Simone has a giving heart. Every Christmas the Red Cross delivers a poinsettia to Simone for her kind donations. She knits helmet liners for the Daughters of the Revolution to send soldiers. At six years old, she learned to knit at school in France. “I’ve knitted all my life,” says 100-year-old Simone, “If I had all the sweaters I made in my life, I’d have quite a pile.”

Eskaton Kennedy Manor resident Betty can make a pillowcase dress in under 19 minutes. She’s made over 15,000 dresses that are now worn by children in Kenya, Nigeria, Nairobi, the Philippines and many other poverty-stricken areas around the world — 41 countries in total. As a Mess Hall Sergeant in the Marines, Betty served 3,200 meals twice a day at Camp Pendleton. It wasn’t until 2011 that she learned to sew. Since then she has been making the dresses as fast as she can get her hands on pillowcases.

Ruth Duff, 99, illustrates what healthy aging is all about. She walks briskly with a purpose. Ruth is an artist. During the last two years living at Eskaton FoutainWood Lodge she painted more than 150 water colors. Ruth has worked with a variety of media including knitting, silk screening, etching on copper, bronze casting, and print making. She is a true life-long learner.

Marian Thompson sits in her armchair, tugging on a spool of yarn. Her needles work in harmony, stitching a baby cap. At 96, her hands ache with arthritis, but she rarely stops to rest.

She knits more baby caps than any member of the Kiddie Kaps knitting group at Eskaton Village Carmichael. Her personal count is 4,226 caps since she joined the Eskaton knitters in 2006. The group has donated over 20,000 baby caps since 2004, bringing comfort to newborns at Sacramento area hospitals.