newsletter_october2009

VOLUME TWENTY THREE, NUMBER SIX

OCTOBER 2009

Welcome home, summer travelers For more vacation tales, at home and away, please see: A perfect day, Page 2 Bats invade Adirondack retreat, Page 2 Ballooning to breakfast among warthogs, Page 3 Year-round family fun at Eagles Mere, Page 4 Swimming tragedy averted, Page 4

Butterworths in Keene Valley, the Thayers at Upper Saranac Lake, and the Graffs at Underwood.

Other traveling residents were Hap and Carolyn Aller, to Kennebunkport , ME; Dev Andrews, Flopsey Borda, Janneke Neilson, Kaighn and Ann Robb Smith, and Louise Wanamaker, to Northeast Harbor, ME;

By Kim Norrett and Bertie Bell, to Prouts Neck, Mary Graff ME; Bill and Gigi Boothby, Beaumont's “Away” log at the to South Dartmouth, MA; Photo by Louise Hughes Frances Biddle, to Wellfleet, front desk has waxed and Playing a late-August game of croquet right here at home MA; Juanita Boardman, to waned through another sumare, from left, Carole Morgan, Ann Louise Strong, Jeanne Ocean City, NJ; John mer, and now we'll all wax a Cortner, and Dr. Robert P. Morgan. bit around the middle personBrittain and Tony Starr, to ally with Chef Mark's Welcome Edgartown, MA; Eugenio and Home feast planned for Oct. 7. (Menu, as of this writing, Giuliana Calabi, to Falmouth, MA; Curtis Chafee, to not yet revealed.) For conversational purposes, however: Sorrento, ME; Cliff and Penny Collings, to Weekapaug, RI; and Jeanne Cortner to Wilson, WY. One summer vacation spot familiar to many of us is

Eagles Mere Village, where Rena Burstein's family enjoyed spending time at their lakeside cottage. Another is New York's Adirondack Mountains, where John and Elsie Butterworth, Ed and Joan Thayer, and Bill and Mary Graff spent much of the summer, the

Also, Tom and Anne Godfrey, to Vinalhaven, ME; Hannah Henderson, to Manchester, MA; Clayton Kyle, to Southwest Harbor, ME; Jean Kirk, to Holderness, NH; Lil Lefevre, to the Aegean on a cruise ship; Leroy and Martha Lewis, to Manchester, VT;

continued on page 2

What's new? Slate roof, brain fitness, health care staff

By Mary Graff

New staff members, a new roof for the Music Room, new hours in the Grill Room, and a new program designed to improve our brain power were on the agenda of Beaumont’s Sept. 30 community meeting. · President Joseph H. Fortenbaugh III introduced new staff members Sharon Whitaker, Director of Nursing; Lea Culp, Resident Care Coordinator; and Jone Posey, Health Services Secretary.

· Work on a new slate roof for the Music Room (real slate, not the “faux” variety) will begin about Nov. 1. · At the request of residents who like to linger over and after a late dinner, Grill Room hours will be extended on a trial basis beginning Oct. 12.

Residents and guests will be seated up until 8 p.m. and there will be a waitress available to clear–“quietly,” Mr. Fortenbaugh said-until 10 p.m.

continued on page 7

Uncovering a perfect day, right here at home

By Carol O. Allen

lasted until 5:45. Walked home. The staff had moved the umbrella and heavy pot.

The mail had arrived and included the birth announcement of our third grandchild and an anniversary card from my sister.

Dave and I drove up for dinner. I sampled the wine and cheese at the wine tasting, earlier than usual because of the band concert scheduled after the evening meal. . Thank you, Wine Committee and staff!

Dinner was perfect--cold avocado soup, soft-shell crab in a caper sauce, fresh asparagus, carrots, and pecan pie. The Chester County Band was tuning up as we left to go home to our dry, comfortable, cool home. A perfect day!

It was Thursday. Although the calendar said June, it was a cold, grey, wet, dreary April day. The day ahead was full. I called Housekeeping to request that a heavy summer flower pot and umbrella be moved from the garage to the outdoor patio.

I drove up to the mansion with clothing to be altered, early so as to get to yoga class on time. Seamstress Kwi was quick and efficient. The substitute yoga teacher was excellent, the hour was well spent. Derek pricked my finger in the Outpatient office. He shared a photo of his sweet daughter and news of another due in the fall.

Home for lunch and a quick nap before walking up to the jigsaw puzzle in the library on the way to see “Australia”, which

Returning rested, not rabid, after summer bat invasion

· Rabies shots hardly hurt at all, and these days there are only four in the series (plus Immunoglobulin). · Weapons handy to bedside should include not only tennis racket and trout net or dustpan, which is all we used to think we needed just to get that bat out of there, but also work gloves and plastic bags, for transporting dead-or-alive predators to Public Health nurse for testing so as possibly to avoid four trips to hospital. · Contractors asked to bat-proof aging fishing cottages are likely to snicker a bit.

They wouldn't live in one of those summer folks' places.

By Mary Graff

Bill and I learned a good deal about bats in the course of this past summer in our aging fishing cottage at Underwood, in the Adirondacks. In short: · Those mysterious rustlings at night are not always just the old walls adjusting to changes in temperature. · If you wake up to find a bat in your bedroom, you may have been drooled on or even bitten without knowing it, those teeth being so very tiny and sharp.

Welcome home... continued from page 1

Jim Luther, to Winter Harbor, ME; Gretchen Mitchell, to Camden, ME; Gladys Monier, to Georgetown, ME; Gordon and Shirley Moyer, to Avalon, NJ; Barbara Murphy, to Stone Harbor, NJ; Mary Schnabel, to Waquoit, MA; Arthur and Tuppie Solmssen, to Vaughn, WA, near Tacoma on Puget Sound, Betty Webb, to Nantucket, MA; Josie Zelov, to Pocono Lake Preserve, PA; and Bob and Sis Ziesing, to Center Sandwich, NH.

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 Circulation Manager Medical Advisers

Not among the travelers listed in the log book this past summer, but nonetheless welcome contributors on this subject, are Sanna Steigerwalt and Anna Roberts, who delved into Sanna's rich store of travel memories to tell about means of getting there Sanna has tried, and Megs Butler, with a memory of a near-tragedy in Cornwall, England that had a happy ending.

Photo Editor Events Manager Proofreader

2

Mary Graff Christine Johnson-Hall Louise Guthrie Bea Goldstein Dr. Jay MacMoran Dr. Herbert Diamond Louise Hughes Kim Norrett Jennie Frankel

Planes, trains, and automobiles?

Try African canoes, Russian icebreakers, and Indian elephants

By Anna Roberts with Sanna Steigerwalt

Sanna Steigerwalt has traveled everywhere, it seems, and her memories are fascinating-not only where she went, but how she got there.

Here is a small selection of the “how,” mostly in Sanna's words: By water-Aboard a working Russian icebreaker in the Canadian Arctic. . . “Icebergs, sun setting on the ice, 'bashing' ice, polar bears. By Zodiac (inflatable boat) to see miniature flora growing on the tundra, arctic fox, hare, musk oxen, puffins nesting in grass tufts, screaming birds by the hundreds housekeeping in crevices in high cliffs.”

Living on a catamaran (16 people) in the Galapagos Islands, and from another Zodiac seeing land tortoises, sea turtles, diving blue-footed boobies . . .

On a riverboat on the muddy Irrawaddy in Burma, and on the only passenger riverboat traveling up the Sepik River, one of the world's largest rivers, in Papua, New Guinea. . .

“Poling among the tall reeds in a dugout canoe in the Ocavango Delta in Botswana. Trampled watering holes made by elephants and hippos . . . a tiny frog, the size of a small finger nail, jewellike in green and red on my palm. . .”

And a ferryboat on the world's deepest fresh water lake, Lake Baikal, “the Pearl of Siberia,” with flora and fauna found nowhere else.

By train-“Rolling trains have a rhythm of their own, the sound of the tracks, other trains rushing by, walking to the dining car, upper berths.

In Russia, sweetened black tea brought into the compartments at 6 a.m. In Singapore, tea was English style at 4 p.m.”

By balloon-In Africa, over the Savanna: “The filling of the tanks in the dark, being lifted up in the air as the dawn breaks, while floating on air looking down to see, hear, and smell the animal life below in the quiet.

“Landing, breakfast cooked on the balloon afterburner with warthogs nearby.”

By camel and elephant“One sways in almost a circular fashion; the other walks in a shuffle. . .

Sanna Steigerwalt

No howdah here. One of Sanna's modes of world travel, as demonstrated in a photo from her album.

“On a camel ride on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert in western China. . . purple tassels, bells in the harness breaking the silence as the camel sways along, with the squashy sound of its feet in the sand. . .

“Elephants seem better tempered.” A ride in Jaipur, India, in a box-like howdah, with seats, compared with a bareback elephant ride in Africa: “The astride position took a bit of doing!”

Choosing among her memories, Sanna says little about any kind of hardship. She does admit to finding “facilities not fantastic” on some trains, and recalls that in preparation for one train trip of 2 1/2 weeks, packing was not easy.

While waiting to board, she said, “one lady suggested a garage sale on the station platform.”

Correction: An article in the July News, listing Beaumont resident committees and their chairmen, inadvertently omitted the Wine and Spirits Committee, headed by Dr. Herb Diamond. The committee is very much alive and at work, choosing "Wines of the Month," taking part with staff in arranging wine-tasting events, and encouraging suggestions.

3

Family relishes generations of memories in Endless Mountains

By Rena Burstein

Eagles Mere, known to many Beaumont residents, is a village blessed with a spring-fed lake one mile long, a quarter-mile wide and 90 feet deep, nestled in the heart of the Endless Mountains of Central Pennsylvania, elevation 2,000 feet. It is a place full of personal history and memories spanning 48 years and three generations of the Burstein family.

The history of the village itself spans more than two centuries. A glass factory built in 1803 on the south side of the lake flourished until foreign competition forced it out of business 10 years later.

Families bought up land for summer homes, however, until by the late 19th Century Eagles Mere had become known as “the backyard of the Main Line.”

With the coming of a railroad built from the base of the mountain at Sonestown, several hotels were constructed and visitors flocked to spend the summer in the cool mountains.

By the 1950's, rising costs and uncertain bookings made the short summer season unprofitable for the large hotels, which closed one by one. But for many families who owned cottages, Eagles Mere had become a summer way of life. Even during the cold winters, people started coming to enjoy cross-country skiing and, in favorable conditions, a high-speed ride on the famous toboggan slide, in operation since 1904, which lands on the frozen lake.

In the 1960's the village re-invented itself as “the town that time forgot.” It was during this era that I won a weekend for two at the Crestmont Hotel as a door prize at a benefit for the American Association of University Women. And it was then that Eli and I

discovered Eagles Mere as a perfect place for children and family members of all ages. We rented the Cliff House cottage for two seasons and soon found a wooded lot 300 feet from the lake shore, where we built a cottage of our own.

Our cottage has four bedrooms, a living room with cathedral ceiling and a fireplace, and a small efficiency kitchen. Every summer (and some winters) since 1961 our family has gathered on this softtopped peak in northern Sullivan County for hiking and boating, fishing and swimming in the lake's famously clear waters.

We have been delighted to hear other Beaumonters' accounts and reminiscences of Eagles Mere. Bart Linvill told us that his parents honeymooned at the Crestmont Hotel. Jim Winsor recalled working one summer as a pinsetter in the bowling alley of the Forest Inn, and meeting Donna (now his wife) when she worked at The Sweet Shoppe. Marjorie Helmetag told us that from the age of two she spent her childhood summers there.

Eileen Ware was, and still is, a frequent visitor.

For ourselves, Eli and I still have a sense of discovery of what to us is a hidden treasure in the quiet beauty of the Endless Mountains.

Many years ago, my husband and I took our son and daughter, then 9 and 7 respectively, overseas to spend the summer visiting European friends who had children about the ages of ours.

We stayed at Newquay on the north Cornish coast for a week with an English couple who had a daughter a little younger than Meg. Our hotel opened right onto the beach, where there was a strong undertow.

Most bathers did not venture out very far, and our children just got their feet wet and enjoyed playing in the sand.

After a few days, we thought it would be safe to

leave Howie and Meg with our friends for a short time while we took a quick trip into town. We were horrified on our return to find that Howie, the stronger swimmer, had just been rescued by the lifeguard, who was then holding out his hand to Meg. She was struggling against the undertow.

As this had a happy ending, I had almost forgotten the adventure until last summer when Meg, now an adult, was visiting. I heard her tell someone about nearly drowning as a child in Cornwall. How deep are the memories of childhood!

By Megs Butler

Frosty fun as a family takes a ride down the toboggan slide at Eagles Mere.

Tragedy averted at Cornish coast

4

Just please don't spill on the books

books, badly damaged volumes, and The Library duplicate titles. Sets Committee under and fine bindings Co-Chairmen were sent upstairs to Marietta Homeier fill the bookshelves and Carole Morgan in the Music Room. is hosting a Wine The remaining books and Cheese Open were sorted into ficHouse on Thursday, tion, nonfiction, Oct. 8, at 4 p.m. biography, and referThis will be an ence, then each was opportunity for both cataloged using the regular library users Dewey Decimal and newcomers to System. learn more about our Shelving, other varied resources. library furniture and Volunteers will be equipment were purthere to answer chased. The library questions and note requests. Of particuPhoto by Louise Hughes subscribed to The Wall Street Journal, lar interest to many Carole Morgan demonstrates the new computer system for The New York will be the new, com- cataloging at the library.

Times, The puterized system for Philadelphia cataloging, using software especially designed for Inquirer, and The Main Line Times. Residents small libraries such as ours. were encouraged to donate magazines. More When the first Beaumont residents arrived shelving was added. The founders decided to there was no library, although a small space had keep the library open at all times and to have a been earmarked for one in what is now a part of volunteer present from 10 a.m. to noon and the Ballam Theater. The present library had 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. five days a week to do the necesbeen planned as a card room. Fortunately, sary daily tasks and provide help to borrowers. those early residents had a better idea: Without At first all library materials were print. a committee, but with many volunteers, they set Donations later began to include audio and to work under the leadership of resident Mary video tapes, followed more recently by CDs and Louise Anstine, who had a Master's degree in DVDs. Library Science.

Two computers with Internet access and printThe library was established in its present locaers are now available for residents and their tion. Incoming residents donated the overflow families to use. There is always a jigsaw puzzle from their personal libraries: Former Library in progress. Minutes of all committee meetings, Chairman Mary Yurchenco recalls boxes and pictures of residents (a big help to newcomers), boxes of books piled up waiting to be sorted. obituaries of former residents, and back issues of The volunteers quickly learned to discard textthe Beaumont News are all available in binders.

It's hard to know where to start exploring, but IN MEMORIAM new visitors might try looking among the 974s, where they will find many books of local interest Thomas V. Lefevre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 2, 2009 such as Street Names of Philadelphia and The Robert E. Taylor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 2, 2009 History of Old Saint David's Church.

Cyrus Landau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . July 25, 2009 Acquisitions are still primarily from donations, Marion Philbrick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 4, 2009 Margaret “Midge� Miller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 9, 2009 and among our more recent gifts is the 8th Betty Cosgrove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 14, 2009 (2004) edition of the National Geographic's Margaret Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 20, 2009 World Atlas, brought in by resident Carol O. Dr. Ilona Ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . September 22, 2009 Allen. We recently bought the Geographic's Visual World Atlas of 2008, but decided to keep Members of the Beaumont Community extend deepest the 1981 edition because of its excellent large sympathy to their families and friends.

U.S. state maps.

By Margie Manlove

5

A lifetime of gardening experiences and travel informs Hannah Henderson's garden in front of her villa, featuring evergreens and rocks, and punctuated by her fondness for color.

Amateur gardener's long, rock-filled matriculation with nature Photo by Ann Louise Strong

The plant materials were watered and sometimes fed for three years; after that they'd have to go their own way. Very occasionally I'd water trees and very large bushes, but only if there was a really severe drought going on.

Right through our last full summer there in 2006, I kept increasing the size of the gardens. Some years I did a great deal and some summers I did nothing. I kept my passion for usage of rocks and land contour and added another, the use of evergreen material.

There are many kinds of evergreens: large and small, wide and narrow, tall and low, soft and broadleaf, prickly and needle-y! It became a fun task to learn how to mix and match, contrast and compare, colors and types of leaf or needle.

My husband, Welles, was the Honorary Consul of Japan in Philadelphia for 12 years, and we made several trips to Japan. Ordinarily I like the Japanese manner of severe pruning and shaping and contouring various plant materials; however, I was horrified that when we were there in the springtime, this extreme plant shaping kept the azaleas from realizing their full blossoming potential. Blooms were very sparse-few and far between-no color!

Color-I cannot live without it, whether inside or out! Flower colors blending or clashing, makes no difference. As my space here for flowers is small, I probably will use a great many more annuals than perennials (which usually look better in large spaces) on my ground-floor terrace. My present flower “loves” are columbine in spring and dahlias in fall. I also love my two raised flower beds-much easier to care for.

Passers-by in front of my villa may notice the results of what I have learned about rocks, evergreens, and Japanese design. My mother, most certainly, is marveling from above!

By Hannah Henderson

For more about this new resident, please see Page 7.

If my mother were still alive, she'd chortle to hear that I had been asked to write about my garden.

She did know about gardens, having studied at Harvard's School of Landscape and Design. In her eyes, I never graduated beyond the “school of weeding” even after my 23 years of working in our own garden in Gladwyne.

In the fall of 1970 we bought our summer home in Manchester, MA, and in 1981 our daughter decided she wanted to get married in the garden. The summer of 1981 was when I learned a lot! A few places in the lawn held dirt-amongst the crevices between the rocks-and in more places the rocks were just beneath the surface.

For the wedding service, I started with clearing the lawn to make a place to seat the guests. I realized that I had to remove much of the earth or sod covering the rocks. We were on our second restoration of the house at that time, and money was tight, so I did most of the lawn work myself. Workmen on the roof teased that it couldn't be done, but I did it!

From that summer on I kept improving the grounds. I learned the importance of the lay of the land and rocks. I let them guide me in the design.

Increasingly, I used indigenous plant material and physically tough material needing little or no care.

6

What's new?...

At home in her garden, Hannah Henderson stands next to a Japanese stone lantern, a remembrance of her travels to Japan.

continued from page 1

· Thanks to a substantial gift to the Beaumont Fund, residents will be offered a “Brain Fitness Program” beginning sometime in the next few months. Mr. Fortenbaugh said the program “focuses on the auditory system of the brain,” speeding up and sharpening the ability to take in speech . . . thereby enabling a person to “think faster, focus better, and remember more." Look for more details on the program, dates, and times in the coming months. · Dr. Pauline Foster, chairman of the Health Care Committee, described a new “File of Life Cards” program to help speed up health-care response in emergencies. Residents will be given a specially designed envelope to place on their refrigerator doors with information as to primary-care doctors and their phone numbers, special conditions (such as pacemakers), hospital preferences, medications, allergies, medical insurance, and the “Do Nots” as in Do Not resuscitate, Do Not hospitalize, and Do Not intubate.” · Ann Louise Strong, chairman of the residents’ Green Committee, reported some progress in negotiating with Harriton High School and the Lower Merion School District over the sediment Harriton’s ongoing construction project has been sending across Ithan Avenue and downstream to Beaumont. Mr. Fortenbaugh praised Mrs. Strong for her leadership and both Mrs. Strong and Mark Hritz, Director of Grounds, for their hard work.

Photo by Louise Hughes

More about Hannah I grew up in Back Bay Boston. Our first home is currently either a fraternity or an office for Boston University. In 1935, we moved in with my maternal grandfather on Beacon Street overlooking the Charles River. One of my biggest childhood pleasures was roller skating for miles along the Esplanade, which ran beside the river and, since World War II, has been Storrow Drive. During World War II, I worked on the family's farm in Hancock, NH. I married J. Welles Henderson in 1949, the year he received his law degree from Harvard and I a B.S. from Radcliffe. We lived in Gladwyne, PA, for 23 years and raised our five children there. Welles established himself as an admiralty attorney and in 1961 founded Philadelphia's Independence Seaport Museum. He died in 2007.

In the early years my life was dedicated to childcare, carpooling (one year I drove 10,000 miles just doing carpool!), some gardening, and volunteer work. In addition to children's school events, I volunteered for the Gladwyne Library, serving as chairman and later trustee of the Children's Book Fair, and the Associated Day Care Service Committee. In 1966 I became a member of the Women's Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Later I was appointed co-chair of the Associates; in 1983 I became a trustee at the museum (joining my husband).

In 1980, Governor Thornburg appointed me to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and I served for eight years. It was a great deal of fun traveling around this beautiful Commonwealth and visiting the Commission's various historic sites and museums. Once a month we met in Harrisburg with state representatives-an education in itself!

In the early 1990s I was appointed an Overseer of the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, and I loved the job. It was my first serious volunteer appointment not associated with museums or the arts. The staff was so dedicated and yet very pragmatic and willing to face financial realities. I served until two years ago, when I turned 80.

My favorite sports used to be skiing and tennis: I skied from age 5 through 75, even doing a bit of helicopter skiing, and taught all my eight grandchildren how to ski. Although I can no longer ski or play tennis, I still garden and swim. Among my many interests, family comes first.

Laughter is the best medicine, but I still need to see the doctor Dear Diary,

I had this exchange on the telephone recently while trying to arrange a medical appointment.

Medical Secretary: Self: Med. Sec'y: Self: Med. Sec'y: Self: Med. Sec'y: Self: Med. Sec'y: Self:

7

Mr. Strong, have you been here before?

Yes. Is your address [pre-Beaumont address]?

No. It's now [Beaumont address].

Has your telephone number changed?

Yes. It is now [Beaumont telephone number].

Has your primary-care physician changed?

No. Has your date of birth changed?

(Helpless laughter, in which she finally joined.)

I did get the appointment.

By Michael Strong

This new house will benefit hospital Chances are on sale ($25 or five for $100) at the front desk now for the Victorian cottage dollhouse that has been taking shape in the Wood Shop since May. Proceeds will benefit the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

The drawing will take place Dec. 3 at a 5-to-9 p.m.

“Boutique” at the Merion Cricket Club.

At right, Beaumont electrical expert Paul Conboy and residents Tony Starr, Dr. Dean Snyder, and Dr. Clayton Kyle present their handiwork. Below, after weeks of painstaking work last spring, some of the plumbing is in.

Tony Starr thought up the project and served as coordinator and referee. She also shingled the roof, at home, where she says it took two glasses of wine to help her overcome the tedium.

Dr. Kyle joined in, as he puts it, with “very precise paintbrush and hammer.” Mr. Conboy developed the wiring, with help in a tiny crisis or two from Oscar Zeller, on break from his haircutting wizardry in the Beauty Shop. Dr. Snyder did a little bit of everything and won applause for all of it, especially for a minuscule, intricately carved replacement table leg he crafted on a regulation-size lathe.

Shirley Robinson donated some of the furniture, and Penny Collings needlepointed rugs for the halls.

Photos by Louise Hughes

The deadline for the November 2009 issue of the Beaumont News is October 9. Please sign your story and either turn it in at the front desk or e-mail it to Mary Graff at graffs@msn.com. The Beaumont News team is interested in items about residents, services, and activities at Beaumont. Many of our neighbors have interesting tales to tell, about their lives or careers, experiences or travels, but hesitate to come forward with them. Please feel free to rat on your neighbors. The News welcomes suggestions for interviews. It is the responsibility of the editors to correct and edit copy in keeping with Beaumont News standards. Contributions, suggestions, and comments are welcome and necessary for the success of the Beaumont News.

HOW TO GET A COLOR COPY OR LARGE PRINT EDITION OF BEAUMONT NEWS To get a color copy of this newsletter, go to our website, www.beaumontretirement.com, click Skip Intro at the bottom of the page, then click Read this month's newsletter, and print. If you would like to receive the Beaumont News in large print, please leave your name at the desk in the front lobby. A copy will be placed in your mailbox.

8