December Resident Spotlight
December 14, 2022
Here at Salem Woods, it's important to us to turn the spotlight onto our amazing residents that we get to work with every day. Getting to know each and every one of our residents is such an honor. They always have interesting life stories to share and wisdom to pass on to us. Our December Resident of the Month is Karl Pilkington!
At a young age, Karl learned what a good work ethic was by starting with delivering newspapers along his paper route and working on cars. His father was a mechanic and taught Karl a lot of things about cars, such as how to work on diesel trucks and cars, like a 1936 coupe and Ford Packards. When Karl turned 18, he joined the Marine Corps and served in Vietnam. After four years of service, he became an over-the-road truck driver. He drove a semi for 25 years, between 1986 and 2010, as far north as Canada and as far south as Mexico. He’s been to 48 states, overall! Carl took pride in working and driving a truck, however, in 2003 he had a quadruple bypass causing him to retire early.
During one of his trips through Tennessee, he met his wife, Sue, who had been working at a Toyota plant. She would make him coffee every time he came through to see her. One day, when he was taking another load and saw Sue, she asked if she could go with him and he said yes. She jumped in the truck with him and they’ve been together ever since! They've celebrated 20 wonderful years together and got married in Tennessee on July 26, 2003.
After retiring from truck driving, he had a collapsed lung which caused him to go to the hospital. They ended up having to take three pounds of fluid off of his body. Sue was by his side for the 21 days he was in the hospital until they could fix the hole in his heart. He decided to come to Salem Woods for recovery, and at the time, Sue’s health was declining as well. Just days after Karl was admitted, Sue was diagnosed with Dementia, which lead her to be admitted just days later. Salem provided them with a double room, keeping them comfortable and together.
Karl stays active at our skilled nursing facility. In his spare time, he enjoys taking the bus to a neighboring town and buying extra crafts and yarn. He likes to make pillows and pot holders to set on couches and chairs. He also loves painting and coloring pictures of old cars.
It's truly been a pleasure having both Karl and Sue here. Thank you for sharing your story with us, and most importantly, thank you for your service, Karl! We wish you both a lifetime of love and happiness!