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Coming Back to Say Farewell: Former Residents, Friends Gather to Wish Employees Well As the Institution for Disabled Closes Its Doors This Week

Posted on: Wednesday, 15 February 2006, 09:00 CST

By Mary Kay Quinn, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Feb. 15--APPLE CREEK -- Can an institution have a heart?

Many among the hundreds in a decorated gymnasium on Valentine's Day say it can. They gathered to bid farewell to 15 newly retired employees and to the 75-year-old Apple Creek Developmental Center.

The institution for the disabled closes this week in an effort to save the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities about $4 million a year.

Gay Sampson of Cuyahoga Falls said her sister Jill Keys loved living at Apple Creek, her home for 45 years. She continues to thrive at the privately operated Hartville Meadows in Stark County, where she moved in June in preparation for Apple Creek's closing.

Sampson praised Apple Creek staff for teaching Keys, as an adult, to walk. Her family considered the employees "loved ones."

"I loved them, too, the ones who helped Jill so much and cared for her on a daily basis," Sampson said. "It meant a lot to us to know she was safe here."

Apple Creek opened on Feb. 14, 1931, with just 31 residents. Expansions that began in 1947 led to a peak population of 2,100 by 1971, Director Bill Green said.

Amid that growth came accusations of warehousing and a 1975 lawsuit over conditions. Eventually, that led to improvements and accreditations.

Rosalie Abbott of Mount Eaton, a rehabilitation aide who will be laid off when Apple Creek closes, spoke proudly of the center's accomplishments.

"Ever since I started here, I never wanted to do anything else," Abbott said. "It'll do that to you."

Only eight residents remained Tuesday. About 185 residents have gone, including 19 who died, since the state announced three years ago that Apple Creek would close.

Employee Edna Miller of Wooster remembers the first nine people who died after the closing announcement. She said those residents had heard talk and understood what was happening.

"They knew that eventually we would be gone," Miller said. "And I don't care what anyone says. I believe a lot of them died of heartache."

Nancy Miller's parents said they are hoping and praying for their daughter, who they reluctantly moved from Apple Creek last summer. The 54-year-old, now living at a privately operated group home in Tallmadge, cannot walk now and is not eating and drinking, said her mother, Frances.

"She gave up hope," Frances Miller said.

While most of Tuesday's visitors were past employees, a few former residents were in the crowd of hundreds.

Donald Hejduk, 47, who lived at Apple Creek from 1964 to 1972, has lived at a group home in Cuyahoga County for 25 years. While enjoying pickled eggs and other potluck selections, he recalled the names of buildings and people he once knew.

Such recollections didn't surprise Edna Miller, who will be seeing some of her old Apple Creek friends when she transfers to the state's Warrensville center in Cuyahoga County next week.

The residents "don't forget us once we leave," Miller said. "This is a farewell, but yet, it's a celebration."

Mary Kay Quinn can be reached at 330-996-3778 or mkquinn@thebeaconjournal.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)

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