Mr. Berkeley doesn't live with a fast-paced crowd.
"The only speeding I see is by the staff," a 91-year-old resident of The Colonnades nursing home. "They have had enough of us old fogies."
The Colonnades, a facility directly affiliated with the University, is one of the several nursing homes or sites involved in the "Adopt-A-Grandparent" program run by Madison House that includes about 120 University student volunteers.
Madison House program directors match each student volunteer with a grandparent who shares similar interests and is associated with one of the eight nursing homes the program serves. The grandparents range from being bed-ridden to living in their own apartments as part of an assisted living program. University students visit their grandparents on a weekly basis, spending an hour or two with them - just sharing a laugh and a smile.
Berkeley is the grandfather of Blair Elliot, a fourth-year College student.
"It is really nice to have someone like Mr. Berkeley in my life," Elliot said. "He offers a lot of perspective considering all that he has lived through."
Several other participants in the program express similar feelings toward their adoptive grandparent. Kate Berry, a second-year College student who is a program director at Our Lady of Peace, feels less stressed after visiting her grandfather, Walter.
"After I leave Walter, I feel as if I have a new perspective beyond that of my busy life at the University," Berry said. "As students, we are never around older people. After hearing about their lives, that last test doesn't really seem to matter as much."
The program not only benefits students seeking an escape for an hour or two from their hectic schedules, but the friendships also are a positive experience for the older residents of the nursing homes.
Elliot recognizes the impact her weekly visits have made on her grandfather.
"He enjoys spending time with young people and knows that I am not going anywhere," Elliot said. "After I graduate, I am sure we will keep in touch."
For Berkeley, having a friend like Elliot is comforting, as he has watched many of his friends pass on in recent years.
"The worst thing about living too long is that you get lonely," Berkeley said. "Everyone is dead, however, young people are around. It is important to keep your friendships in good repairs."
Through Elliot's weekly visits she and Berkeley have formed a deep and enduring relationship.
Marika Johnson, a fourth-year College student and head program director for Adopt-A-Grandparent, also feels that over her past four years she has grown close to her adoptive grandfather, Mr. Perkins.
"After he took me to visit his family I realized how important I was to him. It made me feel like I was a large part of his life," Johnson said.
Johnson's grandfather, Perkins, resides in The Colonnades. As a University graduate, the 93-year-old Perkins returned to Charlottesville to live near his beloved alma mater.
"Mr. Perkins has lived all over, yet feels close to the University community," Johnson said. "He often talks about his old fraternity."
Like Perkins, Elliot's adoptive grandfather, Berkeley, was and still is active in University affairs.
"I was the first archivist and curator of manuscripts for the Alderman library," Berkeley said. "I also had a main hand in the establishment of the University Press."
In addition, Berkeley, who graduated in 1934, served as assistant to University presidents Colgate W. Darden Jr. and Edgar F. Shannon Jr., and worked on the committee responsible for admitting women to the University. He also received the coveted "Raven Award," an award to recognize excellence in service and contribution to the University, and played an essential role in the Rotunda's 1976 restoration.
Elliot is amazed at all Berkeley has achieved during his lifetime.
"I hope I can accomplish half of what he has," Elliot said.
Though the Adopt-A-Grandparent program pairs University "grandchildren" with older role models whom they may spend time with by going out to lunch, shopping or walking around their respective nursing homes' grounds, many of the elderly patients, as noted, either are bed-ridden or confined to wheelchairs.
Third-year College student Laura Lee Mattingly visits with her adoptive grandmother, Joyce Houdeshell, every Friday at the Eldercare Gardens nursing home.
"Since Joyce is bed-ridden it means a lot to her that I come and talk to her and take her mind off her situation," Mattingly said.
For Houdeshell, who has had several different University students visiting her over a long period of time, the companionship means the most.
"It is very uplifting for me to hear about the students' lives," she said. "It keeps me entertained."
Similarly, third-year College student Krissy Schoembs, whose grandmother Mrs. Broaddus is confined to a wheelchair, feels as if she also plays an important role in her life at the nursing home.
"She is very curious about the world and loves to find out about what I am interested in," Schoembs said. "I help her by giving her the chance to talk and tell her fascinating stories. Though she is for the most part immobile, she is mentally sound and notices a lot. It is important to show the elderly that they aren't forgotten."
Berry also feels strongly about giving the elderly the respect they deserve.
"Walter and I talk as equals," Berry said. "A lot of people neglect the elderly and it makes me really mad. Someone is just paying for them to stay here, yet they don't feel as if they need to visit them. They are so lonely, for the most part they just sit in a chair all day."
In addition to providing University students as companions, the Adopt-A-Grandparent program also attempts to foster friendships among the elderly at their respective homes. Once a semester, the program sponsors a group activity such as bingo or making gingerbread houses. Every Monday, at the Westminster Canterbury nursing home, a 30-minute tea time is held, allowing for the grandparents and their student visitors to socialize with one another.
Adopt-A-Grandparent program directors say they hope to expand the program to include more nursing homes in the Charlottesville area. In the immediate future, the program would like to attract more male student volunteers.
"These grandparents really have incredible stories to tell about the baseball games they went to when they were young, their time as a marine in Korea or WWII, or as one grandparent talks about his time as a SPE at UVA," second-year College student Kevin Graney said. "They are really able to share great stories that you can only get from someone who has lived that long."
In the end, the Adopt-A-Grandparent program offers an afternoon well spent. It's a chance to make a difference. It's a relationship that means so much to grandparents who need so little to make them happy.
They are people with real stories to tell - you just have to get them talking.
Johnson certainly has taken that step with her adoptive grandfather Perkins.
"He is really quite a character," she said.
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