When Billie Birnie moved to The Baldwin in April 2024, she noticed a shelf in the library that was set aside for the works of resident authors. An accomplished teacher, author, and lover of writing, Billie was inspired.
“I went to Linda Carlton, our activities director, and suggested that we do a Residents Read program,” she says. “I thought we could get some of the resident authors to read short excerpts of their work. Linda was very enthusiastic about the idea, and I thought if we had a month or two with five or ten speakers that would be great.”
What started as a modest endeavor just a year ago has now taken on a life of its own.
“I’m scheduling readers months in advance,” marvels Billie, who still organizes and facilitates the monthly sessions. “We’ve had five or six readers every month, making more than 50 so far with very few repeat readers. We hold Residents Read in The Baldwin’s classroom, and every session is packed with 35-40 people who come to listen. It’s just incredible.”
So, what are all these people coming to hear? That changes each month and could be just about anything — as long as it has been written by a resident of The Baldwin or one of their family members.
“We’ve had readings from science fiction novels, lots of wonderful poetry — both published and unpublished,” Billie says. “There have been lots of memoir pieces and one resident read a letter his mother had written while living in Israel during the Six-Day War. Those who attended were on the edge of their seats listening to this first-hand account of her experiences.
“Another resident wrote a reflection on the long road of seeing her parents through illness to death. Some of the pieces are very serious and heart wrenching, and some are very light. Some are fiction, some non-fiction. Prose, poetry — we’ve had the entire gamut.”
Before moving to The Baldwin, Billie’s formal career in education spanned 60 years, during which time she taught at every level from kindergarten to university and worked as an administrator.
“Teaching was a calling for me,” she exclaims with a smile. “Most of my classroom days were in high school English and I just loved it.” Billie earned her Ph.D. at the University of Miami in midlife, and when she left the public schools, she became a consultant. She also helped start the Glazer & Lorton Writing Institute at the University of Miami and has taught writing to adults — including professional writing workshops for teachers — for half a century. While modest about it, Billie is also a published author, having written three guides for teachers. Her recently published book, Living My Song, is a collection of her essays, poems and lyrics.
Today, in addition to organizing the Residents Read program, Billie continues to live out her calling and uses her extensive experience to conduct writing seminars for residents at The Baldwin. Called “Adventures in Writing,” the seminars consist of six one-hour sessions during which residents hone their writing abilities and focus on “writing for meaning” as they work on projects of their own choosing. Those who complete the sessions may then join the “Advanced Adventurers” group which meets once a month.
The writing seminars have become fertile ground, with residents working on pieces they sometimes go on to share at Residents Read. “The programs mesh very nicely,” Billie confirms.
“I’m amazed at the interest here — at people’s enthusiasm for writing,” she marvels. “Many are writing memoirs, which is natural and what most might think people at a retirement community would write. But they’re also writing all kinds of other things: Fairy tales and children’s books, poetry, novels of every kind, and books on subjects like history and science. And, of course, knowing there were so many published authors here was what originally inspired the Residents Read group.”
While she thoroughly enjoys all the writing and reading, Billie shares that she also had a less literary motive for starting the Residents Read group: Community.
“I’m a writer myself, and I know writers enjoy sharing what they’ve written,” she says. “Since The Baldwin was brand-new, everybody who came here was new and we didn’t know each other. I thought it would not only be a good way for the resident authors to be able to share what they had written, but also a good way for people to get to know each other — and that has turned out to be true. It’s a wonderful way of building community.”
She cites one particularly memorable example.
“One resident had written a play for her children, nieces and nephews to read to her father on his 70th birthday. I persuaded her to let me read the play and it was just delightful. This very talented woman had traced her family history from the time they had immigrated to the United States. It was like a generational history, but in her play, the grandchildren were telling the story to each other, and it played off the relationships between the grandkids.
“I told her she should get some of her neighbors to read the parts and do the play for Residents Read. She was reluctant at first, wondering if anyone would really be interested in her family’s history. But she pulled together seven people and held rehearsals in her apartment.
“When the group read the play at Residents Read, they wore items that reflected the ages and personalities of their characters. One resident — a retired submarine commander — was playing the part of the six-year-old grandson who was a real pill. He showed up wearing a baseball cap backwards. Imagine people in their 70s and 80s with lifetime histories of their own pretending to be these grandchildren. It was a wonderful, fun experience for everyone.”
Billie notes that the diverse histories and experiences of residents and their families contribute to the rich variety of works shared at the Residents Read programs. One retired attorney has written stories about cases he was involved in. “They are always fascinating,” Billie exclaims. “He wrote one entitled ‘A Busload of Nuns’ and another one about completing a case only to be visited by a member of the mafia.”
When scheduling readers — each of whom is given ten minutes — Billie uses this diversity to create an interesting and entertaining program. Thinking about the lineup for the next month, she shares that attendees will enjoy readings from a resident who has written a beautiful piece about her father coming back home from World War II. Another resident will read a short story about a child who is stung by a bee and is more concerned about the welfare of the bee than the sting. A guest reader — the granddaughter of a couple who live at The Baldwin — will read some of her own writing and recite a poem. One resident will read a fairy tale she has written, and another who is a published poet will read a prose piece she wrote about tossing rotten apples into a rival school’s bus full of kids.
“People stop me in the hall and say, ‘I have something my grandchild wrote, and I think it would be fun for Residents Read,’” Billie muses. “That’s just delightful for me. When we started this, I had no idea how popular it would become. I thought we would just use the published authors and be finished in a couple of months, but it has become something so much more.”
And isn’t that fitting for a community built on a former apple orchard? Through the writing seminars and the monthly Residents Read gatherings, seeds are planted, creativity is nurtured, and the community comes together to enjoy the fruits of their efforts.
To learn more about Community Life at The Baldwin or to schedule a personal tour, call 603.699.0100 or use our Contact form.