A Helena retiree who won’t stop working

Mary Williams likes to tell people she’s retired. After more than 40 years of teaching high school science classes in Montana (and upstate New York and Colorado Springs and Utah), the Helena resident has earned that right, even if she’s stretching the truth just a bit.

If you’re a student in science class at Jefferson High School in Boulder, her teaching base for over a decade, you might know her as the regular substitute teacher who keeps kids on their toes with Brain Health Bingo, rewarding the winners with Goldfish crackers – “high school kids like food,” she says.”

And if you frequent the Jefferson County History Museum, you’ll probably recognize her as well. She volunteers there regularly.

But Williams’ passion these days is Alzheimer’s disease. She got to see firsthand the devastation the disease causes when her husband Doug’s aunt developed vascular dementia, and possibly mixed dementia with Alzheimer's. 

“When her cognitive state began declining, we fell into a sort of supervisory caregiving role,” Williams said. "I went to the Alzheimer's Association and found it so beneficial. They have helped me get educated and were tremendously useful in learning how to deal with the changes (Doug’s aunt) was experiencing. They also helped me better understand where she’s coming from.”

The Alzheimer's connection

Williams’ experiences helping care for her husband’s aunt resonated with her, and nearly a year ago she responded to a social media post by Alzheimer's Association of Montana Executive Director Melanie Williams seeking volunteers. The fit was perfect.

“Mary is a career teacher, as was I,” said Melanie Williams, who enjoyed her own 30+ year career in Montana public schools before joining the staff of the Alzheimer's Association. “There is a great need for dementia education in the community.”

Roughly half of the 21,000 Montanans living with Alzheimer's disease never get diagnosed, which means they can never take advantage of the new medications shown to slow the progression of the disease. And they, as well as their family caregivers, never take advantage of the programs and services the Alzheimer’s Association offers at no charge to help them better understand and cope with the disease.

From caregiving to teaching

With her teaching credentials already well established, Mary Williams is putting them to great use. In her volunteer role, she has offered educational sessions for caregiver support groups as well as staff at assisted living and memory care residences.

Her latest project on which Mary and Melanie are tag-teaming, is “Caring with Love: A Valentine’s Day Workshop for Dementia Caregivers” that will be held from at Lewis & Clark Library in Helena. The program will include two key components: training on caregiving for a loved one with Alzheimer’s, and a “gratitude” section where the family caregivers will catalog things that they’re grateful for, which they can review when times are tough so that they can “recenter themselves.”

“Education is incredibly helpful in dealing with somebody with dementia,” said Mary Williams. “You start to understand that the person with dementia isn’t doing something because they’re stubborn or difficult. It’s because their brain is breaking down. Once you understand that, it makes it much more tolerable. You can listen to them repeating things over and over, and you can understand their perspective a little bit better.”

The Valentine’s Day program will include flowers provided by Costco and a discounted lunch courtesy of Panera. Both were made possible by the resourcefulness of former teachers who are accustomed to creating partnerships with merchants – and surviving on minimal budgets.

To learn more about programs and services provided at no charge by the Alzheimer's Association, go to alz.org or call the Association’s free Helpline, staffed 24/7 by trained professionals, at 800-272-3900. To learn more about volunteer opportunities with the Alzheimer's Association of Montana, contact Melanie Williams at meawilliams@alz.org.