Dave Dykstra, Siren, Wisconsin, has been ricing for more than 65 years. He learned his harvesting and finishing techniques from a member of the Ojibwe tribe who lived near Dykstra when he was growing up in Danbury, Wisconsin.
Carol Dykstra has earned the nickname Ms. Sunshine because of her commitment to spreading kindness. Author: Abbie Alford (Reporter) Updated: 10:34 PM PDT May 14, 2021
CARLSBAD, Calif. A special resident in a Carlsbad senior living community set a New Year’s resolution to spread kindness and she hasn’t missed a day. Carol Dykstra, 78, earned the nickname Ms. Sunshine after she has spent the last 134 days spreading acts of kindness at La Costa Glen Retirement Community in Carlsbad.
“I always smile, even when I m not happy I smile,” said Dykstra.
She is a retired second grade teacher and a few years ago she lost her husband after 50 years of marriage. The vibrant 78-year-old woman has no problem making friends.
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As a New Year’s resolution, Carol Dykstra wanted to find a way to lift people’s spirits in her La Costa Glen senior living community, especially after almost a year of COVID-19 that was particularly difficult for seniors.
“It was a really rough year for everybody and I just decided to do something every day to bring a little sunshine into people’s lives,” said Dykstra, a former school teacher and social worker from Pennsylvania who met her husband of 50 years in his home state of Iowa.
Over the past few months, she’s followed through by regularly giving a variety of gifts, including flowers and balloons, and other packages to her neighbors and friends to welcome people to the neighborhood, celebrate birthdays or milestones, and more. She also takes people to lunch or helps them with errands that they struggle completing because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Carol Dykstra is her real name, but acquaintances call her “Ms. Sunshine.”
This nickname precedes Dykstra’s 2021 New Year’s resolution. The Carlsbad senior citizen actually made two resolutions this year. One was to lose weight. The other was to bring a ray of sunshine into someone’s life on each day of 2021.
So far, she hasn’t lost the weight, but she has delivered the sunshine, sometimes to several people in a single day.
Dykstra delivers birthday cards and e-cards to fellow residents of her La Costa Glen retirement community on their special day and an orchid to welcome each newcomer. If someone has a “milestone” birthday, she adds a bouquet of balloons.