From record hot temperatures, to storms that knocked out the power, to days where walking outside was perfect, to reasons to eat outside and be with friends, June, July and August passed slowly, like a long summer’s day.
The Fourth of July Picnic brought together residents and staff with a traditional holiday menu of hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, corn on the cob, desserts and specialty drinks. Special thanks were given to Barbara Ballum Stephens for her 10years of volunteering to coordinate the celebration which honors our country and our resident veterans. Be sure to volunteer with the group now led by Frank Slattery to plan the 250th 4th of July, 2026! God Bless America.
Walter Rosen in line for the lobster roll.
Sonia Triester celebrated her 100th birthday.
4th of July Feast.
Ernest Jimenez smiling, as always, as our Lobster Maître d’.
Traveling Zoo entertained Health Center residents.
Honor guard Dan Hutchinson and David Prewitt.
Brima Kamara and Mercedes Rodriguez lend a hand at the Seafood Boil.
Summertime cheers from Sally Herd and Ann Clothier at the Seafood Boil.
Lauren Scott found a perfect piglet to cuddle.
Thank you, Barbara!
Dining Services - Ice Cream Time
It’s that time of year when the famous Beaumont Ice Cream Social brings cool and flavorful respite from the heat and humidity. An iced dessert is known to have origins at least back to ancient Greece when Alexander the Great enjoyed snow and ice flavored with honey and nectars. Roman emperor Nero is said to have sent runners into the mountains for snow to be flavored with fruit and juice. Marco Polo returned to Italy from the Far East with a recipe that resembled a sherbet. French royalty introduced a frozen dessert with cream and eggs and frozen ice.
The dessert was, of course, part of the early United States. In 1813, President James Madison, served a strawberry creation at the inaugural banquet. Dolley Madison ice cream flavors followed. Philadelphian Nancy Maria McDonald Johnson was granted a patent for a hand-cranked ice cream churn. Eleanor Parkinson opened an ice cream “Salon” and William Breyers opened a shop downtown. Of more recent history, the Mr. Softee truck started its rounds in Philly in 1956, Rita’s Frozen Italian ice stores opened in Philly in 1982 and Jack and Jill’s Ice Cream company invented the Choco Taco in 1984. And, an important fact, Philadelphia ice cream is unique in its own right - it is made without eggs!
The most famous Philly product is Bassetts Ice Cream, first opened on Market Street in 1861 and later located as an original tenant of The Reading Terminal Market in 1885 - and it is still there for the tasting.
180 gallons of Bassetts Ice Cream sit in the freezer at Beaumont. There are 14 different flavors, each in a 3 gallon tub. You can order one, two, or three scoops of
any flavor or combination of flavors or request a made-toorder extra thick milk shake for a special treat in small, large, or to-go size. Did you know that you can also purchase your own handscooped quart of any flavor to take home and eat whenever you want? (you get about 15 scoops)
Sonya Blackwood has the job(!?) of selecting the flavor-of-themonth from the over 65 flavors available from Bassetts. Seasonal favorites are pumpkin in fall, peppermint in the winter, cherry in the spring, and mango in the summer.
The most popular flavor is Guatemalan Ripple, which joined the selection in 2019 as a substitute for strawberry which was the lowest on the list. (Second favorite - Heath Bar Crunch) The least selected, and now off the menu as well, was Cookie Monster Crunch, a blue concoction that just didn’t sell to our aged cohort.
So, don’t miss the Ice Cream Social, held every month in the summer, and at other special times during the year, for your free taste-tests and unlimited scoops. Who knows what next month’s flavor will be?
Five-Star Bistro Dinner - Just the Beginning
Residents were treated to the first Bistro Wine Tasting Dinner prepared by Chef Drew Smalbach and Director of Food & Beverage, Zack Margolis in August. A 4-course menu with special wine selections met with rave reviews and applause. Plated delicacies, special service, and conversations with Chef Drew made it a great beginning to what is planned to be a quarterly opportunity that only Beaumont can offer. The Chocolate Ooze Cake - it was a dream!
David Prewitt enjoys his treat with daughter Kathy and granddaughter Tess.
Marianne Lavelle at Phillies Ice Cream Social.
Needlepoint Sundae
Stan Baiman appreciated the spectacular dessert course.
'Zack Margolis shared his wine selections with Alice Victor.
Welcome Cathy and Jerry Strauss
The September 2024 Taste of Beaumont event enticed Cathy and Jerry Strauss for a visit. They took a tour to see the personalized apartments and villas open to visitors that day. In contrast to the rather common look at other CCRCs, they could envision a unique home - where walls were moved, kitchens created, and space opened up for light and design. Cathy and Jerry signed up right away, found their Baldwin apartment, and started their special renovation. Moved in this May, they are now thrilled to make Beaumont home. They didn’t come far, having lived in the Philadelphia area for most of their married life. Jerry was raised in Chicago and graduated from Brown University where he had met and married Cathy who was from San Francisco. They moved to Philadelphia for Jerry to attend University of Pennsylvania medical school and PhD program, proceed to residency, research, and faculty in reproductive endocrinology. Cathy received a Masters degree in social work at Bryn Mawr College and a Juris Doctor at Temple University School of Law. Her career proceeded from law practice into executive management positions in the insurance industry. They took a southern step in 2005 when Jerry accepted the position of Dean and Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs at the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University. He also served for a time as CEO of the VCU Health System. He is particularly proud
of the programs he established for research, for community health care, and for a vibrant future in medical education, training, and health care for the Richmond community. In 2018, he returned to Penn as Professor Emeritus where he continues his work in research, education, and mentoring the next generation of physicians.
Cathy, too, found Richmond a new opportunity. She actively participated in the arts, in community organizations, and found new passions as she learned bridge and took French lessons. When they returned to live in Wyndmoor, Cathy took leadership positions in a non-profit bridge center in King of Prussia, where she now serves on the Board and as President of the local unit of the American Contract Bridge League.
So, if you see them coming and going a lot, it is because they are still busy with their work, travel, and two children and two grandchildren in the area. And, they love becoming part of our Beaumont community. Welcome.
Welcome Dwight and Barbara Beucler
It’s been a yearlong project for the Beuclers to purchase their villa, get renovations underway, still enjoy their Vero Beach Florida residence, and come back this spring to get their Villanova home ready to sell. They are now here at Beaumont and ready to join in all Beaumont has to offer.
Barbara was raised in Ardmore, is a graduate of The Agnes Irwin School, and attended Connecticut College. One summer, on a family vacation at a fishing camp in northernmost Maine, she met this handsome guy from New Jersey who had been given a fishing trip to Maine from his dad as a college graduation gift. He was hooked, and they were married soon thereafter. Off they went to Norfolk, Virginia where Dwight served as a communications and weather officer on the USS Pocono. After his Naval service, Dwight joined Arthur Andersen & Co., earned his CPA and later established his own CPA firm in Wayne. Together they raised two children
as Barbara served as the Firm Administrator. They enjoyed many years at their farm in Stonington, Connecticut which had been in Dwight’s family since 1735. In 2006, they retired from the firm and it is now in the hands of their son, Geoffrey. Both their daughter and son, and four grandchildren, live in the area as well.
Retirement has been active since they still enjoy their Vero Beach residence several months a year. Barbara has volunteered with Meals on Wheels and serves as a Trustee of St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Devon. She loves gardening, needlepoint, and mahjong, so Beaumont offers her a lot to do. Dwight has been a member of The Men’s 138 Club for 25 years, The Merion Cricket and Golf Clubs, and has a special love of weather and meteorology.
Barbara’s parents were among the first residents at Beaumont so the choice to move here was very easy. Now, they can do all they have always done, and more, like joining all the groups, getting a dog, and adding advanced weather equipment in the villa. They are a wonderful addition to our community. Welcome.
Cathy Strauss
Jerry Strauss
Dwight and Barbara Beucler
Music in the Summer
The PF Flyer Band - Joe and Mike on guitars, Tony on banjo, Fred on mandolin and harmonica, and Marc on upright bass - played music from American bluegrass, country, folk, rock, and popular genres, in vocal harmonies and instrumental specialities.
In August, acclaimed folk singer songwriter John Gorka played before a large audience. His warm personal stories, punctuated with songs that made us laugh, cry and think, were greeted with a standing ovation. He will be back.
Beaumont’s own RagTag Folk Band returned for a Tuesday afternoon sing-along. Residents Ginny Rivers, McBee Butcher, Brad Kling, Helen Vinick, Margaret Balamuth, David Prewitt, Sally Pearne, and Frank Kampas, led by Vick Kelly, entertained us with whistles, banjos, percussion, and vocals.
The Austin Organ was the center of three very special performances this summer. Ann Elise Smoot, daughter of Beaumont residents Richard and Amanda Smoot, is a renowned organist and recitalist living in England. She performs internationally, teaches master classes, and serves as Education Editor at Organists’ Review. Her husband, James Vivian, is Organist and Director of Music at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, England. He plays at royal weddings and funerals, most recently, at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II last year. He records widely, performs globally and serves as an examiner for the Royal College of Organists and Royal Academy of Music. They shared their love and passion for organ music as they captivated us on a July afternoon.
In August, local organist Edward Landin Senn and pianist Susan Ricci Rogel played selections and variations of suites, hymns, and folk tunes for residents in the Music Room. Edward had served for 11 years as Assistant Director of Music at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church and will now be the Executive Assistant to the CEO at the Organ Historical Society at Stoneleigh in Villanova. Susan has an extensive resume in performance and instruction. She is currently on the faculty at Eastern University.
Ann Elise Smoot
Band
Band
John Gorka
James Vivian
Edward Landin Senn and Susan Ricci Rogel
Artistic Creations from Beaumont Art Studio
Linda Madara and Jane Ruffin, with help from their friends, curated an exhibition of canvases full of color, imagination and fantasy. Beginning with a mix of paint colors, then a “pour” onto a canvas, to the unique ways of moving the paint by shifting the canvas or blowing the paints, a surprising result appears and the creative mind fills the space. Please be sure to sign up for a pour class and create your own masterpiece.
Joe Peduzzi, Dottie Clapham & Donna White start the pour.
Blue Pour #1
Sharon Kelly and Helen Vinick arrange flowers at Cutting Corners.
Blue Pour #2
Jane Ruffin, Loretta Blume, Sarah Collett, Elaine Engelman, Linda Madara, Page Gowen and Carole Epstein celebrate winning artwork at Eye of the Beholder exhibition.
Health Center Residents create their own masterpieces.
The Beaumont Fund Scholarship Awards
August
7, 2025
Beaumont residents gathered, with management, employees and families, to present The Beaumont Fund Scholarship Awards. This year, 13 employees and 10 children of our employees were recognized for their achievements and their goals for continued education in programs including Nursing, Cybersecurity, Business, Early Childhood Education, Biology (Pre-Med), Digital Arts, Political Science, Computer Science and Health Care Management. Residents can be proud to have made a contribution to, and investment in, the personal success of our employees and their children. Thank you, Beaumont residents, for your generosity.
Employee Scholarships
Health Services:
Natasha Ivey
Shonda Loney
Kayla Minus
Keisha Mitchell
Dietary Services:
Kerry-Ann Simpson-Patrice (Charles Kurz II Education Fund Award)
Christmas in July
Dining Services:
Portia Adjaidoo
Mira Reed Boston
Ariel Damas
Michael Dukes
Brima Kamara
Miguel Pierre Louis
Salamatu Musah
Henry Tucker
Employee Children Scholarships:
Natnaile Abebe - Abeba Hailu
Bryanna Bell - Roxanne Bell
John Coughlin - Katherine Fasoldt
Jordan Marie Keller - John Keller
Ebenezer Lompo - Louise Tankoano
Micah Maduforo - Michael Maduforo
Jaimin Park - Hyeonju (Kim) Park
Benjamin Rix - Sierra Rix
Diego Nicholas Santos - Maria Villanueva
Arlin Shehu - Mahmudie (Diana) Shehu
Our special Beaumont staff were celebrated with raffle gifts, sweets, ice cream, and thanks by Santa himself on July 25th.
their favorites.
Featured Canine Resident - Sweet Potato Miller
Now a sweet potato might not be your favorite vegetable, but this Sweet Potato you will love! She is the daughter of Judith and Martin Miller and is the canine mistress of The Gatehouse. She is a very friendly, affectionate 13-year-old golden doodle hailing from upstate Pennsylvania. When the Millers went to pick her up from the breeder, she was that certain color, thus her unique name, however while her coat has become more of a silvery pale gray, her name has remained.
Sweet Potato gets along well with other dogs but prefers her human friends and is always happy to welcome visitors. Early risers may be lucky to meet her and Martin on their morning perambulations. During the day, she hangs out with Judith while she chats with her patients. Sweet Potato shares her own calming canine therapy.
While a perfect dog in all respects, Sweet Potato shows a bit of displeasure when left alone by upending wastebaskets, unless the parents have remembered to put them out of reach.
So, if you are having a down day or feeling blue, pay wonderful Sweet Potato a visityou will feel better!
CANINES of BEAUMONT
Sweet Potato Miller
Sulan Booker and Gina Brown select
’Santa (Nick Shopa) and Mimi Sharif shared the Christmas spirit. Everyone enjoyed the raffle opportunity and food surprises.
In Our Own Words
Beaumont residents find meaning in their lives in so many different ways. Here are some examples - poetry, music, and literature - of how we enjoy our retirement and share our experiences.
Heartfelt-Web of Days By Bette Peterson
Once from the tangled web of days I tried to weave a cloth of gold
Planning innumerable ways
To make a new beauty from the old. Although I spun with industry I could not get the color right. The thread I used turned out to be, Not gold at all, but black and white. Subtle designs I chose with care
Had neither symmetry nor grace
To something merely commonplace.
Much wiser now than at the start I wear the homespun of the heart.
My Beaumont By Vick Kelly
I was walking down the hall, just the other day
When three new friends passed me smiling on the way
And it got me to thinking about the phases of our lives
And how friendships depend on where we reside.
The neighborhoods and schools, where we worked and played
Connecting with new people each and every day
And when the space around allowed sunshine in the room
What we saw in each other soon began to bloom.
Fostering friendships, creating smiles,
Smoothing the path of our final miles,
A house of comfort and sometimes delight
Lending safety to all of our nights.
Is Life really a circle, with no beginning and no end?
I don’t feel that way about my new friends.
We've met each other far down a long winding road
Past old expectations we no longer hold.
New friendships are easy, we’re all in the same place.
Looking past little flaws gives us time and space
To just be together to rest with some peace
As the days before us slowly retreat.
And so to my new home I sing these praises
To all my new friends and their friendly faces.
The halls are filled with the warmth of the smile
From those who work and live here in my cozy domicile.
Beaumont Book Club News
“Undine Spragg - how can you?” her mother wailed, raising a prematurely-wrinkled hand heavy with rings to defend the note which a languid “bell-boy” had just brought in.”
“Rotating about the earth in their spacecraft they are so together, and so alone, that even their thoughts, their internal mythologies, at times convene.”
“What you looking at me for? I didn’t come to stay…”
“She waited, Kate Croy, for her father to come in…”
“The order to abandon ship was given at 5 p.m.”
“To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth.”
“The Visitors’ Room is exactly the functional, state-designed space you’d expect.”
‘The sun rose bright over Pasadena, California, on January 1, 1954.”
These opening sentences are here to excite your curiosity and interest to pick up a book and join the The Beaumont Book Club. The group meets from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Club Room on the first Wednesday of the month from October to June with an annual dinner in January. Here is the book list for the months ahead: The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton. October 1
Orbital by Samantha Harvey. November 12
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. December 3
The Wings of the Dove by Henry James. February 4
Shackleton’s Last Expedition. (Choose your own book about his voyage) March 4
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. April 1
How to Read a Book by Monica Wood. May 6
The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse and Their Last Chance Journey by Elizabeth Letts. June 3
For more information contact Barbara Billings or Harriette Goldenberg.
The Roving Reporter Investigates
Who says card games are “playing?” They are actually rather competitive, require serious thinking and eating snacks at the same time. (I enjoy peanut butter pretzels.) Do Beaumont residents really think they are “playing” cards?
I started my investigation by asking bridge players. I spoke to Larry Friedman, an excellent player (IMO) who plays at Beaumont, King of Prussia Bridge Club, and The Hamilton Club. “Tell me Larry, why do people say they PLAY bridge? It does not look like playing to me?” Larry replied, “They use the word “playing” bridge to avoid the dread of making a mistake.” I can identify with that.
Next, I asked Bunny Solomon who says that playing bridge, and keeping score, requires strategic thinking and mental sharpness. “That is how I reached 103.”
I interviewed Sally Herd who not only plays bridge, but also shares bridge quizzes that teach strategy and bidding. Sally,
PRESIDENT’S CORNER
by Joe Peduzzi
Since 2007, The Beaumont Scholarship Fund has been a source of great pride and generosity of our residents and friends. It began with an initial gift of $4000, for the specific purpose to provide educational funds for employees. Later that year, a second donation of $4450 was contributed by several benefactors in memory of Margaret Goodyear, an ardent supporter of the scholarship program. In August 2008, a final contribution of $99,000 significantly increased the Fund’s resources. The principal remains restricted and is invested at the discretion of Beaumont’s resident Finance Committee. However, each year investment income is distributed, along with other donations, as scholarships. The Fund supports staff training and continuing education programs that benefit the broader Beaumont community.
Through the leadership of the previous Chairs of the Beaumont Fund Advisory Board (BFAB), Jim Zug and Birch Clothier, monetary support now includes both direct
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 Catherine Wylonis
Photo Editor Linda Madara
Quality Control Cathy Leahy
Production Articus, Ltd.
Contributing Writers DeeDee Ballard, Barbara Billings, Mary Caulder, Eta Glassman, Vick Kelly, Bette Peterson
Photographs by DeeDee Ballard, Bernadette Bevilacqua, Linda Madara
By Eta Glassman
do you consider bridge a game? She smiled and said, “I think of bridge as socialization. Playing bridge with friends is the best part of my day.”
I am happy to report, as well, that there are other games that are fun to play, such as Canasta because it has lots of cards, variations called Hand and Foot or Samba, and at least there are jokers!
I am embarrassed to admit I flunked mahjong. I bought the book. I studied. But it was too complicated for me - all those tiles of Bams, Cracks, Flowers, Winds. The only good things were the jokers!
So, I found someone who loves mahjong. Carol Aaron explained, “I love mahjong because it is an individual sport. There are no partners. You focus on your own skills.” No wonder I failed - I have no skills! Does anyone want to play Go Fish?
financial aid during college/professional study and loan forgiveness for personally incurred expenses. Additionally, the scholarship program has been extended to include children of Beaumont employees.
Thanks to the generosity of our residents and other donors, Beaumont has awarded a total of 377 scholarships since 2007 amounting to over $500,000. 36 children of employees have received scholarship support. Currently, 11 employees are receiving monthly loan forgiveness payments directly to their student loan issuers, totaling more than $107,000 since the program began.
The Scholarship Fund is under the new leadership of Board Chair Richard Peterson. This year 13 employees and 10 children each received an award of $2500 for full-time employees, or $2000 for part-time employees, with the opportunity to receive an additional $1000 in January on successful completion of the Fall Semester. It is a celebration for residents and employees alike who share the pride in what our recipient employees, and their children, have accomplished.
In Memoriam
ANNe bArker
June 5, 2025
bArbArA WAlSh June 9, 2025
NANcy Nimick June 14, 2025
GiuliANA cAlAbi June 17, 2025
GeorGe mccrAckeN July 2, 2025
Jerry (Jeff) WhiTe August 12, 2025
clAude deboTToN August 14, 2025
The Beaumont Community extends deepest sympathy to their families and friends.
Doorways of Beaumont
During the hot summer days, or cold winter nights, a walk inside the hallways of Austin and Baldwin becomes a surprising look at an eclectic collection of paintings, sculptures, personal memories, and more. Here are some of The Doorways of Beaumont. Enjoy your own walkabout and try to find these treasures and more.
