Dec 28, 2014 2 min read

1 / 3

Gina Iuliucci shares a tender moment with her grandmother, Maria Lacey, 103, at Southminster Place at Presbyterian SeniorCare in North Franklin Township.

Jim McNutt/Observer-Reporter

2 / 3

Sharon Angeloni helps her mother, Maria Lacey, 103, take a sip of water.

Jim McNutt/Observer-Reporter

3 / 3

After spending an afternoon together, Gina Iuliucci, left, and Sharon Angeloni and her husband, Tom, take Maria Lacey, 103, back to her room at Southminster Place.

Jim McNutt/Observer-Reporter

[expand]

close

Maria Lacey celebrated her 103rd birthday in October with a hot meal in a private dining room, surrounded by family and flowers. While she was still a resident at Presbyterian SeniorCare in Washington, it felt a little like home.

“They took very good care of her,” said Sharon Angeloni, one of Lacey’s daughters. She and her sister, Rose Murgidi, were her primary caretakers for years, but decided to enroll her at SeniorCare when the burden became too difficult.

Lacey, who has had Alzheimer’s disease for about 20 years, has since moved across the street from the Woodside unit to a personal care home at Southminster Place. Both are under the arc of SeniorCare, which offers a continuum of care to patients of varying levels of ability and physical health.

Angeloni said her mother had to adjust to the new facility, but she will benefit from the hands-on care, as opposed to the Woodside philosophy, which aims to let residents maintain their independence as long as possible. Lacey shares a room with Anna Cowan, who also was featured in the Observer-Reporter’s Alzheimer’s series.

Physically, Lacey’s health has remained the same.

“She’s doing well,” Angeloni said. “She doesn’t have any heart problems or diabetes or anything like that.”

She still hums to communicate, but she can respond to certain phrases. Lacey said, “I love you, darling,” to Angeloni during a recent visit and also said “I missed you” after Angeloni returned from a two-week vacation.

Lacey was chatty for most of her battle with Alzheimer’s and only started to lose her language abilities fairly recently. But every once in a while, she says something poignant that comes as a pleasant surprise.

“I told her I loved her once we put her in (Woodside), and it was very, very hard for us, and she said, ‘Well, don’t love me too much because I have my own life to lead,'” Angeloni said. “And it was more like her saying, ‘Do what you have to do, and I’m OK.'”