Former boxer now caring for seniors at Morningside Meadows

Often seen throughout the halls of Morningside Manor with tools in hand and a big smile on his face, Ricky Reese has an interesting past that led him from a boxing ring in California to the maintenance department at Morningside Meadows. Like many in their youth, Ricky had dreams of fame and recognition. And he was able to achieve that dream in the sport of boxing. With determination and confidence, Ricky proved to himself and to others that a little hope can go a long way.

Ricky Reese was born in Bordeaux, France on June 9, 1957, while his father, Willie Reese, Sr., was serving in the United States Army. Ricky moved to the U.S. as an infant and settled in his mother’s hometown of Lawton, Oklahoma. In 1962, Ricky’s father and mother, Martha, relocated the close-knit family to Los Angeles, California in the hopes of giving his seven children a better opportunity in life.

Ricky developed an interest in boxing at a very young age. Growing up, he fondly remembers watching boxing matches on television with his father. When he was just 13 years old, he announced that he wanted to be a boxer and asked his father to buy him a pair of boxing gloves. His father did, and under his supervision, Ricky and his older brother, Andre, began sparring two to three hours every day after school. At the age of 14, Ricky started training with his father at the Hoover Street Gym for three hours every day, six days a week.

He graduated from Freemont High School in 1975 and attended college at Los Angeles City College, where he majored in gymnastics. He continued to train with his father, who also became his manager, and also enlisted the help of veteran trainer Cannonball Green, a middleweight fighter who was well-known in the 1930s.


“I learned that, by me training him, I’d have to approach him differently than I do at home,” said Willie Reese. “I’m the trainer here in the gym. At home, I’m the father. He’s the boss here because he’s got to be the boss in that ring.”


And he did become the boss in the ring, winning several titles including the 1973 Northeastern Police Championship and the Northeastern & Central Championships and was named the 1974 City Diamond Belt Champ, the 1975 Southern California YMCA Champ, the 1976 Southern California Golden Glove Champ and the Southern California SPA-AAU Champ.

Ricky also earned the distinction of the U.S. Western Regional Olympic Trials Champ. But his Olympic dreams were dashed by a one-point loss in the 1976 Olympic- qualifying match.


But, that didn’t stop Ricky from continuing on with a phenomenal career. In his words, “I have made it this far, and I will go the rest of the way.” And he did. Ricky gained the respect of many competitors and others in the boxing world with only three losses in 24 bouts and a total of five knockouts.

Ricky would later tell reporters, “I like the feeling of individual responsibility. When I go out there and I’m by myself, I know it. I’ve got helpers and trainers, but when I’m in the ring, I’m by myself and I’ve got to do it myself.”


One of his most notable wins was against Thomas Payne, one of history’s tallest heavyweight champions, and a professional basketball player for the Atlanta Hawks. With a crowd of more than 4,300 people in attendance at the Forum in Englewood, Ricky floored the 7-foot-2-inch tall giant in nine seconds. Payne did manage to get up but was quickly sent flying across the ring a second time. A referee stopped the fight at two minutes, nine seconds.

“Usually my style was more like Ali’s,” said Ricky. “I danced, I moved. This particular time I didn’t do that. As soon as that bell rung, I went at him.”


Another notable fight in Ricky’s career was a three- round split decision against Richard Sloss, a wrestler and boxer, in the Southern California finals at Long Beach City College. The fight provided a new kind of challenge – he had never gone against a wrestler before. Ricky drew first blood and wore Sloss down with regularity and control of his punches. By the final round, he sent Sloss spinning with a right hook.


Throughout his career, Ricky’s idol was always Muhammad Ali. Ricky sought to mirror a fighting style similar to Ali’s unorthodox “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” style.


“Ali motivates me,” said Ricky. “I incorporate some of his moves into my style and, like Ali, I am a boxer, not a slugger. My strategy is to hit and not get hit. I make the opponent come after me and that usually frustrates him.”

Ricky did get the opportunity to meet his idol, Muhammad Ali, on two occasions, but never got the chance to formally speak to him.


He was also a fan of many other noted boxers including Joe Frazier and George Foreman. He had the opportunity to train alongside known fighters Randy Tex Cobbs, Ken Norton and Andy Price.

His career highlights also include film industry credits as an extra in the boxing films “Rocky and “Let’s Do It Again.” He recalls meeting both Sylvester Stallone and Bill Cosby while filming. “Bill Cosby was such a nice, down-to-earth guy,” said Ricky. “He was so much fun to be around.”

“I really enjoyed the whole movie experience,” he continued. “It’s something that I may consider doing again at some point in my life.”


Ricky’s boxing career ended in 1985 due to an unfortunate injury to his left eye. During a fight, Ricky was poked in the eye by his competitor and was unable to finish the match. His doctor warned that if he continued boxing, there was a good chance he could lose sight in his left eye. Even though his career was on the rise, he didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize his health or family, so he chose to hang up his boxing gloves.


He dabbled in real estate for a while and has used his creative mind to come up with several inventions that he is awaiting patents on.


Ricky married his wife, Deborah, in 1980 and they now have five children. Looking for a slower pace of life than Los Angeles had to offer, Ricky and his family moved to San Antonio in 1994. He began his career with Morningside in the maintenance department nearly three years ago.


Ricky strongly believes in the Morningside mission of “caring for those who cared for us.”

“I am so appreciative of all my elders, those who raised me,” said Ricky. “This job allows me to give back to the older adults in our community and to help those who need it.”


This phenomenal story of a man who set out to achieve his dreams and managed to do so is an inspiration to all. His relentless ambition and determination lives on with the work he does for the residents here at Morningside Ministries.

Eleanor Pulliam – Stockbroker

In 1958, at the age of 41, Eleanor Pulliam began a 25-year career working in the hectic and busy world of the U.S. Stock Market. She wasn’t looking for a job at the time but a friend told her of an opening in his brokerage office. She had always loved the market and followed stocks closely, so she decided to take the job.


Eleanor Pulliam, in her apartment at
Morningside at Menger Springs.



 Her first job there was simply a wire operator. The stockbrokers in the office were all men. They wrote up the orders and then she put them on a wire that sent them to a central office, where the orders were executed. She quickly learned that operating the wire was not so simple. Luckily, with the help of a very supportive boss who encouraged her to stick it out, she mastered the wire and worked her way up through the ranks at the office.


The brokerage office that she worked for was merged with a larger New York house a few years later and Eleanor took on even more office duties. The companies kept merging, she worked for six different ones in all, with Eleanor stepping up in position with each one. Finally, in 1975, she decided to become a broker herself. She took and passed the licensing test and became the first female stock broker in the office.


“I even had other offices that were trying to recruit me,” she said. “Because there came a time when companies needed to hire more women and there just were not very many women stockbrokers.”


It wasn’t easy at first, though. Most of the clients were men and not all of them were comfortable with a female stockbroker. “Some of my girlfriends made their husbands do business with me, “ she said. “They were so uncomfortable with it.”


But after doing business with her, their fears were diminished. She even had one client tell her that after being in the stock market for 60 years, she was the best broker he had ever dealt with. But it was not only the men that were uncomfortable with her new position, some of the other women in the office felt she shouldn’t be treated as equal to the men.


“The men actually treated me better than the other women in the office,” she said. “The men were all helpful. They all wanted me to get my license and to do well.”


Eleanor has seen tremendous changes in the industry over the last 50 years. Of course, computers have replaced all of the manual processes. Computers were coming into the offices when she retired in 1983, but were only used to keep track of client holdings, not to buy and sell stock.


“The system was much simpler then,” said Eleanor. “We were trained to be client-oriented and to give good service. All of our business was done face-to-face. Plus, we didn’t make the money they make now!”


But pay was the one area where she always felt on equal par with the men in the office. Since all the stockbrokers worked on commissions, she had the opportunity to make just as much, or even more, than anyone in the office.


With all the changes in business models and the addition of so many different funds and with how complicated the system has become, Eleanor is thankful she retired when she did.


“I’m kind of glad I’m not in it now,” she said. “There are so many politics that go into it and there is so much more out there now. It’s a whole lot more complicated.”


She still keeps up with the market on a daily basis but when it comes to stock tips, don’t ask her for any. “I have my own portfolio that I still work with, “ said Eleanor. “But I don’t give out advice!”

Melva Brannen – Finance

Melva Brannen has basically had two careers in her 90 years. She spent 30 years working in the finance department for the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company and, for the last 30 years, she has been active in the Telephone Pioneers, a dedicated and diverse group of retired telephone company employees who volunteer throughout the community.

Melva began working for Southwestern Bell in 1952 at the age of 32. Her husband was on active duty in the military and he encouraged her to work in case anything ever happened to him. And, unfortunately, she lost her husband at a young age and felt relieved that she had a career to support herself and her daughter.


She attended IBM School and learned the key punching process. She was hired at Southwestern Bell in St. Louis, Missouri to work in the payroll department. Key punch operators were in great demand at the time, as the company was converting everything from manual processes to machines. She recalls the tedious process of manually calculating employee payroll using a calculator and an employee earnings card to figure salary, deductions and union dues for thousands of employees. Even with the stacks and stacks of IBM cards that they had to process, payroll became much easier with the key punch machines. But it was a long, hard fight to get them.

When her husband was transferred to Randolph Air Force base, she moved to the San Antonio office of Southwestern Bell and helped transition the entire finance department to San Antonio as well. Melva worked her way up through many departments at Southwestern Bell: From payroll to reporting to revenues and disbursements to the estimate department to the audit department.


Melva recalls the days when companies did not want married women working. “If you got married, you had to keep it a secret,” she said. “I have seen amazing changes in the company. Now everything is computerized. There are women out climbing the telephone poles and think nothing of it!”


She was also glad to have retired when she did. She retired as a senior audit clerk in 1983, right before the divestiture of AT&T into Southwestern Bell.

“The accounting during that time was fierce,” she said. “The breakup of AT&T was rugged for the finance department.”


Telephone Pioneer

Since 1980, she has been a member of the Telephone Pioneers, an auxiliary volunteer group that helps the less fortunate in our local community and around the world. Melva has been involved with the Pioneers’ Santa program since the beginning, dressing up as Santa Claus and visiting nursing homes, orphanages and terminally-ill children all around the globe and bringing them small gifts. She says she has been everywhere, except the Orient – Australia, New Zealand, Italy, the British Isles and the Mediterranean.


“We did so much good with the Santa program,” she said.

“I remember being on an island somewhere and the children didn’t even know who Santa Claus was. But when you see 60 of them walk into a room at the same time, everyone gets a kick out of that!”


Still an active Pioneer, Melva keeps her Santa suit ready and hopes to pull it out of the closet again at some point in the near future. She had to pass up the last Pioneer trip to South Africa because her traveling partner had recently passed away.


“It’s been really rewarding,” she said. “I’ve probably spent a fortune traveling, but it’s all worth it. It’s been the most educational project I could have done and all the travelling has kept my mind interested and sharp. It’s what keeps me young!”

Anna Wood – Deputy U.S. Marshal

In a time when many working women were practicing shorthand and typing, Ms. Anna Wood, now a resident at Kaulbach Assisted Living, was transporting women to federal prison as part of her job as a Deputy U.S. Marshal.

The office of the U.S. Marshal is the oldest federal law enforcement office in the United States and is the
enforcement arm of the federal courts, assisting with court security, prisoner transport, serving arrest
warrants and seeking out fugitives.


Anna was married at the age of 17 and, shortly thereafter, her husband became ill with active tuberculosis and was sent to live in a tubercular sanatorium for one year. Since Anna could type, the Marshals office in San Antonio allowed her to take her husband’s desk job for the year until he returned. However, because of her husband’s ailing health, she decided to continue working after he returned home. She stayed on at the Marshals office and moved up through the ranks, from typing assistant, to disbursement officer, who wrote and signed all of the checks, to deputy marshal.


During her early years there, deputy marshals were hired by political appointment, but President Roosevelt changed the process to allow federal employees to take a civil service test, and if they passed, they could stay at their jobs and not have to leave after every election. This appealed to Anna, so she decided to make a career with the Marshals Service.

As a deputy marshal, Anna would post warrants and serve process. Part of her duties was to serve as a guard to women prisoners while they were transported to the federal prisons. At the time, the Western District of Texas served all of south, west and central Texas, from Austin to El Paso, and transported more prisoners than anywhere else in the country.


“I didn’t take the dangerous people, the men did that,” said Anna. “The women I transported were mostly docile and most of the things they did were pretty dumb, not dangerous.”


She recalls one trip where she accompanied a woman to a federal prison in Alderson, West Virginia. The woman had peeled apart a $20 bill, taped the two sides to $1 bills and tried to pass it off as $40. Anna’s boss made her take a relative with her and they traveled, by train, from San Antonio all the way to southern West Virginia. She had to accompany the woman at all times, for rest stops and meals.


Although she was the only woman marshal for a while, there were other women in the office, mostly working clerical jobs. But Anna says the men in the office were always very respectful toward her. “They were nice to me because I handled the money,” she said. “Although things were already beginning to improve for women at that time.”

But times were very different in the work place then. “I was the youngest person in the federal building for a while,” said Anna. “So, when they needed a picture for the newspaper after a big case, they would ask me to pose for it. And you had to wear a jacket, like a men’s suit jacket, just to get inside the federal courthouse.”

She also recalls the days of the “hunt and peck” typewriters and having to make eight carbon copies of everything. “There were no copy machines,” she said. “You had to make every one of the copies yourself. There were no modern conveniences, no office machines. Everything was done by hand. We had no air conditioners, only fans and open windows that just blew all the papers around. “


Anna retired from the Marshals Service in 1970 after 35 years. During her retirement years, she has volunteered at Morningside Manor as a Morninglory and as a Blue Bird at Methodist Hospital. She also traveled all over the world to China, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and all over Europe. She moved into The Meadows in 2004 and has now lived at Kaulbach for the past two years. She has always been an independent woman and a generous person who likes to have fun.

“I’ve had a fun life,” she said. “Live, laugh and love. That’s my motto.”

Caregiving and Marriage Stress

Being a caregiver for an elderly family member may put a strain on your marriage. Your life and daily routines have changed dramatically. Caring for a family member takes energy. When your energy is depleted, it can take a toll on your marriage. Time you normally would have spent with your spouse may be going to caregiving. Date nights may not be an option.

During stressful times, give your spouse the benefit of the doubt. Try not to take harsh comments as seriously as you normally would. When people are under significant stress, they may lash out at others, even the people they love the most.

If you are not the primary caregiver, do tasks that will take some of the burden off your spouse. Even unloading the dishwasher can mean a great deal to your partner.

Caregiving is stressful. If you and your spouse are feeling extra tension toward each other, that will increase the stress level in your home. Try to break the cycle of hostility and blame. If you fall into a pattern of blaming your partner or focusing on what they are not doing to help, they will likely respond the same way to you. If you can notice the good things about your relationship and offer each other a soft shoulder to lean on, the stress level in your home may decrease.  

Where Will You Fall?

Do you ever think about falling in your home? I have never fallen in my home and the last fall that did occur happened when my young daughter was running in our home. Regretfully, she broke her toe. Thankfully, that happened only once. After young children grow up, falls are rarely if ever thought of again.

Recently, I noticed that my 70 year old mother sometimes struggles to get up after sitting for long periods of time. I have also noticed that sometimes her balance is compromised when carrying heavy objects. With this in mind, I have started to concern myself once again with falls and the dangers and consequences of a fall.

There are many causes for falls in older adults as stated in “Preventing Falls in the Elderly” by K.R. Tremblay, Jr. and C.E. Barber. Some common causes include osteoporosis, weakened muscles, loss of eyesight, medications, and hazards in the home. Falls can cause broken or fractured bones. There are varying degrees and severity of falls as well.

Cataracts and glaucoma alter older people's depth perception, visual acuity, peripheral vision and susceptibility to glare. These limitations can hinder an individual’s ability to safely negotiate their environment, whether it is in their own home or in a shopping mall.

Sedatives, anti-depressants, and anti-psychotic drugs can contribute to falls by reducing mental alertness, worsening balance and gait, and causing drops in systolic blood pressure upon rising to a standing position. Additionally, people taking multiple medications are at greater risk of falling.

At least one-third of all falls in the elderly involve environmental hazards in the home. The most common hazard for falls is tripping over objects on the floor. Other factors include poor lighting, loose rugs, lack of grab bars or poorly located/mounted grab bars, and unsteady furniture.

To learn more about falls and how to avoid falls, watch the free online fall prevention videos provided by mmLearn at Morningside Ministries.

Link: http://msm.mediasite.com/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=9d6fcf6611f14b6d9f095328afd400fb1d

Centenarians Offer Long-Life Secrets

Today is Centenarians' Day. Centenarians' Day is a day to recognize and pay our respect to those who have reached the iconic status of a century-worth of life. According to USAToday, in 2005, there were 71,000 Americans 100 years or older. The U.S. Census Bureau expects that by the end of this year there will be 114,000 Centenarians and growing to 241,000 by 2020. Of those 114,000, we have the pleasure of having 15 living here with us at Morningside Ministries! We spoke to three of our Centenarians at Morningside Ministries and they had this to say about the "secret" to living to 100 years old:


Angelina Spencer will turn 102 on October 2nd



Angela Dambrosia was born August 2, 1910 and lives at Morningside Manor. Ms. Dambrosia was never married but loved her line of work very much. She worked with a sewing machine all her life and enjoyed many kinds of music but truly adored classical. Angela’s centenarian “secret” comes from her love for dancing.

Marguerite Lewis, who will turn 100 on November 28, 1910, lives at Kaulbach Assisted Living. She was married for 70 years before her husband passed away a few years ago. The couple loved to travel, visiting every state in the US. She recollects her marriage as being a wonderful and happy experience. Ms. Lewis’ “secret” is to thank God every day for her health and finding peace in her prayers.

Caroline Sanford was born December 18, 1907. Ms. Sanford lived in San Antonio, for 25 years before moving to Ingram, Texas for another 25 years. She currently lives in Boerne and for the last 4 years has been living at the Menger House. While in San Antonio, Mrs. Sanford volunteered at a children's hospital for 15 years. She and her husband traveled to all 50 states and loves to read and listen to music. It is very important to her to stay active and believe in God. She believes her “secret” to living to 100 is to "keep on going."

According to the National Centenarians Awareness Project, the most important secret to becoming a centenarian is to stay active and social. Whether it’s a walk in the park or attending social events, today’s Centenarians are the role models for the future of aging. Like Ms. Dambrosia, Ms. Lewis and Ms. Sanford believe: It is never too late to enjoy the little things in life.