When Gussie Wirth guides visitors through her North Hills home, she moves slowly. This is partly due to her age of 94, but mostly because she stops to admire a wooden carving or a needlepoint hanging. She is relishing these family possessions even more lately, because she is saying goodbye.

		Related article Making downsizing a little easier

It's the penultimate downsizing. When seniors like Wirth leave their family homes for an apartment in a retirement community, they face weeks of work to compress all their precious stuff into a couple of rooms and a storage closet.

This work also carries an emotional toll, according to Vickie Dellaquila, who has made a business out of helping seniors downsize their belongings. She works beside these homeowners as they decide what to keep and what to toss.

"They need to talk," Dellaquila says. "They've been in a house for 50 years, raised their children and lost their spouse. While it's hard to leave, it can also be a release to give up maintaining a house and property."

Dellaquila runs Organization Rules, www.organizationrules.com, using her personal tendency toward order, empathy for the elderly and her own history of frequent relocations.

"When you move a lot you learn to shed," says Dellaquila, who now lives in McCandless with her husband and three daughters.

Working as a caseworker at a nursing home, she observed older adults trying to adjust to new surroundings. She also heard about children left to sort out the contents of huge homes. "I saw a need that was not being filled," she says.

Many referrals come from LAS Passavant Retirement Community in Zelienople.

"When folks move in here, the thought of the move itself is one of the biggest impediments," said Ann Musmansky, director of marketing at Passavant. "By working with Vickie, we make it easier for them. She helps them get started and keeps them from feeling overwhelmed by the task."

"I just guide them," says Dellaquila. "Often their children are too busy or geographically distant. Children can also be emotionally attached to belongings, and sometimes that leads to bickering. I'm not attached," she adds. "I can be objective about it."

Augusta Wirth

Augusta Wirth, who goes by Gussie, talked a lot with Dellaquila as they sorted through china, figurines, crafts, Asian teapots, family photos, even brass chimes. Many of the items have been in her family for generations.

Wirth and her children had reviewed several retirement communities, and though she isn't ready to leave her home, she is downsizing.

"There are a lot of things I'm attached to, and I want to make sure they stay in the family. When I do leave, I don't want to leave a lot of stuff," Wirth says.

With help from her cousins and from Dellaquila, Wirth has organized her attic and cleaned out several cupboards, making stacks of things to keep, things to give away and things to throw out.

"Some of the stuff I found in the attic brought back lots of memories," she adds. "It's been a good experience."

She still plays her electronic organ, so that always will go with her. So will most of the woodcarvings made by her husband, Ralph Wirth, who died in 1995.

Wirth first saw Ralph in a Downtown Pittsburgh store window where he whittled the intricate wooden figures. Later they met and married, and she helped out by painting the sculptures.

Nancy Hawke, one of Gussie's three children, lives in California. She visits her mom several times a year and calls frequently.

"We were concerned about her living alone, particularly when her neighbor moved away. That's why we starting looking at retirement homes. We just want her to have a better quality of life, but I guess this is the life she wants right now," Hawke says.

"Vickie was wonderful," Hawke adds. "She got my mother started in cleaning out her stuff and helped her keep it going."

Knowing that a valued collection will go to a historical society or local library can help ease the pain of parting. And often much of the accumulated backlog is just junk -- old coffee pots, lottery tickets, aluminum food containers and such.

"Depression-era people save stuff. They have a hard time letting go because they fear that hard times may return," she says. "I emphasize that frugality and resourcefulness are good traits, but that they can now afford to throw it out."

Piles of magazines and boxes of stuff can create fire or falling hazards. Dellaquila advises adult children to consider safety issues, but to let their parents make the final choice so they don't feel as if they're being pushed out.

Time can help Mom or Dad get used to the idea.

"It took 50 years to accumulate all this stuff and [it] can easily take six months to downsize it," Dellaquila says.

Beatrice Grey

Beatrice Grey, 87, was more than ready to move from her rural home in New Brighton. She lived there for 36 years, raising a family, caring for foster children, swimming and riding horses. But when her husband died last year, "It was a lot to take care of for just me and Buster," she said of her cocker spaniel. "I had to find someone to help with the grass and the snow."

In her new, three-room cottage at LAS Passavant Retirement Community, Grey will be less isolated and more active. "I already met two neighbors," she says on her late November moving-in day. "I need people to be with."

Dellaquila joined Grey's sons and daughters in helping their mother unpack bedding, cake platters, paintings and flower arrangements.

As Dellaquila sets up the bedroom, she passes on a helpful hint. "Take a photo of the bureau top, so you can put it back just the same way in the new house."

Dellaquila encourages clients to adopt good organizing habits in their new homes.

"Don't let your new space get cluttered. You don't have to keep every crayon masterpiece that your granddaughter makes. Let it go and replace it with another."

More information

Vickie Dellaquila can be reached at vickie@organizationrules.com or at 412-913-0554. Rates: $45 to $75 an hour.

Pittsburgh Professional Organizers, www.pghproorganizers.org provides a list of folks who assist clients moving into a home or office, control clutter and use time and space more efficiently. Or call 412-344-3252.

Alison Conte is a freelance writer living in Bell Acres.