From the recliner in front of his living room picture window, Carl Dismant sees the wild turkeys strutting across his yard and visitors coming up the sidewalk.
He’s set a timer to make sure he wakes up from a nap before 5 p.m., when they bring dinner.
Sometimes it’s Brian Exstrum, or Lori Leo, who lives across the street. Other times, it’s Diann Correll, Kathy Elmont or Nancy Nixon. On Fridays, it’s Robert Stoufer.
They come up the steps holding take-out containers from the Gold Belt Restaurant, Ouray’s source of discounted Meals on Wheels for seniors who qualify.
Sometimes they stop to talk, which Carl likes. The chairs in his living room are arranged for visitors, just in case.
On a desk in the corner, there’s a photo of Mary Ann, his wife of 51 years, with Carl and some of their longtime friends. Mary Ann died in 2012, and they didn’t have children. Carl was an only child, and his remaining relatives are in-laws who don’t live close by.
This night, dinner is a turkey wrap. He asks if Robert would mind getting him a Dr. Pepper from the fridge and if he can fill up his big water jug with a straw.
When Robert gets up to leave, Carl reaches out to clasp his hands and says, “God bless you, I love ya.”
Carl, who is 87, lives by himself but doesn’t feel alone.
He’s lived in Ouray since 1962. The fourth-generation miner came here with his father, who purchased the Bachelor- Syracuse Mine, which Carl still owns. While he never struck the mother lode in the mining business, he found riches in Ouray.
The folks who bring him dinners during the week aren’t part of any particular group, they just have known Carl a long time and they care about his quality of life. They want him to be able to live in his house as long as he can.
It’s not just about the food. It’s about the social connection. And he’s not sure if you’d find the same kind of people who care this much elsewhere.
“I’m prejudiced, but I don’t think you’d find the same thing in a bigger place,” he says. “I love people. I’m glad they take time out of their busy schedules to come see me.”
***
Carl’s neighbor, Bill Leo, picked up his mail and shoveled the snow from his sidewalk earlier that day. Bill and Lori check on him the most, since they live right across the street and have known him forever.
Earlier this month, Carl called Bill for help on a Sunday. It was an emergency and he couldn’t wait, so Bill took him to the hospital in Montrose. They were there for five hours, and Carl felt bad about it.
“He wasted his whole evening,” he says, shaking his head and frowning.
Earlier this month, Steve Duce from the Timber Ridge Service Station in Ouray came over and picked up Carl’s car to fix it. While Carl doesn’t drive often or for long distances, he wants to make sure it works.
Joey Huddleston helps Carl Dismant down the steps of his house in Ouray on Nov. 7. Huddleston volunteers with Neighbor to Neighbor, a nonprofit organization that helps seniors with everything from rides to medical appointments to handyman services, help paying bills or other ways to help them be self-sufficient and remain living in their homes. Photo by Erin McIntyre.
But most of the time, he gets rides. Carl is ready at the door, with his hat and coat on, when Joey Huddleston arrives. Joey helps Carl into the Ouray County Senior Van, used by Neighbor to Neighbor volunteers like himself who give rides to seniors who need help getting to appointments as far away as Grand Junction. Though Joey is 78 years old and qualifies to receive Neighbor to Neighbor’s services, he keeps driving older people around.
“I’m a baby compared to Father Time back there,” Joey jokes, prompting a chuckle from Carl.
Longtime Ouray resident Carl Dismant, 87, rides in the back of the Ouray County Senior Van on his way to a medical appointment in Montrose on Nov. 7. Neighbor to Neighbor volunteer Joey Huddleston drove Dismant to his appointment. Photo by Erin McIntyre.
On the drive to his appointment in Montrose, Carl tells Joey about how he started life in the Philippines, where his father was a mining engineer for the Itogon Mining Co. His family barely escaped the Japanese occupation at the beginning of World War II, and later fled from France when the Nazis invaded. He told stories of how his father met real headhunters in the jungle and was once offered a shrunken head.
Joey soaks in all the stories, fascinated.
***
At the San Juan Cancer Center, Joey sits with Carl in the waiting room. They pass the time with more stories.
Carl Dismant, 87, waits for his doctor’s appointment in Montrose and passes the time visiting with Joey Huddleston, a Neighbor to Neighbor volunteer who drove him to the appointment. Photo by Erin McIntyre.
Carl invites those with him to come back into the doctor’s office, where a nurse draws his blood.
“There’s safety in numbers, that’s what General Custer said,” he jokes. The nurse smiles, amused.
While waiting for the test results, Carl and Joey go to Culver’s restaurant for burgers, a soda and a milkshake. They visit about history, how much Ouray has changed, and mining. Carl always has another mining story.
Carl Dismant, 87, and Joey Huddleston, 78, visit at Culver’s restaurant in Montrose while waiting for Carl’s medical appointment. The men visited about everything from history to mining and Carl’s childhood. Photo by Erin McIntyre.
When they return to the cancer center for the doctor’s appointment, retired nurse Leslie Kemp meets them. She volunteers with Neighbor to Neighbor, too, and has helped support Carl with his medications and monitoring his health.
Then the doctor is ready. Is Carl sure he wants an entourage with him in the doctor’s exam room?
“If it’s bad news, I want you in there. And if it’s good news, I want you in there,” he says.
Today, it’s good news. The blood tests showed there’s no longer any sign of prostate cancer.
Carl Dismant, 87, asks his doctor a question during an appointment to check up on treatment for prostate cancer on Nov. 7. He asked Joey Huddleston, a volunteer with Neighbor to Neighbor, to accompany him to the medical appointment, and another volunteer, retired nurse Leslie Kemp, also arrived for support. He received good news – blood tests showed he didn’t have evidence of prostate cancer. Photo by Erin McIntyre.
Carl asks the doctor what his plan is for him now.
“I plan to live another 10 years,” he tells him.
“Have you fallen in the past three months?” the doctor asks.
Carl says no, but he’s been dizzy from the expensive blood thinners he’s supposed to take. He doesn’t want to take them anymore, and repeats the cost several times – $500 a month.
Is he reluctant to take the blood thinners because of the side effects or the cost?
“Well, it’s probably a little bit of both,” Carl says. The doctor suggests a new medication, but it’s just as expensive. Leslie asks if they can get assistance while she tries to get Carl established with a prescription Medicare plan.
Carl Dismant leaves the elevator at the San Juan Cancer Center in Montrose after an appointment, where he heard good news about his blood tests. Photo by Erin McIntyre.
“Thank you, thank you,” he tells Leslie as she helps him into the senior van for the trip home.
Leslie Kemp watches closely while Carl Dismant gets into the back of the Ouray County Senior Van, driven by Neighbor to Neighbor volunteer Joey Huddleston. Dismant was leaving a doctor’s appointment in Montrose, heading home to Ouray. Photo by Erin McIntyre.
It’s nice to have someone with him at the doctor’s appointment. “It feels less scary,” he says.
He spent three weeks away from home earlier this year, after he collapsed against a wall and was hospitalized for a pulmonary embolism. He spent some time in a nursing home before returning to Ouray.
Retired nurse Leslie Kemp takes Carl Dismant’s blood pressure at the Neighbor to Neighbor luncheon at St. John’s Episcopal Church. “Are you still feeling dizzy?” she asked him, noting his blood pressure was a little low. Dismant goes to the luncheon provided by volunteers every Monday. Photo by Erin McIntyre.
He was glad to be home, after being away. Returning to his chair in the living room, and his books and his own schedule, felt better.
“I just think that there’s a comfort in it,” Carl says of being able to come back home again.
On the way home, Joey points out a fiery sunset illuminating the western sky.
“That’s worth the whole price of admission,” Carl tells Joey.
Joey brings him home just as the sun dips below the mountains and the street lights flicker on. He helps him get out of the van and holds his elbow as he negotiates the concrete steps to the porch.
“I sure do thank you,” he tells Joey. “God bless you, I love ya.”
Carl finds dinner in the fridge. Nancy beat him to his house with the meal.
***
When asked if he’s lonely, after living by himself for 11 years, Carl thinks for a moment.
“I grew up in isolation, so I’m prepared for it,” he says, referring to his life as an only child.
But he’s not lonely. He has more visitors at his house than he did when he was in the hospital or the nursing home.
During the week, he knows someone is coming by at least once a day. As long as they don’t come over too early, he loves company and doesn’t mind getting decent. He usually stays up reading until around midnight, and sleeps late most days. But if he knows someone is coming, he gets ready.
“You don’t want to make a bad impression on these people who come over,” he says. “I never really think of being lonely and I think I owe it to the community to do the best I can.”
And he’s not bored.
“I think I have a fertile mind,” he says. There’s an old television in the corner but he hasn’t turned it on in years. He’d rather read.
Carl Dismant laughs while listening to Robert Stoufer, who was visiting him on Nov. 10 at his home in Ouray. Dismant enjoys having visitors and at least one person visits him daily during the week when they bring him dinner. Photo by Erin McIntyre.
He likes to talk to visitors about mining and history and current events. He’s reading a book about Cripple Creek. He still dreams about getting back underground and prospecting. Carl gets a glint in his eyes when he talks about the potential of striking it rich. He still dreams of getting the old Bachelor-Syracuse Mine back into production, though he leases it to a tour operator now.
“I like to talk rocks,” he says, especially with his friend Robert, a longtime geologist and mineral collector, who enjoys the conversations, too. They’ve known each other for 40 years, at least.
Before he leaves, Carl asks Robert if he wouldn’t mind getting him some more Dr. Pepper, his favorite drink. Robert obliges, pouring him another while delivering a bowl of ice cream for dessert.
Robert Stoufer says goodbye to Carl Dismant after bringing him dinner on Nov. 10 at his home in Ouray. Volunteers bring dinner to his house five nights a week, through the Meals on Wheels program with dinners prepared by the Gold Belt Restaurant. Photo by Erin McIntyre.
Carl raises his glass to salute Robert before he leaves and offers a toast.
“To your health,” he says.
Carl Dismant, 87, eats the dinner delivered by friend Robert Stoufer to his home on Nov. 10, reflected in his living room window. He spends much of his time enjoying books in his recliner and visiting with those who come to his home. Photo by Erin McIntyre.
