THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022 Page 5 ASKS | FROM PAGE 4 have everything we need. It sounds like I’m being a tightwad or a cheapy, but I’m not. We have everything and everything we volunteer for, we both do it. Q: Do you write poetry for her? Ken: I’m terrible on that kind of stuff. I do not. What she stills talks about till this day – when we were younger – she said whenever we go somewhere, I always have to plan everything. So, I planned a two-week vacation for her and me. I found babysitters for the kids. I had everything done: tickets and places where we were staying. And I sent her a card to her work – I had our daughter give it to her – that invited her to go to dinner with me at the Olive Garden in Orlando, Florida, and then on a date at one of the clubs that were out there. We traveled to Key West, and all of that. Because I did all that for her without asking or telling – I set everything up – she remembers that to this day, which is awesome. You loved that. Cathy: That was the best trip I ever had. Ken: But we don’t have that soft, cushy “give you chocolates, give you valentines…” Cathy: We’re just so good to each other, just every day. Ken: The way I feel … when I had the open heart surgery, she took care of me. She did it without question. And when I go out on my scooter walking – we went to Breakheart, and I lost the power in the battery. She ended up pushing my scooter up the hill. When somebody is down, we take care of each other. I help her without question. That’s what love is. Cathy: To me, gifts aren’t always meaningful. I’d rather have him be nice to me: do something nice to me like that instead of handing me a gift. I’m more sentimental about that part of life. Show me your love. Don’t give me a gift. Just show me your love. And that works for me. Ken: And we never feel like throwing the other out. I thought about getting a divorce so I could marry her again. Cathy: (laughs) Oh, he’s a character. Ken: We just get along so well. We stayed in the house through the COVID and never had a fight. Cathy: We did Quarantine Karaoke. Q: I understand you went down together a couple of times – down to the southern part of the country – to help flooding victims. Cathy: New Orleans – to help [Hurricane] Katrina victims. We Q: Do you have a Valentine’s Day message to the people of Saugus? Cathy: Just love one another. Just love one another and live every day, because you never know when the last day is going to be. Ken: When I had the heart attack at 43, we started living life like there’s no tomorrow. We’re enjoying every day, because you never know when something like that [a heart attack] is going to happen. We enjoy our life now. If we run out of money, it is what it is. We’re going to enjoy every day until we don’t have any more days. When you have open heart surgery, you gotta live every day like there’s SPREADING THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT: Cathy and Ken Strum were all decked out in their holiday wardrobes at the Saugus Senior Center last December as they got involved in several holiday goodwill projects. (Courtesy Photo to The Saugus Advocate) went down with the church. Ken: I did construction because of the many stories of contractors coming in and taking advantage of the people. We got to this house where the contractors got paid to put the porch back on the lady’s house and do some work on the inside where the gas and water meter were. The gas water heater was hanging. We had to repair everything in the back of her house and build another room because they took her money and left. She had no money left. Her neighbor next door was 90. When she left her house, she asked the neighbor if she wanted to go and she said, “No, my son is coming.” But the storm got worse, and they found her floating up on the ceiling. People found their parents on the sidewalk where they just pushed all the trash from the houses. There were so many sad stories. Cathy: But they still had a lot of love in their hearts. It was amazing. They sent me to the Senior Center to get some stories. And I was amazed. I told them, “You guys are great. You still have a lot of love for each other and a lot of good things happening there.” Q: How many times have you been on trips like that? Ken: We went down to help the Katrina victims in New Orleans twice. Cathy: We went twice with the church and once on our own: three trips to New Orleans. Ken: And we learned about Katrina and the Lower Ninth [Ward], where most of the destruction was. The people were so grateful that somebody came in to help out after the contractors took their money. To be without a home is so tough. They can’t come back. So, this just helped them. We had many volunteers who went down there, but our part of it was, we worked hard, we did construction. And we would be debriefed at night as to what we got out of it: These people have a home again; this lady is not in danger because her gas water heater is hanging six inches above the floor by pipes. I also worked in the kitchen, feeding mentally challenged people. I cooked for people in a shelter where they needed a lot of help. Cathy: We also did Habitat for Humanity. We built three houses: one in Lowell, one in Lynn and one in Malden. Ken: The person who is getting that house has to work with you, which makes them appreciate that house even more. And they can’t stop thanking you enough for helping them to build their home. no tomorrow. It just has to be that way because you don’t know what’s coming. Q: Anything else that you would like to share? Cathy: No, I think we would just like to make everybody happy. Ken: We grew up poor. Mine were abusive alcoholic parents. Cathy: Mine left when we were young. Ken: We’re trying to give the people stuff that we never got. The littlest things we can do for people, I enjoy. Cathy: We just want them to share the positivity that runs through us. Our hearts are bigger than any Valentine’s gift you can get.
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