A new lens on life: How a gift gave ‘grumpy’ a camera again

For 92-year-old Army Veteran Ron Singer, photography isn’t simply a hobby. It is, as he put it, “life.”

Photography has followed Singer, affectionately known as “Grumpy,” from his military service and civilian work to his current home in the Thomas H. Corey VA Medical Center’s Community Living Center.

It has also given him a way to “capture the moments you don’t always remember,” he said.

So when his DSLR camera stopped working, losing it meant more than losing a piece of equipment.

Singer wheeled into the medical center’s communications office with the camera in hand and asked Medical Media Section Chief Hunter Gordian for help fixing it.

Gordian tried.

The camera was cleaned. The lens, battery and other components were checked. It became clear the aging camera had reached the end of its usable life.

Photography through the years

Singer recalled owning several cameras over the years—at one point, he owned four different cameras, including medium-format systems and long lenses, while working as a civilian for the Air Force in Greenland. Some of the places and scenes he photographed there remain vivid in his memory today.

For Singer, photography is therapeutic. It has continued to give him a creative outlet at the Community Living Center, where he’s been working on a collage for his Elks Lodge as way to revisit places, people, and experiences from throughout his life.

While Singer’s photography is his personal hobby, it reflects how purposeful activities can promote quality of life, connection and continued engagement. Photography is consistent with the kinds of structured, meaningful leisure activities used in recreation therapy. VA recreation therapy uses activities such as art, music, movement and other recreational modalities to support Veterans’ physical, emotional, cognitive, spiritual and social well-being.

An unexpected connection

Knowing how much the camera meant to him, Gordian contacted the Center for Development and Civic Engagement (CDCE) to see whether a replacement might be available through donations.

CDCE Chief Shawn Montgomery helped search for a camera. And then came an unlikely connection.

Sandy Swafford, a representative of the American Legion Auxiliary, had recently been sorting through the belongings of her late husband, an Army Veteran, when she came across his camera.

She wondered what she should do with it.

Soon afterward, she learned about Singer, another Army Veteran, another photographer who suddenly found himself without a working camera.

The answer seemed to present itself.

With Montgomery’s help, Swafford visited Singer at the Community Living Center and surprised him with the camera.

His astonishment quickly turned into a smile.

Singer joked that Swafford was ruining his “Grumpy” reputation, as the two laughed during the visit. Swafford also brought him a user manual and helped him get acquainted with the camera.

Then Singer raised the camera and took his first photograph.

His subject was Swafford.

The image marked the beginning of another chapter for a camera that had already belonged to one Army Veteran and now belonged to another.

Capturing what comes next

While no camera could restore every photograph he took or every negative lost to time, the donated camera gives him the ability to keep creating new ones.

The story began with a Veteran wheeling into an office with a broken camera and asking for help. It ended with a camera finding a new home, two Army Veterans connected across generations and “Grumpy” once again looking at the world through a camera lens.

To learn more about recreation therapy, speak to a VA care provider or visit VA Recreation Therapy.