carpet. But Schwartzman does her own cooking, laundry, dusting, and whatever else needs doing.
The only hurdle Schwartzman was unable to conquer was the use of an artificial limb. Although she mastered walking on it, her hands were not strong enough to trip the lever that allows the knee joint to bend in order to sit down.
Since her leg was amputated just below the hip, the artificial leg and its harness were also very heavy for someone of her age and physique to carry around.
"I'm satisfied with the wheelchair," she said.
But "satisfied" is a relative term, Schwartzman admitted.
"My most difficult thing is to turn my wheelchair around," she said. "I sure can't go as fast as I used to."
Schwartzman's life is somewhat circumscribed now. Except when someone is there to help, she does not leave the house.
"(My children) made a ramp for me, so I can go outside, but I go so fast down the ramp that I can't control my chair, so I just stay in the house," she said.
The second floor and the basement are also inaccessible to her. She is sometimes frustrated because she does not think she can get enough done in a day.
Nevertheless, she does not seem to suffer from cabin fever.
"I'm just thankful I can be in my own home and take care of myself," she said.
Cooking is a challenge. Whenever possible, Schwartzman cooks enough for a few days and then warms a portion in the microwave at meal time.
"When one of the kids is here, I let them cook and I wash the dishes," she said, chuckling. "I can stand up and prop myself in the corner of the cabinet to do dishes."
Even though her life has brought much hard work and heartache, Schwartzman says she has no regrets.
Out of more than nine decades of hard-won wisdom, she advises, "Make the best of your marriage and of your life. I just do the best I can. That's all I can say."
One quality in Schwartzman's character is probably more responsible than anything else for enabling her to overcome so many obstacles. That quality is determination.
"I just have faith that I can do things," she said. "I want to be independent. I don't want to rely on other people. As long as I can do something, I'll do it."
