hilltopics
friday, february 16, 2001
images people features
people
for comments, contact kristi elliott at 864-4924 or features@kansan.com
6A
Beverly Boyd, an English professor, began living with her mother, Elspeth Boyd, 20 years ago after Elspeth's husband died. Elspeth Boyd is 107 years old. Beverly Boyd said she has had to slow the pace of her active lifestyle in order to care for her mother, but she said she wouldn't have it any other way. Photo by Matt J. Daugherty/KANSAN
living it up
At 107, Elspeth Boyd still finds ways to make the most of life
by brianne hess kansan senior staff writer
Beverly Boyd teaches in her British writers class. Visiting nurses help her care of her mother, Elseph Boyd, while Beverly is doing other things. Photo by Laurie Sisk/KANSAN
Ispeth Boyd doesn't feel her age — she lives it. And at 107 years, Boyd manages rather well. "There's no use taking life and not enjoying it," Boyd says with a slight British accent, "it's living life and loving it you see."
Boyd lives with her daughter, Beverly Boyd, professor of English, who took her mother in after her father died 20 years ago. The increase in crime near Elspeth's Staten Island, N.Y., home prompted Beverly Boyd and her brother, Jim, to move their mother somewhere else.
"We were great friends, so I was delighted to have her." Beverly Boyd said.
Mercedes Bern-Klug, associate director and social work researcher at KU Med's Center on Aging, said the Boyds were a great example of the changing demographics in America. People 65 and older, such as Beverly Boyd, who would not give her exact age, are in the largest age demographic in the United States. Elspeth Boyd and other people 85 and older are in the age group growing fastest by percent.
"In this generation we're seeing more people in advanced adulthood. Bern-Klug said, "We're changing what old age means in this society. It's time to revise our assumptions about older adulthood and give credit to its social support."
"I had to learn how to care for someone who gets sick, since I had never married and had kids," Beverly Boyd said. "I'm sort of an armchair physician — if I don't know what to do, I find out by reading."
While Beverly Boyd was delighted for her mother to move in, her life has changed dramatically.
Debbie Prentice, health health aide, has been caring for Elspeth for five years.
Visiting nurses come to the house seven days a week to help Elspeth Boyd with bathing, taking medication and eating breakfast and lunch.
"She's been enjoyable to be around — I love to hear her singing." Prentice said. Prentice said she had learned a lot about Elspeth's home country, Scotland, and about its culture — including how to make tea.
"You can get hooked on tea," Elspeth
One of Elspeth Boyd's favorite pastimes — reading — has become difficult because of the macular degeneration in her eyes. The disease has left her legally blind and unable to read, watch television or cross stitch.
Boyd said. "But it has to be made the proper way, in a teapot."
So Elspeth Boyd sings and listens to music — passions that started when she was a child and carried her through the Leeds College of Music in England when she was a young woman.
"She wakes up singing when she feels well, which is wonderful. She's a magnificent woman," Beverly Boyd said.
Elspeth Boyd chuckled at her daughter's compliment and said that she used to like singing but that her voice was not so good anymore.
I used to sing for concerts," she said. "I don't know if people do that so much anymore."
Elspeth Boyd loves visiting with people, too, but Beverly Boyd said that had become more difficult because her mother's health fluctuated.
"Sometimes she's not well enough, and we have to say we're sorry," Beverly Boyd said. "Then they give up."
Besides learning how to take care of someone else, the Boyd's relationship
changed when Elspeth Boyd moved in with her daughter.
i mner mother now," Beverly Boya said. "She doesn't like it that way, either. She's a very independent person and doesn't like to be bossed."
The relationship flip-flop has taught Beverly Bovd to take her time.
"You have to learn patience in this game, which I don't come with," she said. "You can't push them to do things. It's very hard for an active person like myself. You just give up on speed because it's not going to be had."
Despite the inconveniences, Beverly Boyd said she wouldn't have it any other way. Having someone else care for her mother on a full-time basis was not an option.
"I think American society treats its elder miserably," she said. "I know of grandchildren who don't want their grandparents in the house. I just hope she never gets so sick that she has to move out. I don't think I can do that."
The visiting nurses also have been great, Beverly Boyd said, but finding someone who can come in on weekend afternoons is often tough.
"My life has completely changed but I wouldn't change anything," Beverly Boyd said. "I wish I could give Mother her health back, but I can't."
Elspeth Boyd's advanced age poses new challenges for area health-care providers.
Bern-Klug said that a nationwide shortage of nurses and other professionals on aging has created severe manpower issues.
"We're close to a crisis for having people available to work with older adults," Bern-Klug said.
A lot of people ask the pair what is Elspeth Boyd's secret to longevity. The Boys both chuckle and shake their heads. There isn't a secret at all.
"She broke her hip when she was 100, and they told me that the most we could expect was two more years," Beverly Boyd said. "We're still laughing."
Hess is a senior staff writer for the Kansan. She can be contacted at features@kansan.com
— Edited by Melinda Weaver
People 65 and older, such as Beverly Boyd,
an English professor who would not give her age, are in the largest age demographic in the United States.
Boyd's 107-
year-old
year-old mother,
Elspeth Boyd,
and other people 85 and older are in the age group growing fastest by percent.
"We're close to a crisis for having people available to work with older adults," said Mercedes Bern-Klug, associate director and social work researcher at KU Med's Center on Aging.
---