INSIDE:
Ties prove to be knotty issue, Page 7 New Year’s Eve, in photos, Page 8
VOLUME TWENTY FIVE, NUMBER TWO
FEBRUARY 2011
A Valentine for our Volunteers
Artwork by Bobbi Rosen
When we pride ourselves on Beaumont’s being resident-run as well as resident-owned, we are really priding ourselves on our volunteers. This month, thanks to a happy coincidence, we are able to offer a Valentine to quite a few of those volunteers, and also to some of the residents whose volunteer work off-campus makes us proud to be their neighbors. The coincidence? Several contributors happened to offer stories involving volunteers, and one (Nancy Harris) allowed herself to be persuaded into doing a lot of research at the last minute. Her on-deadline story, about offcampus volunteers, is on Page 5. For more stories and photos, see: The lady from Akron who “just always did it,” below. Volunteers + donated duds = $220,000 for charity, Page 2. Tribute to a gifted lady, Page 3. Unsung card ladies keep Gift Shop well supplied, Page 4. Our committed committee members, Page 6. Helping get out the News, Page 7.
She walks softly, but takes many steps By Kim Norrett Quiet and unassuming, Marietta Homeier passes through the hallways of Beaumont sharing her friendly smile and warm words with residents and staff alike. She has been a constant here for more than six years. She’s never rushing; she’s always patient; she’s listening to every word of any conversation she may be engaged in, and yet, in her own quiet way, she’s always busy doing something somewhere on campus. Marietta co-chairs the Library Committee with Carole Morgan. Any day of the week one might find her in the library stamping, sorting or organizing or all three. Marietta also sits on the Resident Services Committee. As soon as she receives notice Photo by Kim Norrett that new residents are moving Marietta Homeier (right), in her role as volunteer salesperson, helps on-the-move resident Peggy continued on page 4 Campolo choose travel clothes in the Beaumont Gift Shop.
Weeding out closets? Save the good stuff for CCCC! By Nancy Harris
to be taken to the dressing room for trying on and a look in one of two long mirrors. Off come the street clothes and acres of human flesh come into view. All shapes and sizes abandon any sense of modesty and some rather extraordinary undergarments dazzle the eye. Workers from the Photo by Louise Hughes charity pitch in to help Nancy Harris the tireless committee ladies shuffle the unwanted items back to the sales racks, which are also constantly replenished by stock from the packing room. Puppies Behind Bars was the beneficiary of the Community Clothes Sale held in October 2010. The program places a puppy with a prisoner who teaches it as many as 85 commands. They learn to open and close doors, turn lights on and off, dial 911 on the phone, carry shopping bags, and even do the laundry! After 18 months the puppy becomes the companion of a veteran who has post-traumatic stress disorder. We were able to give Puppies Behind Bars an astounding $220,000, which is a pretty good incentive to return to the task this year. If you have any quality items hankering for a new owner, I will be happy to store them.
If weeding out closets was among your New Year’s resolutions, please keep the Community Clothes Charity Committee in mind. Members of the committee are busy even now thinking about next October’s sale, which will benefit two charities, Need-in-Deed (70 percent) and Children’s Hospital (30 percent). Need-inDeed works with students, educators and community organizations to help prepare young people for civic responsibility and service to others. Lucky women are invited to donate their best (as we say, “gently used” ) or unused, unwanted or outgrown clothes. Many stores also contribute generously. Beaumonters on the committee include Bertie Bell, Mary Disston, Kingie Dolan, Betty Sherwin, Tony Starr, Peggy Tilghman, and myself. The first order of business as the sale approaches is to hang the various clothing items on the proper hangers and according to strict regulation. (Green Committee please note—we send hundreds of wire hangers and vast amounts of plastic to the recyclers.) Then comes
Thanks to our reputation and a huge boost in TV coverage, more people than ever swarmed in last year for a chance at a prize. the fun part of meticulously examining, cataloging, pricing, and sorting each item. Designer clothes in A-1 condition get the coveted gold star and so on down the line all the way to the packing room to be saved for various thrift shops, Goodwill and so forth, and—if in really bad condition— finally to the garbage. In addition to the clothes, hundreds of pieces of jewelry, handbags, belts, shoes, and heaven-knows-what are handled by the Boutique ladies. Fortunately there are about 35 younger, stronger backs to help sort through the thousands of donated items. All the preparation takes place in 15 days. Saturdays and Sundays are work days. I keep saying, “This is ridiculous— we should have more time,” but in the end, miraculously, there is order out of chaos and the sale begins. Thanks to our reputation and a huge boost in TV coverage, more people than ever swarmed in last year for a chance at a prize. The rush starts when the doors open and armfuls of clothing are stripped from the racks
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
Managing Editor Production Editor Editor Emeritus and Historian New Residents Editor Photo Editor Events Manager Proofreader
Mary Graff Christine Johnson-Hall Louise Guthrie Jean Kirk Louise Hughes Kim Norrett Jennie Frankel
The deadline for the March 2011 issue of the Beaumont News will be February 4. 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! To see back issues, please go to our website, www.beaumontretirement.com (currently under revision). If you would like to receive the News in large print, please leave your name at the front desk. 2
Bobbie, at her desk, actually does know where everything is. Photo by Louise Hughes .
Tribute to a gifted lady who gives much to many By Sis Ziesing
stayed home for 10 years. She now has six grandchildren and two great-grandsons. Of course, being Bobbie, she was on the Mothers’ committees at Shipley and Episcopal the years she was home and rearing children. She opened a children’s shop called Young In Vestments, which she ran from 1968 to 1995. The late Anne Gibbons and Kay Oram started the Beaumont Gift Shop in 1989 with the help of Doris Mohn, who retired as greeting card manager about a year ago. Bobbie became shop manager in 1995, and has coped since then with the help of a changing cast of volunteers, though never enough of them. In and apart from Beaumont, Bobbie has 15 clients she helps with bookkeeping, taxes and other paperwork. She’s the committeewoman in her voting district, works at the polls on election days, sings in her church choir, and serves as secretary of the Lower Merion Historical Society, treasurer of her condo association, and secretary of Bryn Mawr Beautiful, a group of volunteers who help decorate Bryn Mawr in season and keep it looking clean. She’s on the Bryn Mawr Business Association Board and the Alumni Board of Shipley. For relaxation she enjoys Friday night Orchestra and the Walnut Street Theater–often, of course, driving friends to these events! For the sake of visitors who might need directions: from the Mansion lobby, take the corridor to the left and there’s the shop. (More about Gift Shop volunteers in a later issue.)
It is hoped that all of Beaumont realizes how lucky we are to have Bobbie McElroy as manager of our gift shop. She is not only a fantastic buyer of tasteful clothes, but a provider of many other lovely things: different kinds of jewelry, handbags, scarves, baby sweaters knit by resident Sally DaCosta, picture frames, artificial flowers, cocktail snacks, candies and cookies, cards, stuffed animals, figurines and much more. Where else can you buy a green, yellow or blue lipstick (believe me, they work)? How about a Wormle who tells you when your plant needs water? Best of all, net proceeds from the shop benefit our Health Center. Bobbie is also a fixer upper. Customers come in to have magnets put on their necklaces to replace recalcitrant fasteners, batteries are replaced in watches that have stopped, and if minor repairs are needed, Bobbie will tackle the job. A lady came into the shop complaining that a button had fallen off the shirt she had just bought. Bobbie sewed the button back on with a smile, and the lady left satisfied. It turned out she had not purchased the shirt at the shop (thought she had), but that was typical Bobbie, being diplomatic and kind. Bobbie’s family moved to Bryn Mawr from New York when she was 9. She attended Gladwyne Elementary School, Shipley, and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with a major in economics and a minor in accounting. While she was at Penn she worked Saturdays and summers at Bonwit Teller and ended up Assistant Buyer in the Children’s department. She married, had three children, and 3
Salute to the “Card Ladies” By Kim Norrett
One of the least appreciated jobs in the Beaumont Gift Shop—because it takes place almost invisibly, when traffic slows—is managing the greeting cards. The “Card Ladies” in charge of helping Manager Bobbie McElroy do this, since Doris Mohn retired as longtime greeting card manager about a year ago, are Joan Thayer and Barbara Clarke. First there is making sure the number of envelopes matches the number of cards. Then, as the holidays roll around, entire display shelves must be restocked. Once Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s are over they must make room for Valentines . . . then comes St. Patrick’s . . . then Easter . . . then Mother’s Day . . . graduations . . . weddings. . . births . . .and so on and on. Probably the hardest job, once a year, is helping Bobbie take inventory of the entire stock, card by card, both on the display shelves and in the drawers beneath. The auditors’ demands are relentless. Neither Joan Thayer nor Barbara Clarke is a novice volunteer. While raising a family, Joan helped run special events for the schools her children attended. Even now, living “across the river,” she continues as an Altar Guild member at her church in Chestnut Hill and is an active member of Beaumont’s Green Committee. Barbara Clarke worked at the Haverford School Thrift Shop for many years before taking a full-time job with the school. These days she volunteers at the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church and helps during Red Cross blood drives. I went card shopping at a local drugstore this week and bought five cards that ended up costing me over $16. Bobbie selects cards that are not only tasteful but
Photo by Kim Norrett Gift Shop volunteers Joan Thayer (left) and Barbara Clarke, standing, helped take up where greeting card manager Doris Mohn, seated, left off when she retired.
also very reasonably priced. Stop in and take a look. And if you’d like to stay to volunteer, Bobbie will welcome you warmly. Besides helping with cards, shop volunteers help customers with clothing and gift items, ring up sales (which benefit the Health Center), and have fun talking to the customers and each other. If you’re a new resident, and someone comes in whose name you don’t know, Bobbie will introduce you. The shifts are short, mornings 11 to 12:30, afternoons 12:30 to 2:30, Monday through Friday, and 10 to 12 Saturday mornings.
She walks softly . . . .
always done it.” She began in 1952 by joining the Junior League of Akron. Marriage took Marietta out of Akron but not out of the Junior League, as she remained a member while living in Atlanta, Georgia; Parkersburg, West Virginia; Dayton, Ohio; and Philadelphia. She didn’t have time for volunteering during the years she was rearing three children and teaching for the Radnor School District, but she later returned to volunteer work with her late husband, Harry, at the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church. There they helped with bulletin publication and the Interfaith Hospitality Committee, which was focusing on providing for the homeless. She still spends some time helping at the church. One would think that Marietta might be tuckered out by the end of the week, but no, she still reserves time for hobbies that include primitive rug hooking, knitting and reading. The phrase that comes to my mind when thinking about Marietta Homeier: ”You Go, Girl!”
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in, she makes it a point to meet and welcome every one of them and issue an invitation for a cocktail or dinner or both. If you haven’t seen Marietta in the library, one of the dining rooms or hallways, you might check out the Beaumont Gift Shop, where she spends more time volunteering. And it was Marietta who at one point took it upon herself to make sure that everyone in the Health Center received a hand-delivered copy of the Resident Services Weekly Reminder every week. She and a few other volunteers now alternate on this job every few weeks. (More about Health Center volunteers in a later issue.) Marietta learned about volunteering as she was growing up near Akron, Ohio. “Volunteering was something I learned early from my family,” she said. “By example I learned to be busy and helpful. I’ve just 4
Off campus as well as on, no couch potatoes they! By Nancy Harris
Minkie McAdoo is on the Pastoral Care Committee of the Church of the Redeemer and visits parishioners in need. The Redeemer provides about 100 meals a week for shut-ins in Philadelphia and Minkie is one of the cooks. She also maintains her former Board connection to the Orchestra as a member of the Main Line-Delaware Committee. Mary Disston is on the Horticulture Committee of the Morris Arboretum and is an Emerita member of the Board of the Springside School in Chestnut Hill. Anne Godfrey is on the Board of the Vinal Haven (Maine) Land Trust. Dr. Clayton Kyle is on the Board of the Rodebaugh Diabetes Center at Penn. Recently the G. Clayton Kyle Chair for the Professor of Diabetes Medicine was named in his honor. I am on the boards of Educating Communities for Parenting and the HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy. I help raise money for Planned Parenthood of Southeast Pennsylvania and am on their Advisory Board. In addition, I am one of the manual laborers referred to, with a number of other Beaumonters, in the article on the Community Clothes Sale. I’m sure there are many others who should be included in this treatise. My excuse is that the editor has given me only two days to complete the task. Please let me know whom we can include next time.
When asked to do this article on volunteers who work in the world outside of Beaumont, I immediately dismissed the thought of our oh-so-busy (but always can-do) Chairman of the Board, Mary Schnabel. Wrong! Mary is still on the Women’s Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where she is a member of the Graduate Guides. In addition, she works with the Ludington Library Book Club, which she started 21 years ago. I guess Mary exemplifies the old saying, “If you want to get something done, ask a busy person.” Others on the Museum Women’s Committee are Hannah Henderson, who is also a trustee; Anna Roberts, Sanna Steigerwalt, Peggy Tilghman, and Cynthia Drayton. Cynthia is on the Acquisition Committee for 18th Century as well as Contemporary Furniture. Anna is also on the Women’s Committee of the College of Physicians. We have quite a few Altar Guild ladies: Bertie Bell, Fytie Drayton, and Joan Thayer perform their duties at St. Christopher’s, St. David’s and St. Martin’s respectively. Joan Roberts guides at the Fairmont Park Houses and occasionally at Independence Hall. Lea Bolling and Sophie Donaghy are on the Board of Women Visitors at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Sophie is active with the Philadelphia Antique Show and Children’s Hospital. Wistie Miller is a member of the Central Committee of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Coming in March: another chance to dress up By Rose-Marie Pringle, Director of Dining Services
history. The same week (watch the Weekly Reminder for the exact date), Mrs. Mary Schnabel will give a lecture on 20th Century Fashion. She’ll also be a judge for the fashion show. Did you know that she once worked as a model, and was a stylist for McCall’s Patterns during WW II? “I spent a lot of time behind a mike,” she told me, “teaching sewing classes and giving demonstrations and fashion shows. I loved it all, but the fashion shows were the most fun.” Her favorite, she said, was “a special show I gave for the soldiers (all men in those days) at Camp Upton in Long Island, New York, with fabulous gowns and gorgeous models. “It was a smash hit!” Hopefully our Red Carpet Night will be as good as the smash hit at Camp Upton.
I love to see the residents all dressed up, the way they were this past New Year’s Eve (see photos on Page 8), when everyone looked so beautiful. So I thought that night, wouldn’t it be fun to have our own fashion show at Beaumont? I think fashion is what you like to wear, what you feel comfortable in. We create our own fashion, and Fashion is you! When I was visiting with Mrs. Marie Furlong recently, she told me some interesting stories about her work as a model and about some of her clothes. So I thought some more. Don’t we all have a story about some of our clothes, and wouldn’t it be nice to share them? So Beaumont is planning a Red Carpet Night March 3d, with residents wearing their own clothes and sharing their stories. Please look in your closets and plan to join us for an extravaganza display of fashion 5
Not just a pretty toy —it works! Beaumont’s new snow removal machine proved its worth last month as villa residents watched their driveways being cleared in a flash—a bright red flash against the pristine snow. Photo by Ann Louise Strong
At Beaumont, they are the bosses By Mary Graff
is the Music Committee, co-chaired by Dr. Jay MacMoran and Dr. Robert Morgan. Members are Dr. Herbert Diamond, Dorothy Maass, and Mary Yurchenco. Choosing wines for the dining room wine lists and other matters oenological is the Wine Committee, headed by Dr. Herbert Diamond. Members are George Fabian, William Graff, Alan Tripp and Susan Woolford. The reason you can almost always find something you would like to read in the Beaumont Library (including previous issues of The Beaumont News!) is the Library Committee, co-chaired by Marietta Homeier and Carole Morgan. Other members are Libby Adelman, Margie Baird, Jeanne Cortner, Jane Dearnley, Fytie Drayton, Tyler Griffin, Jean Kirk, Barbara O’Brien, Michelle Osborn, Anna Roberts, Tuppie Solmssen, and Mary Yurchenco. Bridge players who do not already know members of the Bridge Committee should straightway set out to meet Marion Snyder, chairman; Patsy Dushane, Marjorie Lott, Charlene Simpson, Sis Ziesing, Catherine Ogden (Chicago Bridge), and Marian Lockett-Egan. A new committee, the Environment Committee, based on the current Green and Grounds committees, was in the making as we went to press and will be described in a later issue. The Nominating Committee consists of John Butterworth, chairman; Dr. Elias Burstein, Marietta Homeier, Dr. Clayton Kyle, Robert McAdoo, Betsy Rhodes, and Sis Ziesing. And finally, a volunteer who is a whole committee on his own: Dr. (of veterinary medicine) Dean Snyder (husband of Marion), who befriends not only animals but also plants; does wondrous things in the Woodworking Shop for the benefit of all, presides over various and sometimes seemingly mysterious projects in the Crafts Room, and contributes thoughtfully, faithfully, and humorously to The Beaumont News.
These are the resident committees, volunteers all, who work (with staff, of course) to make Beaumont what it is. Members are listed alphabetically. Keeping Beaumont financially stable (and our luxuries affordable) is the Finance Committee, headed by Bruce Mainwaring. Members are John Butterworth, Richard Maass, Alvan Markle III, Adolf Paier, John Place, Maurice Webster, and Mary Schnabel, Chairman of the Board, ex-officio. Keeping our meals up to gourmet (and healthy) standards is the Dining Services Committee, headed by Joan Roberts. Members are Fytie Drayton, Barbara O’Brien, Betsy Rhodes, Arthur Solmssen, and Dr. Richard Warren. In charge of Outpatient, Personal Care (formerly known as Assisted Living) and Health Center matters is the Health Care Committee, headed by Marsha (Tuppie) Solmssen. Members are Rena Burstein, John Butterworth, Jeanne Cortner, Dr. Clayton Kyle, Jane Lillie, Gerri Paier, Dr. Kaighn Smith, Richard Tilghman, and Cally Wheeler. Responsible for ongoing renovations and redecorations is the House Committee, chaired by Marian Lockett-Egan. Members are Frank Boyer, Sally Herd (in charge of flowers and table decorations), Jane Lillie, Katharine Place, Bobbi Rosen, Eileen Ware (flowers in Personal Care), Nan Wood, and Josie Zelov. Charged with presenting Beaumont’s face to the world is the Marketing Committee, headed by Hank Hallowell. Members are Mary Graff, Carolyn Langfitt, Bruce Mainwaring, Richard Tilghman, Dr. Don Trachtenberg, and Alan Tripp. Helping Kim Norrett, Director of Resident Services, is a committee consisting of Betty Bole, Jane Dearnley, Elizabeth Dornberger, Marietta Homeier, Jean Kirk, Gretchen Mitchell, Catherine Ogden, and Marion Snyder. Presiding over concerts and other matters musical 6
Resident reflects on new dress code By Michael Strong
abandon their ties in relatively formal settings.) Actually, it is quite possible that what is being objected to is—gasp—Change! Change wrecks the feelings of continuity, dependable routine and security that are so important to many of us. Change, however, is inexorable. Even the Gasparilla Inn & Club, on Florida’s Gasparilla Island, which only a few years ago required men to wear coats and ties everywhere in the Club after 6 p.m., now allows men to dress after 6 in jackets and collared shirts without a tie. A few years ago, there was an issue about ties and being a “player.” Men of great and very recent wealth decided that they were so far “above” ordinary mortals that they could take pleasure in flouting bourgeois rules such as those requiring the wearing of jacket (or suit!) and tie when dining in the finest restaurants in New York City. They were regarded by lesser mortals as real “players.” They were promptly copied by “player wannabes,” and the fashion spread quickly, affecting workplaces as well as fine restaurants. Out beyond our community, “no tie needed” is the current fashion, and there are, no doubt, some gentlemen here who would like to be seen—or see themselves—as au courant and not OFs (Old Fuds, that is). There has been some talk to the effect that the policy about ties has been changed mainly because “Baby Boomers” looking at Beaumont might be repelled by a dress code that they considered appropriate only for OFs (which, of course, they are not and—at present—don’t intend to be). This is no small matter, of course. But enough! I must now go home, take off my tie, and watch a re-run of one of the better Eagles’ games. In the meantime, remember, as Alexander Pope wrote in 1711 (An Essay on Criticism): Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.
Beaumont’s recently revised dress code, permitting men to forgo wearing ties when dining in the Mansion Dining Rooms, was greeted with a wide range of comments. The range was from, “Why is there any fuss about ties for heaven’s sake?” to “Well! There goes the neighborhood!” So, yes, what is it about ties? There are several issues in play. Our community has—let’s face it—an aging population. The wrinkled or scrawny neck is not all that attractive, as Nora Ephron makes hilariously clear in her book, I Feel Bad About My Neck. Women have and use many styles of dress to cope with “neck problems.” Men have only the closed shirt or the turtleneck. The closed shirt looks very odd (in the Western world) without a tie hiding the collar button. That may be one reason men of a certain age like to wear ties, the ascot having generally gone out of fashion. Another reason may be simply ingrained habit. Some men feel more comfortable wearing tie and coat in the Oak Room. These may be the same gentlemen who would not think of making a summer Photo by Ann Louise Strong escape to the New England Michael Strong coast without packing a pair of deck shoes (to be worn without socks), light-colored khaki cotton trousers, and a light-blue shirt (top two buttons unbuttoned and sleeves to be worn rolled up toward, but not above, the elbow). That uniform sends a certain signal, and it is certainly true that some ties also send signals (for example, an “old school tie” or regimental stripes). Some men have strongly protested the “relaxation” of the dress code about ties. This might suggest that they (who will continue to wear ties at dinner anyway) do not wish to occupy tables near those who are tieless, particularly when the Grill is available to those who wish to be without ties, jackets, or collared shirts—grump! grump! (We should emphasize that no one is forbidding the wearing of ties here, and many men have taken no notice of the opportunity to
Helping get out the News
IN MEMORIAM Henry D. Boenning —January 1, 2011. Members of the Beaumont Community extend deepest sympathy to his family and friends.
Photo by Louise Hughes Volunteers stuffing envelopes for the Beaumont News (from left) are Bea Goldstein, Bambi Gay, Ann Smythe, Jane Lillie, and Marie Furlong.
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Dancing in the New Year Carolyn and Hap Aller, top left, trip the light fantastic, along with Margie Van Dusen’s daughter Elizabeth and her husband, James Leaf. Photos by Kim Norrett
Among staff members who gave up their New Year’s Eve to help residents enjoy theirs were (from left): Director of Dining Services Rose-Marie Pringle, Earl Oxendine, Kadeen McNish, Matt Hoban, Johvan McLaughlin, Keisha Hutchinson, Megan Cromie, Rheea Wright (hands on knees), Gabrielle Voutsinas, Nicolette Clarke, Robert Green, Taylor Thomas, Joe Hoban, Kristen Gaspari, Lauren Herbert, and Steve Hill. Below right, the artist who created our Page 1 Valentine, Bobbi Rosen, and her husband, Elmer; left, Curtis Chafee and Evelyn McCracken.
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