Care center resident loves to be on the go
In The News - Care center resident loves to be on the go
By Brett Butterstein, Bigfork Eagle
The natural beauty of the area is what originally brought Lucia Waldt and her husband to the Flathead Valley in the early 1980s. She and her husband bought a home in Whitefish dominated by enormous second-growth cedar trees and forested land.
At age 76, Waldt continues to enjoy the outdoors. Her room at the Lake View Care Center offers a view of Flathead Lake and the surrounding mountains. Every chance she gets, no matter what the season, Waldt enjoys sitting outside in the sun where she occasionally enjoys a cigarette.
Born in Germany in 1923, Waldt worked as a telephone operator for a local air base when she met her husband. She attended college and eventually became a teacher.
As a young women she was active in sports like her father. She was involved in swimming and track and threw the javelin. Her father played on Germany's national soccer team and was the owner and editor of their local newspaper. Waldt also enjoyed painting and was regarded as a phenomenal oil painter.
In 1956 the Waldts moved to the U.S. permanently and lived in upstate N.Y. The couple had two boys and a girl who are now in mid-life.
In Waldt's room at LVCC several paintings created by her and family members hang on the walls. In the corner sits a small wand that Waldt is known to dance with during live music at the center.
Visitors and staff members say Waldt is a social person and active inspiration to the facility. "She loves putting make-up on. She likes having just enough, not too much, you know, and she's in there with her little eyeliners going through her eyebrows - it's really cute to watch her get ready," said Tammy Sciaretta,
the center's activities director.
"She loves to go out to eat. Once she's in the van she doesn't like to come out. She wants to go everywhere the van's going," Sciaretta said.
Waldt speaks mostly German but also speaks excellent English which she occasionally shifts back to. She speaks emotionally about her arrival to America and describes the Statue of Liberty as if she was there yesterday.
When asked about living at the care center, Waldt said she loves the music.
"The things she misses the most are walking in her forest and swimming," said one of Waldt's two sons, Rick Waldt. He said her love for life and people and her deep appreciation for natural beauty has been deeply instilled into all of her children.