Fellow Facilitator Matt Herman and I were in Los Angeles’s Miracle Mile on June 23, 2010 to record a day of Door-to-Door interviews hosted by the Alzheimer’s Association – California Southland Chapter, and Leeza’s Place at Olympia Medical Center, a site that supports Alzheimer’s caregivers.

Life partners Earl Adams and Jennifer Duke recorded on this day. Jennifer is 38 and a few years ago was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis; Earl is 50 and last year was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. The two talked about the importance of sports in his life and how they help him focus on the present.

Jennifer teased him for duping his bowling challengers into underestimating his talent. He initially plays to their level, and mid-game emerges with an onslaught of strikes and flying pins. Once, he walked with the ball off the lane and bowled many yards behind the line. The ball swung toward the gutter and impeccably curved toward the inside for a strike. People were incredulous that he has Alzheimer’s disease. When Earl struggled to describe this dynamic, Jennifer said, “You sandbag your opponents!”

Jennifer’s disease at times requires her to rely on Earl’s physical strength. His memory and language are a challenge so she firms up the plans. As his caregiver, Jennifer asked him if he was worried for what the future held for them with regard to their diseases. Earl replied, “I’m not worried, but I know that sometimes you are. We’re gonna keep on pushing. We’ll be alright.”

In Melbourne, word of mouth was a magical thing, on our last day of recording we met England native Geraldine Condon, who was brought to Joe’s Club by her daughter and son after reading of our visit in Florida Today.

Some of Geraldine’s favorite memories took place in Kent, England, where she remembers time spent with family on St. Margaret Bay at her grandmother’s home. Later, during World War II, amid the fighting and her travels as a nurse with Queen Victoria’s Nursing Service in the Bradford Royal Infirmary, the possibility of happiness outside England serendipitously made itself known.

After numerous assignments throughout the United Kingdom and North Africa, Geraldine was sent to Rome, Italy. “It was there I met a certain American Army officer, and we clicked,” she remembers. “Jack G. Condon.” Geraldine and Jack’s first date and engagement (and having six children!) were a blur, she says, but she will always remember Rome because her marriage to Jack was the first to take place in the war-torn city after the American troops’ arrival.

Following the war, Geraldine moved to the United States to build a life with her new husband. In looking back at the different path her life took, Geraldine is able to find the good in the events of war. “Maybe because of the war we found it far easier to adjust than people who didn’t have that experience. We were sort of inured by the experiences we’d had and were inclined to accept things,” she says. “I think the war helped us to have an open mind.” And an open heart.

Geraldine is pictured with two of her six children, John Condon and Katrina Dugan.