Tag Archives: Inspirational

The Power of Friendship: Two local women celebrate 70+ years of friendship with book launch

3-bottom, Books, Citizen Journalism, City of Wyoming, Going Local, Kent County, Local Faces, Local History, Voices, West Michigan, , , , , , ,
Marilyn Emery and Carol Jennings have been friends for over 75 years – and have written about their journey (Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)



By Deborah Reed

WKTV Managing Editor

deborah@wktv.org


“The Power of Friendship” contains lessons Emery and Jennings have learned through the years (Courtesy photo)

The friendship of Wyoming women, Marilyn Emery and Carol Jennings, began in the late 1940s as they walked to kindergarten each day. That bond has only strengthened over the past seven decades, culminating in a book written by both Emery and Jennings.

Titled The Power of Friendship: Lessons Learned from Lifetime Friends, the book follows the lives and friendship of Emery and Jennings – and the lessons they have learned along the way.

The two lifelong friends recently celebrated the story of their friendship with a presentation and book signing at The Bookman in Grand Haven.

“It is our hope that many readers will receive our positive message of love, hope, and the importance of lasting friendship,” Emery and Jennings state in their book.

It is not a passive message. The women hope their story inspires others to actively seek out the kind of friendship they share.

“We want this for other people too, so they can experience what we experienced,” said Emery.

The start of forever

The two friends laugh in a photo booth (Courtesy Emery and Jennings)

Both Emery and Jennings grew up in West Michigan, eventually ending up on the same block of Delwood Avenue in Wyoming. They walked to and from school together, and would often play at each other’s houses after school.

“I liked her house,” Jennings said with a laugh. “Marilyn had a big family.”

But Emery preferred playing at Jennings’ house.

“I loved to go to Carol’s because she was an only child and there was peace at her house,” said Emery.

Part of the Godfrey-Lee school district, Emery and Jennings formed the Draco Horizon Club in 8th grade. Ten of those 12 members remained forever friends.

(Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)

“We were known as the group who had fun,” said Emery. “That camaraderie stayed with us throughout our whole life.”

The Draco girls were adventurous, renting a cottage overlooking Lake Michigan each summer, joyriding in Carol’s boyfriend’s car past curfew – and more.

Their adventures earned Emery and Jennings the nicknames Thelma and Lou in honor of the show Thelma and Louise.

“I loved that show,” said Jennings. “It was a friendship and a bond these two ladies had. They reminded me what Draco meant to me. The Draco’s are always there; we still get together every month in the summertime, and we talk about life.”

On the same beat

Emery said similarities in their lives (school, marriages, etc.) played a role in the women becoming such good friends. Jennings believes the Draco group was also a contributing factor, as was writing The Power of Friendship.

Together, they share a deeper connection resembling that of family.

“You can talk to other friends, but who are you going to call when you’re in need, or if you want to celebrate something together?” said Emery. “She’d call me, and I would do the same. Like you would a sister.” 

Marilyn Emery (left) talks about the ways her friendship with Jennings has lasted through the years (Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)

Emery and Jennings cared for each other when their parents died. When Emery’s first husband passed away in his early 50’s, Emery was left with three children to raise on her own.

“I was alone for 10 years,” said Emery. “Carol was there for me during that time.”

It comes as no surprise then, that when asked to describe Jennings in one word, Emery said: caring.

“You can’t really explain it, but you’re on the same beat with each other,” said Emery. “We figure we’re sisters. Not blood sisters, but we are sisters because we know each other so well…We just get each other.”

That deeper connection allows the women to pick up where they left off, no matter how long they might be apart.

Tragedy – and a promise

It was shortly after Emery remarried that she received a phone call that Jennings had an ischemic stroke. Emery rushed to Jennings’ side.

“All the way there, the word promise kept going through my mind, and it just wouldn’t stop,” said Emery.

Carol Jennings (right) shares about the challenges and recovery of her stroke (Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)

Jennings’ right side was paralyzed and she struggled to walk. She could only speak one or two words in isolation due to aphasia.

But when Emery walked into her hospital room, Jennings grabbed her hand.

“A tear came down the left side,” said Emery. “And I kept thinking: promise. She didn’t look quite the same as what she did, but it didn’t matter because she was still alive.

“I said, ‘Carol, the word promise keeps coming to me, so I think we should write our life story.’ She grabbed my hand.”

Park benches, hats – and ice cream

Jennings attended therapy at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids, but Emery also worked with Jennings on her speech and comprehension.

Marilyn and Carol graduating from Aquinas College a bit later in life (Courtesy photo)

“When you have aphasia, you just don’t know what the word is,” said Jennings. “I knew what I wanted to say, but it didn’t always come out.”

“She’d be telling you something and then stop,” said Emery. “I would try to make her tell me more. She made so much progress.”

Emery and Jennings would meet on park benches at various parks. Jennings would say one or two words and Emery would write them down, then expand on them.

“She really has a knack for writing and putting the right words to what I want to say,” said Jennings.

“One of the first things I said to her was: God,” said Emery. “She said: center. So that has guided us throughout this whole book. That God brought her through the stroke, and He is the center of our lives.”

The Promised Piece, an inspirational journey of two lifelong friends, was published in 2017.

But wait – there’s more!

Shortly after The Promised Piece was released, Diane Jones, retired owner of the Carnevale Jones Group consulting firm, read it and approached Emery and Jennings.

Diane Jones (center) was the catalyst for “The Power of Friendship” (Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)

Jones said she enjoyed the book – but knew there was more to tell.

“In meeting with the ladies, they had such a great story to tell and I thought, there’s so much missing,” said Jones. “So I asked them if they would consider doing a longer version of the book.”

Shortly after, The Power of Friendship began taking shape.

Emery and Jennings met often to discuss the book. Their meetings always included park benches, hats…and ice cream.

“I could tell when she was ready to have ice cream,” said Emery, noting that Jennings would become restless. “Then I could get more out of her while we were eating because she was happy she was having ice cream.”

Jennings added, “[The book] gave me a new purpose. I think I needed that to get better.”

Loving through friendship

When talking about her friend, Jennings describes Emery as spiritual, and has watched Emery put her faith into practice throughout their friendship.

Emery explained, “I like to say it’s a God thing. God wants us to love Him, and He also wants us to love our neighbors as ourselves.”

And they choose love through friendship.

(Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)

“It’s not just about Carol and me, it’s about everybody,” said Emery, adding that she loves to hear when a reader has passed on The Power of Friendship to someone else. “We want everybody to find old friends, new friends and to keep friends. That’s our story.”

To find out more about The Power of Friendship, click here.

Teen’s advice after crash: Stay strong

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, Education, Local Faces, , , , ,

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

By Krystle Wagner, Spectrum Health Beat; photos by Chris Clark

 

As her graduating classmates celebrated accomplishments and looked forward to the future, Angela Maurer focused on one thing.

 

Regaining the ability to walk.

 

In high school, Maurer stayed active in cross country, basketball and track. She served on student council, in the National Honor Society, in the Business Professionals of America, and, an avid horseback rider, as president of her 4-H club.

 

She was an achiever, in every sense of the word.

 

And since running had been part of her life since middle school, Maurer planned to join the cross country team at Aquinas College in the fall of 2014.

 

Everything changed in her final week of high school.

The crash

On May 22, 2014, Maurer, then 18, was behind the wheel of her Chevy Tahoe, with her younger brother, Nathan, in the passenger seat.

 

Photo courtesy of Angela Maurer

They had just left the house. When Maurer made a left turn out of the driveway of her family’s home in Williamston, Michigan, she forgot to check her blind spot.

 

An oncoming SUV broadsided her Tahoe at about 60 mph. Although Maurer’s brother managed to walk away with minor injuries, Maurer sustained serious injuries that would change her life.

 

Initially, she didn’t even understand the severity of her trauma. She remembers telling her mom she could move her toes, and asking her mom if that was a good thing.

 

“The entire dash was on my lap,” Maurer recalled.

 

An ambulance rushed her to the hospital, where an initial evaluation provided more uncertainty. The left side of her pelvis shattered upon impact and her neck had fractured.

 

Given the extent of the trauma, doctors couldn’t say if she would ever walk again.

 

Hearing that, Maurer became motivated to make a full recovery.

 

“It drove me to prove them wrong, push myself harder,” she said.

The recovery

Surgeons at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital installed plates and screws to keep her pelvis together.

 

Then came the hard part.

 

Physical therapist Linda Rusiecki, DPT, evaluated Maurer after her transfer to the Spectrum Health Center for Acute Rehabilitation.

 

Photo courtesy of Angela Maurer

The work to recover began immediately. Each day for three weeks, she would undergo four therapy sessions—one hour of physical therapy and one hour of occupational therapy followed by half-hour sessions of each.

 

She first entered therapy on a Tuesday, making a goal of attending her high school graduation ceremony that Sunday.

 

Maurer remembers the pain when she first arrived at therapy. She needed two people to help her get up. But she was clearly motivated, Rusiecki recalled.

 

The young woman progressed from learning how to sit up in bed to getting into a wheelchair. When she sat up in bed, her head spun and she couldn’t focus on anything.

 

Maurer said it was hard to visualize how she would ever reach her goal and someday run again, but her family encouraged her to keep going.

 

Progress came incrementally.

 

After days of persevering through pain, she joined her classmates in celebrating high school graduation. As Maurer’s brother pushed her wheelchair across the stage, the crowd gave her a standing ovation.

 

Hitting that milestone was emotional, Maurer said. In that moment, she saw the volume of love and support behind her, even as she continued her recovery about an hour-and-a-half away from her hometown.

 

Her accomplishments didn’t stop there. In two more weeks of therapy, she progressed from a walker to crutches.

 

Although some days proved to be more challenging than others—she remembers being plagued by soreness—the hurdles became easier to clear once she could walk with crutches.

 

Photo by Chris Clark, Spectrum Health Beat

Through occupational therapy, she learned how to get out of bed, shower and use the restroom without assistance. In physical therapy, she learned how to get in and out of cars, walk down stairs and walk across different terrains with her crutches.

 

When therapists released Maurer from inpatient therapy on June 9, less than a month after the crash, she could walk more than 1,000 feet with crutches over various terrain. She could also maneuver a flight of steps as long as she kept the weight off her left foot, Rusiecki said.

 

Returning home, Maurer became single-mindedly focused on one goal: Running again.

The finish line

Her medical team cleared Maurer to stop using crutches two days before freshman orientation at Aquinas College. She then worked toward her goal, one step at a time.

 

“Everything was worth it in the long run,” she said.

 

Before she got the OK to run, she spent time cross-training, biking and exercising on the elliptical to build up her strength. Six months after the crash, doctors approved her to begin running again.

 

In November 2014, she become an active member of the cross country team, where her teammates heard her story and greeted her with enthusiastic support.

 

“They remind me how I’m a walking miracle, and it’s like a blessing to be able to run again,” she said.

 

In May 2015, a year after the crash, Maurer visited staff at the Center for Acute Rehabilitation to show them her progress.

 

“It was very exciting to see her again,” Rusiecki said.

 

Maurer said she’s now in the best shape she’s ever been in. And her experience is shaping the trajectory of her life not just in physical recovery, but in academic prowess.

 

Photo by Chris Clark, Spectrum Health Beat

Prior to the crash, she had planned to study either occupational or physical therapy. Given her experience, she has decided to study physical therapy, in hopes of one day working with athletes who may find themselves in similar situations.

 

She can relate to athletes whose injuries might temporarily keep them from doing what they love. She can help them persevere to reach their goals, and help them return to their passions.

 

Despite the challenges, Maurer said the journey has made her thankful for every day. Thankful for everything she has. Thankful for still being alive.

 

For others going through their own struggles and journeys, Maurer, now 20, recommends keeping a positive mindset, because negativity will only make things more challenging.

 

Her advice: “Stay strong.”

 

Reprinted with permission from Spectrum Health Beat.