Connie's passion is caring for others. Her career was spent working with seniors. That career lasted over 50 years, with the last 30 years spent as a Recreation Coordinator in a Memory Care Unit. That evolved into creating support for Caregivers also. She created The Watertown Area Memory Support Group in 1998 and continues to facilitate the group today. She was instrumental in starting the Mary Drake Library and The Respite Care Scholarship Program, and Watertown's Memory Screenings. Connie has Co-Chaired the Watertown Memory Walk since it began. She was a charter member of The Watertown Alzheimer's Council and this year when WAMCAN ( Watertown Area Memory Care & Aging Network) was created, she is serving as a board member. Along with her years of experience working with Caregivers and their loved ones, she also cared for her Mom, who passed away from Alzheimers. Both were labors of love. Connie has been in Watertown since 1989. She has three grown children and five amazing (her word!) grandkids. Family is the center of her life and she enjoys spending time with every one of them!

Barb was born and raised in the Clear Lake area. She has been a registered nurse for 29 years working in long term care and public health prior to joining the United States Air Force in 2003. Upon completing 20 years of Air Force and US Public Health Commissioned Corps active duty service, she retired in 2023. After many moves and positions with different federal agencies, Barb “came home” to South Dakota, moving to Watertown last summer. Barb began working with WAMCAN last fall diving in head first to assist with the Memory Care Walk and Memory Screening activities. She continues as a committee member for the Memory Care Walk and will be spearheading the local Memory Screening committee. She has great ideas on expanding this service to communities outside the Watertown area. She has long held a passion of advocating for patients, especially those without a voice. Barb is learning how to be retired and reacquainting herself with hobbies. She spends time volunteering for various events and organizations, traveling, time with family, DIY home improvements, baking and walking.

Dave and his wife, Darlyce, have lived in Watertwn for 38 years where they raised their 3 children. Both are now retired. Dave was a banker and realtor in Watertown and Dar was a teacher at McKinley school for over 30 years. Their whole family became involved in the Dementia and Alzheimer's cause as Dar's mother developed the disease. Their experience helped them to understand that each case is different and progresses in different ways. Our case, fortunately, did not experipence some of the severity that many family members see but we still felt grief and pain as the disease progressed. Visting her regularly and bringing her grandchildren and great grandchildren whenever they were in town brought joy to her and us with every smile and hug. Retirement has given us the opportunity to travel and volunteer. Dar also continues her love of teaching by substituting when avaialble. We recognize that none of us know what tomorrow may bring. We choose to take advantage of every day and try to make it better for others that we serve.

Hello, my name is Amanda Prokop. I have been in Watertown since 1993 and I graduated from Watertown High School. I have three children, two sons and a daughter. My children have kept me busy with their activities throughout the years from baseball, basketball, soccer, gymnastics, softball, and more soccer. As they have grown, I have become less busy with these things. Both of my sons are adults and my daughter is in HS. I have been in healthcare since 2001 when I started working at Prairie Crossings Assisted Living as a caregiver. Throughout the years my role has changed a bit. I worked as a caregiver for 12 years, and then have been in administration for the past 11 years. I am currently the Executive Director at Edgewood Healthcare overseeing the two memory care locations in Watertown, Edgewood Memory Care and Edgewood Cedar View. I really enjoy working with some of the best caregivers. In my spare time I enjoy reading, being outdoors, and spending time with family.

Sue grew up on a ranch south of Bison, South Dakota. After high school in Lemmon, South Dakota, Sue attended Northern State University with a double major in Elementary Education and Speech Pathology and Audiology. Sue's passion was public school speech pathology for 33.5 years, especially with special needs students. Sue and her husband Ordean have been married for 47 years. They have three children, nine grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Upon retirement, Sue noticed Ordean having memory issues. A diagnosis in 2015 revealed Frontal Lobe Dementia or Frontal Lobe Alzheimer's. Sue started attending Alzheimer's support group early in the diagnosis and learned so much about the disease. The Alzheimer's support group, Mary Drake Library and Alzheimer's.org helped Sue to become knowledgeable about the disease. Sue has learned that knowledge is her power! Being a caregiver can be very exhausting and challenging. Sue found going to Alzheimer's support group monthly and hearing about other caregiver stories helped her to cope. It is Sue's wish to help new caregivers through this journey. Ordean is presently in a memory care facility. Sue and Ordean's journey has taken Sue through all the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Receiving counseling, support group, and hearing other care giver's journeys helped Sue to cope with her husband's journey with Alzheimer's.

Marcia was raised on a farm/ranch in Southern ND, Ellendale. She attended elementary school and graduated from Ellenale High School. Marcia continued her Education by attending the UND at Grandforks, ND where she graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Elem Ed and Music. She taught in Redfield, SD and Brainerd, MN. She then took a teaching position in Mobridge,SD in the early 70's. Where she met her husband Harvey, they married and raised 3 children. They have 5 grandchildren and 1 great- grandchild. After 35 yrs of teaching, Marcia decided she was taking early retirement, and her husband who worked for The DOT of SD decided to do the same. So in 2000 they were retired. They traveled a lot and in 2006 they decided to sell there country acreage and move to Watertown. Their youngest daughter and husband lived in Watertown and were expecting their first grandchild. Harvey was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2014 ,and our journey began. Marcia cared for her husband as long as she could at home. Harvey entered Jenkins Memory Care where he received wonderful care. He contacted Covid-19 and passed away in 2020. Marcia enjoys attending all of her granchildren's activities. She is very active at her Church the FUM, volunteering in the church office and serving on the Leadership Team. She became active in the Alzheimer's Support Group during her husbands Alzheimer's Journey. In the past few years she has become involved with WamCan. Helping others through their journey is important to her. She is definitely a people person and doing lunch with dear friends always puts a smile on her face.

I have been married to my dear wife, Katherine, for 56 years. We have 3 daughters: Karla who has 1 son, Darla with 1 son and 2 daughters, and Denise who has 1 son and 2 daughters. Katherine has dementia and is currently in memory care at Jenkins Care Facility. I was her home caretaker for 3 years before moving her to Jenkins 2 years ago. I graduated from Strandburg High School and served as class president. I graduated from Columbia College with a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts. Following college I joined the Air Force where I served for 26 years, retiring as Postmaster at Clark, SE with 20 years of service. Over the years I have volunteered as President of the Beale Air Force Base Rod & Gun Club, President of the Wheatland High School Parent Teachers Association and a camp ground host for 2 years in California and 5 years in South Dakota as host and maintenance worker.

Christina is passionate about the rights of individuals residing in long-term care. She is especially passionate about advocating for those living with dementia as well as supporting and providing education to their caregivers. Christina started her career in long-term care by filling the role of social services for a couple skilled nursing facilities. She is thankful for the experience and learned so much about memory care in the positions from her great mentors. Christina started working for the Department of Human Services, Long Term Services and Supports over 12 years ago. She became a dedicated Ombudsman almost 9 years ago. In this role, she advocates for and assists residents, with concerns regarding overall cares in assisted living and nursing homes in a 10-county region. Christina is a certified Teepa Snow trainer and consultant. Christina was involved with the Watertown Area Council on Aging (WACA) for many years prior to WACA joining with the memory care group in Watertown to create our current organization WAMCAN. Christina was born and raised in Watertown. She is married and has three adult children and two precious granddaughters. Recently an empty nester. Christina is still discovering what hobbies she is interested in. Being a mother has always been her biggest blessing and now being a nana is a love and joy that is almost indescribable.

Stacey was born and raised in Watertown. She graduated from WHS in 1990 and attempted college but, due to too many flares from having Lupus (SLE), she chose to quite school and work for her dad. Darrin and Stacey have been married for 30 years and have 1 son, Ethan. Darrin has a growing lawn business that keeps both Darrin and Ethan on the go, besides working full time jobs. Stacey is now on the other side of care giving with her mother, who was diagnosed with dementia 2 years ago and is now living at a care facility. "I know I'm new to this but with the help of the support group I've learned that if I'm able to help at least one person through this difficult process (even if it is only a simple hug) then I can go home feeling better that day."