Good Neighbor : Brightening lives

Sibyl Disch, 80, is a one-woman activity director, welcome committee, and helping hand.

More importantly, she’s a good neighbor.

As a resident at the Rockwood Lane community, she gives her neighbors smiles, hugs, cards and songs to sing.

Her story can be told by the songs she sings.

“Sentimental Journey”

Music from an age gone by can be heard from the lounge every Monday morning. A few residents sit nearby to listen.

At 10:30 a.m., Disch leads a group of 15 to 20 members in a singalong. The group is an informal one.

They wave to other residents while they sing, share news of residents who may be sick or have moved to other retirement communities, add whistles and made-up words to the songs and always find something to laugh about.

They all come to the lounge with their canes and wheelchairs, but their laughter sounds like that of a younger crowd.

If they are there to just listen, they keep time by slapping their hands on their thighs, tapping their toes and swaying to the music of their youth.

“Music is so important to our happiness,” Disch said from her position at the front of the group.

The singalong group started up around four years ago. John Marchi, the founding member, recently broke his hip and has been staying at the Waterford while he recuperates.

On a recent Monday, his daughter drove him to Rockwood Lane to join in the fun. He came in at the middle of a song, but the group applauded him without missing a beat of the music.

Disch presented him with a get-well gift.

“You’re the Cream in My Coffee”

Between songs, Disch pays tribute to members of the group with different songs.

Don Davis, the 93-year-old piano accompanist, was honored with the song, “You’re the Cream in My Coffee” at the beginning of the session.

“Isn’t it sad,” Disch joked, “he has to play the piano for his own tribute?”

She also remembers former residents and their favorite songs and mentions them before the song begins.

“All of Me”

As well as leading the singers, Disch sends welcome notes to new residents. She brings gifts to sick or injured residents.

Her husband of 57 years, Phil, 83, has been known to drive neighbors to the emergency room.

She writes poetry for the retirement community’s newsletter each month. The staff and her neighbors call her the “poet in residence.”

She even makes greeting cards with her own poetry inside.

She has typed up the words to all of the songs the Monday morning group sings and has organized them into songbooks for everyone. The collection of songs has reached about 300, and she is always adding more.

Sometimes she writes parodies of the group’s favorite songs. “Good-bye, Dolly,” a riff on the classic, “Hello, Dolly,” was a song about Dolly, the world’s first cloned sheep. “I want a Beer” was a take off of “I Want a Girl.”

“I only did it to test their flexibility,” she said.

“Seems Like Old Times”

Disch was nominated in last year’s Good Neighbor Contest at The Spokesman-Review by her neighbor, Rosemary Waterman.

In her letter to the newspaper in July, Waterman said of Rockwood Lane, “It’s a residence for retirees whose lives are enhanced daily by one Sibyl Disch.”

Since then, Waterman has died, but her son still thinks of her and recently sent flowers to Disch.

“I still miss her,” she said. “We wished we had met many years ago.”

Disch met her husband at a party when they were college students in Whitewater, Wis. The two studied to become teachers and later moved to California, where they lived for 49 years.

Sibyl taught elementary school and special education, and Phil taught every grade from kindergarten through the 12th, with the exception of seventh and eighth. When she was in her 50s, Sibyl returned to school for her master’s degree.

The couple raised four children, one of whom died at age 19 when she was hit by a car.

“You do heal, but she’s never forgotten,” she said.

Disch feels that the secret to being a good neighbor is friendliness and knowing the difference between being friendly and being intrusive.

“I Want a Girl”

The staff members of the community also appreciate what Disch does for the residents.

“She’s a real joy,” said Jan Hinkle, the activity director at Rockwood Lane.

Sabrina Gonder, the manager of the community, said in a letter to the newspaper, “Sibyl is a great neighbor and one I’m proud to have in our wonderful community at Rockwood Lane.”

Disch, however, just seems to appreciate the community around her.

“I feel so blessed in marriage and my friends here,” she said.