A Good Age: Twin sisters thrive at age 95 as independent Marshfield neighbors

MARSHFIELD – They're identical twins who still look alike and will turn 96 on Dec. 7. Both are widowed and live independently, across the hall from one another in affordable senior housing.

"Age has changed us and Helen is shorter, but people are fascinated because we look alike," Anna Dyer, the younger by 10 minutes, says. "We are two different personalities."

Her sister, Helen Lydeard, agrees.

Each morning, one knocks on the other's door to make sure both are up. Around 11 a.m., they have coffee together. At 5 p.m., they take turns preparing a light supper. Meatloaf is a favorite.

Each has an apartment at Winslow Village, Marshfield's first federally subsidized housing for seniors, which opened in 1972. Each feels fortunate to be there.

"They really care about you as tenants," Anna says.

"They fix everything right away," says Helen. "You don't even have to ask twice."

They climb the stairs to their second-floor apartments, get out every Saturday together for food shopping with one of their children, attend the monthly tenant meetings and socials and enjoy sitting outside in good weather, chatting with neighbors and passers-by.

"They like us because we're cute," Anna says.

As Winslow Village celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, the sisters have a certain status. Anna, the second-oldest resident, has lived there for 25 years. She and her late husband, John, arrived in 1997. They raised their five children in Marshfield and had seven more years together until he passed away in 2004.  Anna stayed on in their one-bedroom apartment.

Soon after, Helen's husband, Vincent, died and Helen moved back to Massachusetts from Alabama, where the couple had spent 15 years helping to care for their grandchildren. Earlier, they raised their three children in Marlboro.

Living side by side in their 10th decade has provided a safe haven for the twins with connections to their past. Combined with family support, their housing choice has helped make continued independence possible. One of their biggest joys was taking care of Anna's great-granddaughter Alexa, who lives nearby, during the first eight years of her life.

In their 80s, they took the bus together to get there.

"She helped us stay young," Anna said. "She kept our brains working."

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Helen, seated at her kitchen table, speaks about why being near her sister is especially important.

"I have that terrible thing everyone worries about," Helen says and searches for the name. "I am fighting it. I try very hard to get the words out."

Asked if she means Alzheimer's, she says, "Yes, that's it."

In conversation, she looks for a word now and then but is full of information, gracious and reflective with humor.

"I must be weird, but I don't feel bad, because we are all going to get old," Helen says. "There's no sense getting angry. I'm not going to be a whiner."

She shows two over-the-counter medications she uses for her memory loss and her back pain from scoliosis.

Celebrating 50 years of Winslow Village

Winslow Village opened in 1972 with 64 units, and Winslow Village II, built next door in 1991, has 48 units. For five decades, the complexes have provided affordable housing for people 65 and older, with 10% of the apartments for younger tenants who are disabled. Both are nonprofit.

Many tenants, but not all, come from Marshfield, and there is a waiting list for a unit.

The pioneer, Winslow Village, has seven two-story buildings with walkways, gardens, benches and ample visitor parking. Diane Frohnapfel is director of operations.

It all began when forward-looking members of the First Congregational Church, led by Grace Ryder and Harry Jorgensen, organized a project to take advantage of a new federal housing initiative: subsidized housing for the elderly. The land, a working apple orchard, was made available by Hady Gates and her son, Clyde.

Bonnie Conant's father, Ernest Chandler Jr., 97, was the first president of the church's housing board. She recalled being in junior high school when church members held rummage sales and sold Barbie doll clothes to help pay the early mortgage for Winslow Village until federal subsidies came through.

It was the first affordable senior housing complex in Marshfield, one of the first in the area, and an example for other Congregational churches in Massachusetts.

"This allows people who are on a fixed income and who require affordable housing to stay in the community they are accustomed to," Conant, the current president of Winslow Village board, said.

Reach Sue Scheible at sscheible@patriotledger.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Identical twins, 95, stay independent at Marshfield's Winslow Village