Volume Twenty Eight, Number 1
January 2014
Beaumont celebrates holidays; rises above construction
GINGERBREAD HOUSE created by Chef John Bauer and other chefs helped spread the spirit of Christmas from the front lobby to the farthest reaches of the construction site that is now (temporarily) our home. Groundsman Pat Nardizzi, helping Doc Snyder (back to camera) string lights on 20-foot outdoor tree donated by Tony Starr, clowns on ladder in a burst of the high spirits with which residents and staff are weathering inconveniences here and there. Below, Warfel diggers dig and hard-hatted residents keep an eye on the action. From left, on the first planned tour: Rev. George Hollingshead, Sanna Steigerwalt, Margie Manlove, Alan Tripp and Sally Morris. Photos by Louise Hughes
Letter to the Editor
DEAR EDITOR: In the course of cruising the Pond, Pasture and Middle Road circuit on any Wednesday morning, I have become aware of the commendable efforts at recycling by my conscientious neighbors. However, there are some instances in which many of us fall short, and I’d like to shine some light on the rules as stated in the Beaumont brochure on the subject. 1. Paper: This should not be floating around willy-nilly on top of all the cans and bottles. One good strong wind and we could all be sharing the New York Times without subscription. I’ve found that a good supply of paper grocery bags at the ready can solve the bundling problem: stuff them tightly with newspapers standing on end, and likewise junk mail and the torrent of catalogues that floods the kitchen counter to overflowing. The stuffed bags can get quite heavy, but the collection men are young and strong. (They don’t seem to be limping.) 2. Cardboard: The rules say flatten it, and this can be a challenge. Jumping on the boxes can work, but only if your balance is good. Leave that to the grandchildren when they come for brunch—a good way to work off the second helpings. From a very large box (dishwasher?) the great-grands can make a fort, far more fun than the one you got them from Toys “R” Us. Flattened cardboard can be bundled in those same brown paper grocery bags. Best to avoid plastic bags, as the brochure says they are a no-no. 3. Metals: The rules say “aluminum, steel and tin” but that means cans, and not aluminum foil or foil trays (that caught me off guard). And do rinse them out; rotten food is, as the kids say, “gross.” 4. Plastics: There is some room for confusion here. The rules say “everything with the recycling triangle on it.” However, there is no triangle on the black, matte-finish food trays that come down from Beaumont. Rose-Marie Pringle, Director of Dining Services, has told me that the supplier told her that they are recyclable, so I’m going with that until I hear differently. (Stay tuned.) And as for lids and caps to recyclable containers, the rules say they are trash, not recyclable. However, the flat lids to the containers for hummus and dips, as well as the larger ones for cookies, have triangles on them, so I recycle them.
5. Glass: No light bulbs, or decorative glass. Just jars and bottles—we have lots of those! One confusing pair of statements has me slightly baffled. In one part of the brochure it says that all recyclables go together, and elsewhere it says to keep the paper and cardboard separate. I think that if the glass, metal and plastic are in the bottom of the red bin, the bags of paper and cardboard can go on top, and the collection guys can sort it out. I’d say that Beaumont does pretty well on the recycling effort. Here and there is room for improvement. I hope we are all clear on the rules and can forge greenly ahead. —Joan Roberts
In Memoriam Richard D. Rivers, November 26, 2013 Althea Guy, December 6, 2013 Preston Reed, December 9, 2013 Richard Ravenscroft, December 19, 2013
BEAUMONT NEWS The Beaumont News is published by the residents and staff of the Beaumont Retirement Community, 601 N. Ithan Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010 Editor Assistant Editor and Production Manager Graphic Designer Photo Editor Events Manager Proofreader Circulation Manager
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Mary Graff John Hall TJ Walsh Louise Hughes Kim Norrett Jennie Frankel Barbara O’Brien
Mike’s Roundup By Mike Bailey, Housekeeping
Some of grandad’s eggnog, a few snacks and plenty of gifts, we started celebrating on December 6. Employee-made or Chef gourmet, the act of giving will never go away. From top to bottom, from wall to wall, the Warfel project is still going strong. Hard hats and goggles, as you walk thru the process, what was, is now open, ready for more progress. Vibrations and rumbling from drills and trucks, the courtyard now is covered in mud. A new beginning with a new look, the revamped Beaumont is coming soon, but until then… “IF YOU FIND YOURSELF IN A HOLE, THE FIRST THING TO DO IS STOP DIGGING!”
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Santa (Housekeeping’s Howard Barron) hugs Beaumont’s new CEO (Joe Peduzzi) at Christmas tea staged by Resident Services’ Louise Hughes. Laughing elves (!), from left: Housekeeping’s Marcus Tayler and Mike Bailey, Fitness Director Bob Stedeford and resident Dean (Doc) Snyder. Staff babies starred at staff Christmas party: Here Cole Stedeford, newest of Bob’s three sons, takes his turn in Santa’s lap. At Louise’s Christmas Tea table is Helen (DeeDee) Ballard. Photos by Louise Hughes
From newcomers to neighbors Former college roommates together again By Jean Homeier
Eta and Howard Glassman, now settling into Austin, are Pennsylvanians through and through. Eta grew up in Lebanon and graduated from Wyoming Seminary. She attended Syracuse University but found it too large and transferred to Beaver College, now Arcadia, where one of her roommates was Marlynne Clothier. After college, Eta entered the retail world, became assistant buyer of children’s clothing at Strawbridge & Clothier and finally buyer for Helen Caro’s children’s shop in the Cheltenham store. When Eta and Howard’s second child was Eta Glassman born, managing dual responsibilities of work and motherhood became difficult and she left the paid workplace for a full-time life as a mother and community volunteer. Eta’s volunteer efforts were varied and challenging. In the early days of the Please Touch Museum, she was a buyer for the gift shop, and gave many hours to the Multiple Sclerosis Society. There she learned a great deal about public relations, skills she put to good use at The Boys and Girls Clubs running special events including golf tournaments. She claims she also “played bad golf and worse bridge.” “Then,” she said, “I retired and here we are!” Howard Glassman was raised in Wynnefield. He graduated from Penn State and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He is an ardent Penn State supporter and recently attended the 100th anniHoward Glassman versary of his fraternity. Howard began his career working for two small law firms, one of which merged with what is now Blank Rome, where he practiced law for 50 years. He specialized in bankruptcy proceedings with emphasis on the airline industry, particularly Braniff and Altair.
While he was preparing for the Braniff bankruptcy trial, Howard decided he needed licensing in additional states and prepared for the bar exams in Florida, New Jersey and the District of Columbia, a period in his life both he and Eta remember as being excessively challenging. Each airline he worked with over the years gave him a model plane, and he and his collection are an interesting reflection of the changes which have taken place over the years. In addition to his busy working life, Howard served on the board of the Jewish Federation and as president of the Merion Elementary Home and School Association. He also enjoyed playing golf. The Glassmans have two daughters—Beth in Media and Sharon in Longmont, Colo.—and two grandchildren. Addendum: When the Glassmans married, Eta knew nothing about cooking and was rescued by Marlynne Clothier, who taught her to make marinara sauce. For their first dinner in their first home, Eta made the sauce as instructed and served Howard a generous helping. He looked at it and exclaimed in amazement: “But where’s the pasta?!” Things did improve after that. . .
Villanova residents for 44 years, they now live in Austin By Peter Binzen On December 29, 1945, Jack Benson, a football player at Evanston High School, near Chicago, had a blind date with another Evanston student, Barbara McGill. Before that blind date, she had been going steady with another fellow. Jack said a friend talked him Jack Benson into going out with Barbara. “It was the best decision I ever made,” he said. “She opened the front door and I was a goner.
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Residents continued on page 5
A traveler’s tale, wherein the lost is found and friends abound By Martha Lewis
Maybe you don’t believe in miracles, but trust me, they really happen. You have to be transported with me to Prague, Czech Republic. You have to be somewhat familiar with a lima bean-size hearing aid. As I need such help, it was truly my life-line to understanding the history of Prague Castle, so I was lost when it disappeared on a bus trip there. I was recounting my woes later when a voice behind me said he had found a hearing aid and had put it at the base of a light pole nearby. We jumped into a taxi and sped to the light pole. The miracle is that it was still there; my $1,600 investment was saved, and I had a new best friend. Hang in here with me. There was another person on the same bus with me that day who also lost a Residents continued from page 4
hearing aid. I learned later that his, too, was found. More of a miracle as his was the inner-ear type, much smaller than mine and a lot more expensive. His wife was on the trip with him so forget about the new best friend bit. Now we come to the third miracle and a lot closer to home. I flew from Budapest to Paris to JFK, where a drive brought me to my villa here at Beaumont. Groggy from being up almost 24 hours, I approached my front door, key in hand, about 9 p.m., only to find my glass storm door locked from the inside, thumb bolt firmly in place. No key for that door, as I don’t even own one. Beaumont responded admirably, but so did an air conditioning repairman working late next door who got there first. A good ending to my long trip. The repairman said he was a former policeman and knew about such things as locked doors. I already had one new best friend (now in Lebanon), but you should know that miracles do happen. Just don’t depend on it.
and Linda are Yale graduates. “I started out thinking I would supervise her,” Jack said of his wife. “But she supervised me. Now we supervise each other.” The Bensons love to travel. They have visited Japan, China, Russia, Israel, Egypt, much of Western Europe and the United States. “We’ve never been to Antarctica,” Jack conceded. Their apartment at 255 Austin is filled with paintings and pieces of sculpture, including half a dozen Buddhas. They are not practicing Buddhists, but, said Jack, “I like Buddhism as a way of life, the middle way with an absence of authority.” He and his wife enjoy classical music and regularly attend Philadelphia Orchestra concerts. Much of their time is spent reading books. The book club they belong to consists of a dozen friends who have been together for up to 20 years. They also attend a speaker series put on by Widener University. By the way, Jack (whose real name is John) spent two years in the U.S. Air Force as a captain in the medical corps. And on Evanston High’s football team, he was a “tight end.” He could run fast and catch passes.
I was nuts about her.” Six years to the day after their first date, Jack and Barbara were married. They lived in Villanova for 44 years before moving to Austin in October. It seems that among the Bensons, psychiatry is all in the family. Jack, a graduate of Yale and the Northwestern University Medical School, is a board-certified psychiatrist with a practice in Rosemont. He was trained in psychiatry at Temple University and was director of medical students and residents in psychiatry there until his retirement in 1991. Barbara, who earned a master’s degree in social work at Bryn Mawr College, practiced psychiatric counseling, mostly with women and married couples, for 25 years. Their son, Paul, is a psychiatrist Barbara Benson in Santa Monica, Calif. Their daughter, Linda, an internist, is married to a psychiatrist. They live in Rockville, Md. Both Paul
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Sleeping rough to benefit Covenant House By Sis Ziesing On November 21 my son, Peter, bedded down on the streets of New York. He spread his sleeping bag on cardboard and hoped for the best. Now you think I’m saying my son is homeless, but he’s not. He was raising money through pledges for Covenant House, which was started in 1972 when six runaways were given shelter from a snowstorm in New York. It is now the city’s largest care agency serving homeless, runaway and at-risk youth. It’s located on 41st Street next to the Lincoln Tunnel. To start off the evening, the 181 sleeping-out volunteers (80 of whom were women) walked to Times Square for a candlelight vigil at 5:30. They were joined there by family and friends, all of whom heard about the rich history of the care agency and were entertained by some Broadway greats. Then back to Covenant House, where thankfully dinner was provided. Think of how many dinners runaway youths go without! Then the volunteers, scions of the business world, sat around in groups listening to the experiences of the staff and the young kids.
Needless to say, the homeless children’s tales were pretty awful. Then, horrors, off to the parking lot to bed down for the night. Fortunately it was 40 degrees and not raining or snowing. The volunteers had sleeping bags and warm clothing, but imagine homeless kids who don’t have these supplies. The comfort of sleeping on top of cardboard is pretty slim, and that makes the night go by very slowly. Being next to the Lincoln Tunnel caused another problem. Trucks come into New York through the tunnel at night to unload their wares, thus avoiding daytime traffic, and then when empty they return home back through the tunnel. This causes unbelievable deafening noise that certainly doesn’t help anyone to fall asleep. Peter got about three hours of sleep, but was sustained by visions of his own comfy bed the following night. Homeless kids have no such hope. This selfless group raised $1.3 million, but they sure have to be particularly commended for the way they did it!
Daughter of naval architect recalls “breathless event” By Jane Garrison It was a bright, sunny day in August 1950. The U.S. Coast Guard Lightship San Francisco rested in her cradle, supported by steel cables. She looked majestic with her fireman-red hull and two large masts, a powerful light on top of each mast. (The duty of the lightship, before today’s use of space satellites for navigation, was to be a stationary lighthouse anchored three miles out at sea to guide all vessels safely into their designated coastal ports.) My father, a naval architect, was a principal designer of this ship. Therefore, I was invited to be the sponsor at her launching. Striking a ship on the bow with champagne is an ancient tradition to give the vessel good luck
at sea. I was nervous as I watched the shipyard workers burn away each supporting cable beneath her hull. I knew she would move quickly down her greased rails and drop into the calm waters of Maryland’s Curtis Bay. The champagne bottle was supported by a tricolor ribbon on the bow of the ship high above. When my Coast Guard officer aide signaled “she’s off,” I swung the bottle with a strong blow—simultaneously yelling, “I christen thee San Francisco!” The champagne bubbled from the metal-encased bottle as the ship slid down the rails. There was a howl from the crowd in attendance, and the band played patriotic songs. It was a breathless event for me.
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Buying a lightbulb; an update
New (and greener) lighting brightens Mansion rooms
By Isaac (Quartie) Clothier, IV
Today when one goes to buy a lightbulb, one has too many choices. Do you want bright or mellow light? Is the bulb for a decorative or reading purpose? If for reading, it must be stronger. Kitchen lights are usually ceiling lights or lights placed under cabinets, whereas bathroom lights are usually white bright, but are they so bright they distort the true colors of makeup? Should the lights be dimmable? What ambience should be in the room? Warm yellow, pink, or blue white? An excellent article on new lightbulbs appears in the October 2013 issue of Consumer Reports. I have put a copy in the library. The article reminds us that “watts” are no longer the proper lingo for brightness. Brightness is now measured in “lumens.” For example, 800 lumens=60 watts; 1,100=75 watts, and 1,600=100 watts. We are reminded also that “kelvins” measure light coolness: 2700K are warm yellow, up to 5000K for blue white. Three kinds of lights are available: Halogen (probably the least energy saving), CFL (Compact Fluorescent Light) and LED bulbs. CFLs and LEDs seem to be the most popular. Consumer Reports gives them the highest ratings, but each has its pluses and minuses. The best are LEDs, but with their long life (20,000 to 50,000 hours) and top energy savings, they are also the most expensive, now $10 to $40 a bulb compared with $1.25 to $7.50 a bulb for CFLs. Floodlights are somewhat more expensive, and few are dimmable. As I mentioned in a previous article, Barbara and I try to be realistic about our probable life spans, so we have converted solely to CFLs. We are perfectly satisfied, even though we have to wait a couple of minutes for the lights to shine their true brightness. So far none have broken, so we have had no problems with escaping mercury. On the other hand, I understand that in Personal Care, and in the rest of the Mansion common areas, the long-life LEDs are being installed and so they should be. I urge everyone to read the Consumer Reports October issue before going shopping for lightbulbs. If for some reason the library copy is not available, please do not hesitate to call me (I’m in the Directory) and I will be glad to lend anyone my copy.
By Marian Lockett-Egan, chairman of the House Committee The House Committee is pleased to report these improvements in lighting the Mansion common rooms, conforming wherever possible to energy-saving practices: In the Music Room: • New halogen up-lights with dimmers have been installed in windows reflecting on the ceiling. The original hanging lights have been cleaned and kept for their historical value, and have been outfitted with LED bulbs both inside and outside of the globe. Dimmers have been installed on all switches. • The sconces by the organ and at the back of the room have been newly wired and made workable. In the Bar: • An LED spotlight with dimmer has been installed to illuminate the newly restored original painting over the fireplace. In the hallway between the Music Room and the Reception Room: • A new LED fixture has been installed to replace the old one. The new fixture provides much more light in this area and illuiminates the ceiling. In the Reception Room: • New LED sconces with dimmer switch have been installed in the alcove by the fireplace for better illumination. All ceiling bulbs have been replaced with new LED bulbs. In the Oak Room: • All ceiling bulbs have been replaced with new LED bulbs.
Cooking continued from page 8 chosen woodchuck but also gutted and skinned it. I cooked it according to the recipe. The family all tried to eat it. Nobody liked it. Perhaps it was an old woodchuck and a young one would taste better. How do you tell the age of a woodchuck? We never tried to find out.
Quartie Clothier is a member of the Green Committee.
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Move over, Irma Rombauer! Attention, Dining Services Committee! By Margie Manlove When I embarked on married life all I knew how to cook was scrambled eggs. A diet of scrambled eggs was not sufficient, so armed with The Joy of Cooking and The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, I managed. Shortly after Frank and I were married he told me the baked stuffed beef heart, which he had enjoyed in a Carlisle restaurant when in college, was very good. If you can read you can cook, so I cooked a baked stuffed beef heart and it was good. It was so good we decided to serve it at a Saturday evening dinner party. We invited several of Frank’s doctor friends and their wives. The party was a big success. Everyone had a good time and not a scrap of the two baked stuffed beef hearts was left. The following Monday one of our doctor guests stopped Frank in the hospital corridor to ask about the delicious meat I had served. Frank told him it was baked stuffed beef heart, to which he replied, “If we had known that we wouldn’t have eaten it.” A year later we moved from Gladwyne to the Chicago suburb of Wilmette. It was nice there, but there was one thing lacking. Not one of the grocery stores sold
scrapple, which Frank and I both loved for breakfast. I decided to make it. But first I needed a recipe. A friend told me he had a good recipe and he gave it to me. In addition to the corn meal and seasonings, it called for a pig’s head. Undaunted I went to the grocery and ordered a pig’s head. When it arrived I took it home and put it in my big pot and boiled it in water until the meat began to fall off. You would be surprised how much meat there is on a pig’s head. The scrapple I made was good. I made scrapple several more times before we finally returned to Gladwyne, but I changed the recipe a little. I replaced the pig’s head with pork shoulder. Later, back East, we bought a small farm in Susquehanna County as a vacation home. We loved it there and enjoyed most of the wild life. But we did not enjoy the woodchucks. There were a great many of them, and they thought my carrot tops and lettuce were their dessert. Frank kept shooting them from the bathroom window. We were tired of having to dispose of them. It occurred to us that that this mostly plant-eating animal might be good eating (and cheap). But how do you cook a woodchuck? I found a recipe in a cookbook from, of course, Punxsutawney. I no longer have the Punxsutawney cookbook and I cannot remember the details. Frank not only shot the Cooking continued on page 7
Chef John’s English Christmas dinner
Salmon pâté on melba toast salad & tarragon mustard caper dressing
Roast prime rib with Yorkshire pudding, minted potatoes and green beans with chestnuts
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Christmas pudding cake with a carmel sauce Photos by Chef John