VOLUME TWENTY FIVE, NUMBER TEN
DECEMBER 2011
Wi-Fi on way, bringing savings on home front New fees melt in its path Beaumont earns coveted accreditation again, Page 7
and creates the arrangements, often using other resources she finds in the Flower Room that have been building up over the years. The arrangement of apples and feathers in the Mansion reception area (see photo, Page 2) is in a German silver vase that Eileen Ware found stored away in a closet off the reception area. The House Committee has decreed that Beaumont’s common spaces should look as much like a home as possible. So in addition to flower arrangements, a decorative piece such as a sculpture, a ceramic
By Mary Graff A monthly fee increase of 4 percent for 2012 was announced at Beaumont’s 24th annual budget meeting Nov. 16. A relatively modest amount, given the economic circumstances known to us all, right? But in fact, nobody at Beaumont is going to have to pay even that much. This was the gist of a 2012 budget inextricably intertwined with Beaumont’s steady progress toward a Wi-Fi system that, in the words of Mark Surkin, our new chief of Information Technology (IT for short), as he addressed the meeting: “In a few months’ time will enable you, your children, grandchildren, or any other visitors to sit on your couch, or in a common area, with an iPad or laptop, and have a video call with someone halfway around the world. From nearly anywhere on campus, you or any of your visitors will be able to stay in touch with people and information in ways we never could have imagined just a few years ago.”
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Photo by Louise Hughes With holidays coming up, Flower Chair Sally Herd trims tiny Christmas trees in her basement hideaway.
Secrets of Beaumont’s indoor blooms By Marian Lockett-Egan
In a long, narrow niche in the basement of Beaumont is a room which, if you peeked inside, could cause you to say, “Wow!” Every color of the rainbow resides there and more species of flowers than you can identify. This is the Flower Room, the source of all the silk flowers found in arrangements in the common spaces of Beaumont. A member of the House Committee, Sally Herd, is the Silk Flower Chair, in charge of flowers and accessories in the common areas. It is she who searches out ideas
Letters to the Editor: Dear Editor: We hope that all Beaumont News readers will consider joining us on Saturday, Dec. 3, for a special panel discussion, Moving Into Retirement, led by Dr. Dan Gottlieb, host of WHYY’s Voices in the Family. The day will begin with lunch at 12 noon, followed by the discussion from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Contact Audrey Walsh at 610-526-7000 or awalsh@beaumontretirement.com to register. —Audrey Walsh Dear Editor: Please accept my apology for mistakes in my article about Gettysburg in the Beaumont News last month. The sesquicentennial is to take place in July of 2013, not 2113, and my reference to ancient glacial rocks should have read, more correctly, “glaciated boulders.” —Carol O. Allen * Photo by Robin Daye Sally Herd’s handiwork includes apples and feathers arranged in a German silver vase in the Mansion reception area.
Indoor blooms . . . .
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The editors apologize for not catching the typo in the date—our fault, really—but can only defer abjectly to the author on the subject of rock formations.
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a professional floral designer is hired. Arrangements and decorations are usually seasonal, though sometimes an arrangement will remain throughout many seasons, depending upon how “seasonal” it looks; in some cases a basic arrangement may be kept with a change of flowers.
or a glass object is often used instead. If the Flower Room does not contain just what is needed, someone makes a trip to a local merchant. And sometimes, for very special arrangements, like the ones on either side of the organ and the ferns on the Green Room mantel,
The deadline for the January 2012 issue of the Beaumont News will be December 5. The Beaumont News publishes 10 editions a year from October to July. Please sign your story and either turn it in at the front desk or better, if you can, e-mail it to Mary Graff at graffs@msn.com. Please keep a copy for yourself! For back issues, please go to our website, www.BeaumontRetirement.com
The News invites letters from readers, including non-residents. Letters will be published or not, in full or in part, at the discretion of the editors. Letter-writers are asked to please:
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
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E-mail letters to Mary Graff at graffs@msn.com (home) AND mgraff@beaumontretirement.com (office); hand in at front desk, or mail to Beaumont at 601 N. Ithan Ave., Bryn Mawr 19010. Letters need not be typed (though typing is appreciated), but please write as legibly as possible and include your phone number (for the editors’ use only).
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Mary Graff Christine Johnson-Hall Louise Guthrie Jean Kirk Louise Hughes Kim Norrett Jennie Frankel Barbara O’Brien
Mining new friend’s memories, “new kid” finds enough to fill book By Peter Binzen I’m a new kid on the block and don’t have a read on Beaumont’s resident population, but if any man or woman here can match George Fabian’s life for thrills and chills, trauma and drama or just plain adventure, I’d like his (or her) name, rank and serial number. Fabian, who is 81, grew up in Budapest when the Hungarian capital was fought over by the two most murderous dictatorships of the 20th Century. First, Hitler’s Nazis occupied Hungary in March 1944 with their swastikas, their secret police and their persecution of Jews and gypsies. (A few of George Fabian’s schoolboy friends of Jewish extraction simply disappeared, but one of his closest pals escaped to Israel and became a prominent doctor.) Some of the homegrown Hungarian Nazis were more loathsome than the Germans, Fabian says. He remembers huddling over the family radio with his parents and his older brother, Leslie, for news over the BBC. If caught listening, they would have been arrested. Life in Budapest became even more perilous after Soviet troops crossed the border in September 1944. George Fabian The city was bombed by British, American and Soviet war planes, and close to 25 percent of Budapest’s buildings were destroyed or heavily damaged. “For almost a year we lived in the basement of our house to avoid the bombs,” Fabian said. “Living in the basement was dreadful. Getting food was difficult. There were a lot of shortages.” For a young boy, however, life could also be exciting. To pinpoint their bombing, Russian planes would drop flares to light up the city. The flares were known as “Stalin’s candles,” and George often ran out to witness the spectacular light show. Moreover, Hungarians never seemed to yield to selfpity. Instead, they joked about their fate. “There was never a shortage of jokes,” Fabian said. “Every day brought a new supply.” With the end of World War II, conditions around the globe gradually improved. But not in Budapest. As Russian troops entered the city another reign of terror began. Many of the Russian soldiers were illiterate peasants, unfamiliar with household toiletries. “Some
of them ate our toothpaste and swallowed our mouthwash,” Fabian said. He said the invaders liked children and treated Hungarian kids well, but the raping of women was widespread. His father closed off a room of their house with a “phony wall” to protect George’s mother from attack. Although Budapest’s schools were closed for nearly a year, as the city struggled to recover from wartime devastation, George Fabian’s education was not adversely affected. His upper-middle-class parents put heavy emphasis on schooling, and the teachers in all grades were very demanding. “It was old-fashioned,” George recalled. “Teachers beat your knuckles for punishment and no excuse was accepted for failing to finish an assignment.” His father, a successful Budapest lawyer, had studied both Latin and Greek, and George learned German. After the war, he was allowed to study English. He is soft spoken today but his English is impeccable. His parents admired America and were determined to have their sons emigrate to the States. In 1947, George’s brother came to New York. He earned a law degree at New York University and became a wealthy Wall Street analyst. On a day in May 1948, 18-year-old George Fabian left for the United States alone after graduating from the Budapest equivalent of high school. He flew from Budapest to Prague and then on to Paris, where he stayed for two months before traveling by ship to New York. His passport was good for only four months and, in any event, it was a “phony passport,” he said. Rejected by immigration officials, he was sent to Ellis Island for what he termed “the worst 10 days of my life.” His case went before Federal Judge Harold R. Medina, who recognized the importance of immigrants in America. (Some of today’s anti-immigrant conservatives should learn that lesson.) Fabian quoted Judge Medina: “The law says I should send you back to Hungary. But America was built by people like you. I’m going to let you in.” Thus began George Fabian’s life in the New World. He enrolled in Columbia, polished his English with roommates from Boston, Brooklyn and Denver, and completed studies for a bachelor’s degree in two years. An uncle paid for his tuition and he worked at part-time jobs to meet other expenses. Then he went to night school at the University of Chicago for a master’s in marketing. continued on page 5
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Remember darning eggs? Check out Beaumont Room display cabinet By Margie Manlove
When the Beaumont News asks you to write something, usually you are so flattered to be asked that you do it. Editor Mary Graff had seen my collection of darners in the display cabinet in the Beaumont Room and asked me to write something. I’m not sure if she wanted a piece about my collection or collecting in general. People collect all sorts of things from uncanceled stamps to classic cars, from coins to Old Masters paintings. They collect for all sorts of different reasons, often because of a keen interest in the objects or what they represent and sometimes just to show off. Collecting is a huge subject, so I won’t try to write about it. I will just write about my darners. That should be doable. First I should explain for all the (almost everybody) people younger than I what a darner is. A darner is a hard object placed in a sock or stocking to aid in mending a hole. (This is my definition as Webster’s Third New International Dictionary is inadequate.) There is a sort of sub-species of glove darners. Most darners are made of wood, but they can be made from many other materials such as glass or ceramic. Most American darners are shaped like eggs with or without a handle. Most European darners look like toadstools. Most darners are factory made but there are many homemade ones as well. Some are found objects such as a light bulb or a gourd. Second, you need to know that a darner used to be a useful object. I had one in my sewing kit and used it to darn a sock, perhaps as many as three socks. No
Photo by Robin Daye Margie Manlove’s collection of darning tools runs from plain to fanciful, even including a light bulb (not shown).
one darns socks any more. When socks get holes now they are thrown away or used to polish shoes. I collect darners because they are small, don’t cost much and are fun. I don’t know how the collection started, but I do remember having several plain wooden ones with handles, and my first child painting faces on them and dressing them as a puppet family. Perhaps that was the beginning of my collecting. I frequented yard sales and bought a few; one with a silver handle, beautiful laminated ones and another of plastic, blue on one side and white on the other, for light or dark-colored socks. My solid black egg without a handle, given to me by an older friend who had used it (I could tell by the scratches), is made of anthracite coal. I have one of celluloid with a fancy handle. When in London I bought several toadstool darners. Darners are an unusual thing to collect, I once thought, but there is a book about darners and at any Photo by Robin Daye time there may be 50 or 60 darners offered on eBay. I have bought several there and been outbid on several Illustrating a phenomenon probably familiar to collectors of other objects, a collection of darners attracts different types of sewing tools.
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Darning eggs continued from page 4
others. Some of the glass ones have been reproduced and some are being made as collectors’ items. These are to be shunned. As a darner collector I quite naturally by osmosis acquired a number of other sewing tools such as needle cases and thimbles. Perhaps the most interesting object in my collection is a sewing bird. (In the display case it is lying down on its side.) A sewing bird, or gripper, was used before there were sewing machines. Screwed to the top of the sewing table it held one end of a piece of cloth in its beak while the seamstress held the other end taut with one hand while stitching with the other. Sewing birds were not always birds and were made of wood, brass, iron and Photo by Robin Daye other materials. Sometimes they were com- Another view of Margie Manlove’s colorful collection in the Beaumont Room display bined with a pincushion. Some people col- cabinet. lect sewing birds. I have been collecting darners for a long time, but interesting ones you see and if you are interested in every now and then a different one turns up. My darners—really, really, really interested—I will get my collection will never be complete. Let me know of any other 150 out from their box and show them to you.
New friend’s memories . . .
Neighbors . . .
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After receiving his MA in 1964, he began a business career that included senior posts at major agencies and advertisers and eventually got him elected to the Marketing Research Hall of Fame, in part at least for his work with Coca-Cola. Along the way, he met and fell in love with a beautiful Scottish lass, Norma MacInnes, and married her. They have a son and a daughter and two grandchildren.
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former chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine. Elaine has a doctorate and an M.D. from the University of Michigan, with a primary interest in comparative anatomy and developmental embryology. She taught part time in those fields, and practiced adolescent gynecology part time in the Penn Student Health Service, until she was forced to retire by the onset of severe neurologic Lyme disease, from which “The law says I should send you she has now recovered. “I always worked part time,” she said, “from age 12, back to Hungary. But America in 1938, until I became a ‘Lyme-Head’ in 1988.” The couple met at Yale University’s School of was built by people like you. Medicine, where he was then an assistant profesI’m going to let you in.” sor and she was a resident in obstetrics and gynecology. Both in their early 30s, they decided if they —Federal Judge Harold R. Medina wanted children, she said, “it should be now, not later.” They had two sons and a daughter, and there are The equanimity with which he survived his early years was in evidence again when he was told in 2000 now seven grandchildren, ages 8 to 24. Elaine has a 2that he had contracted a deadly form of cancer and year-old apricot miniature poodle, Chiquita, and a might have as little as 2 1/2 years to live. When I inter- garage with diminishing stacks of moving boxes that viewed him at Villa 57, where he and Norma moved on she is trying to clear out so she can get her car inside Dec. 7, 2010, he was on his fifth chemotherapy treatment before any more snow flies. and seemed well. 5
From newcomers to neighbors By Jean Kirk
Grace and Bill Driscoll came here from Greenwich, Connecticut, to be near one of their daughters, a doctor at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, who lives in Haverford. Bill graduated from Lehigh University and Grace from Boston University. Bill was vice president of the American Paper Institute with offices in New York City. He commuted first from their home in New Rochelle and later from Greenwich. Grace volunteered for the Red Cross in Greenwich, and also served as a volunteer, conducting tours and assisting where needed, at their children’s school, Greenwich High School. What they miss most is living near the water and sailing their 19-foot sloop on Long Island Sound. Bill also crewed on ocean races. Grace played tennis until just recently and is an enthusiastic bridge player. The Driscolls have three daughters and seven grandchildren. *
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Photos by Louise Hughes Bill and Grace Driscoll
A few years ago Ann gave up tennis (balance!) and took up bridge. Preston graduated from Union College, and received a Master’s Degree from Columbia. He worked in Human Resources, mostly at the Nestlé Company. On retiring, Preston became a Professor of Business at Renssalaer College–Hartford where he worked for 21 years. He is a biker and now rides a recumbent three-wheeler. He was instrumental in the conversion of an old railroad bed from New Haven to Northampton, Massachusetts, into a bike trail, which he enjoyed riding. Preston also builds boats. He is working on one now in his garage. It is 15 feet with two masts and two sails and can also be rowed with a sliding seat (a modified Whitehall). Preston had a 41-foot sloop he enjoyed sailing on Long Island Sound, and also sailed in the “SingleHanded Race” to Bermuda. The Reeds often visit Boca Grande, Florida, in the winter and summered in Charlestown, Rhode Island, for 20 years. Both Reeds were divorced in the early 1970s; they married in 1980. Ann has a daughter and a son and five grandchildren. Preston has a son, and two daughters and three grandchildren.
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Ann and Preston Reed came from Farmington, Connecticut, to be near Ann’s daughter who lives in Rosemont. Ann grew up in Alabama and graduated from Sophie Newcomb College in New Orleans. She went on to graduate school at Radcliffe. Ann lived in Farmington for 59 years, where, for 23 years, she worked at Miss Porter’s School as a teacher and administrator. Of various volunteer jobs Ann remembers most fondly her service on the Farmington School Board and with the Farmington Historical Society.
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Dr. Elaine C. Pierson Mastroianni moved into Villa 7 on Pond Lane last July from the Haverford area, where she lived for 47 years. Her husband, who died in 2008, was Dr. Luigi Mastroianni Jr., an internationally recognized pioneer in repro- Dr. Elaine C. Pierson Mastroianni ductive biology and a and Chiquita
Photo by Louise Hughes Preston and Ann Reed
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Beaumont earns coveted accreditation again By Brock Nichols, Director of Housekeeping
Though its name sounds like a cackling hen with a bad cough, CARF-CCAC is actually the name of an independent, nonprofit accrediting organization that, if you or someone you love is considering choosing a retirement community to move to, is probably the most valuable tool there is. (The acronyms stand for Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities and Continuing Care Accreditation Commission.) If a community has been accredited by CARF-CCAC, you know it’s got to be good. Nationwide, only about 300 of the roughly 2,000 Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs) are accredited according to CARF’s exacting standards. Our community has been accredited since we first applied in 1995, and this year—though the survey process has always been stressful and doesn’t get easier—Beaumont chose to apply for it again and we got it again, good now for five years. The notice mentioned many of Beaumont’s areas of strength, including our overall financial position, especially as compared with the rest of the industry; our strong self-governing structure, levels of employee as well as resident engagement, high quality of health care services, grounds design and maintenance, and
staff development opportunities. At Beaumont’s yearly budget meeting Nov. 16, Health Services Vice President Linda Lemisch noted that Beaumont successfully met more than 700 standards set by CARF and received only nine recommendations for improvement. “That’s 98 percent compliance,” she emphasized. The reaccreditation followed a three-day on-site inspection by surveyors who toured, interviewed, and analyzed all of Beaumont’s operations. There were, of course, vast amounts of paperwork that had to be compiled (Mrs. Lemisch apologized to the Green Committee). These papers documented finances, strategic management, emergency preparedness, governing operations and performance improvement initiatives. Most of the survey process, however, concentrated on interviews. After discussions as to how best to illustrate our programs, services and lifestyle, it had been decided that Beaumont being both owned and governed by its residents, residents should be the core focus of interviews. The management team and other employees would play supporting roles. So that was how we played it.
Budget . . . .
about our new services and your transition to them. This week my temporary assistant, Jeremy Varnis, has begun helping those of you with Verizon or Comcast e-mail accounts to switch to a free service, as those accounts will be terminated when you transition to Beaumont’s Internet service. . . “And all of this is just the beginning, so please stay tuned.” In an interview after the meeting, Mark and Rich Bitler, outside consultant on the Wi-Fi project, offered these definitions in hopes that they might prove useful: Wi-Fi (variously spelled): A term with obscure (and mostly irrelevant) beginnings that has come to be an accepted quick way of saying wireless internet. Wireless Internet (Wi-Fi): Allows connections to the Internet without having to be wired other than to a power source. Cloud: Refers to all the services available by way of the Internet.
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As residents write their monthly checks incorporating that 4 percent increase, President Joe Fortenbaugh pointed out, they should keep in mind that: ■ “Everyone will be converting from their present phone carriers (though not cell phones) to Beaumont service, thereby saving an average of $50 a month, which effectively lowers the fee increase to 3 percent; ■ “In addition, 75 units have Internet service already, which they will convert to Beaumont service, resulting in an average of $40 in savings per month, effectively reducing fee increases to as low as 1.7 percent.” Joe said savings from the TV program will not begin until 2014, and will involve so many different packages that no number can be put on that part of what Mark Surkin calls the “triple play” as yet. “Next month,” Mark said, “we’ll begin powering up and testing our equipment. To get to that point, we will have deployed nearly 1,000 devices and close to 675,000 feet or 128 miles of cabling. That’s a lot of wire, especially since an integral feature of this project is a wireless Internet, but bear with me . . . “It won’t be easy, especially at first, but our immediate future is really exciting . . . “In the coming weeks, you’ll receive more details
IN MEMORIAM Marcella Isom – October 27 Richard Narrigan – October 31 Robert Ziesing – November 8 Josephine Borie – November 15, 2011 Members of the Beaumont Community extend deepest sympathy to their families and friends. 7
Haunted happenings Beaumont celebrated Halloween both indoors and out, featuring a haunted woods and a costume contest. At left, Louise Hughes, Beaumont’s new trip coordinator, who coordinated a trick-or-treat walk through the woods on the Friday before Halloween and presided as Maleficent, the wicked fairy in the Walt Disney movie, Sleeping Beauty. Above, apparently mumbling spells to help them judge costumes at the party that night are (left to right) Administrative Assistant Jennie Frankel, Dining Services Director Rose-Marie Pringle and Resident Services Director Kim Norrett. Below, left, Jenny Hadfield, recreational therapist, put in a plug for spinach, while (center) Flower Chair Sally Herd (see story Page 1) appeared at the costume party in a different role altogether. Outpatient nurse Mary Ellen McLaughlin (right) popped out from behind trees making devilish noises. Bottom row, left, Paul Conboy, electrical expert from Maintenance, brought a friend. Bottom, right, here’s that elegant environmental lawyer George Miller as a ’60s hippie. Photos by Audrey Walsh and Louise Hughes
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