Launched in 2005, WellesleyWeston Magazine is a quarterly publication tailored to Wellesley and Weston residents and edited to enrich the experience of living in two of Massachusetts' most desirable communities.
Issue link: https://wellesleywestonmagazine.epubxp.com/i/78488
this is oneof those stories that must rely on discretion because it's about real people. So if I cast "the cloak of anonymity" across it in the telling, I hope you'll understand. Recently, I met an elderly French woman who had lived through the German occupation in Vichy France during the Second World War. After interviewing her for an article, she asked casually if I had ever heard of something called "Sages & Seekers." I had no inkling of what motivated her question, thinking she was talking about a variation on "Dungeons & Dragons," which was fine, but not my cup of tea. She went on to explain that through her local community center she had become part of a group of senior citizens that had been paired with a group of high school sophomores. The general idea was to help older people reclaim their sense of self by breaking down the isolation that builds up around so many of them as the years go by, and to introduce the kids to people they might not otherwise encounter. For many of these older people, it meant reconnecting with a younger generation they'd last seen when their offspring left home decades ago. For the kids' part, it was a chance to do some serious questioning about the life of a total stranger; to gain some insights that otherwise might never have been made accessible to them. Time passed, and then, when I had practically forgotten all about my French lady and her Sages & Seekers, my phone rang. A Personal Effort At the other end of the line was Elly Katz, a resident of Natick, and she too had a story to tell. Sages& 114 WellesleyWeston Magazine | fall 2012