Christmas joy brought to residents at The Landing

After a long pause, she managed to respond. “I think it is wonderful,” she said.

Fosback is a resident in The Landing’s memory care unit in Roseburg.

Outside, the Christmas tree, adorned with 300 big bulb lights, brightens the arched entryway to the facility. Another 100 lights are wrapped up and around one entry pillar, across the connecting beam and down a second pillar. A wreath on each pillar adds to the colorful scene.

The idea for this Christmas decorating project came from Jim Fosback, Marilyn’s husband of 70 years. It originated back in the late 1980s when Jim Fosback’s father, C.C. Fosback, was in a Roseburg-area care home. In an effort to help bring Christmas joy to the senior Fosback, and to the home’s other residents, Jim and Marilyn put up and decorated a 12-foot tree outside the facility.

“My father would sit there and brag about how his kids had put up the tree for everybody,” Jim Fosback said. “To continue that tradition, we put up the tree for Marilyn and the people at The Landing.”

Jim Fosback is now 89 and his wife is 88.

“This is Jim’s dream for his wife and the other people here,” said Shirley Jaukkuri while helping string lights on the tree. “He wanted to do something to bring joy to these people.”

The tree project turned out to be a bit bigger than Jim Fosback had figured, but after getting approval from The Landing’s staff, he got plenty of help from family and friends. Friend John Botz traveled with Fosback to help load and strap the 16-foot Nordmann fir tree on a trailer at Carroll’s Country Christmas Trees farm near Veneta.

At The Landing, friend Don Whitaker and a tractor and two employees from Umpqua Valley Tractor in Roseburg teamed up to lift the tree off the trailer and place it in a stand. The customized tree stand was constructed by Kye’s Custom Fabrication of Roseburg.

Stringing lights around the tree was then a team effort by Cynthia James, the Fosback’s daughter, Joe and Shirley Jaukkuri and Lonnie and Cindy Sanders. The couples are both friends and neighbors of the elder Fosbacks. The silver aluminum star they placed on top of the tree was fabricated at North River Boats of Roseburg. The tall ladders needed to reach the top of the tree with the star and lights were provided by Oregon Tool & Supply in Roseburg.

Steve and LaDonna Fosback helped secure funds through the Gary E. Milgard Family Foundation to help with some of the expenses of the project. Steve, Jim and Marilyn Fosback’s son, works for the Milgard window and door company in Seattle.

“We get to make people happy and to bring smiles to their faces,” Cindy Sanders said of lighting up the tree.

“It’s helping to bring light to the darkness in today’s climate,” Lonnie Sanders said.

“It’s for the love of Christ, to show others there’s joy when sometimes we lose the meaning of Christmas,” said Cynthia James.

Jim Fosback said he was grateful for all the help, most of it volunteer, that he received to get the tree up and decorated. He smiled as he stood next to his wife and the tree.

“He’s gone to a lot of effort to get this tree up for Marilyn and for all the people here,” Whitaker said of Jim Fosback.

Amber Zamora, an employee at The Landing, said the effort of Jim Fosback and his helpers is appreciated.

“It’s special, it’ll mean the world to our residents,” she said. “With this COVID stuff, with us being in quarantine last year at Christmas, to have more Christmas joy around here is a good thing.”

Zamora said at an upcoming Christmas party, residents will be able to make ornaments and will also be gifted with an ornament.

“Hopefully some of the residents will put those ornaments on that tree,” she said.

Marilyn Fosback had the honor of putting the first ornament on the tree, reaching from her wheelchair and hanging it on a lower branch with the help of her husband, Jim. It was a gingerbread boy ornament.

It was a minute of Christmas joy for the two.