Maybe it was divine intervention. After all, it was Christmastime, but who knew a standard issue Christmas card brought to a local senior living center would spark such a magical and heartwarming moment?
David Clarke is a resident at Ponte Vedra Gardens, an Alzheimer’s special care center on Palm Valley Road. He has dementia, and, like many others with the disease, suffers from memory loss and difficulty communicating. Since he moved into Ponte Vedra Gardens around a year ago, his wife, Keith Clarke, has become a familiar face to the caregivers there. But the connection one caregiver had to her husband came as a surprise to everyone, including them.
One day last year, shortly before Christmas, Keith brought in a Christmas card to show David. It was the annual holiday card sent out by Habitat for Humanity. David had been a big part of Habitat for Humanity. He had helped organize the first Habitat for Humanity at the Beaches. He even received a service award in 1995 for helping to build the second Beaches Habitat for Humanity house.
Keith recalled David’s excitement after he helped get the program up and running and then physically being able to start building homes. He would describe the houses they were building alongside the people who would be living in them.
“He just absolutely loved it,” Keith said. “He loved the people he was building houses for. He would always talk about them.”
So, Keith thought bringing the card in and showing it to David would maybe brighten his day. Little did she know, it would turn out to be so much more.
In what can maybe only be described as fate, one of David’s caregivers at Ponte Vedra Gardens, Latricia Macon-Stewart, was in the room when Keith presented the Christmas card to David. Keith explained David’s connection to the nonprofit organization and shared his pride about building the second Habitat House at the Beaches. She wasn’t prepared for Latricia’s response.
“I remember her saying, ‘I grew up in this house,’” Keith said.
The house David helped build had been a special place for Latricia, as well. She’d moved into that home as a child with her family right after it was built. Her mother, who helped build the home alongside David and other Habitat for Humanity volunteers, raised Latricia in the home. Naturally, as time passed Latricia moved out on her own, but returned to that same home when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. When Latricia’s mother passed away four years ago, Latricia remained in the home where she could still feel her mother’s presence.
It’s the home she was living in when David received that card, and she realized the man she helps care for almost every day had been an integral part in building it.
As amazing as the connection was for Latricia, it may have been even more so for David. Latricia recalled David’s reaction upon hearing it was her house. They spent hours talking about the house, and Latricia says she was amazed at his ability to recall almost every detail.
“When he was in that moment he remembered,” Latricia said as tears rolled down her face. “He told me everything. We had a great talk about the house. He told me it was just something he loved doing.”
Others at Ponte Vedra Gardens couldn’t believe the impact the link between them had on David, either. They gathered around as David and Latricia shared memories of the house.
“That day when I saw them talking, it was so beautiful, because it was the most engaged I’d ever seen him,” said Jennifer McCormick, program director at Ponte Vedra Gardens. “He was so in that moment with her. They were just so connected.”
The moment was so special, the staff at Ponte Vedra Gardens wanted to commemorate it. They threw a party for the two on Valentine’s Day, and the house was at the heart of the party.
“When Latricia was talking about the house, he was just so happy,” McCormick said.
The connection also meant so much to Keith, who felt a unique bond with Latricia after finding out, and who got to relive a special time in her relationship with David. She remembered shortly after they were married over 20 years ago, David was looking for something to do. She said with David’s big heart, volunteer work was a natural fit, so when he was browsing volunteer opportunities, he came across an upcoming meeting for people who would be interested in organizing a Habitat for Humanity at the Beaches.
“He came home and said, ‘well I’m in charge of raising all this money,’” she said. “He raised the money somehow and started building, and just absolutely loved it.”
Because of his dementia, details are not something David regularly recalls. However, McCormick said his reaction to hearing about the house and its connection to Latricia, is proof of how special building those homes were for him.
“Although they have dementia, the moments are really important, so if it’s something really special, or if it’s something from the past, they tend to remember those things, or the feelings associated with it,” she said. “That’s why, in a place like this, where we care for people with dementia, it’s so beautiful to see when they have moments like this, when they really do connect, because so many times they aren’t able to.”
The house means even more to Latricia now. It’s location in Atlantic Beach and the growth of the area has increased the value of the home significantly, but Latricia said she can’t imagine selling it. Her mother’s presence is still there, and now, there’s something else. Something otherworldly, perhaps.
“It’s such a rare story,” Latricia said. “It’s almost like, he blessed us back then and now I’m returning the favor.”
