Meet Jim Zwick
Jim Zwick, 89, is never surprised to hear the gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit—asking him to help a fellow resident at St. Joseph Senior Living in Louisville—anytime. Like when he is tackling a jigsaw puzzle as he relaxes in his assisted living apartment. Or when he’s in the middle of delivering residents’ newspapers, playing cards, reading at Mass or just chatting with other residents or staff members.
When Zwick senses a call to be of service, he feels happy to be “doing something for the person and for God.” He seems to know very well the importance of bringing Christ to others’ daily experiences and the gratification that can bring.
A member of St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Canton, Zwick has been a resident of St. Joseph Senior Living for seven years. He and his late wife, Mary, moved into independent living in 2017 and assisted living in 2019.
“Everything here is connected,” he said, so when Mary moved into skilled nursing in 2021, “we were never really apart.” His beloved wife of 62 years passed away in 2022.
Zwick grew up the eldest of eight in a small town outside of Marietta, where his father was his teacher part of the time. He had many occupations after learning that college was not for him. He worked as a builder of silos for local farms and then he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1968, where he found fulfillment in his peace-time assignment—tutoring students in English in South Korea.
Once home again, he married Mary, “a wonderful lady from a great Catholic family,” in 1960, and landed a job in a feed store. During their long marriage, the Zwicks raised six children and eventually welcomed 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. The couple enjoyed square dancing, playing cards, volunteering at church, advancing the cause of Cursillo (an international Catholic movement that helps people be better Christian leaders in all aspects of life) and planning or attending multitudinous family gatherings.
Beginning in 1962, as Mary handled childcare and homemaking, Jim worked in manufacturing, sales and as a customer service manager at B.F. Goodrich in Marietta. Moving the family to Canton in 1978, he took over sales acquisitions for Goodrich plants nationwide. In 1980, he was named director of purchasing and then director of plant operations, and he was offered a buyout in 1982 when the company was sold.
In 1997, at age 61, Zwick took a part-time job as a courier for the old Massillon Hospital and liked it so much that he stayed until age 75. During this time and while working at Goodrich, Zwick volunteered at a local nursing home, helping with activities, transporting residents to therapy and driving the facility’s 12-passenger bus.
Making friends with the residents, Zwick once talked a man into going to physical therapy after he kept resisting staff members’ urgings. After a friendly veteran-to-veteran chat, “I said, ‘Well, let’s go to therapy.’ When the guy said, ‘No, I’m not going,’ I said, ‘Well you can stay here or go to therapy and finally get out of here.’” The man took Zwick’s advice.
That experience was just one of many that reminded Zwick that “you have to believe in the Holy Spirit and be open to God in your life. That day, there was something pushing me to help this guy out, and what I did seemed to do the trick.”
After being active in parish life at St. John the Baptist Parish in Marietta and St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Canton, Zwick is perhaps one of the most involved residents at St. Joseph Senior Living.
“I just see things that need to be done and I’m mobile—not in a wheelchair—so I enjoy doing them,” Zwick said.
He cited “simple things,” like helping a blind resident get the phone number of a friend she wished to call out-of-state, and helping with bingo, including setup/cleanup, occasionally calling the game and assisting residents who need help reading their cards. On Saturdays, when staff members are not present, Zwick leads chair exercise and often a trivia or current events discussion—“anything to learn about the residents, so we all become closer. In the summer, we go outside,” he added.
“I try to have fun and put a smile on people’s faces at the same time,” said Zwick, who is also a lector and sacristan (preparing the altar) at daily and Sunday Mass.
He noted that he was accustomed to helping Mary for the several years she was ill, “so, it does feel natural for me to want to help. Sometimes, something can happen—like, a person falls—and you’re glad you’re there to call someone. It gives you great satisfaction.”
Though everyone receives the center’s detailed activities calendar, Zwick is often the one to whom residents come with, “Hey Jim, what’s going on today?”
“I guess I seem like I’m in the know,” he laughed. “I guess I am!”
Besides regarding Jesus as a model for his life, Zwick said he looks to his next-door neighbor, Monsignor James Kolp, pastor emeritus of St. Mary (Divine Mercy Parish) in Massillon—who is 10 years his senior—as an inspiration and a friend.
All his life, Zwick said, he has enjoyed responding to the needs of others. “When you’re going through things in your work and family life that are challenging, you just do what you have to do. But now that I have time to look back, I feel that I did something good. I have had so many meaningful experiences in my life. I feel so blessed.”
