Newtown's senior population is rapidly growing, with many choosing to remain in their homes or local independent housing facilities. Without family members, nurses, or aides living with them, a number of challenges can arise for seniors, making daily activities difficult.

The Newtown Bee sat down with two individuals who agreed to share their firsthand accounts of the struggles they face each day living alone.

Names of those contributing have been changed to respect their privacy and ensure their safety.

Dependent On Family

"I moved to Newtown when I was 27 [years old]. I brought up five children in this town, but none of whom live here anymore," Grace said.

After 30 years in Newtown, she eventually moved to Naugatuck, Waterbury, and Springfield, Mass., before her husband's death in 2001.

The following year, Grace decided to move back to Newtown into a senior living facility, where she could continue be independent without worrying about laborious exterior home upkeep.

"Newtown was home to me, and I knew eventually I would come back here," Grace said.

In October, Grace will be 92 years old and is finding that despite living in a facility that she loves, she says that there are daily challenges she continues to face "all the time."

"I cannot vacuum anymore, because I can't push the vacuum. I can't push a broom, I can't iron," Grace explained. "I fractured two vertebrae in my back four months ago, and I've been told not to do any of those things."

She added, "One of my biggest bug-a-boos is I have a calendar on my wall over my stove, and I cannot put it up anymore. Sometimes it's two weeks before I can get it up [to the right month], because I'd have to go on a ladder."

Unable to accomplish those everyday tasks that require any heavy lifting or strenuous reaching, she has become more dependent on the help of her family.

However, her children, ten grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren are primarily spread throughout Connecticut. Grace must wait until their visits to ask for their help accomplishing the housework she is not able to do herself.

"I really have a great family, and they do a lot for me," Grace assured.

Another challenge she faces on a regular bases is grocery shopping. Grace is still able to drive herself locally and is able to pick up groceries to get by for a short while, but finds that she tires walking for long periods of time.

"I cannot go to the store and buy two weeks worth of groceries anymore by myself. I need to have help," Grace said, which is another facet that her family helps her with when they are in town.

Socializing is also difficult for Grace when her family is not around.

"It's hard because of my age the people who I've spent many years with, most of them are gone," Grace said. "New people have moved in and you make new friends. It's not the same, but it's people to do things with, to talk to, to meet."

Ten years ago she began a tradition with five close friends from Newtown to meet for lunch every three months.

"We're down to three of us now... It's heartbreaking," Grace said.

Despite her challenges, Grace tries to live a life as active as possible, visiting the Newtown Senior Center when she can for classes and bus trips.

"I learned how to play mahjong at the Senior Center, and I play bridge there also. Last year they had a course about making things out of clay, and I went to that," Grace said.

She also spends time gardening at home to beautify her back porch. Recently she has even taken on a special project to make an archive of her family's history for each of her children, so that they will always know the great memories from their family line and be able to cherish it for generations to come.

Newly Retired

Margaret has been a Hawleyville resident for almost 75 years, having been born and raised in the area.

During her adult life, she mainly spent her days enjoying time with her husband and working various jobs over the course of her 50-plus-year career.

When her husband passed away, though, her life changed. In addition to the grief of losing a loved one so dear to her, she was also faced with the reality of living alone for the first time.

Proud to live in Hawleyville, she wants to age in place and continue her independence in the home with which she is familiar.

Margaret retired this past summer and has found that with more time on her hands it is a challenge finding what to do with it all.

"I don't want to stay home and just watch television," Margaret said. She has a desire to be out and help the community.

After reading the first installment of the "Aging IndependentlyThe Newtown Bee's Friday, August 18, print edition, she began reaching out to local senior-related groups to see where she can lend a hand." series, featured in

Today, she has reached out to Golden Opportunities with hopes of doing the Warm Line, which is a weekly telephone call to check in with seniors living alone.

Still able to drive, she has also signed up to be a driver with FISH, a group she is very familiar with because her husband volunteered with the organization.

Margaret seeks out ways to engage with others, especially those in need, despite her own daily challenges.

Housekeeping has become a struggle that seems sometimes unmanageable, but she chips away at areas, tidying here and there.

"It still looks like a tornado went through my house," Margaret said. "I got a lot done, but it's still not completely clean."

When her husband was alive, she had her first hip replacement surgery and even though it was difficult, she had him around the ease the hard times.

Three years ago she had to have her other hip replaced and found it much more complicated to heal and take care of everything by herself.

"I had no one to help me and the two dogs at home by themselves," Margaret said.

Fortunately, her nephews were able to stop in to care for the dogs in her absence, but she says during that stressful time her pets were terribly afraid without her there to comfort them.

Due to health issues, she has even had to sacrifice some of her favorite activities.

"I like working outside, but I had skin cancer one time. So I stay out of the sun, because I don't feel like glopping myself up with [sunscreen]," Margaret said.

She added that kneeling to garden is not an option, because she still feels pain in her hips and cannot be on her knees for long.

However, Margaret says her doctor has recommended she go walking for exercise to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Living at home alone and being retired makes socializing challenging, so many times the highlight of her days comes when she takes her dog walking and goes out of her way to meet new people. She sets a goal for herself to pick out someone and start up a conversation.

Now she has even started writing those stories down when she comes home, to chronicle all the interesting people who cross her path.

Listening to others is something she takes great care to do, but as a senior in Newtown she feels frustrated, saying the older population is not always heard in the community.

Margaret wants town officials and residents to be reminded that seniors are still valuable members in town, specifically citing that they contribute plenty by paying taxes like everyone else.

She hopes others will not forget seniors and their needs, and even though she has challenges of her own, she will continue to do her part to help other aging members of the community overcome their struggles.

To learn more about local organizations helping seniors age independently read Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.