Read our latest mention at The Tempe Tribune.
From the article:
Dave Seaman and Karen Schrade have lived lives that, almost serendipitously, prepared them for the friendship they currently enjoy at Friendship Village in Tempe.
Schrade, legally blind all her life, had to overcome obstacles and challenges. She attended college, held a job, was married and had two children.
Meanwhile, Dave served in Korea, running a mobile army hospital like the ones you might remember from the television show, “M.A.S.H,” though war was certainly no sitcom.
After the service, he majored in psychology stateside, which included an interesting exercise that stayed with him for the rest of his life.
“We had to spend a week blindfolded,” he recalled. “It was meant to give us empathy for those with disabilities, especially the blind.”
Fast-forward about 70 years and Dave and his wife met Karen and her husband when the two couples moved to Friendship Village in Tempe.
“When I lost my husband, Dave approached me with an idea,” Karen explained.
Following that tragic passing, Dave and his wife had been discussing ways to support Karen.
“I wanted to be able to help her find her way around our very large community so she wouldn’t be hindered in enjoying her retirement,” he explained. “As part of the deal I’m learning braille and she’s an amazing teacher.”
Karen is as independent as someone with a visual impairment can be. She jokes that, other than driving, she did everything any other wife and mother would do.
Still, now that her husband is gone, Dave’s help has been invaluable.
“Friendship Village offers so many opportunities for socialization, learning and more,” she said. “Understandably, a place that offers that much is going to be rather big. Dave has helped me to map out the entire community.”
Perhaps even more important than orientation or learning braille is the friendship they’ve developed.
“It’s called Friendship Village for a reason,” Dave laughed.
The two have leaned on one another – Karen on Dave after a tragic loss and Dave on Karen as a means of paying forward that empathy he learned in psychology school.
“They say it takes a village,” Karen said.
And sometimes that village can be as small as just two.