Paying it forward

Jul. 18—FAIRMONT — Linda Keever, 67, of Wadestown, and Eric Efaw, 58, of Mannington, both care for others on a personal level and through their vocations.

Keever, a United Methodist minister and hospice chaplain, strives to bring joy to others daily in tandem with winning souls for the Lord, while Efaw, owner of Eric's Garage in Mannington, works daily to make sure his customers' vehicles are safe, sound and road worthy.

About three months ago when Keever took her Subaru to Efaw for a routine checkup, he asked her what she did for a living. When she explained that one of her roles was serving as a chaplain for the hospice, WV Caring, Efaw decided to "pay it forward."

"Eric's a very great guy. He's very honest," Keever said. "He's a really nice guy — a good Christian man."

Instead of charging Keever, Efaw encouraged her to take the money she would have spent on her car repair and do something kind for someone in need.

That's where 69-year-old Carl Jones, a resident of the Tygart Center Skilled Nursing Center on Country Club Road in Fairmont, enters the picture.

Jones, who retired from a career in the timber industry, grew up on a farm in Webster County where he used to plant a robust garden each spring. He enjoyed nurturing such plants as rosemary, peppers and tomatoes every year. However, since moving into the nursing home, gardening was something Jones had to give up, that is, until Keever was enouraged that day by Efaw.

"Oh, I just like to see things grow and I always have since I was a kid," Jones said. "One year [before entering Tygart Center], besides this stuff, I raised potatoes, and corn and beans, radishes and cucumbers."

Jones takes great pride in having grown a 109 pound pumpkin one year in Webster County that garnered a great deal of attention at the county fair.

"You can ask my sister," Jones said. "I took it to the Webster County Fair where I won, first, second and third place. That was a big pumpkin."

Jones named his new raised bed garden "Bill's Memorial Garden" in honor of his older brother Bill Jones whom he looked up to as a mentor, childhood hunting companion and a friend. Carl described Bill as having had a green thumb and said Bill taught him everything he knows about gardening.

Bill passed away last year, and due to the COVID-19 lockdown, Carl did not get to attend his brother's funeral.

"He got me to raising small gardens — I didn't know anything about raising small gardens in small patches," Jones said. "He was smart."

Jones, who uses a wheelchair to get around Tygart Center, said the garden allows him to get outside in the sunshine.

"It keeps me busy so I'm not just sitting around, I'm accomplishing something," Jones said.

On Friday, Jones got to meet the person who inspired Keever to purchase his raised bed garden. After Jones showed Efaw his herbs and vegetables, Efaw said it was difficult to describe what he was feeling.

"I'm just amazed," Efaw said. "I'm glad for him. I only think I know what this means to him. I really don't know what to say."

Keever said when she sits down with patients for the first time, it's difficult to get to know them well. In her role with WV Caring, she searches to find the things that previously made patients happy.

"The longer you talk to them and the more you ask them about their life, the more you figure out what was the thing that gave them hope and joy at one time and, it turned out, that for him, he really wanted to be outside," Keever said.

Keever said when Jones told her that he used to have a garden every year, she made a mental note of that fact until spring arrived.

"That was in the back of my brain that he really liked gardening and then Eric did that wonderful, kind thing for me and did that service on my car for nothing and [Eric] says, 'You just help somebody. You look like the kind of person that can run into people that need help' and I said, 'Um huh'," Keever said.

Keever said the staff at Tygart Center didn't hesitate to help out and even assembled the raised bed garden for Jones and planted the plants she bought for him.

"It meant he could go out every day and work in his garden," Keever said. "It's just been so meaningful for him ... such a little thing that brings him joy and hope."

Misty Rapp, director of nursing for Tygart Center, said she has witnessed the positive impact the garden has made on Jones.

"It gets him outside. It gets him some sun, it gets him a different view, especially since during COVID, the residents didn't really have a lot of social activity. He goes out there almost daily, every other day, so it's been really good for him," Rapp said.

Rapp said it's important for their patients to maintain a sense of familiarity with the things they treasured prior to enter their facility.

"I think it's very important for them because it still keeps them in contact with things that they did at home. You know, he can't have a garden anymore with so many things that are taken away from them when they have to come into a skilled nursing facility. It's nice that we can still offer — and West Virginia Caring offered — for him to be able to still have a garden, which is something that he really enjoyed," Rapp said.

Jones' garden sits in a courtyard between two previously-installed raised garden beds that "normally just have flowers in them."

"We took those flowers out and just let him have three raised beds, so it's really nice. And, I've seen some of the residents will go out and just look at them too," Rapp said. "I think it's real important for Carl — you know he kind of keeps to himself a little bit, so it was really nice to get him out of the room. He doesn't always enjoy bingo and those kind of activities, but this, he has loved."

During the recent heat spell, however, it's been challenging for Jones to get outside to water his garden due to the humidity, which impacts his ability to breathe clearly since he is on portable oxygen.

"So, we'll go out and help him and water them and I see he must have dusted them ... but it's been nice," Rapp said.

Like Efaw did that winter day, Keever said she is often asked about what she does for a living.

"When people ask me 'How can you do what you do,' I say, 'You love them for as long as you have them, just like they were your brother, your sister, your mom, your dad. You love them, whatever that means for them. Whatever they can receive," Keever said.

"Love them with the love of the Lord."

Reach Eric Cravey at 304-367-2523.