At 98, Dover woman finds joy and purpose through painting
When you are 98 years old and live alone, what do you do to keep busy? Connie Long of Dover paints. Even the walls of her garage are covered with paintings ranging from realistic portraits to modernistic art, but she didn’t start painting until she was 80.
Long said she had always been involved in crafting, especially working with greenware.
“I once carried large greenware Santas all the way from my brother’s molds in Boston to home. I think the largest project I ever did was a full nativity. Any other painting never occurred to me,” she said. “My husband Bill and I moved here into North Star in 2006, and when he died in 2009, I had a very hard time. We always did so much together.”
That was when neighbor and friend Rosemary Hall stepped in and said, “Let’s take up painting.”
Neither had ever done so before. They started at the Tuscarawas County Center for the Arts, and then when Long decided she wanted to try watercolors, they began lessons with Karen McClelland Gazdik and have been taking her classes for 13 years now.
Having given up driving just last year, Long has turned her garage into a studio where she can paint, sit and chat, and display many of her favorite paintings.
“I only hang the ones I really like,” she said, “but I also give tons of them away to family and friends.”
Painting is only Long’s most recent interest.
“My husband and I loved to go and do,” she said. “If someone said, ‘Let’s do,’ we did.”
Her other interests include golf (she was women’s club champion for four years), bowling and dancing.
“We danced every kind of dance we could,” she said. “Ballroom and line dancing were our favorites. We used to go to Myrtle Beach every summer, so I tried water skiing just once. I was afraid of the water. Oh yes, and we owned a family-style restaurant for seven years, which was quite enough.”
Originally from Hopedale, a small coal-mining town close to Cadis, the Longs had three children — Loren, Keith and Joyce — all of whom have preceded Connie in death.
“It is terribly sad when your children go before you,” she said, “but I still have three grandchildren, three greats and four great-greats. I love to play bingo with my granddaughter Chrisda Kinsey.”
Long said the Hall family has taken her in as part of theirs.
“I went to all their sons’ ball games and golf tournaments,” she said. “They treat me like another mother. Rosemary and I have so much fun together. We always go out to breakfast after our painting class, and we can always find something new to do.”
Long is one of two still living from her 1945 Hopedale graduating class of 24. She believes staying active is the key to long life.
“I eat and drink whatever I want,” she said. “I’m not picky. I’ll eat anything, and I try not to worry about things I can’t control. Eighty is not old today. I have to admit there are some disadvantages once you hit 90. I’m not as spry when I get up in the morning. The other day I fell and had to use my emergency caller to have the squad get me back on my feet. They are such lovely rescuers, so kind and considerate. They asked me how it feels to be 98, and I told them, ‘I don’t know. I’ve never been 98 before.’”