Kathleen M. Banchoff
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Kathleen McCarthy Marx Banchoff is a writer currently living in Providence, Rhode Island.
She offers workshops and programs for family caregivers that focus on storytelling. These workshops extend her previous work with Professor Emerita Ellen Ryan (McMaster University) in support programs provided by the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) in Hamilton, Ontario.
She offers workshops and programs for family caregivers that focus on storytelling. These workshops extend her previous work with Professor Emerita Ellen Ryan (McMaster University) in support programs provided by the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) in Hamilton, Ontario.
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“Opportunities for caregiving come along with a large family,” she says.
Banchoff was the fifth of ten children, the second girl of five, raised in a small town in northeastern Ohio.
She remembers dinners, when everyone was home, sitting at the yellow linoleum-topped in the kitchen. The middle-sized kids, as she was, sat on red-leather-covered benches built in along two sides of the table. “Mom and Dad sat on the other sides,” with the baby’s high chair between them, and junior chairs for the toddlers next to the big boys. “It was a squeeze!” she says merrily.
Banchoff was the fifth of ten children, the second girl of five, raised in a small town in northeastern Ohio.
She remembers dinners, when everyone was home, sitting at the yellow linoleum-topped in the kitchen. The middle-sized kids, as she was, sat on red-leather-covered benches built in along two sides of the table. “Mom and Dad sat on the other sides,” with the baby’s high chair between them, and junior chairs for the toddlers next to the big boys. “It was a squeeze!” she says merrily.
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Banchoff also remembers, “At that table, it was more important be entertaining that it was to tell the truth,” she laughed. “And there were always many versions of truth to be told.”
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Her youngest sister Jane was born with Down syndrome, and grew up with siblings who included her in their lives. “Our boyfriends were her boyfriends,” said Banchoff. “And she certainly danced way better than I could!”
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As her parents aged in place in the house where she was raised, Banchoff arranged her business travel so that she could spend the weekend with them every six weeks or so to tend to their needs. “I was the daughter without children.”
When her late husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, “Skip decided to stay at home” and, she says, “Hospice, family and friends made that possible.”
Banchoff continues to seek the lessons there are in caregiving stories, particularly with participants in Finding the Smile storytelling sessions. This website now makes it easy for caregivers to download and use workshop materials.
As often as they can, she and her husband like to share the beauty of sunsets over Lake Erie with friends and family at their "lakehouse" -- a condominium in Ashtabula, Ohio.
When her late husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, “Skip decided to stay at home” and, she says, “Hospice, family and friends made that possible.”
Banchoff continues to seek the lessons there are in caregiving stories, particularly with participants in Finding the Smile storytelling sessions. This website now makes it easy for caregivers to download and use workshop materials.
As often as they can, she and her husband like to share the beauty of sunsets over Lake Erie with friends and family at their "lakehouse" -- a condominium in Ashtabula, Ohio.