Ann Mary Robertson Moses grew up on a farm and worked on many New York farms with her husband and children. She took pleasure in doing embroidery and sewing up until her 70s when arthritis made it painful for her to push a needle through fabric.
Born in Greenwich, New York on September 7, 1860, Anna Mary is now best known as “Grandma Moses.” She is a great example of someone engaging as they age. At Engage As You Age we often meet seniors that have arthritis, low vision or who are missing someone to learn something new from. We’ve found that a new activity, a patient instructor and a few laughs often help someone head in a new direction like Grandma Moses did (albeit usually with less fanfare).
Elders can benefit from finding a new way to channel their energy. The key is finding a new medium or activity to work around arthritis or vision issues. Moses loved to express herself creatively and when thread and needle hurt her hands too much she picked up a paintbrush and was able to express herself in a new way.
At the age of 78, Moses was “discovered” by art collector Louis J. Caldor when he happened upon a few of her paintings in a drugstore window in Hoosick Falls, New York. Long after her death in 2006, one of her paintings sold for 1.2 million dollars! In fact, her painting The Fourth of July is hanging in the White House and another one of her paintings was featured on the Antiques Roadshow.
You can learn more about Grandma Moses in her 1952 autobiography, Grandma Moses: My Life’s History. You can also learn a fabulous lesson from her just from this blog post. If you have a parent, partner or friend that can’t engage in an activity because of arthritis, low vision or even frustration (at not being as good as they used to be at it), there’s most definitely a new and rewarding activity to introduce them to. While we can’t guarantee that they’ll become as famous as Grandma Moses (or famous at all), we can promise you that they’ll have a lot of fun.
