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Lois Grant

 

     Hamlet Hillside resident, Lois Grant, will be off to Cape Canaveral again soon.  Her nephew, Rex Walheim, is an astronaut on the space shuttle Atlantes and is scheduled for a mission on December 6, 2007.  This will be Rex's second trip on the Atlantes.  Lois and four other family members witnessed Rex last off in a launch in October, 2002.  Atlantes and her six-person crew completed an 11-day mission to the International Space Station that involved three space walks.  Rex is an engineer and his mission was to repair the arm of the space station.  Lois says Rex will be making repairs to the space station again on this journey.  Lois is really looking forward to the trip to the launch.  She says of the last launch, "My Lord!  It was so exciting!"  The astronauts are in isolation for 24 hours before the flight.  There are no goodbye hugs.  The family had to wave to Rex from 30 feet away.

     Lois grant came to Hamlet about two years ago from Russell.  Her husband owned and operated a large rubber plant, Variseal, in Parkman.  Variseal made gaskets for buildings all over the country including the Sears Tower in Chicaco.  She came to Hamlet a few years after her husband died.  She's made a lot of friends here and is very happy.  Lois is in a bood club, swims and plays bridge.  Her investment club has turned into an "out to lunch" club.  Their stocks weren't doing so well, so they decided to just go have lunch!

     Lois has three children in tihe area and three grandsons.  She lived most of her youth in New Jersey in Asbury Park on the shore.  She still loves Jersey and goes back every summer.  Lois loves to travel and loves looking at pictures she has taken from her travels around the world with her husband and friends.  Lois was an operating room nurse at University Hospitals and was a cadette nurse in the US Army during WWII.  Her brother was a B17 pilot in WWII and many of her family members served during many wars in the US military.

     It's a small world.  Lois was recently introduced to new resident, Lee Taddeo.  After talking for a bit, she learned that Lee's son is a flight surgeon at Cape Canaveral.  Lois and Lee both called the boys and learned that Lee's son and Lois's nephew are friends and colleagues!

Margaret Ardill

     Hillside resident, Margaret Ardill is a very active member of the Chagrin community and loves to travel.  She works one day a week at Canary Cottage, a darling decorator shop in the Gallery on Washington Street.  She coordinates volunteers for the Bainbridge Bloodmobile and St. Martin's Episcopal Church bookshop.  She and Hillside resident, Mary Eaton, are part of the Alter Guild at the church.  She is an active member of Catsden Garden Club and Chagrin Valley Woman's Club.

     Margaret has lived in Bermuda, Switzerland and Jamaica while her husband, who passed away two years ago, was with the Illuminating Company of Canada.  She was born in Montreal, Quebec, and is not an American citizen.  Mrs. Ardill has three boys and seven grandchildren.  She has lived in Cleveland for 23 years.

     Margaret recently returned from a trip down the Danube.  She travelled to Prague, Budapest, and Vienna, where she boarded a ship on the Danube.  They stopped at Linz, Satsburg, Munich and more.  Highlights were seeing an opera at the Budapest Opera House, the gold parliament buildings in Budapest, and the very moving holocaust shoes public art sculpture in Budapest.

     There is no moss growing under Margaret's feet!  Busy as she is, she is so warm and gracious that she makes you feel like the most important person in the world.

The knitters and sewers of Studio 9 meet every other Monday
to knit baby caps and sew baby blankets to donate to the needy
through Christ Child Society. They have a great time together sewing,
having lunch and chatting.

Hamlet resident, Kaye Peterson, doing her part on the
Singer sewing machine at Studio 9

Ruth Long, Lois Glove and Shirley Badger knit baby caps for disadvantaged children. Lois Glove knits at least one hat a week. She has stopped counting the number of hats she has completed. Emily Kertis, Kay Connelly, Kaye Peterson and Virginia Rondeau sew quilted blankets to be used in layettes.

Emily Kertis is working on her 91st blanket. She does all the pinning by hand before the others sew a border on the blankets with sewing machines.

Shirley Badger’s big talent is repairing the machines. The group sews with 50-year old Singers that are solid as a rock and sew smoothly with quality nickel machine parts.

Mary Jane Cole with Christ Child Society comes to Studio 9 every couple of weeks to pick up a huge bag of completed hats and blankets that the Hamlet group has produced. Christ Child Society delivers 125 layettes a month to 45 agencies, hospitals, head starts, and shelters in the Cleveland area. The national organization was founded in 1913. Kay Connelly and Mary Jane are cousins and have both been volunteering with Christ Child most of their lives. Kay Connelly is a life member of Christ Child Society. She started volunteering in high school, sewing diapers.

Studio 9 Art Studio is a large three-bedroom, two bath, 1600 square foot apartment in building nine with a full sized kitchen and eating area. The converted apartment is a great space for the Hamlet knitters, sewers and painters, giving them the ability to spread out and get creative. They absolutely love having their own art space.

The Hamlet sewers and knitters group is recruiting new members to keep up with the demand for blankets and caps. Please contact Hamlet resident, Virginia Rondeau, at 247-9253 or Kay Connelly at 247-0683 to join the group. No experience is necessary to join this fun group and participate in this worthwhile project.