Volume Twenty Nine, Number 3
March 2015
What! No Wait List?
By Audrey Walsh Director of Marketing
No, Beaumont no longer has a wait list. Beaumont has a Future Residents Club! Joining the Future Residents Club enables a person to become actively involved with the community before actually moving here, meeting present residents and generally getting a feel for the place, not to mention taking some of the stress out of making the big transition. For a $1,500 one-time deposit, refundable in case of a change of plan, members enjoy these privileges: • A membership card with a lanyard to wear around the neck, avoiding fuss at the Front Desk and encouraging introductions. • The right to dine in any of Beaumont’s nine 5-star dining rooms, sampling the work of our Executive Chef John Bauer in the atmosphere of Club continued on page 2
Beaumont reveals plans for new option to help residents prolong independence By Lynn Plasha Vice President of Health Services
Beaumont prides itself on the many choices it offers its residents, and soon there will be a new one—a big one. If, as or when they reach the point of needing help with their daily activities, and if they would prefer to remain in their homes rather than move to Personal Care or the Health Center, they will be able to do so. Beaumont’s version of “Aging in Place,” as the new option has become known among Continuing Care
Photo by Richard Stephens
BISON CONTESTING right-of-way on Blacktail Deer Plateau, Yellowstone (more Yellowstone photos by Richard Stephens on page 8).
Retirement Communities nationally, is expected to become operational here early next year. A new “Home Health Division,” under my supervision to start with, will begin by helping residents who choose this option with checking-in reminders and keeping track of medications. As the new division evolves, supervision will be taken over by a nurse manager who will do home assessments and hire staff if, as and when needed. Companion services also will be available. Current residents who choose this option will be able to keep their companions or caregivers if they wish or may use Beaumont staff. Residents moving to Beaumont after January 2016 and choosing this option will be required to Independence continued on page 2
Independence continued from page 1
Dear Editor,
use Beaumont staff. Fees will be charged for the services of Beaumont staff, providing additional revenue for Beaumont’s Health Services departments and at the same time lowering costs of such services for residents who choose and need them. Most outside agencies have a three-to-four-hour minimum charge. Beaumont will be able to provide services in smaller increments of time. The new division will work as part of a team with a resident’s own physicians (both primary and specialists) and at Beaumont with wellness and skilled nursing staff, Social Services, and Physical, Occupational and Recreational Therapy. An Occupational Therapist, for example, can suggest changes to a resident’s apartment or villa to take into account that resident’s capabilities and compensate for disabilities. Modifications can be as small as better lighting or grab bars in bathrooms, or as big as installing a chair lift on the stairs. In Your Home’s website (www.iyhusa.com) offers a free online assessment tool that allows a resident or family member to enter information about the resident’s capabilities and home set-up and then reports an assessment of agingin-place needs. Go to the website and click on “online assessment tool.” It takes a few minutes but gives a good amount of detail related to the changes that can be made to prolong independence while decreasing risks.
Your February article “Thoughts from a Smiling Elder,” highlighting David Brooks’ column in The New York Times, “Why Elders Smile,” certainly holds true for my husband, Howard, now that he lives at Beaumont. A retired lawyer who was bored living at home, Howard now enjoys stimulating conversations with others and strengthening his body in exercise class and has gained weight due to gourmet dining. He smiles, laughs and tells me how much he loves me. Thank you, Beaumont, for enhancing our lives. Who could ask for anything more?
Residents can get a free online assessment of aging-inplace needs.
—Eta Glassman
Dear Editor,
Each and every villa resident—in fact everyone at Beaumont—should commend our intrepid grounds crew for their hard work, endurance, loyalty, zeal (words fail me) in keeping our roads, walks and driveways free of snow and ice these last weeks. Thank you, Mark Hritz, Jake Bean, Kurt Mueller and Michael Mitchell! —Peter Abel
In Memoriam Elizabeth Erskine February 8, 2015 Members of the Beaumont Community extend deepest sympathy to her family and friends.
The BN is published monthly 10 times a year, October through July. Contributions are welcome, provided they are the contributor’s own work. The deadline for each issue is the 10th of the preceding month. E-mail to Mary Graff at graffs18@gmail.com and mgraff@BeaumontRetirement.com, or hand in at the Front Desk.
Club continued from page 1 your choice — dressy or not so dressy. Just make a reservation. The Front Desk (610-526-7000) will direct your call. • Use of the library, recreational facilities and grounds. • Discounted admission to our new Fitness and Aquatic Center. • A monthly calendar showing community events and programs you may want to attend. • A free subscription to The Beaumont News, mailed to your present home along with the calendar. The News is published monthly October through July. • Automatic notification when an apartment or villa becomes available. It’s a jump-start, with food and entertainment!
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 Associate Editor and Production Manager Assistant Editor Graphic Designer Photo Editor Events Manager Proofreader Circulation Manager
Mary Graff John Hall Ginny Rivers TJ Walsh Louise Hughes Kim Norrett Jennie Frankel Barbara O’Brien
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Book Club member to residents: Brain needs exercise, too!
By George Hollingshead
The University of Pennsylvania offered a Cognitive Fitness Course last year that met twice a week for five months for men and women of a certain age (like yours truly). The course offered tips on how to stimulate our brains and thus make life worth living. One way to keep the brain from falling asleep is to get regular exercise, swimming weekly or letting Bob Stedeford put you through your paces in the Fitness Center. Another wise move is to take care of what you eat and drink. A sensible diet is essential and it takes brains to stay the course. A third way to avoid a funk is to get out and socialize. Reaching out to other people requires you to think so that you don’t make a fool of yourself. That’s brain power. The fourth step in stimulating the brain is the one that I want to emphasize: reading books. There is no better way to exercise the brain than learning what other thoughtful people have on their minds. Fiction or nonfiction, long novels or short ones, creative ideas or nonsensical ones, it doesn’t matter so long as you stay interested. Of course all books are not worth reading. If you start a novel that sounds silly, put it aside and try another. There is no shortage. And there is no shortage of books at Beaumont. Browse the library. Every month a small group of residents—25 or so— meet to talk about a book that all of them have read. This is the Beaumont Book Club and you are invited. Book Club members pick one book each month to be read and discussed. Among the classics that the members have read are Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Sinclair Lewis’s Main Street, E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India and
Photo by Louise Hughes
GOOD SPORTS: When Louise Hughes asked for volunteers to "Show some Valentine spirit" at her Valentine Coffee Social, Grace and Roy Olsen met the challenge!
Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five. Also included in the club’s reading list are such lesser known books as Embers by Sandor Marai, The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal, Wild Swans by Jung Chang and Indian Summer by Alex von Tunzelmann. Recent months have found members reading the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, Lawrence In Arabia by Scott Anderson and Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. The group just finished discussing Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men, based on the life of Huey Long. It is a beauty. Next on the list is a new biography of Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson. Reading books challenges the mind.
GOODBYE OSCAR: At last month's retirement party for hair stylist Oscar Zeller, 71, Future Residents Club member Elizabeth Ingersoll received unexpected touch-ups from the master as new stylist, Tim Grunsby, watched and tried to remember. That was hard, Tim said, as so many residents showed up, "they began to pass in a blur." Salon owner Thomas Higgins, calling Oscar "friend and mentor," said he had "never met a man so loyal to his work." He spoke for many when he added, "It is with great sadness that we all have to say goodbye to him." Photo by Lakia Archer
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From newcomers to neighbors Intrepid volunteer and self-taught artist Bea Gilpin left Berwyn for Baldwin
ments weren’t enough, she set up her own business as an independent tour guide for Historic Philadelphia and environs. Her knowledge of history from the time of the American Revolution to the present day is astonishing. Facts and figures rolled off of her tongue during our interview as if she had just given a tour that morning. Bea lived in Berwyn 12 years before moving into Beaumont.
By Wistie Miller I thought that I had been sent on a mission to interview a newish Baldwin resident by the name of Bea Gilpin who also happened to be an artist. This charming lady assured me that although she had always aspired to be one, she had never had any formal training. Readers, I hope that you noticed the intricate pen and ink drawing of a cathedral which hung in the entrance to the Beaumont Room in the January Art Show. I think that you will agree that we have a true artist in our midst. Bea grew up in Somerton, Pennsylvania, then a “country” suburb of Philadelphia near Bucks County, population 500, an ideal place for her father’s show horses. At that time there were Bea Gilpin only seven students in her Lower School class. After Bucknell University, her first job was with the Curtis Publishing Company in the advertising department. Eventually she became the administrative assistant to the Chairman of the Board. After marrying and having two daughters, her volunteer work was for the Riddle Memorial Hospital, the Chester County Hospital, as a driver for the American Red Cross, and as a docent at Winterthur Museum. She also served on the Publicity Committee for the University of Pennsylvania Antique Show and became a Park House Guide for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where she got to know Fytie Drayton, Joanie Roberts, Nell Mecray and Liz Royer, all residents of Beaumont. For 10 years she was a member of the Board of Directors of the Chester County Historical Society. Bea was not only energetic but tireless. She worked in the office of Career Planning at Temple University Law School, and became a docent at the Museum of the American Philosophical Society. As if those accomplish-
Former Shipley department head has long ties to Wayne and Switzerland By Rena Burstein
It was January when Caroline Kemmerer began the process of settling into her Austin apartment after leaving the house in Wayne where she had lived for 40 years. When we met in mid-February, bookshelves were being built and the settlingin process was well underway. Caroline grew up in Berkeley, California; went to Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, and then went on to Bryn Mawr College for a doctorate in Spanish and French. Caroline Kemmerer She married a graduate of Haverford College and the Wharton School, after which her husband’s career took them to Rochester, New York; Tyler, Texas, and Newport Beach, California, before they returned to this area, where Caroline became head of the Modern Languages Department at the Shipley School. Every fall, Caroline spends two months in Zermatt, Switzerland, teaching at the Swiss Semester School. Until her husband died 14 years ago, he would often accompany her there. There are three children: John, a financial adviser in Malvern; Amy, a biologist living in Connecticut, and Catherine, who teaches art in Massachusetts. There are seven grandchildren, six boys and one girl. Asked about hobbies, Caroline emphatically answered, “Hiking!”
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Generations of memories enrich Beaumont By Joseph Peduzzi and Jean Homeier Second in a Series Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Kurz Adolph and Dorothy Kurz were on Beaumont’s waiting list for a two-bedroom-with-den apartment, but they decided to move into one-bedroom No. 234 rather than wait. Just short of a year later, in 1997, apartment No. 316 became available. After renovating and redecorating they settled into their permanent home—which is where their son Charles Kurz II (Charley) lives now. After her husband of more than 50 years died in 1999, Dorothy continued to enjoy playing bridge for the remaining 15 years that she lived at Beaumont, even after being permanently transferred to the Health Center. Charles Kurz II (Charley) She and her regular afternoon bridge partners (Dr. Pauline Foster, Mary Yurchenco, the late Gladys Monier and the late Doris Mohn) would enjoy a cocktail at the end of their games; each lady having brought her own miniature bottle of vodka, before adjourning to the Mansion dining rooms. Bridge was not Dorothy’s only recreational passion. She also took part enthusiastically in Bingo, and both Adolph and Dorothy played golf. They enjoyed their membership at the Philadelphia Country Club. The Kurz family are longtime Philadelphians. Adolph spent his entire working life at the family shipping business founded by his father, Charles Kurz, grandfather of Charley. Have an idea for a story in The BN? Please call or write Mary Graff, Editor; Ginny Rivers, Assistant Editor, or Wistie Miller, who would especially like to see more humor in our pages. Just nothing off the Internet, please. We prefer original work by residents, staff or members of Future Residents Club.
SMALL WORLD DEPARTMENT: On a trip to Cape Town, South Africa, Charley Kurz and family were waiting in the lobby of the Cape Grace Hotel when—as Charley tells it—"Our tour guide introduced me and my family to fellow Beaumont resident Herb Diamond and his traveling companion, Shirley Luber!" They spent nearly two weeks touring five South African countries together. Near Victoria Falls, in Zimbabwe, they visited young lions, all under 2 years old, being raised in a natural setting eventually to be released to live on their own in the wild.
VISITING LIONS: Charley Kurz and fiancée Nicky Kispert pat a resting youngster.
(Above) Herb Diamond and Shirley Luber on Chobe River Launch between Botswana and Namibia. (Right) Shirley pats a cub.
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Some boys like to play with trucks— Jim Winsor has made a career of driving and writing about them
Health Center welcomes new therapists By Lynn Plasha Vice President of Health Services
By Sis Ziesing and her grandson Emery Schoenberg
FRANK CASPER talks with resident Elizabeth Royer.
A new provider, Benchmark Therapies, therapistowned, has taken over in the Health Center and is providing physical, occupational and speech therapy services. Leading the team is physical therapist Frank Casper, MPT. Frank graduated from Rutgers and has worked in a variety of health-care settings including outpatient rehab with orthopedic surgeons in Norristown. Frank tells me his favorite thing about being here at Beaumont is that the residents value their therapy treatments and are cooperative and dedicated to working hard to improve their functional mobility. Among other members of the team are Rachel Vogt, a graduate of Elizabethtown College with a master’s in occupational therapy; Salma Hinkle, born and reared in Mombasa, Kenya, who has been working as a physical therapy assistant since 2003; Cindy Puscar, who has been an occupational therapy assistant since 1999, and Christina D’Amico, the newest member of the team, working as the speech-language pathologist. Christina was not available when photographs were taken.
Rachel Vogt
Cindy Puscar
Salma Hinkle
Our fellow resident Jim Winsor grew up in Wynnewood, where, as a boy, he rode around in tractors mowing his family’s acreage. This activity produced a never-ending fascination for anything to do with large engines. After college he served in the U.S. Army Transportation Corps, which dealt with the running of trucks, railroads and helicopters. This further intensified his interests in powered equipment. Right up Jim’s alley! Jim Winsor When he completed his transportation course, his first assignment was to be in Greenland. He was somewhat dismayed at this, but fortunately his father was a friend of a Major General who arranged for him to go to Germany. At that time, Germany already had high-speed highways, autobahns, which the States did not. Finally, under Eisenhower’s presidency in the 1950s, interstate highways were developed here that promoted the trucking industry. When Jim returned from Germany, he joined Chilton Publishing, where (guess what?) he started as a junior editor and then became Chief Editor of their trucking magazine, which had grown considerably because of the new highways. He continued editing trucking magazines for two other companies for the remainder of his career—a total of 52 years. These jobs required Jim to travel to various cities to test and write about newly manufactured trucks. Joy! To drive large trucks required a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) and a different class of license for each size of truck. Jim had a grandfathered CDL because of his early trucking experience. He had a ball, he says, driving two-axle ones (FedEx size), three-axle ones (cement-mixer size) and finally top-level 18-wheelers, three-axle tractors pulling two-axle semi-trailers—wow! Jim travels far and wide in a powered wheelchair now, as most of us know, but what memories for a grown-up boy who still loves big engines!
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Experience, study earn arborist Mark Hritz new certification By Ann Louise Strong Green Committee Chairman
Congratulations are due to Mark Hritz, Director of Grounds, a Beaumont staff member for 24 years, who has again been designated a Certified Arborist by the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA). The ISA certification is valid for three years, during which time, in order to qualify for renewal, the applicant must Photo by Ann Louise Strong earn 30 units of credit for enMARK HRITZ at work (in last summer's balmier weather). rollment in appropriate courses and must pass a test consisting Romance links families of of questions on 10 topics, or domains: Soil Management, Mark Hritz residents and staff Identification and Selection, Installation and Establishment, Safe Work Practices, Tree Biology, Pruning, Diagnosis and Treatment, Urban Forestry, Tree Protection and Preservation, and Tree Risk Management. Within these domains the test also covers suitability of climate, soils, and topography for various species of trees, as well as identification of the competing surround of vegetation, insects, and animals. What lies ahead for Mark and his crew—Jake Bean, Kurt Mueller and Michael Mitchell—this coming spring? There are two major projects that would contribute to greater tree and plant health as well as to reduction of soil and water pollution. First there is carrying out the Stewardship Forest plan as approved by the Commonwealth Bureau of Forestry. Tops on that agenda for Beaumont is removal of any hazardous limbs or trees. Next is elimination of some of the invasive plants in the woods that stifle growth of tree seedlings. The invasive plants include mile-a-minute, goutweed, and akebia. The dilemma is always how to kill the unwanted plants without harming other nearby plants and trees or polluting the soil and ground water. ENGAGED: Both were students at Arcadia University The second project would save money as well as improve in Glenside, Pennsylvania, and both had relatives at Beaumont, but they didn’t meet in either of those places. soil and water quality. Some areas of the campus would have Prospective bride Rachel Dauscher, niece of Beaumont their current grass type replaced by grass types or shrubs Trip Coordinator Louise Hughes, and prospective bridethat need little or no use of inorganic chemicals. Mowing of groom Ian Magill, grandson of residents Carolyn and the replacement grasses would be infrequent or unnecessary. Hap Aller, met on spring break in Australia. No date The Vale and the Park areas are potential candidates for has been announced for the wedding. conversion to more self-sufficient vegetation.
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RICHARD STEPHENS returned from Yellowstone National Park last month with these and other pictures he plans to include in a slide show March 16 at 7:30 in the Beaumont Room. Traveling by SUV (and a snowcoach for unplowed roads) with a guide, a naturalist and one fellow tour member, Rich used a Nikon digital SLR and lenses up to 330mm to capture the subtle drama of travertine terraces colored with thermophilic algae about Mammoth Hot Springs and these civilized denizens of the park: Coyote and ravens competing over a carcass in Lamar Valley, an elk refreshing himself in the Gardner River and bison taking over the road near Indian Creek. Rich said the humans "kept a goodly distance" from the wildlife, and there were no narrow escapes. Other highlights of the trip, he said, were "elk battling across a guard rail at the side of the road, a coyote tracking, pouncing (and missing) a sub-snow field mouse, and bison snow-plowing across a field."
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