VOLUME TWENTY FOUR, NUMBER SEVEN
JULY 2010
Beginning a new life Michelle Osborn, a Haverford resident expected to move to Beaumont shortly, cuts the ribbon at a Marketing staff ceremony celebrating closing on her new apartment last month. Ribbon and champagne are part of Beaumont’s red-carpet treatment for increasing numbers of new arrivals. More about Mrs. Osborn in our next (October) issue, when we welcome residents who have bought or moved in over the last few months. Photo by Louise Hughes
Cuba: So well remembered, so sadly changed By Giuliana Calabi As a young child and through my high-school years, I lived in Cuba with my parents and older brother. We arrived in Havana after a difficult trip by train from Italy through France and Spain, then by passenger ship, the last one to leave from Bilbao in August of 1941, during the beginning years of World War II. I could feel my parents’ relief upon arrival in Havana. They would be able to send me to school with other children, and my father could find a job. A permanently blue sky, luscious gardens and beautiful architecture would be ours to enjoy. We settled in Havana, where the local population was, at the time, a mixture of the descendants of the indigenous people with later arrivals, Spanish, British and French, explorers and pirates. The good weather and relaxed atmosphere, the riches of the island plus
the addition of European immigrants so eager to provide for their families, all created a thriving and rich economy. The United States helped sugar cane and other agricultural industries prosper, and offered the island, a strategic port, some protection. All of us spent the years of WWII in relative peace. Unfortunately, beginning with the time of Columbus, a series of conquistadors of all nationalities, attracted by Cuba’s riches, succeeded in almost exterminating the native population, both by massacre and by the continued on page 7
INSIDE: Introducing 3 new committee chairmen, Page 2 Find out what’s growing in Nalle Gardens, Page 3 Casino Night photo page, Page 8
New chairmen for Health, Dining, House committees Profiles by Mary Schnabel
trust officers of banks. From these experiences Tuppie acquired a practical, common-sense approach to both life and end-of-life situations that will serve Beaumont well.
Health Care Committee: Marsha (Tuppie) Solmssen is neither a nurse nor a doctor, but she has spent almost half her life doing just the kind of thing that is needed to help oversee the complexities of health care at Beaumont. Services here include three levels of care, Tuppie Solmssen starting with the Outpatient Department, progressing through Assisted Living, and culminating in the skilled nursing and counseling offered on either a temporary or a permanent basis in the Health Center. Tuppie received a master’s in social work from Bryn Mawr College and then spent several years in the trenches, working with the National Council on Alcoholism and then with Resources for Human Development in Ardmore. In 1983 she and a partner, Marion Marian Lockett-Egan Thompson of Wayne, felt it was time to launch their own business, Inter Vention Associates. The two women became advisers, helpers, and listeners for a variety of clients. Many were older men and women, alone, some with no family, living on trust funds and not able to handle the problems of daily life and finances. In all cases they rolled up their sleeves, dug in and solved problems. The company flourished because it was a godsend to people like guardians and
Dining: You know the old saying, if you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. That came to mind when I was talking to Joan Roberts, our new Dining Services chairman, in conjunction with this article I Joan Roberts was to do for the Beaumont News. First and foremost, for present purposes, she likes to cook! She and her husband, Howard, would often try to duplicate something Julia Child had featured on her TV show. Their specialty was a whole poached salmon, decorated and served cold for a dinner party. Joan moved into 24 Pond Lane as a recent widow, a little over two years ago. You might actually call her a legacy resident: Howard was the younger brother of Bayard Roberts, Algernon Roberts and Brooke Roberts, all of whom had been, along with their spouses, Beaumont residents. (See poem on page 5.) Joan thinks those big brothers knew what they were doing and is glad she followed their lead. Joan’s activities and interests–she is an award-winning Garden Clubber, among other things–make the mind reel. Narrowing it down, her greatest interest is in the Photos by Louise Hughes
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The deadline for the October 1, 2010 issue of the Beaumont News will be Friday, August 27, a little early, to allow the editors some extra start-up time after the August/September hiatus. 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 a copy in color or print out a color copy, please go to our website, www.beaumontretirement.com. If you would like to receive the News in large print, please leave your name at the front desk.
The News invites letters from readers, including nonresidents. 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
1. Confine subject matter to articles that have appeared in the News (past News issues are on file in the Library). 2. Keep letters under 300 words–the shorter the better.
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3. Sign your own name, though requests for anonymity in print may be honored.
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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).
Medical Advisers
Mary Graff Christine Johnson-Hall Louise Guthrie Jean Kirk Dr. Jay MacMoran Dr. Herbert Diamond
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Photo Editor Events Manager
Louise Hughes Kim Norrett
Proofreader
Jennie Frankel
Nalle Gardens: Not your typical vegetable plot By Mark Hritz, Director of Grounds
Some residents of Beaumont have given up planting your typical garden vegetables and are growing plants that are not so common, at least for Beaumont. Dr. Dean Snyder, for example, has planted wheat and crimson clover as a cover crop. He also is growing persimmon trees and dogwoods. The trees are started in the garden and then residents with the assistance of staff plant them in select areas of our woods. Most of the trees planted on Earth Day 2010 were grown by him. He is also growing milkweed to be transplanted to various areas with the hope that it will attract monarch butterflies. Last year butterfly weed and ironweed were successfully grown and transplanted to the meadow. Dr. John Carson has been very successful in growing land cress, curly cress and spinach this year. Many residents have been growing herbs. Rosemary, dill, basil, tarragon, cilantro, thyme, marjoram, parsley, oregano and lavender have replaced tomatoes and peppers in some places. Mint, a key ingredient of mint juleps, can be found growing along the fence and elsewhere. A few residents are growing zinnias, lilies, and snapdragons to attract butterflies and bees that will pollinate the plants. And let’s not forget the great pumpkin. Patrick Nardizzi of our Grounds department, with the help of
Chairmen . . . .
Photo by Ann Louise Strong Gardeners Susan Woolford (left) and Betsy Rhodes heft baskets full of herbs destined at least in part for the Beaumont kitchen.
Dr. Snyder, is trying again this year to grow as big a pumpkin as he can. He’s hoping for 400 pounds. Last year someone picked up his pumpkin when it was up to about 5 pounds and dropped it, smashing one side. Pat was not happy. This year he’s been constructing a fence. moved to Beaumont I became a part owner of this place, and I believe in working to protect my investment.” Others have been heard to say the same thing, but it’s a point of view to be commended, and worth repeating. Marian moved to Beaumont in December ’08. Up to now she has not been a very visible person on campus, but the sale of her Florida property over the winter has changed all that and she will be in residence here for much longer periods of time. Her appointment on the House Committee will give her extra visibility, and she has already jumped into her role with both feet and has been working full steam ahead. Her biography is impressive. She has been in advertising for more than 40 years–27 of them as owner of her own business, DMS Communications. Some of the national companies for which she has worked are Scott Paper, Hershey Chocolate and Exxon Mobil. A native of Kentucky, she found herself, at a young age, a single mother of five, needing to make a living for her family. Her courage and resourcefulness led her to college and subsequent moves to Nashville and then Philadelphia. In addition to her advertising experience, she also has worked in radio and television. Now she is well on her way to another career–this time as a volunteer, at Beaumont.
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Arts. She has been a Park House Guide for the Art Museum since the second year it was founded 50 years ago. She also does volunteer guiding of the buildings of Independence National Park and architectural walking tours of Philadelphia under the auspices of the Preservation Alliance of Philadelphia. She has also been a paid professional tour guide in the Philadelphia region for 28 years. In this capacity she shows our beautiful and historic city to school children and adults from all over the United States and other parts of the world. Her interest in Philadelphia history has led her to write articles for the prestigious Antiques Magazine as well as several features for the catalog of the Philadelphia Antiques Show. She wrote a book on the Centennial history of the Church of Saint Asaph in Bala Cynwyd, and is currently finishing the catalog for an exhibition the Athenaeum is planning on the architect T. P. Chandler Jr. Here’s a busy person who is going to get the job done!
House: Marian Lockett-Egan got it right. Asked why in the world she was willing to take on a big job like Chairman of the House Committee, she answered, “When I 3
Wherein the ant is the good guy and the enemy is . . . By Dr. Dean Snyder
The ordinary passerby catching me staring at ants might consider that to be nonproductive foolishness. Others, in the know, would see it differently. Experienced persons would know immediately what I am up to. They would know that watching ants in the plant world can be likened to a detective staking out a criminal’s activities and that in this case the ant is the good guy. The only mystery about staking out ants is determining the whereabouts of the enemy, whose fingerprints in this case are all over the place. When solving white-collar crimes the catcher sets out on a mission to follow the money. My mission? Follow the ants. Why ants? Well, ants do not deal in money, they deal in food, any type of food, and when I see ants scurrying along the railing on my balcony I am immediately put on alert. I know there is food somewhere nearby, and the only food on my balcony is plant food in the form of the mandevilla plant and begonias. Now the trail is getting warm, the real enemy is near, but who could it be? The answer is found in the clues. Clue number one: The only possible food source on the balcony is plant in nature, and ants use plants to satisfy their carbohydrate needs. I already know that the ants I am watching do not eat plant tissue, but they do crave the sap exuded by injured leaves. Clue number two: Looking around, I spot a sticky
substance on a petunia leaf that has obviously been injured. Then a closer look reveals an ant or two on the leaf. A still closer look reveals the perpetrator. The underside of the leaf is covered with aphids and their eggs. The rest of the story is the ant/aphid relationship. The aphid, you see, has no problem reaching the food and shelter contained in and on the tender shoots and
Now the trail is getting warm, the real enemy is near, but who could it be? The answer is found in the clues. buds just bursting with luscious foodstuff, but aphids do have a problem of safety. There are many critters ready and willing to make a meal of aphids and their eggs, and so as if by magic the ant has struck a deal with aphids. The deal is this: Ant says to aphid, “If you allow us to share your bounty we will protect you and your offspring from predators.” The lesson here is: Know your enemy, which in this case definitely was not the ant.
At Beaumont, even the birds recycle A trail of shredded office paper from the compost heap led a resident work party in the Wheeler Woods to this nest, built high in an elm tree on a foundation of the paper strips. Grounds crew member Pat Nardizzi climbed a ladder estimated admiringly at up to at least 16 feet to reach the nest and photograph it. Beaumont bird expert Hank Hallowell said he could not be sure of the identity of the feathered architect. Weekly work parties are arranged by the Green and Grounds committees. Photo by Patrick Nardizzi
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This poem was written by the late Elizabeth Kurtz (Mrs. Algernon) Roberts, known and remembered as Betsy, beloved resident and sister-in-law of Anna and Joan. It was published in the Garden Club of America Bulletin in 1943, reprinted in the Beaumont News some years ago, and rediscovered by Mary Schnabel recently while cleaning out a drawer.
Crop of peas of course is through.
On Bugs
Now then regard the livid worm.
Oh sing with me a dreary chant
Appearing every summer term,
Of bug and beetle, slug and ant,
These creatures naturally are born
Of caterpillar, crawling things,
To eat our Golden Bantam corn.
Of sloths and worms and beasts with wings,
And their relations with delight to
Of boll-weevils and pests and crickets,
Relish on the red tomato.
Animals, infesting thickets,
No need further to confirm
Legg’ed creatures under hedges,
Utter loathsomeness of worm.
In your kitchens, pantry ledges,
If we’ve planted beets and lettuce
On your walls and under dishes,
No, the rabbit won’t forget us.
Thousand leggers, silver fishes.
Bunnies undefeatable
Roaches–all of them so fearful,
Render these uneatable.
Life indeed is far from cheerful.
Munching radish, leek and parsley
First consider bumble-bee
Beetles make these all quite garshley.
Buzzing, humming tunelessly,
Dig and weed while the mosquiten
Works to gather golden honey
Drills until he has us eaten.
Values it instead of money
Oh, the thing that makes us itch is
Ceases not incessant chatter
Crawling closer to our britches.
Bumble-bees don’t really matter.
Why get down on hands and knees
Take the slug who lives in soil
And clad ourselves in dungarees
That Weeders turn and till and toil.
Till some kind soul can get us rid
Worry over crop of peas
Of the homely arachnid?
That sprout enough to really please.
Can’t we ever lay to rest
Oh, foolish Weeder to believe
This insatiable pest?
The slug won’t swallow every “leave.”
What’s the use of Garden Tool
And when unfailingly they do
When bugs ignore the Golden Rule??? 5
Photo by Ann Louise Strong
Health Center entrance: from “dolorous” to delightful The circle adjoining the Health Center porte-cochère is being transformed. Already the three large, dark, and forbidding pines–“dark and dolorous” in the words of Grounds Committee member Cecily Clark–have been replaced by two slender, graceful and light single-stem River birches. The two imposing rocks, their smooth gray surfaces fully visible now, are a pleasing counterpoint to the rough white bark of the birches. Graceful deutzia plants blanket the ground.
— Ann Louise Strong
Spring cleaning Housekeeping hosted a scooter wash in late May. With residents waiting in chairs, reading their newspapers and magazines, housekeepers gave scooters the once-over. Showing off their handiwork are, from left, Ann Hill, Marilyn Scott, and Fevan Kassahun Photo by Louise Hughes
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Cuba . . . .
see. No fields of sugar cane, tobacco, or any other crop. Only one large mango plantation established years ago with help from Israeli government agronomists. In the ‘40s, the small cottages of the poor outside Havana used to have in their backyards a few chickens or maybe a pig or two. I didn’t see any. Why, with such possible agricultural riches, does mile after mile of land remain fallow, covered with dry weeds and no irrigation anywhere in sight? The few cattle we saw were all skin and bones. Cubans are being deprived of the possibility of being entrepreneurs, of creating or inventing a small business of any kind. They don’t have the means to purchase materials or supplies of any kind. A man who was caught with a bag of cement he was planning to use to repair the place in which he lived was arrested. Recently food rations like rice and beans were cut down even further. The “women in white,” who recently started marching the streets to protest the overcrowding of the jails and untenable conditions, have been brutally beaten. They are protesting the incarceration of their friends and relatives, those who have been in jail for years on end with hardly any food or medical assistance. How interesting is it that the Cuban government can afford to send its doctors to all the poor countries, and even though it seems that some of its citizens are cared for, Castro’s Cuba cannot even afford to buy medicines for its own. What happened to the flourishing industry which existed in 1959 when Castro took power? Most disappeared, some is being run by foreign managers. What happened to the billions of dollars or pesos that were part of the bounty of the great conquistadors? Part of our tourist itinerary took us to visit the campus of Havana University. Shortly before that my husband, because of his professional interests, tried to contact some faculty members of the Mathematics Department attempting to establish some dialogue on educational matters, but he got no response. Our visit gave us a chance to see the outside of the main buildings. They formed an imposing structure on top of a hill with a dramatic-looking flight of steps leading to the inner quadrangle, a small park with benches in the shade of beautiful trees. Several students were seated there talking or studying. Here at least I was hoping to find in an academic setting a glimmer of information seeping through the tight control that the government has over its people. I approached a young woman who was busy taking notes from a book. I thought that here was a chance I had to find out something about higher education in Cuba, where there seemed to be many students also from Third World countries. I inquired casually what she was studying. She told me that she was a law student, outlining a presentation on comparative law for a seminar she was preparing to lead. Which countries were to be compared? How many? Only two. Cuba and North Korea.
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importation of European diseases. Battles and wars never ceased. Even when the country finally gained its independence, it was not fortunate enough to find peace. A succession of politicians, whose only interests were power and money, brought about another revolution which welcomed Castro in 1959. This past spring I returned to Cuba, and the shock of what my husband, Gene, and I saw in one week is still haunting me. We went as a group of 25 on a “Charitable Mission,” which is one of the few ways allowed by the U.S. State Department for travel to the island. We were bringing medicines and money to the small remaining Jewish community of 1,500 that have not yet left. There exists, under its wing, a distribution center where the drugs and supplies collected are shared with the needy. With a constant influx of tourists from all over the world, the government provides five-star hotels with all the possible comforts found at home: hot and cold running water, clean sheets and towels daily, supplies in the bathrooms, and the most copious buffet breakfast we had found anywhere, even in the states. Touring Havana, we found a thin veneer of beautifully restored buildings on the main historical and municipal route. Colors in all Giuliana Calabi shades of the rainbow: pink, yellow, and aqua structures dating back to colonial architecture, with lovely inner courtyards, small gardens carefully tended, tropical trees, and even a small pond here and there. A few blocks away the contrast was remarkable: Apartment buildings which were originally in private hands had been taken over by Castro’s government and given to the local population at the rate of several families per apartment and usually one bathroom for all to share. The water supply? A few hours a day. I wanted to revisit the apartment building where I lived with my family, and also the building that served as my school from 1941 to 1948. Needless to say, the house where my family and I lived is crumbling. Several of the balconies have disappeared, while the few remaining seem as though they are ready to pull away from the wall. The school was part of a Dominican convent with a lovely colonnade, the floor paved with ceramic tiles, a garden on the outside and a patio surrounded by classrooms. Now it is a miracle the structure is still standing. It serves as a shop for the manufacture of costumes for the Cuban ballet. With a policeman at the door, I was not allowed even a peek. We traveled by bus to three cities in the eastern part of the island. While riding on the highway, my curiosity kept my eyes locked to the window. Cuba has possessed a very fertile soil, but there is much I didn’t 7
Casino Night was a winner! On May 27, who would have thought, the Beaumont Retirement Community, generally of a quiet nature, was transformed into Viva Las Vegas. Blackjack, roulette, poker, slot machines, what have you; prizes, Bananas Foster, and a Frankie Baby who did not favor Frank but certainly crooned like him. Next year more fun, more prizes, and maybe Elvis. —Rose-Marie Pringle, Dining Services and Casino director
Top picture: Nancy Harris, Lynn Ives, and Barbara Ann Murphy try their luck at Blackjack. Middle row, left: Marjorie Helmetag, Bobbi Rosen, and Joan Stuart. Middle row, right: Stephanie Arndt, Joan Roberts, and Suzanne Steigerwalt enjoy candy cigarettes. Bottom row, left: The makings for Bananas Foster. Right: Finance V.P. Dave Mustin and Resident Services Director Kim Norrett, handing out the (fake) money. Photos by Louise Hughes
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