Born in a big family of 9 siblings in Bihar, Claudette Waleskie was 3rd in number. This 9th June she will complete her journey of 92 years.
She spent her childhood in Patna. She refused to marry and went to Dhanbad for her teacher’s training with her uncle who had a garage. There she learnt all the skills of a mechanic along with her teacher’s training. After completing her training, she joined De Nobli School and later Damodar Valley School.
As she was living alone, so supported all the family children,who needed any kind of help, especially for education. She taught underprivileged children. By that time shebought a house there but taking advantage of her simple nature,one of her troublesome relatives occupied the house with trickery. Soon after retirement, she met with an accident in 2010 and had a hip fracture. Since then she has been wheelchair-bound. After getting the news of her accident and ill health, her nephew Martin,who was in Gaya, brought her with him. Despite all these challenges, she was always grateful and happy there, Martin’s three children kept her engaged and she enjoyed the family life there for the first time.
2022 was a turning point in her life.Her niece Carole, who is a resident of W3 93 visited Gaya and brought her to Gurugram, asshe was suffering from kidney problems and only 20% of her kidneys were functional.As medical facilitiesare not developedin Gaya as compared to NCR. Since then she has been living at Wellington.
Even at the age of 92, she is very responsive and lively.I was surprised when she spelther name correctly spelling.She loves music and dance and celebrated 2023 Christmas with her relatives and Carole’s friends.
It is very inspiring to see, how she never allowed her physical discomfort to overpower her happiness. She always has a smiling face,which reflects her positive attitude towards life.At this stage,when people become dull and quiet,she loves meeting and talking to people and wants to share her experiences with them.Enjoying her life fully, she is a real inspiration to all senior citizens.
