DELAINE GLASCO

The following is quoted verbatim from "Spotlight" in the Osceola Sentinel-Tribune of Thursday, August 26, 1999, written by Janie McCall and reprinted with permission:

''Delaine Glasco once read you live longer if you collect things.  It that is true, she will live for a long time.

"Her collections of coffee tins, chickens, barns, covered bridges, washboards and other things cover the walls of her ranch-style home on the south edge of Osceola.  Her mother told her she would never rent her a house because she puts so many holes in the walls.

''For many years Glasco has handled phone calls as the volunteer contact person for projects of the Clarke County Chapter of the American Cancer Society. Most recently she worked on the Road to Recovery program which sought drivers for patients who need treatment.

"Glasco graduated from Osceola High School in 1956 and went to work as a secretary in Des Moines.  She married in 1960 and she and her husband lived in different places in Iowa over the years before returning to Clarke County more than 20 years ago.

"When she was in her early thirties, Glasco began feeling a tingling sensation in her legs when she walked.  Then she had optic neuritis, a temporary blinding in one eye. These were her first symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) a disease which affects the nervous system.  The body literally attacks itself. There is no known cause and no cure.  No two cases are alike.

"There are medications available, but not for her type of MS. She is affected mostly from the waist down and has to use a wheel chair. She said MS usually affects one side. For her this is her right side. She still has use of her right arm, but it tires more quickly than her left.

''Body temperature also affects her and she said like a flower, she wilts in the heat.  She has therapy at home three times a week.

"Glasco likes to keep busy.  She enjoys crafts and likes to do three dimensional things although they are hard to find.  Her motto for her craftwork is never throw anything out because you might need it tomorrow.

"She switches daily activities to match her ever changing physical abilities.

"Country music from the 1970s and later is a favorite of hers and she loves to cook.  She cooks full servings and freezes in smaller portions for reheating later.

"Glasco feeds all types of birds and also has a pair of ground squirrels.  She has a ramp out through her garage so she can get outside to fill the feeders and water her plants.  She drives a van equipped with hand controls.  She needs some help in her home and has her 'angel' helpers.

"She says her energy level on some days is much better than in the past.  Sometimes her energy now outlasts her wheelchair which is good for 25 miles per charge.

"She also likes to read and reads nearly every craft magazine and subscribes to newspapers from towns where she once lived.

"Glasco likes to write letters and sends cards to family and friends, something that is becoming a dying art in this computer age.

"And when she finishes test driving new wheelchairs, she'll be back as a 'pink lady' at the Clarke County Hospital in Osceola every other Wednesday."

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Last Revised July 10, 2012