As a youth growing up in Manchester, NH, Dan Leclerc developed an affinity for locomotives. Although the trains primarily were transporting materials to construct an Air Force base, he and his friends often used them as commuter rail.
“We had a train coming through our neighborhood, and we used to hang around diners,” Leclerc said. “The train would stop, and the [engineers] would eat lunch, and we would all go there and talk to these guys who we thought had the best job in the whole world. They would give us a ride in the steam engine and take us up to about five miles away to another diner. We thought being in the engine for 10 minutes was the ultimate experience.”
Today, Leclerc is a resident of Youville House in Cambridge, MA, where his love of steam engines is expressed through the completion of a 1,200-piece puzzle depiction. He started the “Youville Puzzlers” with his fellow resident, Gillian Aguilar, after bonding over their shared experience as teachers. Since then, the puzzle posse has taken off in the community and serves as a highly anticipated social gathering for residents seeking to exercise their minds and mouths.
“The major benefit is it’s intensely intellectually demanding,” Leclerc said. “Next thing, it stimulates social interaction. We all tell stories about our lives, we start learning what the other person knows about, and so we have these very interesting conversations. I think that’s very important for people our age, to get in touch with what we bring to the table.”
The group not only has been good for Leclerc’s social life; it also has been a boon for his physical health. After his neurologist at Boston Memory Center noted improvements in his Alzheimer’s, he believes there might be a correlation with his puzzling and disease progression.
“My Alzheimer’s score was starting to [improve],” Leclerc said. “They said, ‘What’s up with that? Talk about what you’re doing, what’s happening in your life that’s maybe triggering some change.’ The testing is showing that I’ve leveled off, and now it’s not increased.”
Together, the group has solved more than 40 puzzles together over two years. Sometimes, the group even will preserve puzzles by gluing them together and subsequently framing them. The puzzles that adorn the walls range from paintings of the Chrysler Building, scenes from Paris and, of course, the mighty steam engine. Hard work is always worth preserving, even if the process is confusing at first.
“We paint the Mod Podge on the piece,” Leclerc said. “The first time I did it, I almost passed out. I put it all on. It was all creamy, so I thoughtm ‘My God, I lost everything!’ All the colors are gone. Everybody said, ‘Calm down! It’ll solidify.’ They say after 30 days, if you don’t touch it, it’s almost glass. It has such a strong consistency.”
See the In Focus archive, and find out how to submit your photos and information for consideration, here.
