To the Editor:
I am Marvin Rosencrantz, and I have an Alzheimer’s story to tell. It’s also a story about what the Martha’s Vineyard Center for Living Supportive Day Program has done and continues to do to support my family.
Saralee and I have shared 54 years of marriage. She was and still is a kind, gentle, loving person. We were pals, lovers, partners, and proud parents to a wonderful, caring daughter, granddaughters, and son-in-law. We shared camping at Webb’s campground for more than 17 years, and have owned our home on this wonderful Island for 32 years. After retiring in 2000, we came here to live out the years ahead in peace and beauty.
Then Saralee was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease around 2010, after what I now see as years of slow decline: little hints and incidents that are obvious to me now, but weren’t then. There is no cure for Alzheimer’s, but there is something here on Martha’s Vineyard that we needed and got; care, love, and compassion from the expert and dedicated caregivers at the Center for Living Supportive Day Program.
One out of every three of you reading this letter is going to have to deal with this disease in one form or another in your lifetime, either personally or with a family member, loved one, or friend.
Please don’t just read and disregard this letter; do some hard thinking about how you can help this program grow, find a permanent home, and build a future that supports all of us, and yes, those who will come. Stand up at your town meeting and vote to support the county purchase of the building in Tisbury for the Center for Living Supportive Day Program.
Marvin Rosencrantz
Tisbury
