Pines Village resident profile: Dick Brauer

For Dick Brauer, advancing years mean new adventures.

“I’ve never been 83 before,” the newly minted 83-year-old says with a note of excitement in his voice.

Freed of what he calls “the heavy lifting” of cooking, cleaning and other home maintenance, the new transplant to Pines Village sees a host of new opportunities to learn and grow with a community of like-minded seniors.

And as the retired founding director of the Valparaiso University art museum that bears his name, Dick is glad that many of his new opportunities at Pines Village touch upon the arts.

He is enthusiastic about  the coming March 2011 opening at Pines Village of a permanent collection of works by regional artist Hazel Hannell, who continued working through her 106 years and whom Dick admires for her bold, memorable images.

Dick’s approach to life as an intriguing adventure is reflected in his approach to art.  As much as he appreciates Rembrandt and other old masters, Dick also enjoys modern art for its “power to find out new things for today . . . to explore what it means to live today.                                                              

Art, in Dick’s view, is “a way of connecting your mind and your senses and your feelings into one experience. It’s approaching life whole.  To my mind, it’s just a glorious experience.”

Appointed to an art professorship at Valparaiso University in 1961, he began a 35-year career teaching, building the university’s collection and curating highly-regarded exhibitions, including a 1994 retrospective on the work of Hazel Hannell and her husband Vin. 

Dick came to Pines Village in 2010 when his wife of 48 years, afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease and in need of greater assistance, was moved to a nursing facility. Having decided it was also the right time for him to leave their home, he found his destination an easy choice after years of friendships with Pines Village residents.

And Pines Village’s location quickly emerged as a plus for Dick.

Ellen became a resident of Whispering Pines Health Care Center, a facility unrelated to Pines Village but right next door. Now she receives the care Dick was unable to keep up with, and he is able to visit her easily.

“I’m 160 steps away from her.” he says.  “I can bring her to Pines Village to enjoy the lectures, entertainment, movies, worship services, have dinner with our family and friends and of course visits with her treasured feline, Capuche who has also found a new home at Pines Village.”

His new set-up, Dick says, feels like a fresh start, and it seems to have animated him with energy and enthusiasm to tackle his lengthy to-do list.

There are projects spread across his dining table and paintings he would like to work on, but with so much to do, some things may have to wait until he’s 84.

For Dick Brauer, celebrating life and living in the present is how everyone should live, no matter what their age.  This octogenarian is pleased he has found a new home that makes an art of it.

We Celebrate Life is a collection of portraits, in words and photographs, of just some of the wonderful, extraordinary people who live, work and serve Pines Village Retirement Communities. View more >