A lovely life by any measure, hampered only by Woodson's frail health, the result of ailments ranging from childhood rheumatic fever to bladder cancer, glaucoma and arthritis. She spent three years at Mayview, and he visited every day. That's how he met Jones, whose mother, Gladys Butts, came to the facility about the same time. On the phone last week, Jones, whose mother died in February, talked about the bonding that happens at Mayview, how despite the inevitable sadness at life's end, the center is a place of warmth and joyous moments. Friendships are forged, and the music keeps things going.
Music speaks to everybody.
And especially to Woodson. He was crippled by arthritis, and by loneliness. He had started looking at nursing homes. But Woodson started taking glucosamine, and it made his back hurt a little less. He started thinking about how to fill the hours.