SOSMagAprilJune2021

left. He still volunteers his carving skills two days a week at the museum. Wood carving expanded John’s social circle in another way... It caused him to meet a 12-year-old boy in 2012. His name is JJ Fischer. JJ wanted to learn how to carve and John agreed to teach him. Today, that relationship has grown into a nine-year friendship. JJ Fischer is a Senior at Mt. St. Joseph College in Cincinnati and is studying to be a physical therapist. Their friendship was sparked by JJ’s grandparents. They gave him a beginner’s wood carving kit, as a gift. When he cut his finger, while carving, his Grandmother, Rosaria Sortino, asked John if he would give JJ lessons. With no ambivalence about spending time with an older person to learn carving, JJ looked forward to the experience. “My parents have always said that I am an ‘old soul.’ I have always been able to connect with older people easier than with my peer group,” said JJ. Under John’s tutelage, his first carving was a boot. “While I would carve, Mr. Hufnagle would make corrections and tell me when I’m taking off too much wood, how to carve with the grain of the wood and things like that.” This intergenerational relationship, gave JJ the skills to create numerous carvings of all kinds. His biggest carving project was an Ohio State Santa. It took him a year and a half to complete. He has also made angels, ornaments, Santas and caricatures of fishermen and hunters. “My grandmas’ have my best angels I have ever made,” he said. I asked JJ what he thought could be done to cause more people from different generations to interact? Acknowledging that technology has had a big impact on how the younger generation relates with one another, he said, “I know it can be tough to communicate with people from a different generation, who have been brought up totally different than we have grown up. Having a hobby is a good conversation starter. It can be the bridge that connects a person of one generation to another. It’s a valuable experience to be with people who are different from you.” John also feels fortunate that their paths have crossed. “He is a fine young man. When he is home from college we still get together to talk and sometimes we get together to carve.” Mindful of Covid-19, John said, “Now when he comes over, he sits in one corner of the room and I sit in the other with our masks on.” They Carved a Friendship 15