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Hospice Client And Volunteer Develop Warm Rapport

Cheryl Bentley/The Suncoast News

Yvonne Allard, left, a volunteer with Hernando-Pasco Hospice, visits Beatice Miller in her Holiday home.

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By Cheryl  Bentley | The Suncoast News

Published: June 18, 2008

Beatrice Miller has spunk.

She married the man she had picked for a husband, went to college at 40 and fed half of Williamson, W. Va., with the open-door policy at her home.

Now 86, Miller is homebound, with only 30 percent of her heart functioning. Even walking the short distance to the mailbox is a strain for her.

Miller now lives with her daughter Brenda Pedley in Holiday. The woman who used to have a houseful of people spends her days in Pedley's immaculate home decorated with Miller's handmade quilts and paintings she did in healthier times.

The home is mostly quiet during the day.

Except for when Yvonne Allard stops by for her weekly four-hour visit. Then, the words flow, and Miller even prepares a simple meal for the two.

Allard is a volunteer with the Hernando-Pasco Hospice. She has been visiting Miller since February.

Almost all volunteers end up receiving as much as they get from their experience with the hospice, said Volunteer Coordinator Cynthia Ineson, but the Allard-Miller rapport is outstanding.

"It's kind of heart warming," Ineson said. "It's like they've known each other all of their lives."

After her initial visit, "it was like going to visit a friend," Allard reported.

"We talk, exchange recipes, and watch TV. She tells me stories about her life," is how Allard explains their friendship.

Trust Miller not to be at a loss of words for her own spin on their friendship. "I just love her to pieces," she said. "I want her to come because I love her. We don't have to hunt for a subject."

That is the way it usually is with Miller, who admits to having enjoyed good gabfests in her time. "I know the English language real good, but I can butcher it," she said in her inimitable West Virginia twang.

She launched into how she met her husband of 65 years, Walter. Walter has since passed away.

Allard quietly listened, smiling at Miller's ability to wrap listeners into her story.

They met at an annual tent revival meeting held in the coal-mining town Williamson, W. Va. The whole town seemingly was there because the tent was always full year after year.

"I decided the first time I saw him I wanted to marry him," Miller said.

She finally told one of her friends to ask Walter if he would walk her home. Walter agreed.

"He brought me home, but he didn't kiss me," Miller reported.

What if Walter had tried for that kiss?

"I would have kissed him back," Miller said, without missing a beat.

Miller worked for almost 30 years in a local department store. After she got her associate of arts degree when she returned to school at 40, she thought about becoming a teacher but decided to stay on at the store, where in true Miller form, she knew everyone, and everyone knew her.

For her part, the 67-year-old Allard loves to share stories of her own four children with Miller. Allard is a retired paraprofessional in the school system who now summers in New Hampshire. "When we compare husbands, they're so much alike."

Allard is one of the 1,200 volunteers at the hospice's three locations in Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties. Some, like Allard, visit with patients. Others run errands for clients, volunteer at the hospice thrift shop and work to record clients' last messages to their families as part of the hospice legacy program.

All of them find the experience rewarding, said Ineson. "Our volunteers do give, but they express how much they get back," she said.

Call 727-849-2629 for information about upcoming volunteer orientations.

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