August 15, 2018
Here are two things you need to know about 96-year-old Gareth Pollard: first, while serving in the U.S Navy during World War II, he narrowly dodged death not once, but twice, both on the same day. And, on a much safer note, two years ago, he decided to teach himself how to play the piano.
During the war, the thought of living to a ripe old age was extremely wishful thinking. Mr. Pollard served as a Flight Engineer and backup gunner on a Martin PBM Mariner flying boat. He and the rest of his squadron would patrol the South Pacific searching for the enemy. On one such mission, their plane got strafed by machine gun fire and Mr. Pollard was hit by shrapnel. Hours later, as he was being treated for his injuries in the sickbay of a ship, an enemy plane on a suicide mission crashed into the American vessel next to the ship he was on. Mr. Pollard was later awarded a Purple Heart.
He moved to Odessa, Texas after the war. Not long after, a friend who worked at the local newspaper and needed help with a downtown delivery route asked for Mr. Pollard’s assistance. That’s how he met his future wife, Joy - delivering a newspaper to the flower shop where she worked. “I found a sweet girl and we just hit it off,” he recalls with a smile. The couple was married for 68 years and had three children together.
But it’s his mother that Mr. Pollard credits for his long life. “She was quite consistent in what we would eat and when we would eat. So I learned to eat things that were grown in a garden and weren’t packaged. And I think as I got older some of those habits stayed with me,” he says. He and his wife loved cooking together. “We used a wok and we would cut all of the things and stir them in,” he recalls.
Sadly, Ms. Pollard passed away two years ago. Now her husband lives alone in their East Austin home with their 12-year-old dog, Scout. Mr. Pollard’s cooking days are over. “I try not to use the stove,” he explains. Instead, he relies on our hot, nutritious lunches delivered by dedicated volunteers. “[The meals] mean I stay alive. It would be rough if I didn’t have help,” Mr. Pollard says.
He adds “another thing that is nice about Meals on Wheels is the people who bring them. I live alone. It gets pretty quiet around here. So I always look forward to the person bringing the meal because I get a little visiting out of them.” Mr. Pollard also appreciates the help our PALS (Pets Assisting the Lives of Seniors) program provides his constant companion, Scout: free basic veterinary care and nail trimmings.
Speaking of Scout, he’s usually the only audience Mr. Pollard has when he practices the piano. When asked why he decided to learn how to play a musical instrument at 94, he says “I have a curiosity about life. I always want to learn more.”
You can watch a video of Mr. Pollard playing the piano by visiting bit.ly/2n7jEvV