Module 2: Elder Life Story by

arataks — 2023-09-19 23:00:51 UTC

Older adult's name: Denise Triandafilou.

Relationship to you: Grandmother

Tentative interview dates: November 22, 2023 and November 26, 2023

Planned interview method:In person

Older adult’s permission to include photos/video - Yes

The first words that I think of when I hear "older adults" is wise, cherished time, walkers, kind, and has good hugs.

arataks — 2023-11-27 23:08:24 UTC

Denise was born on November 14, 1936. She was such a smiley child! Her first memory was when she got her bicycle. She was twelve years old and it was for her birthday. Bicycles back then were very colorful and she was so happy because she had friends down the road that she could not ride her bike down to see.

arataks — 2023-11-27 23:13:16 UTC

Her parents were Maud Gautier and William Enders Coyle. They raised her until she was in elementary school, then the World War II happened and her father left to go fight in the war. Her mother moved to New York because she was working for the government during this time. When her father came back from the war he had a new wife, and they got divorced. Her mother got remarried as well. Denise was young when the divorce happened and since her father was gone for so long it was strange for her to process it all. Her parents were cordial for the sake of her and her sister.

arataks — 2023-11-27 23:16:21 UTC

Grace Woodford Gautier and Guy Gautier were Denise's grandparents. Grace was the woman who primarily raised Denise. She described grace as a "nice lady and I did not consider herself a mother but remember her best over my mother. The memory I hold closest to me about my grandmother is when I got the flu in elementary school and I can remember how kind and thoughtful she was. I remember feeling terrible."

arataks — 2023-11-27 23:21:16 UTC

Denise married Evan Triandafilou and had seven children. They met on a blind date set up by their friends. Evan left for a year to go to Greece but when he came back they had another date, and another, and another. They traveled the world together due to Evan's job, he worked in the Intelligence and Security Command for the government. They had their first three children in Japan and their fourth child in Germany. Towards the end of Evan's life he got very sick and Denise was his primary care giver.

arataks — 2023-11-27 23:33:17 UTC

Denise's favorite holiday is Christmas. Her words were because "it is a lot of joy. The music, the food, the family gatherings. Christmas growing up was very minimal, the decorations were not what they were like today. Today it is an art and it is everywhere.My husband went crazy at christmas. He would sell his shoes to buy more Christmas presents for the kids."

arataks — 2023-11-27 23:42:41 UTC

These are all of Denise's children. Starting on the left it goes: John, Alex, Shauna, Denise, Danae, Stefan, Ann, and Nick. These people are her support system and would do anything for her. When asked about parenting them Denise said, "it was hard being a parent because there comes a point when your children develop their own mind, so consequently you have to teach them which way to go and they all had a different mind to follow. But once they turn out the way that they do you are very very proud.

arataks — 2023-11-27 23:55:50 UTC

Denise was a nurse and worked until she was 62 years old. She worked everywhere Labor and Delivery, Medical Surgical, Orthopedics, pick your poison. She explained that back then there were two choices of occupations for women: teacher or nurse, and nurses were in charge of picking up the pieces. Being a labor and delivery nurse was one of the hardest things Denise had to do, in specific helping deliver stillbirths due to the mother's choice to have an abortion.

arataks — 2023-11-28 00:23:14 UTC

Here is a couple of sentences on Denise's opinion on aging:

"For me, the physical end of aging is for the birds. But I know what keeps me going is my children and my grandchildren and that kind of world, if I can keep up with it. Seeing the world that I created and watching them grow up is a blessing. The only thing that I can understand that is good about aging is the wisdom, you really start to understand, good or bad, why people do what they do.I just wish I knew the things I know now when I was younger."

arataks — 2023-11-28 00:25:05 UTC

Here is a photo of Denise, my Nana, and I while doing this interview. Spending time with her is one of my favorite things to do when I am home.

arataks — 2023-11-28 00:45:17 UTC

These are Denise's grandchildren, there are much more to this day, but they used to do a family olympics every summer. Families would be split into teams and challenged against each other in an assortment of games. Denise now has 27 grandchildren and when asked about them she says, "I love all my grandchildren. I am truly proud that they are all finding their way. I have 27 grandchildren so I don’t know everyone's business but I am proud of all of them."

arataks — 2023-11-28 01:24:48 UTC

arataks — 2023-11-28 01:26:34 UTC

arataks — 2023-11-28 01:28:00 UTC