Music and Memories on the Jukebox at Ecumen Pathstone Living

A special jukebox brings back memories at Ecumen Pathstone Living.

By Laura Templin, Ecumen Pathstone Living Community Relations Manager

Warren and Beverly Smith met their senior year of high school and married the following summer.  It was the 1960s— a magical time when the music of Elvis and the Beatles played on jukeboxes all over town.

Warren and Beverly loved that jukebox music, so much so that they put a jukebox right in the living room of their Mankato home.  On his lunch hour Warren would come home, and he and Beverly would play the jukebox and listen to 50s and 60s music while they ate and played dominoes. They especially loved “Never My Love” and “Lady in Red.” 

Those beautiful memories are a cornerstone of Warren and Beverly’s 50 years of marriage, but life events recently created change.  This past June, Beverly moved to Ecumen Pathstone Living in the Memory Care community. 

And soon Warren realized that he never turned the jukebox on anymore.

Maybe, he thought, there’s a way to bring back those jukebox memories for Beverly.  He asked Housing Manager Shelly Cornish if he could donate the jukebox to Pathstone Living Memory Care.  Shelly thought that was a great idea.  The Memory Care community is known for its use of memorabilia to help residents connect with their past.  (See earlier story at this link.)

Warren has lived in Mankato his whole life, and Beverly is from Owatonna.  They have two children and four grandchildren.  Warren still works at Survey Services Inc., the land surveying business he started 39 years ago.  Beverly ran a haunted house for ten years at Drummers Garden Center in Mankato. 

Now they can once again listen to the jukebox together.