Running Head: AGING PAPER 1 Aging Paper 7 Aging Paper Denise Caldwell University of Louisville 1. Introduction Albert is a single African American male. He is 5’9 and weighs 110bs and occasionally relies on oxygen to breath. He was coherent at the time of the interview. He was aware of the present place and time. His speech was good and he answered he understood all and answered most of my questions Family Characteristics Albert and his brothers were born to Albert and Lossie Lee Lumford in the southern state of Durham, North Carolina. His father Albert Lumford Sr was a sharecropper and his mother Lossie Lee Lumford was a homemaker Albert is the eldest of the four children, his brothers are Charles, Douglas and Pete. . Charles and his wife Doris have 5 children 9 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. Albert has 4 children, 8 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren and was married to Gloria M Taliaferro. His oldest daughter Marie seemed to struggle during her adolescent years into adulthood. In 1975 at age of 17 years old Marie met a man 10 years her senior and ran away from home to be with him. When she returned she told her parents that she wanted to get married, but would need their consent. Reluctantly Albert and Gloria signed the consent papers, and the couple got married at Newark, NJ City Hall. She moved in with her husband and shortly thereafter became pregnant. Marie stayed in high school and graduated in June of 1975. Four months later she gave birth to a baby girl named Ashiah, and within the next two years she gave birth to a baby boy named Rashad. The remained together for 8 years before the couple divorced in 1983. Sabrina was an over achiever and always did well in school. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Shaw University in Raleigh North Carolina and landed a job with the US Attorney’s office in Newark, New Jersey. Sabrina met and married her husband in 1982. There were no children from this union but the marriage began to deteriorate when Sabrina had a nervous breakdown and was diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia. She had been placed in several institutions and hospitals in New Jersey. Today Sabrina is living independently in a senior housing complex. Denise was affected by the physical and mental abuse towards her mother at the hands of her father. She began smoking marijuana and drinking wine at 13 years old. By the time she was 17 her alcohol use increase to hard liquor and sniffing cocaine. By age 30 her substance uses escalated to smoking cocaine, speedballs and sniffing heroin. She entered treatment in September 21, 2000 and has been clean ever since. She got married in 2004, and went back to school to earn an A.S and Bachelors in Human and Social Services and adopted a sibling group a boy and a girl in 2010. She is currently working towards her MSW. Wendy is the baby of the family. She got married when.

1. Running Head: AGING PAPER
1
Aging Paper
7
Aging Paper
Denise Caldwell
University of Louisville
1. Introduction
Albert is a single African American male. He is 5’9 and
weighs 110bs and
occasionally relies on oxygen to breath. He was coherent at the
time of the interview.
He was aware of the present place and time. His speech was
good and he answered he
understood all and answered most of my questions
Family Characteristics
Albert and his brothers were born to Albert and Lossie Lee
Lumford in the southern
state of Durham, North Carolina. His father Albert Lumford Sr
was a sharecropper and
his mother Lossie Lee Lumford was a homemaker Albert is the
eldest of the four
children, his brothers are Charles, Douglas and Pete. . Charles
and his wife Doris have 5
children 9 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. Albert has
4 children, 8
grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren and was married to
Gloria M Taliaferro. His
oldest daughter Marie seemed to struggle during her adolescent

2. years into adulthood. In
1975 at age of 17 years old Marie met a man 10 years her senior
and ran away from home
to be with him. When she returned she told her parents that she
wanted to get married,
but would need their consent. Reluctantly Albert and Gloria
signed the consent papers,
and the couple got married at Newark, NJ City Hall. She moved
in with her husband and
shortly thereafter became pregnant. Marie stayed in high school
and graduated in June of
1975. Four months later she gave birth to a baby girl named
Ashiah, and within the next
two years she gave birth to a baby boy named Rashad. The
remained together for 8 years
before the couple divorced in 1983.
Sabrina was an over achiever and always did well in school.
She graduated with a
Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Shaw University in
Raleigh North Carolina
and landed a job with the US Attorney’s office in Newark, New
Jersey. Sabrina met and
married her husband in 1982. There were no children from this
union but the marriage
began to deteriorate when Sabrina had a nervous breakdown and
was diagnosed with
Paranoid Schizophrenia. She had been placed in several
institutions and hospitals in New
Jersey. Today Sabrina is living independently in a senior
housing complex.
Denise was affected by the physical and mental abuse towards
her mother at the hands of
her father. She began smoking marijuana and drinking wine at
13 years old. By the time
she was 17 her alcohol use increase to hard liquor and sniffing
cocaine. By age 30 her

3. substance uses escalated to smoking cocaine, speedballs and
sniffing heroin. She entered
treatment in September 21, 2000 and has been clean ever since.
She got married in 2004,
and went back to school to earn an A.S and Bachelors in Human
and Social Services and
adopted a sibling group a boy and a girl in 2010. She is
currently working towards her
MSW.
Wendy is the baby of the family. She got married when she
19 years old and from
that union there is 4 children and 2 grandchildren. Pete and
Barbara had three children
and 4 grandchildren that they never met. In 1974 Pete the
youngest of the four boys was
murdered in a bar fight in Newark, New Jersey, and his wife
Barbara passed away 10
years later from cancer. After trying to conceive for years
Douglas and his wife Gloria
had one son, unfortunately she passed away shortly after giving
birth. Pete and Barbara s
on was an IV substance user, and he passed away years ago
from AID’s. All of the other
children are alive and well. Albert Jr had a troublesome
childhood because he was often
teased by his siblings, friends and his father because he had
darker skin than his brothers.
Albert Sr. was verbally and mentally abusive to all of the
children but his anger and
frustration seemed to always connect with Albert the most. He
remembers being his
father calling him dumb and stupid, and he didn’t seem to be
able to do anything right.
He was punished for his actions and the actions of his brothers,
because he was the eldest

4. and was expected to keep all his brothers in line, and make sure
that they did their
chores. Albert explained that all the kids had to do chores
before they went to school
and after they came home and if chores were not done they
could expect the discipline to
be a whooping or beating with belts, sticks, shoes or anything
that was available at that
time. Suppertime was 6pm, if they were not home when the
family sat down to eat
supper you would go to bed without anything to eat, this was
another way the Lumford
family disciplined their children.
Albert described his father as they so fondly called him
“daddy” was as a serious man
who did not tell or laugh at jokes, he worked hard and he ruled
with an iron fist. Albert
described his mother as a loving, and caring God fearing,
Christian women, but when his
father was present she changed and was just as stern as he was,
and she called him
“daddy” too. He was not a religious man and did not attend
church, and did not put
much thought or effort into the holidays nor did they have any
special rituals other than
the kids being home for dinner on time.
2. Attitudes
Albert parenting styles weren’t that much different than of
his parents. Albert says
that his parenting styles were similar to his father’s because his
children got whooping’s
and beatings, too “and they straighten them right up” He went
on to say that his wife took
care of the kids, that is women’s work. Albert enjoyed having a
good time and seemed to

5. have a lot of friends. His favorite pass time was street racing
on Frelinghuysen Avenue
and hanging out at White Castle located in Newark, NJ.
Surprisingly enough he
continued to meet his friends at White Castle restaurant after
retirement. Friendships
with the “Boys” was important to him, but as the years went by
they either passed away
or moved back to the South.
Albert attitude towards school could have been better if
he had received the support
he needed from home. He said that he enjoyed learning in
school but he did not like
attending school. He talked about it being hard for him and that
he had difficulties
reading and writing. His father told him that because his grades
were not up to par he
needed to stay home and help him around the house, or to get a
job; he was only 13 years
old. While this arrangement was short-lived Albert returned to
school and eventually
graduated from Durham high school. 3. Occupation: Albert
moved to North Newark,
New Jersey in 1954 and resided with his Aunt Mozelle. He
explained that back in the
1950’s people moved up north looking for better job
opportunities, but before you left the
south you needed to make sure that there was work and that you
had family or friends
that would help you until you were able to earn a living.

6. Albert worked at several jobs
during his lifespan, but his last place of employment was with
Wakefern foods located in
Elizabeth New Jersey. He was hired as a meat packer and after
two years he was
promoted to a butcher. He remained at Wakefern foods until he
retired at the age of 62.
4. Retirement:
By this time Albert had been divorced and had been living
with his girlfriend for over
15 years. He retired was retired and would travel to North
Carolina a few times a year.
A couple of years later his longtime l live in partner passed
away, he was devastated and
he began to feel lonely and suffered from depression. He
isolated himself at home and
sat at the window because he liked to watch the cars go by. As
the years went on his
health began to deteriorate and he had a difficult time walking
which required him to
have knee surgery which only increased his inability to be
independent. He was divorced
and his longtime companion passed away and Albert was left
alone. It was a difficult
time for him because Albert did not have the closeness that he
needed and wanted with
his family.

7. 5. Social/Historical/Environmental influences
Albert stated that the one of the most historical events that
affected him all through his
adult life was the Newark riots in 1967. He told me a story
about how the city looked
like a war zone and he fearful for his families safety. He said
that he become afraid of
the dark and got nervous when it thunder. He says he
remembers people were looting,
robbing and hurting people. He told me that the Newark riots
had a negative effect on
him, but a positive effect on the community, because after the
riots Newark elected the
first African American Mayor.
6. Global Assessments: Albert never had a relationship with
his grandchildren when
they were younger and now that they are older they visit with
him and send him special
cards on his birthday and holidays. Albert has stage 4 terminal
Prostate cancer and some
days he feels defeated and just wants to die. My father does not
feel that the people in the
nursing home have his best interest in mind. He complains that
they are not attentive and
they don’t help him. He becomes frustrated and wants to be
moved to a nursing home

8. that is owned and operated by white people because he insists
that those are the places
where you can get the best care. He says that when you get old
people just don’t treat
you right. In 2010 a women was found guilty for abusing an a
women by placing her had
the victims mouth I have read many nursing home abuse issue
so we keep a close eye on
him. And he feels that people do not treat elderly people right.
He complain that about
the nursing home that he is in stating that they don’t take proper
care of him and that the
food is horrible and he feels that terminal ill patients be able to
stay home and die the
way they want to, people have no respect for the elderly and
elderly people deserve to be
respected.
7. Triumphs and Regrets:
Although Albert life history with his family was not always
the best he states that his
greatest joy is his girls and he is proud of his family. He often
talks about the decisions
that he made within his marriage and s regrets was divorcing his
wife. He says that

9. looking back on his life there were opportunities to make better
choices, but he simply
did not make them. He told me that he always wanted to travel
and experience new
things but he never had the opportunity to do explore other
interest and that he had to
provide for his family. He expressed that he regrets not forming
a better relationship with
his brothers. Charles was the only one who when he retired he
moved back the North
Carolina in a less stressful atmosphere. He envied his brother
Charles because he had a
good relationship with his family and even helped raise some of
his grandchildren. The
brothers talked on the phone but rarely visited each other. This
may have been a result of
again, how they were raised and he issues that arouse during his
child experiences. I
expressed to my father that we love him and to try not to dwell
on the past but to enjoy
the time that we have now and move forward.
8. Conclusion
It was difficult for me to write this paper about my father.
What I have learned over

10. the years in this Profession is that it helps me to have a better
understanding of my
elderly parents and what they may be experiencing as they are
both 84 years old. My
father did the best that he could with the upbringing that he was
given. His inability to
effectively express emotion was stagnated years ago in his
childhood. His learned
behaviors as a child, the disbelief in his abilities to achieve
goals and insufficient support
from families and friends all play a role in who my father is
today and how he
transitioned through his
life (Dowell,C. 2005). I believe that if my father had a vision
or a purpose that he was
living for other than his children and right now he feels that he
failed in that area as well.
The problems that he did not have a good relationship with his
grandchildren and they
grew up not knowing who he was. He alienated himself from
the family. His inability to
form loving and caring relationships seem to be a direct result
of how was raised and the
physical verbal abuse that he experienced as a child. Albert’s
did not experience healthy

11. developmental stages that would allow for him to develop the
skills that he needed into
adulthood. At this time he only seems to focus on failures and
becomes angry and
verbally abusive when he doesn’t get what he wants or when he
feels misunderstood. He
is can’t seem to focus on anything good for long periods of
time. He constantly reflects
on things that he should have done differently and how he can
change things now. He is
in a state of denial thinking that he will one day go home and
make some life changes.
Oftentimes he says he just wants to die he has also expressed
his fear of dying. His illness
and inability to function both cognitively and physically are
frustrating for him. His
mindset is only focused on past failures, inadequacies and
judgement of others. People
who struggle with this stage of life are said to be in despair.
They become preoccupied
with the past and their failures and regret all the bad decisions
and realize they have little
time or energy to reverse them. People in despair are oftentimes
become depressed,

12. spiteful, paranoid, hypochondriacal and can develop patterns of
senility with or without
physical basis” Mckee,(2012).
My father has never been a church goer, but he is familiar
with the bible and relies on
his own personal relationship with God and being spiritual.
“Spirituality is a more
personal experience Hutchins (2015). Bishop (2011). Late
adulthood is where my father
is in his life right now. The end of life begins with life and the
stages that every
individual must go through which will map out who we become
or who we want to be
Erickson stages of changes suggest that Trust vs Mistrust helps
a child know that the
person who is caring for them will feed them and make sure that
their needs are met. The
provide affection and love in which a child knows and forms a
trusting relationship with
the caregiver. Fear and lack of trust would result in mistrust.
My father experience
inferiority. He didn’t feel good about going to school and
although he would have liked
to play football he preferred to sit in the background and
watched. He lacked the
confidence to develop the skills needed to move through these

13. stages in an effective
manner. My father state of acceptance of his terminal illness
fluctuates through the five
stages of death and dying. He seems to always be in a state of
denial and believing that
the doctors misdiagnosed his illness. I wish that was true. He is
trying to get through
each day in hopes that his illness will get better and he will be
able to go home, but there
are times when the reality of the end of his life is near he begins
to experience feeling of
depression, fear and anger. He is angry with God and himself.
He angry for being sick and feels trapped because he feels
that he had unfinished
business that he needs to take care of., and he is angry with God
just because he is sik.
When my father was living at home we tried to encourage
him to seek medical
attention and he just never would. At this point he is
bargaining to do anything to get out
of the nursing home. He wants to go to the doctor and keep
appointments he told me that
he prays to God every night for healing and that he will live a
better life. I feel that
depression is a factor in all of the stages of death and dying. I
feel that once a person
experiences all of these feeling they continue to experience
them but not in the order of
sequence. My father has good days and bad days, mostly bad.
When he thinks of his
family he becomes depressed and expresses guilt feelings and
the loss of time spent
together. His ability to work through these stages are difficult
for him, because he has
not fully accepted that he is confined to a nursing home until

14. the end of his life. As I sit
here writhing this paper I feel a sense of guilt for placing him in
a nursing home, but we
had no other choice. Our decision to have a loved one removed
from their home not only
effects the individual but the family as whole. Family
members also suffer from the five
stages of death and dying. The anger of having to make a
decision such as this or the
fact that a loved one is facing the end of their lifespan is one
that is difficult for many
families. This has been very difficult for me and my family,
References
http://farrarhome.org/home/?p=345
https://auburnpub.com/lifestyles/final-stage-of-life-integrity-vs-
despair/article_c33a9ada-7d80-5685-aad1-f9789523c58e.html
https://www.rnpedia.com/nursing-notes/psychiatric-nursing-
notes/erik-eriksons-theory-psychosocial-development/
Dizon,. General Psychology. Manila: Rex Bookstore, 2003
Uriarte, Gabriel G. General Psychology. Manila, 2007
http://www.answers.com/Psychosocial%20Development
Dimensions of Human Behavior Hutchins, E 2015
The Changing Life Course
https://www.clarkperdue.com/blog/supervisor-found-guilty-in-
nursing-home-abuse-case/