Couple Works As A Team Running Adult Care Center

On a good day, Shirley Stout can get her kitchen counter cleared of clutter, have a conversation with her mother and help her “ladies” enjoy life.

On a bad day, never mind the kitchen counter, Shirley’s world overflows. Her mother, who’s 84, might “threaten to run away.” Anything from November’s ice storm to a collapsing septic tank might overshadow her mission. And Shirley says even she might think briefly about running away from the busy world of operating an adult family home.

Shirley, 60, is candid about her childhood in Spokane. Her story helps explain why she is doing what she is doing.

“My father was a violent man. I was the oldest child, and my mother was always pregnant and sick,” she said. With six children in the family, “I never had a chance to get to know my mother.” Shirley left home at 13, and worked for room and board.

She’s a grandmother herself now, but at last, Shirley is getting to know her mother.

“It’s nice to talk to your mother every day,” she says.

While Shirley talks, her husband comes and goes. He does dishes. He gets clothes from the dryer. “What color sheets should I put on the bed upstairs?” he asks.

Between chores, he sits for a few minutes and joins the conversation. When he leaves the kitchen, Shirley confides that he is a wonderful man, a hard worker and theirs is a wonderful marriage.

She speaks with amazement of the business they started a year ago.

Shirley and Jerry knew they wanted to help her mother, Evelyn Marguerite. They knew a good-sized house just down from their small home on Upriver Drive was for sale. And just over a year ago, they bought the brick house surrounded by apple trees and started a new life.

The Stouts have good backgrounds for their new work. She is a licensed practical nurse; he is a certified nurse’s aide. They met on the job at a nursing home. Together, they have more than 30 years of working with the elderly.

“If we ever retire, we could be short-order cooks,” says Jerry.

On the kitchen counter sits a cluster of jars of instant coffee and creamer. Each of the four ladies has their own preference.

Shirley tells her mother she’s thinking about cooking chicken and potatoes for dinner.

Evelyn says she wants potato soup.

“That’s OK, Mother. Whatever you want,” Shirley says.

Shirley says she’ll miss feeding Gene. His funeral was last week; the flowers on the kitchen table were for him.

“He was a lovable, lovable man. We’ll see him in heaven,” she says.

She and Jerry hope they’ll find another man to join their home. They are licensed to care for five people. “The ladies are getting jealous over you,” Shirley tells her husband.

He smiles. And before he leaves the kitchen on yet another chore, Jerry gently strokes Shirley’s hair.

Saturday’s People is a regular Valley Voice feature profiling remarkable individuals in the Valley. If you know someone who would be a good profile subject, please call editor Mike Schmeltzer at 927-2170.

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