Nobody had a bigger smile on her face on March 7 than Lena Stendardo, grandmother of Kim Insalaco, Olympic bronze medal winner for the United States women's hockey team. Insalaco visited her grandmother, who resides at Hilton East Assisted Living, and shared her Olympic experience with her. Stendardo was one of Kim's biggest fans. She has not stopped talking about her granddaughter since she began training for the Olympic Women's Hockey team. During the Olympics, Stendardo gave the staff daily updates on the women's hockey team progress. Her room is adorned with many pictures of her granddaughter, posters of her from the Olympic team and newspaper clippings. According to staff, Lena even ate meals in her room because "the game" was going on. Nothing would stop her from rooting her granddaughter on, and when she got to see her granddaughter, and hold her bronze medal, her face just "radiated with excitement," staff said. Insalaco had lunch with her grandmother, helped out with ceramics and then just talked with her in her room. Kim said, "I feel like I've been given so much and I just want to do everything I can to give back." This was just one trip of many where she is trying to give back to her many fans that cheered her on through her Olympic run. For Insalaco, the greatest thing was just to know how happy her grandmother was. Stendardo came to Hilton East Assisted Living just over nine months ago when she could no longer perform all the tasks associated with maintaining a house. "I'm glad I came because of the people that I can associate with now and everything there is to do." Insalaco stated, "It's just been a whirlwind of activity since I've been back." When asked about 2010, she said that she was ready to move on and do something new, maybe coach women's hockey. "I've given so much time to hockey that I want to get out and do some other things," she said. And one of those things was letting one of her greatest fans share in her experience and hold her bronze medal. Submitted material March 19, 2006 |
