Jack is 73 years old and "officially" retired. He did a self-profile for this project.

"What is coping? To me it is one of the most important of life skills. It is the "skill" that enables a person to adapt to changes in the environment, or to adapt the environment to fit the person. In my life I have experienced both forms of coping -- adapting the person to fit the environment, and adapting the environment to fit the person. In real life, both processes intermingle, but I think the reader can see both processes at work.

"I do apologize for all of the "I's" and "my's" in the following dialog. I guess that everyone learns coping skills if he is to survive over time. I have never known anything else; I was a "breech baby" and when it was time for me to be born I was not in the correct position. The "new" doctor got excited and pulled me out with instruments too quickly. The result was damage to both my arms and shoulders -- both were paralyzed. I was lucky, after enduring two years with my arms in braces over my head, my left arm seemed almost normal; the other arm was twisted 1/4 turn, weak, and with a shoulder that would never be fully developed. The doctors told my parents that my arms would grow and not stay little like so many did during those times (1926), but that I could never do very much with them -- like swimming.

"I get my stubborn streak naturally. My father would not accept the doctor's statement as final. After discussing my condition with one of his customers who was a swimming instructor, it was determined that I would take swimming lessons at the YMHA (the customer was a swimming instructor there). To make a long story short, I passed my first swimming test at age three. My swimming was not a thing of beauty (except to my parents), but I managed. (I eventually passed the junior life saving test.)

"My parents were determined that I would have a "normal" life. Since I was not "normal" that was quite some undertaking. One thing they didn't want was for me to spoiled or babied because of my arms. I had to accomplish the same things (at least) that was expected of my peers. I received more spankings for not fighting than any other bad behavior. Thanks to family support, I was a Cub Scout, completing the three-year program in two years. Then came the Boy Scouts were I attained the rank of Eagle; I am the only Scout that I ever met to become an Eagle without ever having been to Scout camp. I mention this not to brag but to show that coping was a way of life.

"I was fortunate when I started attending grade school in that my teacher let me position my writing paper so I could write with my left hand right side up instead of up side down. The only trouble with that was that we had to learn to write with a dip pen. Those old dip pens were very sharp and writing with my left hand meant that I had to push the pen across the page instead of pulling the pen as right handed people did. The result was that the pen kept digging into the paper and splattering ink everywhere. The results were not pretty. I tried to write "backhand" to take away some of the spattering but that was too much lack of conformity for the teacher. Fountain pens, with their rounded points, saved me when they were finally allowed in school.

"When I was a freshman in high school I broke my left wrist and hand in a gym class. Since I could not write with my right hand, I had to devise a way to hold a pencil with my cast (I also ate a lot of sandwiches). My gym class liked to play doubles ping pong but one of the boys broke one of the paddles. In spite of the fact that I did not know how to play, I was pressed into service to use my cast as a paddle. It worked very well; after I learned to not hit the ball with my wrist once my cast was off, I became the ping pong champion in both high school and college.

"Needless to say, I was not very good in sports (except ping pong) and, earlier, in fighting. Early on I became proficient at avoiding confrontations. I learned to compromise, debate, and to use humor to keep the situation from getting out of hand. As a result, I had many friends and very few out-and-out enemies (or fights).

"During WWII I "cheated" (hid my right arm behind another boy) to get drafted into the army. After 6 weeks of basic training I was able to do 3 whole pushups; it took another 6 weeks before I could repeat the performance. By the end of basic (18 weeks) I could do 23. The rest, as they say, is history.

"An example of the second type of adaptation, changing the environment to fit the person, occurred at age 67. I had been retired for almost a year as an university administrator when I was called back to work temporarily for a two-week task. When the task was finished, but before leaving for home that last night, I had a stroke. The stroke affected my entire right side: arm, leg, and eye, and took away my ability to swallow and his speech including (the ability to write and spell). After a week in the hospital and two weeks in a rehabilitation unit, I went home to about six months of physical, occupational, and speech therapy. During this time I relearned to dress myself (with the aid of rubber shoestrings) walk, swim, talk, and drive a car (with the aid of an old fashioned spinner knob).

"Within days of going home I started searching for ways that I could reduce the not inconsiderable burden the stroke had placed on my care giving wife, a full time teacher of piano. I started out making the bed each morning using a cane for support while I used my one good arm to pull up the sheets. After some time, I graduated to changing the bed each week -- all except putting fresh pillowcases on the pillows; with one hand I couldn't do it without using my teeth (ugh!). My greatest feeling of accomplishment came when I learned from observing a hotel maid fold the pillow lengthwise to stuff the pillow in the pillowcase.

"I was a swimmer since learning to swim at age three. I was eager to join a therapeutic swimming class in the town were I live. I just knew that when I was in the water my stroke impaired parts would not be a problem. That November, the first time I tried to swim I sank to the bottom (fortunately in shallow water). Not one to accept defeat gracefully, I found that if I swam on my back I could say afloat, using my arms as "oars" for locomotion. The following July I celebrated the anniversary of his stroke by swimming (on my back) one mile in only 45 minutes.

"By using a computer -- with its spell checker, and my one good hand -- I was able to write. Six mouths after my stroke, I accepted an invitation to join a funded project as a part time research associate. My duties included helping with the project evaluation, editing and proofreading, and report writing. Also during that time I analyzed part of the 1990 U.S. Census, writing Profile of Rural Older Americans, published by The National Council on the Aging, Washington, D.C. 1995.

"Although I could not take notes or write any of the assignments, I enrolled in and successfully completed an extensive training program to become a Stephen Minister at my church. Having completed this, I immediately signed up for a training program with the American Heart Association to join the newly developing Stroke Visitation Program. I then used the two programs to serve other stroke survivors. I make long-term visits to church-related survivors wherever they live, and hospital visits to new stroke survivors in hospitals assigned to me under the AHA "Strokers" program.

"I often startle people by saying that the stroke is the best thing that ever happened to me. That is the way I feel! Because of my stroke, I'm living a better life now. I exercise on a regular basis, I eat more sensibly, and my weight is under control. I enjoy understanding a little better the workings of the brain, and I can empathize better with those who are really handicapped and/or those of advanced age. I have a much better appreciation of my support network, and "church family" has a whole new meaning to me. The stroke has given a new purpose to my life -- an opportunity to reach out to others -- and has opened up whole new avenues in volunteering. And last (or maybe first) it has given me an opportunity to meet so many people that I never would have met without my stroke."