Overheard at Senior Homes (Part 3)

Seniors displaying their work in my Block Printing Class.

I teach writing and printmaking classes at senior homes in Los Angeles. Over the years, I’ve kept a journal of the memorable things I’ve seen and heard.

At a senior home in Palos Verdes, I met a man nicknamed “The Balloon Man.” I asked how he got his nickname. He said whenever a senior home resident dies, he organizes an outdoor gathering. He gives each person a blue balloon filled with helium while he holds a red balloon. He reads a short bio about the deceased then recites the Lord’s Prayer. He then releases the red balloon into the sky. Thirty seconds later, he tells everyone to release their blue balloons. He explains that the red balloon represents the spirit of the deceased while the blue balloons are the spirit of everyone else learning how to find heaven.

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At a Calabasas senior home, a 75-year old woman tells me she was a Los Angeles public defender who defended Leslie Van Houten, one of the Manson Girls. After Van Houten was convicted of murder, the woman said she feared for her own life. She adopted a German Shepherd and purchased a gun to protect herself.

One night she heard knocking at the front door. The woman told her husband to ignore it. The knocking was followed by several rings of their doorbell. Terrified, the woman grabbed her gun and tiptoed to the front door. She peered through the…