Photo courtesy of Bonny Doyle Marshall residents Bonny and John Doyle found ways to keep spending time together, even after John was diagnosed with dementia in 2017. The Doyle family were named the Family of Honor for this year’s Walk for Memories, which will be held Thursday at Independence Park.

MARSHALL — It’s not easy when a loved one has dementia.

Bonny Doyle said she experienced that when her husband John was diagnosed in 2017. But at the same time that John was getting care for his dementia, the Doyles still found ways to spend time together.

“I tried to, each day, find the blessings. I really worked hard at that,” Bonny Doyle said. “And I do feel that God was beside us all the time on this journey.”

This year, the John and Bonny Doyle family will be the Family of Honor for the Walk for Memories in Marshall. John died this spring at the age of 91.

The 2024 Walk for Memories will be held from 4-7 p.m. Thursday, at Independence Park in Marshall. Area residents are encouraged to take part in the walk, and learn more about dementia and support services in the Marshall area.

John Doyle was always active in the Marshall community. When John retired from teaching at Marshall Middle School, he went on to work as a Walmart greeter, teach with Adult Basic Education, and work as a sensory specialist in the Schwan’s research and development program, Bonny Doyle said.

“It seemed in 2015, when he decided to retire from those positions, that things began to change,” Bonny said.

John would sometimes forget things, like properly saving files on his computer, or a person’s name.

“That was frustrating for him. It’s frustrating for any of us, but when it happens more often — that was unusual,” Bonny said.

Bigger changes in John’s memory came in 2017, when he had a fall in the street that resulted in a couple of brain bleeds, Bonny said. John was admitted to Avera Morningside Heights Care Center in Marshall.

“That was hard for us to do. But it was necessary,” Bonny said. “However, I really refused to keep him isolated or forgotten about, so to speak. We tried to keep things as normal as possible.” She told John he could come home and visit during the day, while still being cared for at Morningside Heights at night.

“We continued doing things as much as we could. Going to church, going to the band concerts — he loved music, he sang for 43 years in the Southwest Area Men’s Chorus,” Bonny said. “Going to church, Sundays were just the awesome day, because of all the music and seeing people. People were really good at greeting him, even though he may not have remembered who they were right away.”

She and John would also regularly have meals together, and watch sports on TV. Once, she said, John took the remote to watch a Marshall City Council meeting instead.

The isolation of the COVID pandemic was hard for the Doyles. However, Bonny said Morningside Heights got iPads to allow residents to video chat with loved ones, and their daughter Karlyn was able to visit John via FaceTime about four times a week.

Bonny said learning more about dementia was one thing that was also important for her as she cared for John.

“For me, being empowered made me feel a whole lot better. It wasn’t scary, necessarily,” she said. “I certainly encourage people to become informed. Ask lots of questions. And I think, being positive about everything you’re involved in, if you can, is so important to keep your spirits up and your health up.”

“You have to look for that support. You have to ask for that support, and that’s not always easy to do,” Bonny said. “But friends and family and relatives have just been really good to us.”

The Walk for Memories on Thursday will be a way to both honor people who have been affected by dementia, and to learn more about dementia resources, said Rebekah Reynolds with the Marshall Area Dementia Awareness Network (MADAN).

“All of the folks that are working in Alzheimer’s and dementia in our area are going to be there with resources for people to check out,” Reynolds said. “We encourage everybody to wear purple — purple is the Alzheimer’s and dementia awareness color — and we’re going to have activities with the booths.”

Some of the booths will have activities with a “virtual dementia tour,” that gives people a sense of what it would be like to experience conditions like dementia, as well as neuropathy or macular degeneration, she said.

“It’s not always just memory loss, but vision loss, hearing loss, loss of balance,” she said.

Visitors can also learn how to be a supportive friend to someone with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.

The Walk for Memories will also include food by the Marshall Noon Rotary, music by Kayla Daniels, and a T-shirt sale fundraiser to support the Lakeview High School FCCLA. Lakeview students are going to FCCLA nationals with their project on Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, Reynolds said.

The walk is held on June 20 to coincide with the longest days of the year.

“We use it to represent the longest day for having to deal with Alzheimer’s and dementia in families,” Reynolds said. “We walk to honor those that have passed, and those folks that are in the journey right now.”