Volume Twenty Seven, Number 7
July 2013
New president on his way from California: ETA Aug. 19
Beaumont’s new president, Joseph J. Peduzzi (inevitably to be known for a while as Joe II), will be here Aug. 19, although Joe I will not be retiring until Aug. 30. A goodbye party for Joe Fortenbaugh is planned in conjunction with the monthly wine tasting event on Aug. 29. An official welcome for Joe II is tentatively planned for October. According to an announcement by John Woolford, head of the search committee, Joe II’s experience with retirement communities includes service with Simpson Senior Services in Pennsylvania and with two Front Porch retirement communities in California. He was executive director of Claremont Manor in Claremont, California, from 2002 to 2008, and executive director of Walnut Village in Anaheim, California, from 2008 until he resigned to come here. Now 44, born and reared in the Pittsburgh area, he has a bachelor of science degree in business administration from the University of West Virginia and a master of science Joseph J. Peduzzi degree in healthcare administration from the University of Pittsburgh. He is licensed as a nursing home administrator in both Pennsylvania and California. The News hopes to interview Joe II in time for our next issue, New resident stories in October (following the usual hiatus in August and September). on pages 3-7 — Mary Graff
Swinging into infinity: High, wide and terrified!
Not for nothing does Jeremy Varnis’s father call him an adrenaline junkie. In Jeremy’s own words: “Ever since college I have always been trying new adventures. Assistant IT Director Over the past couple of years I have skydived from perfectly good airplanes, Jeremy Varnis climbs a bungee jumped from towers and bridges, ladder during part of a base jumped off cliffs in Colorado and one-and-a-half-mile hike Nevada, white-water rafted and zip-lined toward his goal, Corona in Costa Rica. Anything that is said to be Arch, a natural 140highly dangerous and looks like a great foot-high sandstone arch time, you can pretty much assume I will near Moab, Utah, in a try it at least once. When I saw a video for side canyon of the the Corona Arch Swing in Utah, I called Colorado River. At far a couple of buddies who are just like me right, attached to a bungee and we decided to make a road trip out of rope—aiyeee, there goes this.” Jeremy! “I was terrified!” Would he do it again? he said. “I loved it!” Photo on left by an unidentified state ranger; photo on right “No,” said Jeremy. — Mary Graff by a friend, Gordon O’Brien
Dear Editor,
In the June 2013 issue, your article states, “The library and the arts-and-crafts room will be reversed, at the request of the Library Committee.....” In fact, the exchange of rooms was presented as an option by Joe Fortenbaugh at the first meeting with the architects (whose suggestion it had been, Joe said) and the library designer. When asked, we quickly agreed to the exchange. We did not “request” it. — Carole Morgan, co-chairman of the library committee
Dear Editor,
I would like to offer some thoughts that could be helpful to future speakers in the Beaumont Room. After listening to a number of speakers, I have concluded that while an effective sound system is important, it is the rate and the way that speakers enunciate their words that really matter. Many of us at Beaumont are listening-impaired in that while our ears work reasonably well, our brains have a reduced rate of processing oral information. Thus we require subtitles even when watching an English language movie. Over the years, talks, announcements and reports have been presented in the Beaumont Room on different occasions that were not understandable. This was initially attributed to an improper use of the microphone and, or, to an inadequate sound system. However, I remember hearing Timely Topics presentations that were quite clear and understandable, despite the modest sound system then in use and the fact that I am listening-impaired.
Improvements were made in the microphones, and new sound speakers were installed in the Beaumont Room. However there were still talks that were not adequately comprehensible to many in the audience. How can we understand this? Two key factors limit the clarity of oral communication. One is the kind of hearing impairment that can be corrected by an effective hearing aid. The other is the diminished rate of processing by the brain of the electrical signals generated by the listener’s ears, which limits the rate at which a listener can understand the words of the speaker. Which brings me again to my conclusion: While an effective sound system is important, it is the rate and the way that speakers enunciate their words that really matter. To be understood by all members of an audience, it is essential that speakers slow down their rate of speech and enunciate their words individually and clearly. — Elias Burstein
Editor’s note
A brief description of new BRCI board member Debora Zug in the June issue contained several errors. A corrected version: Debora Collier Zug, a Wheaton College graduate, currently serves as a trustee at Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania. She is also on two committees at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, having been a trustee there for the past 10 years, and has been a docent for the past 25 years at four museums in Baltimore and Philadelphia. She is a member of the New Horizons Senior Glee Club, which has performed at Beaumont.
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
In Memoriam Leonard Siegel June 5, 2013
Edmund Thayer, Jr. June 13, 2013
John S. Brittain June 17, 2013
Editor Assistant Editor and Production Manager Graphic Designer Photo Editor Events Manager Proofreader Circulation Manager
Members of the Beaumont Community extend deepest sympathy to their family and friends.
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Mary Graff John Hall TJ Walsh Louise Hughes Kim Norrett Jennie Frankel Barbara O’Brien
Dilworth’s daughter has new hip and big plans
By Peter Binzen A relatively new resident of Beaumont, Deborah Dilworth Bishop has a goal once she fully recovers from undergoing hip surgery the week after she moved into Baldwin in March. “I’m going to work in the public schools,” she said. Nothing could be more appropriate. Her father, Richardson Dilworth, was president of Philadelphia’s Board of Education for six tumultuous years from 1965 to 1971. He brought about remarkable changes which won national acclaim. However, the reform period ended after his death in 1974 and the schools once again desperately need help. Whatever assistance his daughter can provide will be welcome. Deborah Dilworth Bishop Deborah Bishop, now 77, has a sparkling personality—as did her father, who served as the city’s district attorney for four years and as mayor for six before his stint at the school board. She attended public schools in Florida and Georgia and spent four years at The Agnes Irwin School in Bryn Mawr. In 1954 she graduated from a private boarding school outside Baltimore. Although she was a “great reader,” she says, and read almost all of the books in her parents’ extensive library, she never went to college and never really wanted to. “It would have been a waste of time for me,” she said. Instead she went to New York and worked at the Neighborhood Playhouse, where youthful actors and directors were getting their start. When she became engaged to a New York man, her father “went right through the roof.” He thought she was too young for marriage. The engagement was broken off and she returned to Philadelphia. She later went back to New York and was offered a screen test in Hollywood which she rejected. “I just didn’t want that kind of a career,” she said. Her marriage in 1959 to Ted Newbold lasted 23 years and produced a son, Bill, and two daughters, Daisy and Noel. There is a grandson, Charlie. In 1984 Deborah married Harry Bishop, a pioneer pediatric surgeon, who died in 2009. Meanwhile Deborah was earning her spurs as an entrepreneur. She learned the real estate business—and made money—with Bernard Guth and Warren Lexton as mentors. She was Lexton’s partner for many years, she said. She also invested in black radio stations and became what she calls “a financial partner” of the late pioneering By Jean Homeier black broadcaster Ragan Henry in his Broadcast Enter The Spiegels had been Baldwin residents for only a prise Network (BEN). “I was a minority on the board, a month when Paula and I met for lunch and an interview white woman,” she said. “I learned a lot and enjoyed it.” in March. They were slowly settling in, and said they were More recently, she invested in Plexiglas. “I bought it being continually amazed by the helpfulness, friendliness and built with it,” she said. and kindness of fellow residents and staff. Bishop is also on the board of the Historical Society Paula is a native Philadelphian who, after two years at of Pennsylvania. She enjoys helping agencies that are Skidmore College, completed her education at the Unidown on their luck. Her interviewer mentioned that the versity of Pennsylvania. She married shortly after, worked Franklin Inn Club is heavily in debt and needs assistance. briefly as a copywriter and raised two sons. Because the “I’ll help them,” she said. boys went to Haverford School, Paula became deeply involved as a school volunteer and worked hard in Peter Binzen and his son, Jonathan, have written a biografund-raising activities, ran the school’s thrift shop, became phy of Deborah’s father, Prince of the City: Philadephia’s head of what was then called the Mother’s Committee and Remarkable Richardson Dilworth, still at the publisher’s as eventually served as trustee. of this writing. continued on page 4
The Spiegels: She helped women dress; he helped doctors plan
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Campbells bring lively lifestyle to Baldwin
By Rena Burstein Irene and Kenneth Campbell moved to Beaumont in May from their former large home in Harriton Farm to a “double apartment” in Baldwin. Although they were still unpacking when we met, they were feeling quite settled in. Ken still goes daily to his office in Radnor after exercising in the fitness center and Irene, semi-retired, maintains her office and an exercise bicycle in their apartment. They are an energetic and outgoing pair. Irene and Ken met while they were students at Capital University, a Lutheran school in Bexley, Ohio (a suburb of Irene and Kenneth Campbell Columbus), and were married in 1951. They lived in Columbus, where their three children were born and where Ken had a job at a local newspaper as a staffer on urban planning and renewal. In 1961 a job offer from House and Home magazine brought the Campbells East to Ridgewood, New Jersey, where Irene taught in the elementary school. Ken’s career took him to Standard & Poor’s as a security analyst and an MBA from New York University, which he attended at night. In 1969, with Irene’s assistance, Ken started a small investment advisory company. An opportunity to merge with a company in Radnor brought the Campbells to this area. At present he is managing director of Caldwell Banker Richard Ellis (CBRE), in Radnor. It has offices throughout the world, offering many opportunities for travel, which the Campbells have enjoyed. The Campbells’ elder son, an actuarial analyst, lives in Yardley; their daughter, a pediatrician and adjunct professor at Drexel University, lives in Jenkintown, and their younger son, a civil engineer, lives in Burlington, Vermont. There are five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Both Irene and Ken are active in the historic Baptist Church in Great Valley on Valley Forge Road in Devon. Irene was the Superintendent of Sunday School for several years and is now chairperson of the Prayer Group. She and Ken have served on various boards. Ken is now on the board of Baptist Children’s Services, a nonprofit organization sheltering at-risk youth; Irene is on the planning and development committee. They are both avid readers and have been fitting a large collection of books into their new apartment. Having been an English major in college, Ken is finding time to complete writing his memoirs, now about onethird done.
Spiegels continued from page 3 After a stint in real estate, she joined Nan Duskin, the former upscale clothing retailer, where she was a buyer for about 10 years. She enjoys writing, bridge and reading. Jerry grew up in New Jersey during World War II and enlisted in the Navy as an electrician’s mate at Paula and Jerry Spiegel the tender age of 17. He served in the South Pacific and was part of the effort to clear the South China Sea of mines after the war—surely a risky business. Once discharged, he returned home and eventually became a stockbroker with Hertzfeld & Stern. In the early ‘60s Jerry formed Physicians’ Financial Planning. The company eventually grew to the extent that, in addition to advising doctors about their personal investments, he was running the financial ends of their practices, helping them expand into new areas and even locating suitable office space—everything but seeing patients. Formerly a golfer, now he enjoys reading, bridge and listening to tapes from The Teaching Company. Together Jerry and Paula have four children, all of whom live in the greater Philadelphia area. There are seven grandchildren.
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New residents, familiar names, come home to Beaumont
By Jean Homeier Beaumont has been a part of the lives of Barbara and Richard Stephens since its inception. Barbara is the daughter of Sam and Dot Ballam, for whom o ur theater is named. Richard is the son of Helen Stephens, an accomplished artist who died in 2012 at the age Barbara Stephens of 104. They have lived in Helen’s former apartment in Baldwin since March. Both Barbara and Richard grew up in the Philadelphia area—Barbara in Frankford and Wynnewood, Richard in Penn Wynne. They were in the same class at Lower Merion High School, but didn’t meet face-to-face until they joined an after-school square dance club their senior year. Richard went to Penn; Barbara started at Duke but transferred to Penn after one year to be near Richard. He found his experience as a physics major “a little weird,” since his father chaired the department. They were married several days after graduation in 1968. They went to Cornell for Richard’s doctorate, to Harvard for a postdoctoral fellowship, and to New Jersey for his first job—at Exxon Research and Engineering, where he did research in solar energy and heavy oils. During this time their son, Benjamin, and daughter, Elizabeth, were born. (Elizabeth, now a cardiac surgical resident at Richard Stephens Columbia, just did a rotation at the hospital in which she first saw the light of day.) Next the family moved to San Diego, where Richard joined General Atomics. For the last 15 years there he focused on plasma physics in collaboration with a group at University of California, San Diego. Now semi-retired, Richard will continue his work in concert with colleagues in Dresden, Germany, and elsewhere, while pursuing his interest in photography. Two of his prints of Wheeler Woods now hang in our front lobby. Barbara graduated from Penn as an English major. Her father was such a dedicated alumnus, he had taken her for an interview when she was in ninth grade! At Cornell she
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served as a research aide in the Center for International Studies; then at Harvard she was assistant to the director of the Program for Science and International Affairs. In California, Barbara became deeply committed to church work and, among other ministries, started a grief recovery group for women. Here she has joined The Church of The Saviour, where she is taking a course in Leadership Development for Women. She has been a needleworker for many years.
Baldwin resident trails clouds of celebrity
By Jean Homeier Paul Wexler, who moved into Baldwin in March, grew up in Boston and attended Boston Latin and the University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in sociology, played football and ran track. After college he worked briefly for Columbia Records in New York before entering the Army Air Corps in Paul Wexler World War II. He served four years and was discharged with the rank of captain. Back to Columbia Records Paul went, working with Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Doris Day, Tony Bennett and a host of others whose names would be familiar to most of us. In those days, he said, Columbia Records was such a small company that everyone did a little bit of everything. That certainly sounded like fun to me, but must have had its share of frustrations as well. He became a vice president of Columbia and later left to start a small mail-order company which sold music, books and records. His wife, Jacqueline, who died last year, had been a trustee of Penn as well as president of Webster College in St. Louis, Missouri, and then Hunter College, in New York, which named a library after her. In retirement the Wexlers lived in Orlando for 20 years. A year ago Paul came to Wayne, where he lived with his daughter, a psychologist, before moving to Beaumont. He has a son in Maspeth, New York, and four grandchildren: twins, a grandson living in Virginia and a granddaughter in Philadelphia; another grandson, in Boston, and another granddaughter, in Philadelphia.
Former pastor, antiques expert move to Baldwin
Tony Parrotto joins list of Beaumont authors
By Jean Homeier George and Roberta Hollingshead, Baldwin residents since January, are well known to many Beaumont residents because of George’s more than 20 years as associate pastor at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church. He and Roberta met in Metuchen, New Jersey, George Hollingshead where George had grown up. Roberta, however, had been raised in parts of the country as different from one another as Missoula, Montana, and Greenwich Village. The Hollingsheads have a daughter, Susan; a son-in-law, Rick, and a 5-year-old grandson. They lost their son, Skip, in 1997. Roberta’s career has covered a number of areas beginning in banking, later in the comptroller’s office of Price Waterhouse in New York, and then with the League of Women Voters. In between, she attended Trenton State and Rutgers universities. Because antiques have been an abiding interest since childhood, she now sells antique silver, china and furRoberta Hollingshead niture and is co-owner of The Antique Store in Wayne, which houses almost 40 dealers. Roberta enjoys duplicate bridge and is captain of the first team at Merion Cricket Club. After graduating from Washington and Jefferson College, and while a student at Princeton Theological Seminary, George had a summer internship as an assistant to the pastor of a Presbyterian church in Birmingham, Alabama. Following graduation he returned to Birmingham on a full-time basis, all this in the early years of the Civil Rights movement, in which many churches were deeply involved. After two years there, he spent a year studying in Edinburgh, Scotland, and then came to Yardley as pastor of the Woodside Presbyterian Church, where he remained for 15 years before moving to Bryn Mawr.
By Barbara O’Brien Welcome to Linda and Anthony (Tony) Parrotto, who moved into Baldwin in March. They come to us after many years in this general neighborhood, although when they married they lived for a time near the Philadelphia Art Museum. Tony is from Tony Parrotto Philadelphia and Linda originally from Allentown. When Tony met Linda, he was a young widower with two small daughters. The couple added two more girls to the new family. Linda was finishing an English major at Temple, while Tony had graduated with a business degree from Drexel. After a short stint with the U.S. Marines and the U.S. Linda Parrotto Navy, Tony had begun to look into small publishing firms that might offer a business opportunity in Philadelphia and finally decided to create one of his own, Whitmore Publishing. A few years later he also became involved with a similar firm, Dorrance Publishing, a subsidy (“vanity”) book publishing company. He eventually bought the company while working on a successful turnaround of its structure. Tony spent the last two decades of his business career directing The Kingswood Group, a marketing communications company. For a time, Linda was also involved in the businesses while supervising the family’s four girls, several at the Baldwin School. (One daughter died five years ago.) After retirement, Tony wrote a book, NAVIGATING THE MAZEWAY: Fulfilling Our Best Possibilities As Individuals and As Societies (available in the Beaumont library). The book led Tony to teaching two “Special Topic” courses at Drexel: “Map Your Life” and “Social Mapping.” Tony is now serving on Beaumont’s Marketing Committee. Tony and Linda enjoy three grandchildren and traveling worldwide. They also enjoy their condo in the Caribbean and their second home on Nantucket.
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Austin newcomer paints in oils and ties her own flies
By Jean Homeier When Lee Abbott Pierson moved to Philadelphia as a bride, she took a painting course at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) and has been an artist ever since. Her work is in oils, her subjects mostly still life, and her studies now primarily Lee Pierson at the Wayne Art Center, where she works as a volunteer once a week. She also has taken courses at the Main Line Art Center and the Woodmere Art Museum. A resident of Austin since February, Lee grew up in Winchester, Massachusetts. She told me that in the 1940s her father, who was in the food business, convinced the king of Norway to begin exporting sardines. The results were that the Abbott family ate sardines on toast for supper every Sunday night (also cambric tea and cookies like Peter Rabbit) and that her father was honored by the king. After graduating from Dana Hall, Lee went on to Skidmore College and majored in English, becoming interested in ceramics and history of art as well. Her two children are far flung: a son in Los Angeles and a daughter in Fairbanks, Alaska, as well as in Juneau, where she works with the Alaska State Senate. There have been a number of trips to Alaska, not only for family visits but also for fly fishing. Lee ties her own flies (a lot like needlepoint, she said) and is a member of the Anglers Club. She was long involved with The Children’s Aid Society, has served on the board of the Merion Cricket Club and was a member of PAFA’ s Women’s Committee. For 15 years she owned and operated Astro Travel in Logan Square, which she sold in 1980 to Squires Travel. After that she worked for Travel Answers in Bryn Mawr. When I asked her if she had had many wonderful trips in those years, she replied, “When you own a travel agency, you have to stay HOME.” Asked if there were any interests the interview had not yet covered, she said she likes to “cook, eat and read.”
Peanut packin’ Papa: The sight of his car stuffed with packing peanuts (known as ghost poop in some quarters) may not have been the best birthday present Housekeeping Director Brock Nichols ever received, even if it did have young Brock‘s name on it, but the rest of his staff loved it. (Young Brock was 18 months old as of this writing, and his parents were expecting a second child, a girl, in August.) — Mary Graff As Mike Bailey, one of the jokesters put it in a rap: It took 29 minutes/ 30 in fact/ one was spent/ taking the pictures we have/ everyone laughed/ some even cheered/ for the present/ we gave Brock/ on his 29th year/ packed up/ and wrapped/ plus sealed with 2 bows/ we couldn’t wait to see his face/ and hear him/ scream.... “Ohhh No” Lyrics and photo by Mike Bailey (Housekeeping)
By popular demand: Brock has produced new and better directions for disposal of garbage and recyclables in apartments and villas. Flyers, with illustrations, were to be distributed in mailboxes by July 1 and will be available for residents, aides and companions at the Front Desk.
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Marie Claire discovers Lakia
Broadcast Pioneers remember TV weatherman Herb Clarke
Everyone at Beaumont knows Lakia Archer, the go-to lady at our front desk, and now her fame is spreading. The fashion magazine Marie Claire asked her to do a photo shoot and here she is, in pink top and pants, featured in the July issue as part of an article called “What I Love About Me.” Known in the industry as Kia Denise, Lakia, 25, works independently (on her own time) as a fashion stylist, usually on the other side of the camera. “When it comes to photo shoots,” she said, “I’m the woman in charge of putting outfits together and dressing all of the models. I’m asked to attend fashion events and tons of fashion shows on the regular, the glamorous life!” The magazine asked each of the models to tell what they liked about themselves. Lakia’s answer: “Like all the women in my family, I’ve been blessed with great curves.” — Mary Graff
More than 200 members of The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia gathered at Bala Golf Club on June 19 to pay tribute to the late Herb Clarke, for decades Philly’s premiere weatherman and, more recently, a resident of Beaumont at Bryn Mawr. Herb Clarke Among those recalling anecdotes of Herb’s legendary forecasting prowess were Bill Baldini, former WCAU-TV. Channel 10 News journalist/reporter; Dick Kearney, former WCAU ace cameraman; Ed Cunningham, producer at PBS; Big Al Meltzer, former Channel 10 sports director; Orien Reid Nix, former KYW-TV and WCAU-TV consumer reporter; Jim Murray, sports commentator and former G.M. of the Eagles; and Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz, current WCAU-TV chief meteorologist. Terry Ruggles emceed the whole affair. Barbara Clarke, Herb’s widow; Marian Lockett-Egan, and Maggie and Alan Tripp told the Broadcast Pioneers of Herb’s happy retirement years at Beaumont. — Alan Tripp
Beaumont residents honored
Snyders’ son earns fellowship
Three of the six honorees at the 17th Annual Spring Gathering of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania recently at the National Constitution Center were residents of Beaumont. Alvan Markle, Jean Bodine and Nancy Harris received “Lifetime Commitment Awards” for “long commitment to PPSP’s mission and work as volunteers, advocates and ambassadors.” Those of us from Beaumont who watched the ceremony were so proud! — Jeanne Cortner
Dean Snyder Jr. was among the 175 scholars, artists and scientists chosen out of nearly 3,000 applicants in the United States and Canada to be awarded fellowships this year from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Currently head of the sculpture department at the Rhode Island School of Design, Dean Jr., 60, was chosen for this mid-career award on the basis of “prior achievement and exceptional promise.” The cash awards, “in the neighborhood of five figures,” according to his parents, Dean (Doc) and Marion, are intended to “assist research and artistic creation” in any way the recipient chooses. — Mary Graff
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