My mother passed away Dec. 7, 2019. In the summer of 2015, she was happy to see my progress with Templaytes® and she reminded me of her intention to patent a puzzle for children involving the alphabet. For whatever reason, it was never seen through fruition and she had mentioned that to that day some 65 years later, she regretted it. As for Templaytes®, a prototype had been made and we assembled mosaic designs in the sun. She said Templaytes® should be in all senior living facilities. Templaytes® reveal cognitive development, memory retention, spatial reasoning and strengthen fine motor skills. In the summer of 2017, Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease and in 2019, malignant brain tumors with a 4 month prognosis.
Just after her terminal diagnosis, Mom could pick up the Templaytes® pieces and assembled them back onto the square base, she knew her colors and shapes. And was almost insulted when I asked her to recite them. She mentioned that they reminded her of childhood. Working with Templaytes® was calming. The cognitive decline was apparent as time progressed, to the point where she was unable to recall shapes, colors and had no sense of spatial reasoning. Rather, she would hold the puzzle piece in her hand, bring it to her face and rub it on her cheek. From that point forward we found comfort in singing songs- her favorite, ‘Que Sera Sera’.
I miss my Mother terribly and feel pride knowing that the future of Templaytes®, the joy they bring into homes and the Ah Ha! moments children experience is in her memory. Cheers Mom.