Reminiscing with Grandmother: A Drive through Memory Lane

Have you ever been on a drive and became enthralled by the reminiscent stories of an elderly lady? We were driving around Salt Lake City with family looking at homes where my grandmother, Betty, lived as a child and early in her married life. She was engaged in reminiscing and shared many stories of her childhood and early married life. The interview was finished at her home. The information was written in note form. My grandmother is an 82-year-old Caucasian. Her third husband passed away a little more than a year ago. She was married to him for about fifteen years. She lives in her own home, built by her second husband, in Bountiful, Utah. Her youngest daughter, who is 42-years-old still lives at home with her. She is physically

The concepts of empowerment theory are to instill power and control. Within this concept is also the concept that disadvantaged persons are threatened by others with more power in their lives. As part of the empowerment theory, gaining personal power helps to gain personal responsibility for change. This personal responsibility for change can transform emotional apathy and despair to positive social action (Van Wormer, 2011, p. 44). One of the main strengths of the empowerment theory is that the approach focuses on an individual’s strengths and builds them into making the desired changes in their own lives. A common limitations of the empowerment theory is when social workers work within a given system, rather than change the system when needed (Van Wormer, 2011, p.

One prominent event that she shared was her experiences with World War 2. Betty’s father got a job in Hanford, Washington. Later she learned that he helped build bombs for the war. Her family moved there from Salt Lake City, Utah, when she was ten. She remembers living in the largest trailer court in Hanford. Betty mentioned(synonym) air raids that blackened the sky to prevent the planes from being able to see the people down below. While in Hanford, she had a significant experience in her life. Betty and her best friend had Scarlet Fever. She and her friend were transported together to the hospital in an ambulance. Luckily, she was able to share a room with this friend so that she was not alone. Betty said that Scarlet Fever was so contagious that nobody was allowed to come visit her. Her mother and dad would wave from outside. When asked how she felt about that, she stated, “I had my girl friend, so it was okay.” After they were better, she rode home in the ambulance with her friend as well. Betty said sadly, that as she was boiling all her belongings, her doll was ruined. She was forever stamped with this experience and memories of her friend. Her friend and her both moved back to their respective home towns, and never saw each other again. For a time, they wrote letters, but lost contact. Betty stated that she would always remember her and wonders how she