On December 31, 2010, that’s right .. New Year’s Eve, Lewis Opperman of Edina will be turning 96-years-old.  Lewis still lives in the house that he and his late wife built on Melody Lake and remains active in the Edina community.  When I say active, I mean active.  He belongs to four clubs: Boosters, West Suburban, Rotary, and the Shriner’s.  He attends Methodist Good Samaritan Church and participates in their men’s breakfast group.  Those breakfast meetings are the one time he has no problem being up before 7am.  From what I could gather, that’s where all the good gossip is heard! 

Ask him how he’ll celebrate his 96^th birthday, and he’ll tell you that he may take the train to visit his daughter in Milwaukee or maybe he’ll have a night out with friends at the Chanhassen Dinner Theater, even though he likes the food better at Old Log Theater.  Mel, who is Lewis’s Baywood Home Care caregiver (previously Homewatch Home Care caregiver), arranges for a limo to take Lewis, along with his friends and family, out on the town for such special occasions. 

Mel is trained as a nursing assistant and lives in Lewis’s guest bedroom.  She’s there to provide support, as Lewis needs it.  She helps him up in the morning and to bed at night, monitors his blood sugar and blood pressure, cooks their meals, and gives him rides around town.  Mel says she does whatever is necessary to enable him to continue living independently at home and actively in the Edina community that he loves.  Mel has lived with Lewis for almost three years.  If you spend time with the two of them, you quickly see that she’s more than just his caregiver– she’s his friend.  “His independence is still there.  Where he falls short, I can step in,” says Mel.  “She takes very good care of me.  Sometimes I tell her, ‘You’re not cooking tonight; we’re going out to Eden Grill for dinner.’  I love that place.  For dessert – Neighborhood Ice Cream Shoppe.  I love ice cream and nothing else beats that place,” says Lewis.

With the holidays approaching, Lewis and Mel are looking forward to Lewis’s family coming to visit.  Last year the grandchildren enjoyed having sleepovers in the living room.  “In the morning, I would be climbing over sleeping bags,” says Mel.  Lewis chimes in, “My 7-year-old granddaughter just loves taking care of grandpa.  She wanted to help me in the morning, be with me all day, and help me to bed.  She told me that when she grows up, she’ll take care of old people, like Mel.” 

I can’t introduce you to Lewis without telling you about his late wife.  In Lewis’s living room, you’ll find impressive paintings done by his wife, “She taught herself how to paint.  My wife was the most gorgeous, talented, smartest woman who ever lived.”  I asked how he met her, “I couldn’t date in high school because I didn’t have a car.  It was 2 to 3 miles to the dance hall.  That’s just too far to carry a girl.”  But, after babysitting his boss’s kids many weekends, he was able to borrow his boss’s fancy sports car.  Now that Lewis could date, he was in search of a girl that he wanted to take out.  In typing class, he walked past this girl and had a funny feeling he’s never again experienced, “It was like a static shock.”  He waited outside class, asked her out, and she was the one and only.  A month after their first date, she told him, “When you walked by me in class, I had a funny feeling.  I knew you would be waiting outside that door to ask me out.”  The house they built together is filled with her presence and it means a lot to Lewis to continue living in their home.