Boardwalk dreams pack Park Place

Two residents at Park Place Assisted Living are dispelling myths about assisted living communities in a recently published book.

Carolyn Law and Betty Fletcher are featured in the book, "Who Moved My Dentures?"

The book's author, Anthony Cirillo, interviewed seniors from across the country to dispel 13 misperceptions often associated with assisted living centers.

Law and Fletcher were interviewed for a chapter that emphasizes how the elderly can adapt to their surroundings and make friends.

"Just asking for their stories was very fulfilling," said Cirillo of writing the book. "I don't think people take enough time to ask these people about their lives. … They have wonderful advice to share."

Law, 95, was one of about 25 residents on hand to watch Cirillo perform at Park Place on Tuesday. Fletcher was in the hospital.

After residents sang and clapped with Cirillo to songs such as, "Oklahoma," "Happy Trails," "How Great Thou Art" and "If You Want to be Happy." Some bought the book, and one Park Place director asked Law to autograph her copy.

Cirillo, who lives in Huntersville, N.C., is a marketing consultant for hospitals. He performs at assisted living centers and nursing homes about

300 times a year.

He regularly performs at assisted living centers in the Carolinas, Florida and his native Philadelphia. He's been singing for the elderly for about 10 years, and began to realize that human-interest stories could be told through many of the people at the centers.

He performs at Park Place about six times a year. While there during one visit, he noticed that Fletcher and Law seemed to be good friends. He writes about how they first met at a dinner table in the dining room and quickly became friends. One often begins a song and the other finishes it.

Cirillo also includes a little about their pasts, such as Law's upbringing in Spartanburg and her college years at Converse College. Fletcher is from North Carolina.

Law had not seen the book until Cirillo brought copies.

"I certainly want to buy one," she said.

Mary Valverde, Park Place's activities director, said it's exciting to have the center's residents featured in the book.

"I think it's great that he offered to do this with our residents," Valverde said. "They're walking, talking history books."

Other topics in the book address how assisted living centers aren't a place to die, but a place to live. He writes about the romances found in assisted living centers by using his mother and her boyfriend as an example. He also features the Raging Grannies, a protest group in Seattle that is modeled after a Canadian group.

"The more people know about these places before they go, the better they will be," said Cirillo, who also has recorded four compact discs.

He also learned a lesson about growing older.

"Keep living your life because it's not over," he said. "It's just another chapter of life."

Dudley Brown can be reached at 562-7426 or dudley.brown@shj.com.

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