Participant Moment

At Care Resources PACE, we celebrate individuals who embody community, connection, and resilience. Participant Moments showcase the stories of our amazing participants and their contributions to our community spirit. See below for our latest update.

January 27, 2025 – Robert T.

Bowler. Car aficionado. Fisherman. Swimmer. But maybe most of all, proud grandfather and friend to all.

Meet Robert T., whose contagious smile and positive attitude help make Care Resources an even brighter place to spend time and receive care.

“If you haven’t got anything to do, and you want something to do, this is the place to make that change,” he says of the day center, where you’re apt to see him swapping stories with men and women who obviously enjoy the company of others.

“The people here? Well, I’d have to say they treat you more than good. I’d say it’s like love!”

Robert is Grand Rapids through and through, even though he was born in Arkansas. He moved here at a young age and attended Jefferson Elementary and the now long-gone South High School, dropping out so he could take a job at Comet Lanes, once a Grand Rapids bowling institution that operated for nearly five decades before shutting down in 2008.

Robert worked there at the start as a dishwasher, eventually earning enough coin to buy his first car – a 1966 Buick Wildcat convertible. He smiles at the memory: “I was somewhat of a wild child,” he says with a chuckle. “I fished, I bowled and I chased girls.”

But he also found time to devote to movies, noting: “At one time, it was all I thought about. I started recording movies when I was 16.” His all-time favorite is the 1998 flick “Blade,” starring Wesley Snipes as a half-vampire and half-mortal.

After leaving Comet Lanes, Robert worked as a parking lot attendant and later took a third-shift job at a foundry. The divorced father of nine makes his home in Grand Rapids and has fond memories of teaching all his children how to bowl and swim and fish, pastimes that he is now handing down to his 26 grandchildren.

He loves all his grandchildren dearly, but can’t help singling out brothers Jorden and Durral “Phat Phat” Brooks, both of whom were standout basketball players for Grand Rapids Catholic Central High School and have gone on to play college ball.

Durral earned his unusual nickname from his days as an especially chubby infant who was known to eat nonstop.

These days, Robert fishes whenever he can and has no less than a dozen poles ready to go, standing tall in his dining room. “I love to catch catfish the most,” he says, and has favorite spots on Reeds Lake, at the Grand River, and at an unnamed lake some 90 minutes north of Grand Rapids.

Just recently, he took a granddaughter out and she came away with a haul of 25 bluegills and speckled bass.

Robert loves to reminisce about swim lessons he’s given the grandkids, though he doesn’t get in the water as much as he used to. He shies away from ponds and lakes where the water’s cloudy, saying that “Ever since that move ‘Jaws’ came out, I don’t go swimming in water I can’t see through!”

At Care Resources, Robert enjoys bingo, playing trivia and being surrounded by people who care about him. Though a disease left him blind in one eye, he insists on staying active and has memorized virtually every city bus line so that transportation is rarely a problem.

The secret so far to his longevity? “I try to stay in good shape,” he says, adding with a smile that “You just need to keep movin’.”

Click here to download the story.

January 17, 2025 – Thomas M.

All his life, Thomas M. has sought out opportunities to help others, even though he’s also had to deal with needs that have plagued him since birth.

“I knew the word ‘catheter’ before I even knew how to say ‘mom’ and ‘dad,’” says the Manistee County native, who endured his first of some 50 surgeries just days after being born in order to address intestinal issues that have dogged him more than 60 years.

Despite health challenges, Thomas has led a full life. He’s been married twice and dotes on one son, who lives in Greenville. Being around so many health care professionals growing up convinced him to become a paramedic, and he secured a job with an ambulance company while living in the village of Kaleva, population 500 or so in Manistee County.

“Many of my patients died while holding my hand,” he recalls. “I was the last person they saw or talked to before they passed away, and I often said a prayer with them, and sometimes again with their surviving family members.”

Thomas also served as a volunteer firefighter in his hometown.

In what scant spare time he has, Thomas was able to build his own home – literally – by laying out the block basement, framing the 24-by-52-foot structure with little assistance, and doing much of the plumbing, electric and roofing with limited help. This was long before the Internet and YouTube self-help videos were available, so he relied on books and magazine articles to guide him through the process.

These days, Thomas lives alone in a Kentwood apartment and has few close friends. “A lot of Sundays, I go to church and come home and sit in my recliner and cry out of loneliness.”

But Mondays and Wednesdays and Fridays are much better, he says, because that’s when he visits Care Resources and not only receives medical care but is able to connect socially with others.

“My experience with Care Resources has been phenomenal,” he says. “They continually exceed my expectations. Every time I have the opportunity to talk with a manager, I tell them how well they and their people are doing. I don’t have words to describe it.”

Thomas is part of a new initiative at Care Resources called “Support Partners.” It was founded out of a need to control “senior bullying,” which is when people engage in negative talk or behavior toward their peers, a growing problem in some senior communities.

Sometimes, says Thomas, he’ll notice someone is having a bad day, and he’ll gently pull up a chair and offer to chat. If they’re in need of a hug, he’s willing.

“The key is to treat them with kindness,” he says. “Some people just need someone else to love them.”

Thomas has a philosophy for a life well-lived: “Seek out positive people as your core group,” he says. “Also, live the way God wants you to live.”

One more thing, he notes: “Never, ever give up on yourself.”

Click here to download the story.

Last updated 1.27.2025 I H5610_WEB

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