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www.shelbyinfo.com Our 42ND Year • Issue No. 2 • January 15, 2026
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Program at the Patrick Center in KM helps seniors write their life stories By Alan Hodge “Everyone has a story to tell, but they don’t know they have it.” That’s what Regina Baynard tells folks who take part in the “Your Story, Your Way” journaling program held the first and third Wednesday of each month from 11:30am-12:30pm at the H. Lawrence Patrick Senior Life and Conference Center, 909 E. Kings St., in Kings Mtn. The program lets participants share stories from their life and learn how to chronicle them not only for their own pleasure but for anyone they care to share them within this or future generations. Baynard, who was born on a farm in Ohio in 1948, has been volunteering to lead the class for about two years. She comes by her love of writing naturally. “My mother was very creative,” Baynard says. “She was a poet, an artist, and very musical. I inherited my love of poetry from her.” Baynard put her writing skills to work at an early age.
Your Story, Your Way program leader Regina Baynard (left), and participants Marlene Newman and Gayle Tapy shared some stories and writing tips last week. (Photo by Alan Hodge) “When I was in eighth grade we had a poetry contest,” she said. “Some of the other kids asked me to write poems for them. The teacher said it was curious how so many of the entries were similar.” More recently, Baynard has been working on her own life journey story. She has taken photos of her family and herself going back many, many, decades and is penning an epic poem describing the scenes. So far, the work has filled two large albums.
Baynard is sharing her talent with “Your Story, Your Way” participants. “We start by writing a sentence or a word and just let it flow from there in free association,” she said. “That can trigger memories. Some people will want to publish their story, some want to share with their family, some simply enjoy writing.” Last week, two ladies showed up for the program, Gayle Tapy from Gastonia and Marlene Newman from Kings Mtn. Tapy is basing her journal
Pages from Baynard’s journal. (Photo by Alan Hodge) work on a book her father, a US Navy WWII veteran, had started writing, but never finished, about his wartime adventures. “He told one story about the ship he was on taking government gold from Poland to America,” she said. “I started thinking about what other things he must have done and use my imagination to write them down. This helps me try to understand what he did.” Newman grew up in Kings Mtn. Last week was her first time taking part in the program. “I like to write and just want to see where the spirit directs me,” she said. “I especially want to write about the things I have seen in Kings Mtn.”
Newman also has another rich source for journal material. “I was a missionary in Africa for forty years,” she says. Baynard says the “Your Story, Your Way” program is open to any Patrick Senior Center-eligible person who cares to take part. “I hope to grow it,” she says. “I want people to write down their beliefs. The story is in them.” For more information on “Your Story, Your Way” as well as the plethora of other fantastic programs offered at the Patrick Senior Center, visit https:// www.cityofkm.com/213/Senior -Services or https://www.face book.com/PatrickSeniorCenter/
Volunteers like Regina Baynard are an important part of Patrick Senior Center life and new ones are always welcome. Here are two photos showing the current volunteer brigade. (Photos provided)
A story and childhood photo of Baynard.
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