March 8, 2019
To honor Black History Month, special guest speakers were invited to Kenwood to share their stories with the residents. The first speaker was Patsy Chenault. She shared her inspirational journey as she went from one of the first black students in Madison County to attend an integrated school to the very first black classroom teacher in the Madison county school system. Patsy taught 5th and 6th grade for 34 years before retiring and then working as a substitute teacher for 5 more years. Residents enjoyed learning about her personal story and discussing the changes in their home county. There were many similarities in the early school days of our residents and Patsy; they reminisced about one-room school houses heated only by a pot-bellied stove, old fashioned lunch pails, walking or riding horses to school, and the value of education. The discussion group was concluded with candy and treats. Thank you for sharing your extraordinary life with us, Patsy!
Kenwood was also honored to have a second Black History Month guest speaker in Velmar Miller. Velmar shared his life story with the residents including the community that he grew up in and the people that made a difference in his life. He shared stories and photographs of teachers and principals from the old Richmond High School. Many of our residents were acquainted with the individuals he mentioned and were able to discuss the impact their mentors had while they were growing up. Residents enjoyed discussing how the town itself has changed, remembering the good old days, and celebrating the tight knit community of their youth. Velmar opened his talk by playing the song “That’s what friends are for” which was the perfect title to his presentation as well as simply a song everyone enjoyed hearing. Thank you for sharing with us, Velmar!
