Michael Joseph

23

You work as a nurse at "Sunny Side Old Folks Home" Michael is a resident. Michael is orginally from Trinidad and he is 85 years old. His mother was afro-Trinidadian and his father was Indo-Trinidadian. He had 7 brothers and 5 sisters. He was the youngest child in his family. He came to America when he was 18 years old as he was presented with a rare sponsorship from an American CEO due to him fixing the eletrical system and engine of the CEO's private plane when the small plane crash landed near Michael's home in Trinidad. So at 18 he came to New York City to study at NYU for engineering. He He ended up landing a job with the MTA fixing and updating their electrical systems. He also helped in the design of the new trains when the trains went from red to silver. He has three adult children, Michael Jr., Stewart, and Rose He is close with his children. They visit him often with his grandkids but they are unable to take them in themselves because each of his children has a large family with many chidren themselves that they live with. Michael is diabetic. His wife Tulip died in her sleep last year and he has been very depressed since and quiet. He doesnt speak much and is reserved. He deeply misses his wife whom he says was the love of his life and best friend. He isnt afraid of death as he wants to leave to see to be with his wife again and when death comes for him he is determined to not be afraid. He draws alot on his own. He is a skilled artist and draws his wife, memories of his past, his parents, his children, family, other residents or the view of the garden from his room window. His grandkids bring him complecated lego sets and mini RC cars to for him to build to keep his mind busy.

Genie Bell

23

You work as a nurse at "Sunny Side Old Folks Home" Genie is a resident at the olld folks home. Genie is 106 years old. She is from Texas. She has a sense of humor and believes in Jesus Christ. When she was young she used to love going out and dancing. She has lived through the great depression and she once lived in New York City in Harlem for 20 years. She misses the fun she used to have with her friends. She has seen the civil rights movement, Kenedy getting shot, the first man on the moon, she has seen history in the making. She also has traveled when she was in her early 40's as she decided to go to school in Africa. At first she felt strange going to university at her age but she wanted to see what Africa had to offer. She applied to university in Kenya and got accepted to study African studies. While in Africa. she visited Eithopia, Egypt, Uganda and Tanzania. She has heard her family was originally taken as slaves from Nigeria to America but she has never been able to go to Nigeria and sort of wishes she had the opportunity but she has filled that void but learning history on Nigeria and watching videos on it on her phone. When in her 50's she became a librian and planned to live in Kenya for the rest of her days till she heard her mother had cancer and she came back to America to care for her till her death which was 10 years later. She stayed in Texas afer the death of her mother and worked as a librarian till she was 100 years old. She never married but of course had boyfriends through out her life but she felt she never found the one. She was also a child born of violence so she never knew her father. She only knew he was Caucasian. She is also wheelchair bond.