Words of wisdom

Editor's Note: In February, the Press-Citizen published a special section titled “Words of Wisdom,” in which dozens of local seniors were asked what advice they would pass on to younger generations. Here are a few excerpts from that section.

JANE COTTERELL
“Don’t lose sight of the journey.”

By Susan Harman
Photo by Matthew Holst

A piano sits in the corner of Jane Cotterell’s living room. The winter light from the woods out back filters in like a fog. Her cat, Honey, curls up on a deck chair nearby, oblivious to the conversation.

Music and dance always have been a part of Cotterell’s world.

She was born in Hollywood (yes, that Hollywood) and lived in both southern and northern California, and her love of the arts accompanied her to Iowa when she moved to be closer to her daughters and their families.

She taught ballet, modern dance, cotillion, ballroom and social dancing. She knows some of the professional dancers on the TV show “Dancing with the Stars.”

“I thought the dancing was beautiful,” she said. “But it becomes a life-and-death matter. Who is going to win?”

She is encouraged that such shows have revitalized dancing. She observes the dancing is more athletic, but it also has evolved into more of an “in-your-face” performance.

“I sort of feel like that is unfortunate in a lot of ways,” she said.

At 82 she remains graceful in thought, style and movement. Her advice flows naturally from her own passion.

“Goals are certainly important and necessary, but you shouldn’t lose sight of the journey,” she said. “That has been very helpful to me in my adult life. Sometimes you end up in a different place than you thought you were going to be.”

 

GLENN JABLONSKI
“Read the comics. Stay away from credit cards.”

By Deanna Truman
Photo by Matthew Holst

Each day, Glenn Jablonski makes it a point to read the comics.

“It is where the real truth is,” said Jablonski, 90.

Comic writers tell things the way they are, Jablonski said of why he’s a fan.

His favorite comic, hands down, is Walt Kelly’s “Pogo.”

The most popular quote of Pogo, a possum, is: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Jablonski said his advice to people of any age is to read the comics.

Another one of his favorites is the often-political comic, “Doonesbury,” by G.B. Trudeau.
A close second nugget of wisdom, Jablonski says, is to stay away from credit cards.

Though the retired City High choral director, who still sings with the Voices of Experience at the Senior Center, does have a card, he pays it off each month.

He’s seen too many people get caught in the credit card trap and not be able to dig themselves out.

“It is so easy to spend more than you make,” said Jablonski, who lives in Iowa City. “If you do that, it is disaster.”

He urges people to drop the “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality.

 

JACQUES BOURGEACQ
“…there is more in life than making money.”

By Susan Harman
Photo by Matthew Holst

Jacques Bourgeacq is as much at home appraising a fine wine as he is reviewing the latest French literature or conversing in three languages.

The author of several books, a longtime professor at the University of Iowa and truly a citizen of the world, Bourgeacq took great pride not just in his scholarly achievements but also in his teaching. He always was available to his students and encouraged a process of lifelong learning.

“That’s why I was in the profession,” he said.

Lively and engaged, Bourgeacq sees some peculiar priorities among the young in this country.

“The mentality of the young today is that if you can make millions and millions and millions, all the power to you,” he said. “It is a sentiment that I resent with a passion. That excuses everything. There is something indecent when you see CEOs making millions and millions of dollars every year while there are people having a hard time making ends meet and sending their kids to get a good education. This is obscene.

“My advice to young people is be compassionate. Don’t think that anything you can get is acceptable morally or ethically. There is more in life than making money. You have to look at yourself in the mirror.”

He decries the arrogant impatience among the young, particularly those who are driven by the need to accumulate money or material things.

Bourgeacq earned a Fulbright research scholarship to study in the former French colony of Madagascar, and he and his wife, Victoria, lived there for three months while he researched long-ignored literature of the east African island.

His education and his travels have helped form his world view. But he came to it in a roundabout fashion.

Bourgeacq was a drop-out from the French secondary schools. After enlisting and serving in the French Air Force, he earned his GED in the United States and earned three degrees here, including a Ph.D at UI, where he stayed on to teach.

He has one final word of advice based on his circuitous route to the status of emeritus professor.

“The lesson I learned for that is never give up,” he said. “Even if you don’t do well in high school, you may be a little more serious later on. Start again. Start from scratch. You don’t have anything to lose. It’s not because you were dumb earlier. You might need more maturity.”

 

GRACE OLMSTED
“A loose tongue will get you in a tight place.”

By Lee Hermiston
Photo By Matthew Holst

Grace Olmsted enjoys a good conversation.

Topics range from her extended family, old stories about her parents and grandparents and her experiences growing up in Iowa during the Great Depression.

But one thing that you’ll probably never hear coming out of Olmsted’s mouth is a single word of gossip or slander.

“A loose tongue will get you in a tight place,” Olmsted said.

It’s an old adage, but one that has stuck with Olmsted, a former dietary supervisor. Olmsted said she was only about 10 years old when her mother scrawled those words of wisdom into her autograph book.

Olmsted, a 1947 graduate of the University of Iowa, said other members of her family helped reinforce that message with similar words most of us have heard at one point or another in our lives.

“My grandma said, ‘If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all,’” she said.

Olmsted admits that she likes to talk a lot, something she picked up from her father, who she said was, “quite a talker.” But she’s always careful about what she says and especially about what she asks for.

Though she’s been a widow for more than 20 years, Olmsted said she’ll never ask for help from her five children. It’s a lesson that she’s learned from her father’s experience. Once a prominent electrician on the East Coast at the turn of the 20th century, Olmsted said her father gave up his passion to help his father’s struggling Iowa farm. Olmsted said she thinks her father never got over that decision.

And while she’s not one to ask for much, Olmsted warned to be careful to watch what you say, no matter what situation you’re in.

“It can get you into difficulty because you can lose friends and jobs if you said the wrong thing at the wrong time,” she said.