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Woman with tremors makes Shaky Lady Art
By Jewell Cardwell
Beacon Journal columnist
POSTED: 08:10 a.m. EST, Nov 03, 2008
Jinny Williams still has a difficult time believing she's the candle in the dark for so many others, known and unknown to her alike.
Amazingly positive attitudes in the face of any adversity can do that.
Williams, a resident for 17 years at Laurel Lake Retirement Community in Hudson, has Severe Essential Tremors, a syndrome of unknown origin.
Or put another way, she shakes.
''It's gotten progressively worse,'' Williams said.
While she wouldn't wish them on anyone, Williams — in spite of the tremors — looks at her glass as half full rather than half empty. And thinks of her future as still wide open with promise.
Those taking a quick glance at the woman with the neatly coifed gray hair might shortchange themselves, labeling her only as ''someone who shakes.''
They're missing out on the real gift, which is this — she rocks!
That's because the former schoolteacher is making a quiet debut as an artist. Not too shabby for an 80-year-old who could have chosen to sit on her hands.
With the encouragement of her oldest daughter, Kathie Clyde of Big Prairie (Holmes County), Williams has even produced a greeting card line aptly called Shaky Lady Art.
Williams, who formerly resided in Moreland Hills, a fashionable Cleveland suburb, said she never thought she had any artistic abilities other than those associated with ''decorating my house.''
Fortunately, her daughter saw beyond the obvious.
''Mom has always been very creative,'' said. ''For several years she did all of the flower decorating for commons area (at Laurel Lake) until she could no longer use her hands to arrange flowers ... ''
In trying to find something for her to do that would allow her to express her creative side, she thought watercolors and her mother would make a good fit.
''She said, 'Mom, you can do this,' '' Williams said. ''I really didn't want to do it.''
Fortunately, her daughter's voice was louder and prevailed.
''I finally said yes,'' Williams said, a smile warming her face.
Interventions like these can be healthy and life-affirming.
Williams' family — David, her husband of 57 years (an excellent wood finisher who also resides at Laurel Lake), and the couple's three children — got her the paper and paints to get her started.
With daughter wrapping her hand around her mother's right hand ''to weigh it down,'' Williams began the journey of making a distinctive mark on life.
''I would cover her with towels,'' Clyde said of the laborious process. ''I would tell her, 'Mom, these are going to be abstracts.'
''But she was so concrete, saying, 'I want to do a flower, a Christmas tree.' Finally, I said, 'Let's just put color to paper and see what happens.' ''
Tentative strokes at first grew bolder with her confidence.
''I mentally see what I want to paint — like a volcano,'' said Williams, a quiet woman now very invested in the conversation. ''Then I try to capture it with watercolors or colored pens.
''I have good color judgement,'' she added, self-assured in her toil.
''Her first set of cards were just amazing — the emotion she was able to capture in her art,'' Clyde said of her mother's work. ''I think she really caught on when we started putting titles to each card. She began to see how other people would see the joy, emotion and conflict in her art.''
To date, Jinny Williams' card line has yielded big rewards. Tangibles and intangibles.
In the last three years, she has produced two different installments of greeting cards, six different ones in each set.
The greeting cards — only available in the gift shop at Laurel Lake Retirement Community — retail for $10 for a set of six cards.
All of the money goes to Second Wind Dreams, a national nonprofit project which seeks to fulfill the late-in-life wishes or dreams of nursing home residents.
At Laurel Lake, one gentleman had his lifelong wish of walleye fishing fulfilled, while another attended a Cleveland Browns game.
In lieu of having a dream of her own granted, Jinny Williams elected to give hers away in the form of a birthday party fit for a princess — complete with a horse-drawn carriage ride — to a little girl battling cancer.
When she's not painting, Williams, once an avid mystery reader, delights in being read to by a friend, ''mostly cultural things. ''
She's also quite the fan of television's Animal Planet and following the local professional sports teams.
''My mom is is probably the most positive person I know,'' Clyde declared.
''She's a role for me as to how to grow old gracefully. ... She very rarely complains. I just think she's remarkable. And I can't believe I can say this without crying ... ''
Clearly, Jinny Williams feels good about allowing herself to be open to starting a new chapter in her life.
Her advice to others with seemingly insurmountable obstacles in their paths?
''Listen. And love what you want to do,'' advised this grandmother of four. ''Never think you can't do something. Just try it. You just might fool yourself. ...
''Through love you can do anything.''
No argument there.
Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.
Jinny Williams still has a difficult time believing she's the candle in the dark for so many others, known and unknown to her alike.
Amazingly positive attitudes in the face of any adversity can do that.
Williams, a resident for 17 years at Laurel Lake Retirement Community in Hudson, has Severe Essential Tremors, a syndrome of unknown origin.
Or put another way, she shakes.
''It's gotten progressively worse,'' Williams said.
While she wouldn't wish them on anyone, Williams — in spite of the tremors — looks at her glass as half full rather than half empty. And thinks of her future as still wide open with promise.
Those taking a quick glance at the woman with the neatly coifed gray hair might shortchange themselves, labeling her only as ''someone who shakes.''
They're missing out on the real gift, which is this — she rocks!
That's because the former schoolteacher is making a quiet debut as an artist. Not too shabby for an 80-year-old who could have chosen to sit on her hands.
With the encouragement of her oldest daughter, Kathie Clyde of Big Prairie (Holmes County), Williams has even produced a greeting card line aptly called Shaky Lady Art.
Williams, who formerly resided in Moreland Hills, a fashionable Cleveland suburb, said she never thought she had any artistic abilities other than those associated with ''decorating my house.''
Fortunately, her daughter saw beyond the obvious.
''Mom has always been very creative,'' said. ''For several years she did all of the flower decorating for commons area (at Laurel Lake) until she could no longer use her hands to arrange flowers ... ''
In trying to find something for her to do that would allow her to express her creative side, she thought watercolors and her mother would make a good fit.
''She said, 'Mom, you can do this,' '' Williams said. ''I really didn't want to do it.''
Fortunately, her daughter's voice was louder and prevailed.
''I finally said yes,'' Williams said, a smile warming her face.
Interventions like these can be healthy and life-affirming.
Williams' family — David, her husband of 57 years (an excellent wood finisher who also resides at Laurel Lake), and the couple's three children — got her the paper and paints to get her started.
With daughter wrapping her hand around her mother's right hand ''to weigh it down,'' Williams began the journey of making a distinctive mark on life.
''I would cover her with towels,'' Clyde said of the laborious process. ''I would tell her, 'Mom, these are going to be abstracts.'
''But she was so concrete, saying, 'I want to do a flower, a Christmas tree.' Finally, I said, 'Let's just put color to paper and see what happens.' ''
Tentative strokes at first grew bolder with her confidence.
''I mentally see what I want to paint — like a volcano,'' said Williams, a quiet woman now very invested in the conversation. ''Then I try to capture it with watercolors or colored pens.
''I have good color judgement,'' she added, self-assured in her toil.
''Her first set of cards were just amazing — the emotion she was able to capture in her art,'' Clyde said of her mother's work. ''I think she really caught on when we started putting titles to each card. She began to see how other people would see the joy, emotion and conflict in her art.''
To date, Jinny Williams' card line has yielded big rewards. Tangibles and intangibles.
In the last three years, she has produced two different installments of greeting cards, six different ones in each set.
The greeting cards — only available in the gift shop at Laurel Lake Retirement Community — retail for $10 for a set of six cards.
All of the money goes to Second Wind Dreams, a national nonprofit project which seeks to fulfill the late-in-life wishes or dreams of nursing home residents.
At Laurel Lake, one gentleman had his lifelong wish of walleye fishing fulfilled, while another attended a Cleveland Browns game.
In lieu of having a dream of her own granted, Jinny Williams elected to give hers away in the form of a birthday party fit for a princess — complete with a horse-drawn carriage ride — to a little girl battling cancer.
When she's not painting, Williams, once an avid mystery reader, delights in being read to by a friend, ''mostly cultural things. ''
She's also quite the fan of television's Animal Planet and following the local professional sports teams.
''My mom is is probably the most positive person I know,'' Clyde declared.
''She's a role for me as to how to grow old gracefully. ... She very rarely complains. I just think she's remarkable. And I can't believe I can say this without crying ... ''
Clearly, Jinny Williams feels good about allowing herself to be open to starting a new chapter in her life.
Her advice to others with seemingly insurmountable obstacles in their paths?
''Listen. And love what you want to do,'' advised this grandmother of four. ''Never think you can't do something. Just try it. You just might fool yourself. ...
''Through love you can do anything.''
No argument there.
Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.
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