Our Kensington November Employee Spotlight is someone who everybody here at The Kensington knows. This team member can be seen running around The Kensington helping everyone and fixing everything. He is a gentle soul and a kind heart. He is The Kensington’s fixer and repairer, and all around handyman. Meet our November Employee Spotlight – Gerry Guadin.
Gerry says he loves his position at The Kensington. What he loves most is that his position is “unique”, as Gerry puts it, and goes on to say, “it gives me the opportunity to get to know the residents, family members and staff”. Prior to working at The Kensington Gerry was a Plexiglas fabricator. He ran a shop that makes tables, bins and anything you could possibly imagine out of Plexiglas. He even made those wood and Plexiglas bins you find bagels and cookies in when you go to the supermarket.
Gerry tells this writer how working at The Kensington brings him closer to humanity. He expressed how seeing the residents and getting to know them reminds him how delicate life is.
What advice would Gerry give new hires at The Kensington? He says they need to have patience, compassion and respect for others. Great advice!
Below are some more tidbits about Gerry so you can get to know him even better:
- If he could be anyone for a day, Gerry wants to be Stephen Hawking, theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author. He is greatly fascinated by the universe so much so that when I asked him if he was an animal what animal would he be, he replied, “A Hummingbird, completely free to fly throughout the universe”. Gerry went on to explain, “How great it would be to be free as a bird and fly anywhere”.
- Gerry is from the island of Haiti, he was married and divorced, and has one son, Garrick. He tells me the love for his only son is the one thing he cannot resist.
- Gerry’s full name is Gerald Earnst. His family and friends call him Earnest, but here at The Kensington, we all know him as Gerry.
- Some people say he looks like the former president of Haiti, Michel Martelly.
- One of the greatest challenges Gerry has had to overcome was the loss of his father.
- He is happiest when his son, mother and sisters around him, Gerry clearly holds his family very close to his heart.
- As for food, if Gerry could eat only one meal a day, every day for the rest of his life, Gerry would choose pea soup. He wishes avocados had no calories.
- He describes himself as spontaneous and thoughtful. When I asked how others would describe him, he said, “Very outspoken.” I agree.
- Gerry says the first thing he would buy if he won the lottery would be, “A gorgeous house somewhere warm” and depending on how big his house is, will determine who comes to live with him.
- Gerry’s favorite quote and words to live by is the Golden Rule, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
If you know Gerry at all this next answer would not surprise you. When I asked Gerry what is the one thing he can’t live without? He simply replied, “Air.”
Gerry is an avid reader, focusing on religion, western civilization, philosophy, and learning other languages. He has no specific genre for music. He loves “Unforgettable” by Nat King Cole, he also enjoys a Haitian singer, Rossini Jean Baptiste (Ti Manno) Gerry says there are two songs that he particularly loves – “Hurricane David” (1979) and “Corrige”.
I hope through this article, you have gotten to know Gerry a little. He truly has a big heart and helps everyone here at The Kensington make the day a little brighter. Gerry is a great example of someone who lives the Kensington Promise, To Love and Care for Your Family as we do Our Own.