Dec 2020 Eastern FPA

fiftyplus advocate

FREE | Published monthly

Eastern Edition | Vol. 46 | No. 12 | December 2020

The Poetess and Entrepreneur: Valerie Paavonpera page 13

tony williams Retired ballet dancer promotes diversity as artistic director page 4

Tony Williams with the cast of Anthony Wiilams’ Urban Nutcracker at the Shubert Theatre in Boston, Dec. 2018.

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Keep social ties strong during the holiday season

By Mike Festa, State Director AARP Massachusetts

WE MAY BE APART, BUT WE'RE NOT ALONE SOMEONE WHO CARES IS JUST A PHONE CALL AWAY. If you or someone you love is feeling isolated or anxious in these challenging times, a friendly phone call may help. That's why we created the AARP Friendly Voice program—a trained, caring group of volunteers standing by ready to chat, listen, or just say hello.

It's easy. Request a call by dialing AARP at 1-888-281-0145 for English or 1-888-497-4108 for Spanish, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. local time.

Certainly, 2020 has been a year unlike others. On behalf of our 760,000 members and all older Massachusetts residents, AARP appreciates the enormous amount of work the commonwealth’s elected leaders have undertaken to address the unprecedented public health and economic crisis that we face.

Older Americans and their families are being hit particularly hard by both the health and financial impacts of this COVID pandemic.

In addition, a recent scientific report elevates social isolation and loneliness to the level of health problems, associating them with a significantly increased risk for early death from all causes. Of course, social isolation and loneliness can become more common with age. Coronavirus, along with the Mike Festa upcoming winter season, will make social isolation worse.

We know that social isolation and loneliness are serious health issues. Forty-three percent of adults age 60 or older in the U.S. reported feeling lonely. Here in the commonwealth, AARP Massachusetts joined with others to create the Task Force to End Loneliness & Build Community. The goals of the group are to: • Raise awareness about the health benefits of social connection and health risks of social isolation and loneliness; • Provide simple, actionable ways for older adults and community members of all ages to stay connected and take action; • Frame the conversation around this issue in a positive, constructive, asset-based way.

The Task Force also seeks to take advantage of heightened focus and shared experience of social isolation to develop a policy agenda, including Identifying issues/challenges with potential policy implications, and encouraging Bay Staters to renew their social contracts as they reach out and build community. Visit www.aarp.org/ reachoutma for more information.

We may have all scaled back our personal interactions to stay safe, but that doesn’t mean we have to be alone.

Here are some steps to stay connected: • Measure your risk for isolation — or that of your loved one — at AARP Foundation’s Connect2Affect.org. This platform also provides lists of community assistance programs for medical care, food, and job training.

• Plug into the growing number of mutual aid groups that organize volunteers to assist older neighbors. AARP launched the “Community Connections” tool at www. aarpcommunityconnections.org, and also in Spanish at www.aarp.org/ MiComunidad, to help you find a group in your area. You can also request a “friendly call” from an AARP volunteer through the website or by calling 1-888281-0145.

• Volunteer to provide critical services. It’s a way to assist others while also helping you find purpose and avoid isolation. Visit https://createthegood.aarp.org.

• Identify vulnerable older adults in your family or neighborhood and make a plan to have someone reach out to them on a regular basis by phone, text, email or virtual chat.

• Reach out to a family member or friend by sending a letter or postcard. Enclose a photo or two in the letter to spark a fond memory.

If there is one thing that this pandemic has made clear, it’s that personal connections are immensely valuable and sorely missed. Let’s resolve to keep those links strong and vibrant during this crisis, especially for our most vulnerable family, friends and neighbors.

Of course, social isolation and loneliness can become more common with age.

Coronavirus, along with the upcoming winter season, will make social isolation worse.

Mike Festa is the State Director for AARP Massachusetts. For more articles visit www.fiftyplusadvocate.com.

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Hudson man spreads holiday cheer as Santa for three decades

By Ed Karvoski Jr. Culture Editor HUDSON -

G

Santa | 5

PHOTO/EMILY JOY ASHMAN, THE ILLUSTRATED ROOM

alen “Red” Isaacs of Hudson has owned five Santa suits and traveled on at least 20 fire engines as Mr. Claus over the past three decades. Along the way, he has observed awestruck expressions on the faces of countless children.

“There’s nothing like that look from a kid when they think you’re the real thing,” he shared.

Isaacs first played Santa Claus after a chance meeting at a supermarket in 1990 with Janice Taylor, his former math teacher at Hudson High School where he graduated in 1971. After accepting her invitation to play the guest of honor at a holiday fundraiser, he rented a Santa suit at the longtime Hudson mainstay Robinsons Hardware.

The Hudson Fire Department provided a fire engine to transport Isaacs as Santa along with his then3-year-old son, Joe. Together, they made a grand entrance.

Galen “Red” Isaacs as Santa gets a wish list from Iris at 2019’s Hudson Downtown Holiday Stroll.

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Tony Williams: Retired ballet dancer promotes diversity

By Ed Karvoski Jr. Culture Editor JAMAICA PLAIN -

L

ongtime dance educator Tony Williams draws on his two decades of experience performing internationally with major ballet companies as he guides dancers ranging from children to young-at-heart adults. Additionally, audiences are entertained annually by his contemporary spin on a classic holiday tale with “Urban Nutcracker” — albeit online in 2020.

Raised in a Jamaica Plain housing project, Williams was a street gang member up to his early teens. Already an active athlete, he redirected his attention away from the gang and focused on gym workouts after school at the now-closed Boston Young Men’s Christian Union. There, he befriended gymnasts who studied ballet to improve their gymnastics. Williams accepted their invitation to observe a ballet class.

“When I saw the class, I found that I really loved ballet,” he recalled.

“You could jump and move to the music. I liked that ballet was very

physically active.”

Within a brief period of time, Williams won a gold medal for trampoline gymnastics at Charlestown Boys Club and achieved opportunities as a skilled dancer.

In 1963, he was awarded a scholarship from Boston School of Ballet.

In 1964, he became a charter member of Boston Ballet and made his professional stage debut at Boston Arts Festival in the city’s Public Garden.

“Being a poor kid from the inner-city, it was hard to adjust to an elite world that I had never experienced,” he acknowledged. “I took

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every single class the school offered, worked very hard and could see that the teachers appreciated me. It was an exciting time, coming of age at 16 and 17; finding something I could do very well and being onstage for the first time.”

Williams progressed to principal dancer with Boston Ballet in 1967. Later in ’67, he started dancing soloist roles for several years with Joffrey Ballet, based at the time in New York City. His 20-year Tony Williams performs in Boston PHOTO/JOHN LINDQUIST performance career Ballet’s 1971 “Jacob’s Pillow.” also included principal dancer stints with Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the Gulbenkian Ballet of Portugal, and the Norwegian National Ballet.

His transition from performing to teaching began in the late-1970s in Greater Boston and throughout New England.

Tony Williams “I’d teach at BosDance Educator ton Conservatory in the morning, and then based on the same storyline, but takes drive out to suburban dance schools place in the present time.” and teach at night,” he said of his de“Urban Nutcracker” is now promanding schedule. duced

by City Ballet of Boston (CBB), In 1995, he founded the nonprofit which Williams founded in 2018. The BalletRox to access dance to a diverse nonprofit professional adult ballet population of students. His mission company follows the motto “Divercontinued when he opened Jamaica sity through Dance” while awarding Plain School of Dance in 2000, renamed scholarships for its youth apprentice Tony Williams Dance Center in 2006. program.

“I’m biracial — half black and half “In Boston, you don’t see a lot of white — and I was born in Italy, so black people dancing in ballet compaI’m also multicultural,” he explained. nies,” Williams noted. “City Ballet of “I wanted to have a dance school with Boston and ‘Urban Nutcracker’ reflect folks from different backgrounds. I the growing diversity of Boston.” decided to come back to my homeLearn more about CBB at Citytown to start the school because JaBalletofBoston.org and facebook. maica Plain is very diverse racially and com/CityBalletBoston. socioeconomically.”

When his school opened in 2000, The recording of the 2019 17 of the 60 students were boys in hip-hop and tap classes. Williams inproduction of Anthony Williams’ corporated these dance styles and a Urban Nutcracker will be streamed: musical variation into a Boston-centric production. His annual “Urban Friday, Dec. 4, at 7 p.m.

Nutcracker” debuted in 2001.

Sunday, Dec. 13, at 2 p.m.

“I didn’t want to do the traditional Tchaikovsky ‘Nutcracker’ that I was Saturday, Dec. 19, at 7 p.m. raised on as a young dancer,” he reThursday, Dec. 24, 7 p.m. layed. “I somehow came across Duke Ellington’s big band, jazz orchestraTicket details TBA. tion of ‘The Nutcracker.’ I had these More information will be available hip-hop and tap dancers, so I thought I’d do something contemporary. It’s at urbannutcracker.com.

When I saw the class, I found that I really loved ballet. You could jump and move to the music. I liked that ballet was very physically active.

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Hudson man spreads holiday cheer as Santa for three decades Santa | from page 3

people passed by and took pictures.”

Also for several years, Isaacs appeared as Santa at The Paper Store in Hudson.

His other appearances have included private house parties, fundraisers and community and corporate events.

“Over the years, I’ve learned how to answer the kids’ questions,” he noted.

“They’ll always ask me, ‘Where’s the sleigh?’ I tell them that I parked my sleigh at the school – and, of course, they Galen “Red” Isaacs as Santa meets A.J. Wade at think it’s at their 2018’s Hudson Downtown Holiday Stroll. school. It’s never not worked because there’s always a school somewhere.”

Among his Santa stints in recent Likewise, Isaacs figured how to years are Hudson Business Associacoax fidgety children to pose with him tion’s annual Hudson Downtown Holwhen he does photo shoots at busiiday Stroll, as well as merchants’ visits nesses and community events. organized by Hudson Downtown “I ask them if they would take a Business Improvement District. Also picture with me so I can show it to in Hudson, he has done photo sessions Mrs. Claus,” he revealed. “It works at Avidia Bank’s main branch. most of the time because they don’t His nearby appearances have inwant to disappoint Mrs. Claus.” cluded Slater’s in Bolton for over 20

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“My favorite memory is holding my son’s hand and walking into the building,” he recalled. “Joe was very excited.”

Even since Isaacs’ Santa debut, he has had a natural full beard. In 1990, however, his beard was solid red – hence, his nickname, “Red.” He relied on hair-dye spray to transform his red beard to white.

For several years, the special destination of his many fire engine rides was the Massachusetts Statehouse for a tree lighting followed by a festive gathering with children. Those appearances began after Isaacs’ surprise visit as Santa on Christmas Eve to the Hudson family home of then-Gov. Argeo Paul Cellucci and his wife Jan. Isaacs’ statehouse appearances continued into the terms of former governors Jane Swift and Mitt Romney. Throughout those years, his mode of transportation ranged from a golf cart camouflaged as a sleigh to a particularly distinctive fire engine.

“I was brought in once on a 1966 American LaFrance fire engine from the Boston Fire Museum,” he recounted. “Waiting for them to bring me up to the statehouse, we were parked on Charles Street for a half-hour while

Galen “Red” Isaacs years, Sudbury Fire Department’s holiday party and Stow Women’s Club’s Breakfast with Santa.

Last year, Isaacs invested in a custom-made Santa suit created by Pierre’s Costumes in Philadelphia. He was pleased to wear the new suit at his hometown’s 2019 downtown stroll.

Like many major events, the usual multi-activity stroll won’t take place in 2020 due to pandemic safety concerns.

“Last year was my best year ever because I was so comfortable in that beautiful suit,” Isaacs noted. “Hopefully, I’ll be back next year.”

Instead of the stroll this year, Isaacs as Santa will spread holiday cheer with a drive-by Saturday, Dec. 5, from 5 to 7 p.m., in downtown Hudson.

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Camellia Gardens

A warm, safe all-inclusive independent living community

By Lauren Schiffman Contributing Writer MAYNARD -

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ituated near a currently-under construction shopping center, Camellia Gardens in Maynard is all about location, location, location. With a Market Basket grocery store, banks, an urgent care center, restaurants, shops, beauty and fitness options footsteps away from the entrance, “there’s no other community like us in this area,” says Cynthia, Marketing Manager for the all-inclusive independent living community.

While the shopping center provides conveniences just outside of their apartments, residents can also enjoy the community’s private, serene backyard, which boasts 10 raised garden beds, a fire pit and an inviting pergola perfect for outdoor events and get-togethers.

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model for living. With no buy-in fees and no long term lease, Camellia Gardens offers a simple month-to-month rental. Residents pay a flat monthly fee that includes utilities; cable television; weekly housekeeping and linen service; and local transportation for medical appointments, outings, errands and shopping.

Using fresh herbs from the resident-tended garden, Camellia Gardens’ chef prepares three daily meals cooked from scratch; very little is served out of a can or a box. “If a resident is eating mashed potatoes, the kitchen staff has peeled 500 potatoes,” Cynthia said.

Residents may also take advantage of the many amenities offered at Camellia Gardens: a beauty/barber shop; a cozy library adorned with a double-sided fireplace; a game room with poker and pool tables; state-of-the art movie theater with stadium seats, where residents can watch movies, TV, lectures and concerts. An on-site fitness center, chapel and an impressive outdoor veranda with beautiful views of the landscapes and woods rounds out the ways in which residents can spend their time in their community.

As an additional service, Camellia Gardens offers optional home care ser-

vices through Home Care Solutions, which occupies a first-floor office. Residents and their family members can conveniently consult with one of the home care professionals about providing additional care, which includes physical and occupational therapies and personal care services like medication reminders, errands, escorts and laundry.

“Residents have the best of both worlds” says Cynthia.

“They’re able to stay in a vibrant, active environment as they safely age in place.”

A four-floor community, Camellia Gardens boasts two elevators and 143 apartments. Studio apartments measure between 388-square-feet to 550-square-feet; one bedroom apartments between 482-square-feet and934 square-feet; and two-bedroom apartments range from 934-square-feet to 1,083-square-feet.

Cynthia said that there’s “really good energy flowing through the community” due in part to its open floor plan and abundance of windows and ample natural light. Hallways and

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The Branches - Marlboro, Framingham Lake Street Estates - Shrewsbury Camellia Gardens - Maynard Artisan at Hudson - Hudson

Publisher/Sales Director: David Bagdon 508-366-5500 Managing Editor: Bonnie Adams ext. 14

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doorways are wider than standard and all common area furnishings are handpicked for resident safety, comfort and ease. Walk-in showers have safety bars and pull cords installed in the event of emergency.

Emergency availability is key and partially highlights the community’s “greatest asset:” Camellia Gardens’ livein managers. They go above and beyond.

They live in the community with the residents, they eat with the residents, and their office is open and welcome to residents and family members seven days a week. They even personally pour the coffee and tea for every resident at every meal to deepen their relationships.

The 90 residents who currently live at Camellia Gardens each received a COVID-19 test upon move-in. All local, Massachusetts and CDC guidelines are honored and strictly enforced to prevent COVID from entering the building. Cynthia said that some residents have commented that they feel much safer in the community than they did at home.

Camellia Gardens “hasn’t lost a beat to COVID,” Cynthia added. She added that the primary focus of the management and staff is to “be of service to our seniors and to keep them safe. You can feel the thought, love and devotion that goes into every decision and every act we do for our beloved residents,” she added.

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Fifty Plus Advocate is published monthly, 12 times annually by Bagdon Advertising, 32 South Street, Westborough, MA 01581.

Fifty Plus Advocate accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or materials and does not return them to sender. Retractions for any inaccuracies will be printed when necessary.

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ArtSpace Maynard’s director takes topical artworks on the road

By Ed Karvoski Jr. Culture Editor

Left: Jerry Beck

MAYNARD -

Below: Jerry Beck and Coraly Rivera with “The Corona/Crown Project” art mobiles outside ArtSpace Maynard

J

erry Beck has creatively covered a lot of ground with public art projects since relocating from his home state of Florida to Massachusetts in the 1980s.

He’s the founder and former artistic director of The Revolving Museum (TRM), a nomadic cultural organization.

Currently serving as executive director of ArtSpace Maynard, he has literally driven topical artworks through much of central and eastern Massachusetts.

“We’re on the cusp of a cultural revolution,” he said of public art participants.

While studying at Florida State University, Beck exhibited off-campus public art throughout Tallahassee.

“Early on, I rebelled against object focus art,” he recalled. “As an 18-yearold, I did art projects with my peers and even art teachers in abandoned spaces all over Tallahassee.”

After graduating from FSU with a BFA in 1981, Beck relocated to attend Boston’s School of the Muse-

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Artists and people from all backgrounds are joining together to fight the issues that we’re facing now – from COVID-19 to racism.

Jerry Beck Executive Director of ArtSpace Maynard um of Fine Arts at Tufts University.

Once again, he transformed abandoned and underutilized spaces into public artwork. While some faculty were supportive, others would have preferred he displayed art on campus, Beck noted.

“It has changed a lot, but back then it was more traditional there,” he explained. “In Tallahassee, I could do anything at any time at any place.

This was much different, so I dropped out of school in 1983.”

In 1984, Beck visited Thunder Mountain Monument in Nevada, expressly to meet Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder.

“Being out there in the middle of the desert with him was a life-altering experience,” Beck relayed. “His vision to build the monument was inspired

by Native American philosophy and culture. It made me realize that if he could create an amazing participatory

environment with no money, that I could create my own museum.”

Upon returning to Boston, Beck founded TRM with “The Little Train that Could… Show,” held in 12 abandoned railroad cars stationed along the city’s waterfront.

“We had every kind of art you can imagine,” he said of TRM’s inaugural project.

From 1988 to 1999, TRM occupied its first brick-and-mortar home, a donated 30,000-square-foot space in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood.

Beck returned to graduate school and earned an MFA in 1991. TRM moved to Lowell in 2002.

“I left the museum in 2009 for a variety of reasons,” Beck noted. He resumed directing TRM in 2015 in Fitchburg.

In September 2019, Beck began as executive director of ArtSpace Maynard. Its 55,000-square-foot

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Black Lives Matter ralliers with an art mobile of “Wear the Mask and Speak Out” at Dorchester’s Town Field

building houses a gallery, studios for 80 artists, and a community theater group known as Acme Theater.

Beck’s wife, Coraly Rivera, is now TRM’s artistic director.

The two nonprofit cultural arts organizations collaborated in May for tours of two art mobiles titled “The Corona/Crown Project.”

Starting from ArtSpace Maynard, the project traveled to communities

throughout Worcester and Essex counties, and Greater Boston.

Rivera drove a 1957 Dodge Coronet decorated with depictions of “cure cells” created by over 200 artists. It towed a 10-foot sculpted head accessorized with a face mask.

Meanwhile, Beck drove a 1952 Ford pickup truck covered with bilingual poems encouraging health ArtSpace | 10

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losing their friends and family members, you realize the power of public art and acknowledging what we need to do as a community to be safe.”

On June 19, the two organizations joined forces with Boston educator and activist Darren Wells for a traveling art project titled “Wear the Mask and Speak Out.” Aligned with nationwide protests for racial justice and marking Juneteenth, its destination was a Black Lives Matter rally at Dorchester’s Town Field.

“Artists and peoDarren Wells atop an art mobile of “Wear the Mask ple from all backand Speak Out” at Boston’s City Hall Plaza grounds are joining together to fight the ArtSpace | from page 8 issues that we’re facing now – from COVID-19 to racism,” Beck shared. vigilance. It hauled a trailer carrying “Art plays a critical role in supporting coronavirus-inspired art. world cultures.”

“It was a profound experience, Find more information about especially when we went into the ArtSpace Maynard at artspacehardest hit neighborhoods in Chelmaynard.com and facebook.com/ sea and Lawrence,” Beck recounted.

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From biotech lawyer to published children’s book author

By Jane Keller Gordon Assistant Editor

“My parents moved 19 times and lived all over the world,” she said.

She attended the American School in London. At 18, with one suitcase, she flew to the United States to attend Lehigh University.

“I hadn’t been in the States in a couple of years at that point. I thought that I was a European,” she commented.

At Lehigh, Malone followed the footsteps of her father, an engineer, but found her niche in political science and international relations. Next came law school at Suffolk University in Boston.

“Achieving goals was important in my family,” she said. “The skill set for law came to me more naturally than engineering.”

After graduating from law school in 1985, Malone was hired by the then oldest law firm in Boston. By 1989, she had been married for four years, had a son, and was living in Newton.

And then the firm dissolved.

Over the next 25 years, Malone applied her legal expertise at a clinical lab company, a medical device startup, and a biotech research company.

In every case, she dealt with compli-

S

ome stories start with a blink of an eye. For Cheryl Malone’s award-winning picture book “Dario and the Whale,” that blink happened in 2011 on a cool foggy April morning. Malone was attending a monthlong residency at the Norman Mailer Writers’ Colony in Provincetown, along with Chief, her Wheaten Terrier.

“We were walking along the beach and could see a young whale feeding on the surface,” Malone recalled. “Chief barked and the whale picked up his head and looked at us.

The whale, the dog, and me. It was unbelievable.”

“Dario and the Whale” was published in 2016, followed by “Elephants Walk Together” in 2017. Both are available on Amazon. Before becoming a published author, Malone had traveled the world, worked as a successful biotech lawyer and a dog trainer, and for a time was a single parent.

Born in New Jersey, she never lived there. Malone was raised mostly in Europe.

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Biotech lawyer | 14

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• 13

The Poetess and Entrepreneur:

Valerie Paavonpera

By Peg Lopata Contributing Writer IPSWITCH

V

alerie Paavonpera, 64, is a brave and adaptable woman. Not many would leave their dream job, their country, or feel at home practically anywhere on earth. For 40 years, Paavonpera has lived abroad, including two decades in Australia. For the past 10 years, she’s lived in various locales throughout New England, including her hometown of Ipswich, MA. This was not in her plans, but a poem she wrote happily landed her here. Her current address is Charlestown, South Carolina where the warmer climate should make life a bit easier for her and her family.

Poetess and businesswoman? Yes, that’s Paavonpera. But running her own business wasn’t in the plans, either. Her company, VPR Media and Marketing, was a spontaneous creation.

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“I left my dream job in Sydney, Australia as deputy head of publicity for a national public broadcaster because Pekka, my husband, was offered a job in North Queensland, Australia. I was intent to take a bit of time off, to comfortably settle into new surrounds. Then, one day I was told the area’s city council was planning a major international celebratory event. It sounded awesome.

I landed the job for communications, marketing, planning, and executing the event. I decided that very week that I would create my own business,” explained Paavonpera.

That was 25 years ago. Her company, albeit somewhat modified, is still in business today. In 2001, when Paavonpera and Pekka, a native of Finland, left Australia for the U.S., they decided to become business partners. Their clients, from governments and nonprofits, to private industry are from all over the world, including such places as Iceland, Corfu, and the United Arab Emirates.

Said Paavonpera, “I do what I do best – communicating proficiently in writing and in voice. I listen attentively to my clients and advise accordingly.”

This business is well-suited for a woman who loves people, traveling, and collaborating with different cultures.

Worldly traveler, business owner, poetess; enjoying friends and family---she has two grown children, a daughter, Irjaliina and a son, Jay---it all made for a good life. Then two curve balls of massive proportions were thrown her way.

In August 2019, Pekka suffered a spinal cord injury and became a paraplegic.

Then came the coronavirus pandemic. What lay ahead was not only daunting, it was frightening. How would they manage Pekka’s care? Could they keep from catching the virus? Where would Paavonpera find respite from all the demands?

Luckily, awhile back she had written a poem about the novelist John Updike.

Poetess | 14

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14 •

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From biotech lawyer to published children’s book author Biotech lawyer | from page 12

cated issues and rose to the top. Also, in every case, the company was sold.

Her final biotech legal stint was as a consultant.

On the personal side, in 1996, Malone left a difficult marriage. Her son was 8 and by then, she had a daughter who was 5. Malone found comfort living in Newton.

“My kids grew up running in and out of our neighbors’ [homes],” she said. “Our street is so diverse. When someone had a birthday party, there would be songs in 15 languages. It was so comforting to me given how I grew up.”

She met her second husband in 1999 and they married in 2006.

“He is an extraordinary guy who went into an orphanage at the age of 5 and was adopted at 9. If anyone can understand someone else’s children, it’s someone who was adopted,” she said. “His son was 15 when I met him.

Now he’s 36 and he is a son to me.”

Malone had always wanted to learn how to write fiction.

“It’s like learning to paint or play an instrument,” she noted. “There are rules.”

With her husband’s encouragement, Malone gave up law and earned an MFA in creative writing from Lesley University in 2010. Afterwards,

Cover of “Dario and the Whale”

she taught at Lesley for four years, where she “really honed [her] skills.”

Chief, the dog who barked at the whale, came into Malone’s life in 1999. He had chronic health problems and died at 8. A few years later, Malone and her husband travelled to Ireland and brought home Lorcan, an Irish Wheaten Terrier.

“He is the easiest dog on the planet,” she said.

“We went back to get another dog, Muri. It turned out that she is a pill, so pack oriented, shy, nervous, anxious, and all about rules.”

That’s when Malone met Lisa Rockland, now owner of All about My Dog in Natick, who was helping her train Muri. When Rockland opened her business in 2016, she asked Malone to help her launch her business and Malone became a dog trainer.

Currently, however, Malone is focusing on creative writing and is working on a middle school chapter book and an adult murder mystery. It seems she has many stories still to tell.

The Poetess and Entrepreneur: Valerie Paavonpera Poetess | from page 13

Another poet heard her poem at a gathering in Vermont where she was living at the time. Being a friend of David Updike, one of John Updike’s sons, the fellow poet shared Paavonpera’s poem with him. David reconnected with Paavonpera—they knew each other having both lived in Ipswich as children—about the poem, and learned she was looking for a

house to rent. He had just the place: John Updike’s, his father’s home in Ipswich. They say you can’t go home again, but Paavonpera did exactly that during a time in her life where this was just the right place to be.

Paavonpera’s life is in a new phase that she could never have anticipated—no one plans for this. A tragic loss of mobility in one’s husband? A pandemic? Moving about

1000 miles? But the qualities she admires in others: being self-driven, positive, adventurous, generous with time and goodwill, she has in abundance in herself. Even in the midst of these difficult times, she offers her communications expertise pro bono to two nonprofits. Her guiding philosophy now? She said, “As much as possible, I aspire to be fully present, grateful, and kind.”

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www.fiftyplusadvocate.com + DECEMBER 2020 + fiftyplus advocate

A seat at the table

By Marianne Delorey, Ph.D. Executive Director, Colony Retirement Homes

Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.

Gertrude Stein

T

here is a parable about four people touching and describing an elephant from four different angles. One person is touching the tusk and concludes the animal is hard and spear like. The person touching the tail concludes the animal is long and rope-like, like a snake. The person touching the elephant’s side thinks the animal is a wall. The person touching its ear describes the animal as a fan. Each person is right, but each person has incomplete information. The point of the parable is that sometimes you need to approach a problem from multiple perspectives to get a full picture.

The same is true of elder care. Multidisciplinary meetings help to bring all pertinent information to the table when caring for elders. Family members, nurses, occupational therapists, psychologists, and caseworkers are often at these meetings. I have known about several case conferences where my resident’s care was being discussed and when I asked to attend, I have been dismissed. Some people do not realize how much we can offer to the conversation – they simply see property managers as mindless lightbulb changers.

Most of us are not trying to be nosy. We have enough to do and we don’t want to be over involved. We may not be an obvious part of the team but eldercare agencies should ask the elder if they want us there. Often, we are the people who see the elder every day and very often, the elder trusts us.

We are the eyes on the ground, we are often the first to notice behavioral changes due to a medication change, we call the ambulance when they fall, and we see so much more.

• We see a couple living in an apartment with one twin size bed and a couch in the living room.

• We notice when a family has no food in their fridge.

• We see someone whose recycling includes several empty bottles of whiskey every week.

• We observe that some family members consistently come to visit only after the first of the month when social security checks arrive.

• We smell pot and cigarette smoke on the elders and on their visitors.

• We see frequent “visitors” coming for half an hour each night and sometimes several nights per week.

• We hear children yell at their elders, and we hear elders who yell back.

• We see people with no furniture, even years after living in the apartment.

• We see bruises after visits.

• We see elders with family far away who rave about their sons and daughters, only to have them visit once a year for 15 minutes before they speed out of the parking lot.

• We see people who swear they can’t pay their rent but who can afford a fancy car.

• We hear from neighbors when couples regularly fight at loud volumes.

• We notice behavior that is unusual for different elders, and we ask when they last ate or why they are going out in a cab three times in one day.

Of course, none of this information paints a complete picture. But paired with different medical conditions and social concerns, these observations could help create a better safety net for our elders around poverty, abuse, neglect, addiction, and fraud. Landlords may not be health care workers, but the best way forward for all elders is to acknowledge they are important members of the team.

We come at the issues from a different angle, but we help provide a complete picture.

Housing Options

Marianne Delorey, Ph.D. is the executive director of Colony Retirement Homes. She can be reached at 508-755-0444 or mdelorey@colonyretirement.com and www.colonyretirementhomes.com. Archives of articles from previous issues can be read at www.fiftyplusadvocate.com

• 15

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16 •

money matters

Reverse mortgages and the new administration

By Alain Valles, CRMP, CSA, MS, MBA Nonprofit Charitable Managing Director

Change is always the constant Over the past 30 years hundreds of thousands of homeowners age 62 years old or older have obtained a reverse mortgage cepts to improve Group their quality of life by better insuring that vised they have adequate monthly cash flow or access to cash if ever needed.

My 30+ years of mortgage experience has given me a front row seat

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I encourage everyone with the slightest curiosity, interest, or need for money to remain financially independent in their homes to obtain information about the pros and cons of reverse mortgages. to whenever there is a transition with our elected officials that, more often than not, the reverse mortgage program changes and generally not for the better. Sometimes the cost goes up, the amount available goes down, or additional restrictive guidelines are added.

To be clear, I have no inside knowledge of any impending doom or gloom, but I always recommend to my clients to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

ban Development (HUD) institutes changes to the reverse mortgage program, the industry is often given advanced notice. This allows us to understand new guidelines and implement the changes in our systems.

But unfortunately, the general public doesn’t realize how those changes will impact them if they ever decide to obtain a reverse mortgage. And that is when I hear the “should of, would of ’s” or “why didn’t anyone tell me” and other words of regret.

Hope for the best, prepare DENTAL for the worst When the federal government’s GROUP Department of Housing and Ur-

What can you do today?

As always, I encourage everyone with the slightest curiosity, interest, or need for money to remain financially independent in their homes to obtain information about the pros and cons of reverse mortgages. I recommend that you understand what it means to have access to cash with no monthly required payments, the options of how to receive tax-free cash, the guidelines that require real estate taxes and insurance to be paid, how the money is paid back, the impact or responsibilities to your children, the peace of mind of having a reverse mortgage line of credit that grows, and many other unique ways

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a reverse mortgage is improving the quality of life for so many qualified older homeowners.

A great place to get information is the free “How to Use Your Home to Stay at Home” 36-page book. This is the official reverse mortgage consumer booklet approved by HUD and published by the National Council on Aging. Also, the free “25 Ways to Use a Reverse Mortgage” from the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association lists the many ways a Reverse Mortgage can help.

Please give me a call or email me to receive your free copy of “Use Your Home to Stay at Home” and “25 Ways to Use a Reverse Mortgage.”

Can I get grandfathered from any changes?

For the reverse mortgage industry, the pattern has been that if you have obtained a “FHA Case Number” before a change then you are exempt from the new rules. In order to obtain your case number, you must complete the required reverse mortgage counseling and submit an application. The great news is by doing so you are not obligating or committing yourself to moving forward but protecting your options for typically at least six months or more. That is plenty of time to see if the new administration will be quickly implementing adverse changes to reverse mortgages. I know it all sounds a bit complicated and it is. So please contact me and I will explain everything so instead of just hoping for the best, you are preparing for the best.

Alain Valles is Managing Director of Helping Hands Community Partners, Inc. and was the first designated Certified Reverse Mortgage Professional in New England.

He obtained a Master of Science from M.I.T., an MBA from the Wharton School, and graduated summa cum laude from UMass Amherst. Alain can be reached directly at 781-724-6221 or by email at infoaboutreversemortgages@gmail.com. For more photos visit www.fiftyplusadvocate.com.

e believe that W everyone has something unique

WE WANT TO PUT THE SPOTLIGHT ON YOU! about them, a personal story that should be shared so others can learn, be entertained or inspired. Or perhaps there is a loved one in your family whose story is just so amazing that it deserves to be shared so it will not be forgotten.

Are you an avid volunteer in your community or have an unusual hobby or passion? Perhaps you have just retired from a long career or have successfully launched into a second “act”? Do people ever tell you that your life story is just so interesting and unique that someone should write about you?

Then we’d like the chance to share your story with our readers! Please send a short email to Bonnie Adams at news@communityadvocate.com describing why you would make a great profile. If chosen, we will have a writer contact you and do an interview. We will then share your life story with our readers in an upcoming issue of the Fifty Plus Advocate.

www.fiftyplusadvocate.com + DECEMBER 2020 + fiftyplus advocate

viewpoint Christmas trees, real and not

By Janice Lindsay Every Christmas, I say, “Maybe this year, I should have a real tree instead of the artificial one.” Every year, I don’t. That artificial tree is a family tradition.

The first Christmas of our marriage, my husband and I installed a real tree. Just after Christmas, we both came down with one of those horrible colds that make your head feel like a watermelon on a stick. After a couple of days in bed, I dragged myself to the living room to check on the tree. Neither of us had felt well enough to water it.

Needles speckled the carpet, making a wide needley circle.

Too lacking in energy to fetch the vacuum cleaner, I found the dustpan and brush. Simple enough, I thought, to sweep up the needles.

The synthetic brush, scuffling on the synthetic carpet, created static that awoke the slumbering needles.

They allowed themselves to be swept into the dustpan. But they suddenly woke and compulsively jumped back out, adhering themselves to the carpet in an impressive display of static cling. The more I brushed, the more they clung. Being a person of common sense, I went back to bed.

In my viral misery, I vowed that we would never again have a real tree.

I know that this is unfair to real trees. Many families enjoy real trees

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• 17

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that make it through the whole season with no needles-on-the-rug disasters.

But it doesn’t seem like Christmas unless I assemble that tree, poking the ends of make-believe branches into corresponding holes in the make-believe trunk. It is not true, as poet Joyce Kilmer wrote, that “only God can make a tree.” I can, too, sort of.

Probably the real evergreen trees around our house shake their branches in disgust when they peer through the windows and see a tree-like structure that grew, not from the soil as they did, but from the primeval ooze that became petroleum that became plastic that became needle-like objects twisted into metal stems.

Those real trees must admit that I’ve tried to include them in Christmas traditions. But they have a fatal flaw: they grow.

When we moved into our house 17 years ago, a single baby balsam, only 18 inches high, nestled among the tall grasses in the small field behind the house. When that tree grew to be about four feet tall, I decorated it with bright red Christmas tree balls. I tied a velvety bow on top. The tree looked both regal and cozy out there in the field, all by itself, against the backdrop of grown-up evergreens at the edge of the woods 40 feet away.

When the little tree was five feet tall, it was a perfect Christmas tree. Then it was six feet tall. I had to reach up to bend the top toward me so I could place the bow. The ground around the tree is too uneven for a ladder. So when the tree reached seven feet tall, it had to retire from its relatively short career as a Christmas tree.

It stands there now, still regal but no longer cozy, probably 25 feet tall, completely undecorated. At Christmastime, it seems a bit sad, perhaps missing its bright red balls, and perhaps just a bit jealous of that gaily-bedecked phony it views through the living room window.

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Organization consultant finds meaning as a COVID-19 contact tracer

By Jane Keller Gordon Assistant Editor

We accompany the person through a very scary and isolating time.

G

rowing up near farmland northeast of Philadelphia, Jeanette Millard spent time as a member of a Quaker Meeting and with her activist parents, who were protesting the Vietnam War and marching for civil rights. Throughout her life she has followed their lead - studying abroad in Germany before it was common; marching with a group of 300 people from Selma to Montgomery on the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act; and, most recently, travelling - alone - to the Mexican border in 2018 to protest when children were being separated from their parents.

Prior to the pandemic, Millard was working as an organizational consultant and leadership coach.

“I was really in trouble,” she recalled. “One day in early March within 24 hours I lost all my clients except for one. A friend of mine sent me a blurb about contract tracing.

Jeanette Millard experience would make her a good fit. She is multilingual, had taught German at the Winsor School in Boston, and had worked in the public, private and nonprofit sectors, helping people design, manage and effect change, especially in cross-cultural situations.

She also knew what it meant to experience illness and survive. Recovering from breast cancer in her early 40s, when her son and daughter were young, Millard joined WeCanRow, a wellness and recovery program for women who have been treated for breast cancer.

Cheryl Millard

They were looking for people with health backgrounds and also for people who were good at talking to a range of people.”

Now working as a contract tracer for Massachusetts COVID-19 Community Tracing Collaborative (CTC), Millard feels that she has found a new calling.

Millard knew that she was good at talking to people and that her life

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Millard also was familiar with Partners in Health, which had been contracted by the state to run the contact tracing program.

“I am a big fan of Paul Farmer, one of the founders of Partners in Health.

That organization has a long track record of developing public health approaches to dealing with infectious diseases throughout the developing world. They see health care as a human right,” she said.

Now on the job 40 hours a week, Millard described a three-pronged approach for her average caseload of 25.

“We accompany the person through a very scary and isolating time. During the first call, we ask about symptoms, and collect health, epidemiologic and demographic data that is processed then goes to the state’s public health department’s database,” she explained. “We do a home assessment to determine what is needed to support the individual’s quarantine. Local communities are notified when individuals need help. Some towns have chosen to do contact tracing themselves.”

The last step is that contract tracers call every day for 10 days.

“This continuity of the same person calling makes a big difference,” Millard noted.

“Our goal is to find out who has been exposed and to prevent further spread.

We look back and we look forward,” she said. “In many cases, people seem embarrassed that they have infected others. But it’s a tricky virus and that’s tough to avoid. Most of the time people have some sense of how they got exposed.”

Millard hopes to go back to her work as an organization development consultant but for now, she said: “It’s a great feeling to be able to do something concrete to actually fight COVID-19.”

www.fiftyplusadvocate.com + DECEMBER 2020 + fiftyplus advocate

Engineer helps Westborough residents go green

By Serena Howlett Contributing Writer WESTBOROUGH

G

lobal warming and the depletion of the ozone layer are highly complex topics most people can’t begin to wrap their heads around. Sharad Mehta is an engineer who typically “looks at systems as a whole.” His work at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington includes defense and disaster relief projects. But Mehta is also a concerned citizen and Westborough resident who believes individuals can help make our planet a healthier place. Not content with Sharad Mehta and his wife Alka Yadav-Mehta hand-wringing about global warming, Mehta makes hands-on plans and takes action.

For the past two years, Mehta’s has worked with the Westborough Rotary Club’s Committee on the Environment (COTE) to plan and carry out three programs. One project is about the effects of non-biodegradable plastic, which contaminates the food chain and drinking water.

“We visited a recycling facility and observed the way film plastic, such as single use plastic bags, jams the rollers,” Mehta said.

To discourage the use of plastic grocery bags, COTE is participating in a challenge to collect 500 pounds of the environmentally hazardous bags for a recycling project.

Two other Rotary projects address the contribution of fossil fuels to the depletion of the ozone layer – and, ultimately, global warming. These projects ask for individual buy-in to meet the goal of zero greenhouse gas emissions (100-percent renewable) by the year 2050.

“For homeowners who switch to green technology,” Mehta explained, “there is an initial outlay of cash, but in the long run, the new systems reduce monthly bills.”

Mehta practices what he preaches. He talked enthusiastically about his electric car.

“It’s really very efficient,” he said. “I can charge my car overnight in the garage. To do this, you need to have the same kind of electrical outlet required for an electric dryer. I can recharge my car in about 20 minutes at an EV charging station.”

Mehta also uses an “air-source heat pump” for home heating.

“The estimate we have is that 85 percent of the time we will be on electricity and be cost-effective,” he said. “When the temperature falls below 25 degrees, the system will switch to propane.”

Mehta also touted the efficiencies of solar panels.

“With solar panels, I can feed energy back and forth from home to grid,” he explained. “As a result, my electric bill is negative.”

Mehta plays a leadership role in implementing the town of Westborough’s Climate Action Plan. Working groups focus on electric municipal vehicles, heating municipal buildings, waste management and transportation. Recognizing the important contribution of trees to air quality, as a member of the “Tree Canopy” group, he volunteers identify unhealthy trees and opportunities for tree planting around town.

Mehta is tireless in his efforts to inform people about what they can do to save the environment. Last year, Mehta gave a two-hour presentation at Westborough Library.

“I want to introduce ideas at the right time,” Mehta said, “so people have the information when it comes to making a decision.”

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