W
FYI
elcome to the January-February 2017 issue, the first in our new schedule of bimonthly publication.
Pat Doyle explains Kendal’s responses to residents who report to the administration their concerns about fellow residents. Norman Sissman waxes enthusiastic about Kendal on Hudson’s satellite libraries. Bill Smethurst contributes an affectionate portrait of Bill McFeely, a Kendal resident with whom he has been a close friend since they were undergraduate roommates. Steve Kanfer portrays the renowned American science-fiction writer, Ray Bradbury, whom Steve knew well. Amelia Augustus urges us to recognize and be tolerant toward individuals with “hidden disabilities.” Muriel Fox interviews our Chief Executive Officer, Pat Doyle. Gloria Cooper reviews another geezer-lit murder mystery. The cover photographs were chosen and designed by Caroline Persell. On the front cover is a lion’s head on a building in Bilbao, Spain, photographed by Martin Smolin while he was on a trip there. The inside front cover is a collage of some of our New Year’s Eve skits, photographed and arranged by Caroline Persell The inside of the back cover is a recent spectacular sunset over the Hudson, caught by Ed Hanin. The outside back cover depicts two boats carrying construction workers to their jobs on the new Tappan Zee Bridge. Correction: In the FYI for our December 2016 issue, I inadvertently omitted the last name of the artist whose painting of an African-American barbershop (currently displayed in an exhibition at the Metropolitan Breuer Museum) was reproduced on the back cover. His full name is Kerry James Marshall.
Norman J. Sissman
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Overheard in the Bistro Some of us, I’m sure, are young enough (at least in spirit) to communicate with society and history mainly via our smartphones and computers, but most of us oldsters, I suspect, still favor printed material. Indeed, for bibliophiles, like me, our sense of well-being depends, in no small part, on our being able to sit down every day, for a short while at least, with an actual book in our hands. Which leads me to devote this column to a celebration of Kendal’s library. Although it is limited in size to around 5000 or 6000 volumes, assembled in large measure with donations from residents who come here after down-sizing their own collections, it contains a wide variety of basic references and instructive and entertaining fiction and nonfiction; and it offers many special features such as a connection to the Warner Library in Tarrytown, which, in turn, opens the resources of every library in Westchester County to each of us. Housed, now, in light-filled attractive new quarters built by Project Renew and shepherded by a smart and devoted twentynine member Library Committee, cochaired by Topsy Preus and Sue Adel, it’s one of Kendal’s most prized assets. But I want to devote this essay to a description of the somewhat lesser-known “satellite” collections scattered throughout our buildings. They contains some esoteric but interesting, indeed exciting, books that are worth special attention. In no particular order... The art book alcove, tucked in a recess off the hallway just beyond the Clermont bridge, contains about 250 volumes, almost all lavishly illustrated in color, ranging from Currier & Ives to Albert Bierstadt, from Michelangelo to Audubon, from ancient Egyptian painting and sculpture to Picasso. There are surveys of the history of art, and many collections of individual artists. I find it a bit deficient in Oriental art (e.g., there is no example of Japanese works,) but what is there is splendid. These books don’t circulate and thus are available to all for pleasure and reference at all times. The alcove contains a small round table on which a book, opened to an illustrated page, is always displayed; this is changed almost every day. By the table are two comfortable chairs, each of which has a pillow covered with several small, somewhat garish reproductions of famous paintings. Here is a short anecdote: the eight-year old grandson of a resident couple seemed somewhat disturbed as he walked by a book in the alcove opened to a Renoir nude. In fact, he stopped and turned the pages to a bucolic landscape. I opined to his grandparents that his taste in art would become more sophisticated as he matured. In the third-floor elevator lobby of Robert Fulton resides an exciting assemblage of books on natural science. It was donated to Kendal by its late residents Stan and Rita Wecker. Both Weckers were active throughout their lives in Westchester conservation organizations, serving, for example, as elected officers of the local Audubon Society; Stan was an amateur avian expert who frequently led bird watching excursions in local parks. Over four hundred books fill twenty- eight shelves here. As expected, there is a plethora of identification manuals, both for birds and other fauna and flora, some not generally known, such as Gleason’s Illustrated Flora of the Northeastern United States and Canada, published in three volumes in 1952. But 4
the range goes far beyond these specialized guides: The Intelligent Man’s Guide to Science, by Isaac Asimov, and seminal volumes by the likes of Edwin May Teale, Paul Ehrlich, Stephen Jay Gould, and even Arnold Toynbee. Additionally, there is an entire shelf of volumes by and about Charles Darwin and his work. Somehow this collection fills me with warm memories of the Weckers and with great admiration for the intensity with which they pursued their avocation. If only one had the time to spend many happy hours leisurely leafing through these revelatory examples of humankind’s ability to explore and understand the world in which we live. One floor below the nature collection in Robert Fulton is the Petite Bibliothèque Française, about 250 books in French. It was donated by a former resident, Simone Olmsted, a Frenchborn woman who was married to a descendent of Frederick Law Olmsted, the renowned American landscape architect who designed, among many masterpieces, Manhattan’s Central Park and our neighbor, Rockwood Hall Preserve. Our own French grande dame, Mimi Weare, found the shelves for the collection, asked Ann Holloway to paint the shelves, and keeps a close eye on the site. Almost all the books are paperbacks and I found it interesting that they uniformly have plain vanilla covers, in contrast to the colorful art work that adorns most paperbacks printed in the United States. I was struck by how few authors’ names I recognized, a confirmation, perhaps, of how little I know of literary traditions in non-Englishspeaking cultures. On the first floor of Robert Fulton are three multivolume publications that warm my heart. Twenty volumes of the Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction, published in 1917 – from Fielding to Turgenev. Below them is a deluxe limited edition -- printed in 1910 and numbered, by hand, #2179 – of the Harvard Classics itself (unfortunately, only 32 of the original 50 volumes are on the shelves). I have written in a long-ago “Overheard” column about my teen-age intellectual love affair with my parents’ copy of the Harvard Classics. I will always cherish the memory of the excitement I felt on first reading, in the Classics, an 1860 essay by the British scientist Michael Faraday, in which he described and illustrated the chemical “history” of a candle. There are several other special collections outside the main Kendal library, but space requires that I postpone descriptions of them until another time. The above four, alone, are a cornucopia of pleasure for any bibliophile.
Norman J. Sissman
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Bill McFeely I’ve known Bill McFeely for a very long time. We met in the fall of 1948 when we lived in adjoining rooms in one of the freshman dorms at Amherst College. We joined the same social club and saw a fair amount of each other during the summer time off. I lived in Montclair, New Jersey, and Bill, in an ancient and lovely Dutch colonial house in nearby Wyckoff. My wife, Bix, went to Mount Holyoke College while Mary -- Mary Drake then -- was a student at Smith. We double-dated a lot together, mostly in Northampton. I still remember we were in a local bistro having a drink when the place was raided by Alcoholic Beverage agents. Bill and I had just turned twenty-one but the ladies were still underage. The agents asked questions and took their names. In distress, Mary called her father, the managing partner of a famous New York City law firm. His advice, “Take a leaf from your southern classmate, bat your eyes and say, ‘Judge I never said that.’” As it turned out, of course, there were no consequences. In fact, the owner of Rahars, the place where we were carded, turned out to be a Massachusetts state senator. After college I went into the U.S. Navy, and Bill to National City Corp. (now Citibank), where he became a busy loan officer. Nine years passed. I was sitting in the office of my post-naval employer, at 320 Park Avenue, when the phone rang. I picked it up. A voice said, “Will, this is Bill McFeely. I just quit the bank and am going to graduate school at Yale to get ready to teach.” Wow, I thought, “What courage!” By this time the McFeelys had three young children and a house (with a mortgage) in Greenwich, Connecticut. It turned out the teaching was to be specialized. Bill was lucky to have the great southern historian, C. Vann Woodward, as his graduate school adviser. This was at the height of the civil rights movement and his dissertation was on “the subject,” as Woodward put it. After earning his doctorate Bill started out as an untenured and somewhat overaged assistant professor at Yale. He offered the first lecture course there in African American history. A bunch of black students confronted him, asking what a white guy was doing teaching “our” history. Bill replied, “To get you ready to do it yourselves.” One of these students was Henry Louis Gates Jr. Gates seemed headed then toward a respectable English major. Instead he has gone on to be Mr. African American Studies. He never ceases to say that the reason he wound up there is that he took Bill’s course. The newly arrived president of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, David Truman, was looking for a dean of faculty. He offered the job to Bill, who would teach history but primarily serve as dean. So, McFeely found himself an administrator. After three years of administering he stepped out from being dean to teach full-time. Most of the sizeable number of Mount Holyoke’s black students took his course. One of them, Karen Hendricks, says she majored in McFeely. 6
In 1982, McFeely, aware that the college’s finances needed some tweaking, called and asked me to meet with the president. The next thing I knew, I was on the Holyoke board. I blame Bill for making me redo Mount Holyoke’s very sizeable endowment. Bill then gave me a copy of his just-published new book, Grant, A Biography. It was absolutely brilliant. Bill did an excellent job on Grant as one of the supreme Civil War generals, but other writers such as Bruce Catton equaled or surpassed him in this respect. However, in Grant’s presidency Reconstruction and financial exigency were the two dominant themes that overshadowed all others. Only a superbly trained academic historian and an equally acute and experienced financial analyst could present these themes in a clear and convincing way without the muddle that characterizes so many other Grant histories and biographies. I was so overwhelmed by the quality of Grant that, as the then president of my Amherst class, I nominated McFeely for an honorary degree. To my great surprise, a month later, the alumni secretary called and told me that the board of trustees also was impressed greatly with the book, and had voted to confer an honorary DLitt on Bill at Commencement. Soon thereafter he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, vindicating the judgment of the board (and mine as well). McFeely’s next book was the life of Frederick Douglass, a key black leader in the abolition of slavery and the furtherance of the rights of blacks as citizens. Bill tells of having learned that Nell Painter, a brilliant and formidable black scholar, was writing a review for The Boston Globe. Bill admits he was terrified, but Painter loved the book. The book won the Lincoln Prize. What a pleasure it was to read some years later an article in The New York Times by Henry Louis Gates Jr., in which he referred effusively to what he called his former teacher’s “magisterial” biography of Frederick Douglass. Bill was one of the most popular and highly respected professors at Mount Holyoke He also served as chair of the history department for a period. He left Mount Holyoke after sixteen years of very distinguished service, when he received an offer from the University of Georgia that he couldn’t refuse. Ironically the post Bill was to hold, the Richard B. Russell Chair, was named for a leading segregationist. This caused some problems, but his eleven years there enabled him to write Sapelo’s People, a study of sixty-seven people living on a remote Georgia island who are direct descendants of early nineteenth century slaves. Bill says that book was a work of love. Having been a witness in a death penalty case – a black defendant couldn’t get due process in a room in which the Confederate flag flew, as it did in every courthouse in Georgia -- Bill wrote Proximity to Death, about the lawyers who defended such cases. Living in an antebellum house on Athens, Georgia’s oldest street presented trouble, particularly for Mary. Born and brought up in Manhattan, she found the cultural shock a problem. (She had left her job as the active head of the reference department at Smith to become just a wife). Mary did help the cause of women’s studies, badly needed at the university. Athens is a great music town and the McFeelys got to know the members of the local pop group, R.E.M., which became one of America’s top rock-and-roll bands in the 1980s and ‘90s. Mary’s stock rose dramatically when in a crowded bar Michael Stipe, R.E.M.’s top vocalist, stopped and gave her a big kiss. 7
In 1989, Bill and Mary retired to their eighteenth-century house in Wellfleet on Cape Cod. They did travel to Cambridge where in 2005-2006 Bill was a fellow at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Scholarship. It was from Wellfleet that Mary and Bill moved in 2013 to Kendal to be near their three children’s families. At Kendal Bill has held several short historical seminars that residents have enjoyed. It is wonderful to see a dedicated teacher happy to be back at work with an enthusiastic audience.
Bill Smethurst
Whiz Kid On her last visit, my youngest granddaughter was delighted to find a shelf full of signed books by her new favorite writer, Ray Bradbury (1920—2012). She sat rapt as I told her about our long friendship. Ray and I first met at a typical Hollywood party, everybody talking, nobody listening. We hit it off immediately because I was the only attendee who didn’t ask him what he was working on. The host had informed me that Ray did an uncanny impression of John Huston, for whom he had written the scenario of Moby Dick. So that’s what I asked Ray about. He complied, the mimicry was as advertised, I did my imitation of James Mason, and we were off and running. But not driving, and not flying. I was astounded to learn, over the next several lunches and dinners that the Los Angeleno had never learned to operate a car, and that the writer of so many intergalactic tales had never been on an airplane. For all the wildness of his imagination, Ray was still, at heart, a toothy, wide-eyed kid from Waukegan, Illinois. “Every single day I say ‘Gee Whiz’ about something,” he told me. “I wish everybody did. I guess I just never lost my sense of wonder. Never even misplaced it.” He agreed with every word of G. K. Chesterton’s line, “Personally, I know of nothing that is not a miracle.” It had been like that from the beginning. A sickly, indoor sort of child, he found refuge in the Waukegan library, devouring the books of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote a great deal more than the adventures of Tarzan. Indeed, Ray was so taken with Burroughs’s The Warlord of Mars that at the age of twelve he wrote a sequel. The same year, 1932, he experienced a life-altering event. At a local carnival Ray was approached by an entertainer who billed himself as Mr. Electrico. The man touched the boy 8
with his electric sword and shouted, “Live forever!” Recalled Ray, “I felt that something strange and wonderful had happened to me because of that encounter. Somehow, Mr. Electrico gave me a future. I’ve written every single morning of my life since that day.” When Bradbury’s father, a telephone lineman, moved to Los Angeles in search of work, Ray stepped up his rate of literary production. He disdained college altogether, holing up in libraries, churning out stories he hoped to sell to magazines. His collection of rejection slips grew almost as numerous as his output—until the epochal day he sent a short story to Madamoiselle magazine. “Homecoming” concerned the emotions of a lonely boy whose relatives are all witches and warlocks. A reverse Harry Potter, the kid has become an outsider because he lacks the family’s supernatural powers. One alert young editor thought the tale worthy of publication. Truman Capote, it turned out, was not only a fine writer, he was a terrific talent scout. “Homecoming” won an O. Henry Award as one of the best American short stories of the year. Ray’s career took off soon afterward. Sci-fi and general interest magazines accepted his tales. Later, they appeared in bestselling anthologies—The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Dark Carnival, Golden Apples of the Sun, et al. These enabled him to get married to Margaret McClure, whom he had met (of course) in a bookstore. The couple settled into a comfortable home, raised four daughters, and enjoyed the royalties that were now arriving with regularity. Still, Ray was dismissed as a lightweight until the appearance of Fahrenheit 451 in 1953. The dystopian novel followed the adventures of a fireman whose job is to burn books (which ignite at the temperature of the title), and who begins to question his assignment. The book became a staple in classrooms, was acclaimed by reviewers, and was faithfully adapted for the screen by Francois Truffaut. Later, Ray was asked about his desire for the praise of critics and intellectuals. Yes, he confessed, he had once wanted their kudos. “But not anymore. If I’d found that Norman Mailer liked me, I’d have killed myself. I’m glad Kurt Vonnegut didn’t like me either.” Yet he accepted many awards from in and out of the Establishment, ranging from a salute from the Pulitzer committee to a star in Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. None, however, went to his head. Young writers who asked for advice received the same kind of midwest aphorisms he had followed from the beginning: “Jump, and you will find out how to unfold your wings as you fall.” “Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds.” “See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.” “There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.” Gee Whiz, I miss Ray Bradbury.
Stephen Kanfer
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The Stark Reality of Invisible Disabilities Eleven years ago, a few days after moving into Kendal, I was abruptly confronted with a shocking display of cruelty -- as I was descending the stairs of Mary Powell on my way to the front desk, I saw a man walking closely behind a woman on a scooter - apparently residents, a married couple. When the woman veered left to enter the hall leading to the elevators, the man started slapping her over the head with his newspaper. I suddenly turned to interrupt this violent behavior. Fortunately, I observed that everyone ignored this egregious scene. I hesitated. Baffled, I asked the receptionist about it by wryly asking, “Does this happen often?” “Oh yes,” she replied enthusiastically. “He has to do that because she can’t hear and one day she went crashing at full throttle into the elevator doors.” His wife was among many others at Kendal with an invisible disability. Lesson learned: We never know if a person is living with a disability we cannot see. Just as individuals are unique and diverse, so too are the types of disabilities they live with. Many disabilities are immediately apparent, especially if the person relies on a wheelchair or cane. But others are not -- among them, eye diseases, mental conditions, cognitive impairments, autoimmune diseases and chronic pain. However, even though all people with disabilities generally share the same issues of function, quality of life, and discrimination, those with invisible conditions face particular challenges everywhere. When a case isn’t immediately obvious, others — at work, school, or even at home — sometimes doubt it exists and accuse those who suffer from these conditions of simply angling for special treatment. Also, because many appear to be able-bodied and/or healthy, they receive constant scrutiny about their disability status from family, friends, coworkers, loved-ones, and society in general. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports that between 2005 and 2010, most discrimination cases involved such situations. As someone who lives with such a challenge, I struggle daily to live with my ever-changing limited visual capabilities triggered by constant changes in light. My condition reacts to a variety of factors, so my symptoms vary within any given day. It’s a constant juggling between doing as much as I can without hurting myself while dealing with the social repercussions of my fluctuating vision. The most common thing I hear is, “But you don’t look disabled”; or, when I try to protect my eyes from blinding lights, “Light can’t be that bothersome.” As Wayne Connell, founder and head of the Invisible Disabilities Association observes, “You know, it’s the invisible nature of an illness that people don’t understand.” He started the group after his wife was diagnosed with Lyme disease and multiple sclerosis and people would often give them dirty looks and scream at them when parking their car in a spot for the disabled. Since we have no way -- and, really, no right -- to decide if someone is disabled, how can we be an ally in everyday life for people who are? Generally, it’s safe to assume that if someone
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has a certain accommodation, they received it for a reason. Be thoughtful when they make an unexpected request or ask for a particular accommodation -- for instance, protection against the blasting of loud music or the use of any bright lighting that could make their condition worse, possibly inducing a seizure or psychotic episode. At Kendal, we know people who live with chronic conditions. Here are several ways we can be better friends and allies: • Learn more about these conditions to gain a better understanding of how people live with them and what they experience. • Realize that you might not understand what they’re going through, and that it’s not your job to “cure “or “fix” them. • Try not to scold someone for “overdoing it,” or push them to do something you think they should be able to do. • As you would do for any friend, ask how you can help. I appreciate friends who offer to help me without playing the martyr, but instead simply see it as a way to assist me so that we can spend valuable time together. For me, my visual challenge affects every aspect of my life. For some people, a disability, visible or otherwise, is just part of their identity. For others, it is their identity. Therefore, we should be willing to recognize how we absorbed bad behaviors toward people with disabilities, and above all, how these learned stereotypes and stigmas hurt the people we know and love.
Amelia Augustus
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How She Became Pat Doyle Don’t feel sorry for Kendal on Hudson’s Chief Executive Officer Pat Doyle the next time we’re hit by a calamity such as a blizzard or Hurricane Sandy. Pat says she actually enjoys the stress. “I never know what will greet me when I show up for work, and I’d be bored to death without it.” Pat came to Kendal with a unique vocational background that called for creativity, empathy, excellence, courage, and yes, an ability to respond intelligently to stressful situations. But she didn’t enter our lives until she had turned around her own life with a total change of careers: After obtaining a master’s degree in sociology with a concentration in statistics and research, Pat originally embarked upon a career in advertising. She quickly climbed to high positions at worldwide agency giants Ogilvy & Mather and then Young & Rubicam. For the former she became senior partner, executive group director, and chief of worldwide new business. Her advertising accounts included IBM, American Express, and Dell Computer. Then (luckily for us!) she decided to transform her life with a dramatically different new career. She enrolled in New York University for her second master’s degree – in health service management. Because of her previous life experience, Pat succeeded in completing the two-year course in only one year. Her first job in her new pursuit was as marketing consultant to the Isabella Geriatric Center in New York City and its Club Isabella adult day care facility. Then she went to work for Jefferson’s Ferry Lifecare Retirement Community in Setauket, Long Island. She started as an intern in 2002 and by 2003 was assistant executive director. She supervised all services and facilities for 335 independent living residents in that large CCRC (Continuing Care Retirement Community). Pat had always admired the Kendal organization because of its dedication to Quaker values and practices, and because of the close collaboration between residents and staff. “Kendal contract holders are not clients – they’re collaborators.” She often expressed a wish that Kendal might one day open a CCRC in the New York City area. Then they did! In 2003 Pat was recruited to be CEO of the brand-new Kendal on Hudson. The rest is definitely history. A member of the Kendal on Hudson Board of Directors told me about the original search committee that interviewed potential CEOs in 2002. He says the committee was “blown out of the water” by Pat Doyle’s vision, her intelligence, her ingenuity, and her enthusiasm for building a CCRC with Quaker values to serve our unique New York area population. Pat frequently remarks, “You’ve seen one Kendal, you’ve seen one Kendal. They’re all different from one another.” She considers Kendal on Hudson unique because, among other reasons, our residents come from the New York City area. “They’re more demanding and discerning and culturally engaged, and don’t follow a rigid formula of behavior. They’re outspoken, and say directly what’s on their minds. And they insist on a high standard of cuisine because they’ve traveled to the world’s greatest restaurants.” The staff at Kendal, like the residents, are “fun and intelligent, and diverse culturally. They feel appreciated and respected here. There’s no separate staff entrance or staff cafeteria. They 12
have an opportunity for tuition reimbursement. Staff have a feeling of personal ownership here.” Pat says it’s a personal priority of hers to listen respectfully to residents and staff members, and give them a chance to present their own ideas. She refers to some CCRCs as “hotels with health care, with less involvement of the residents.” She points out that the Osborne in Rye and many other retirement communities have much of their programming done by paid social directors instead of by the residents themselves. “Visitors here, even people from other Kendals, remark on the special friendliness and vitality here.” Pat says visitors are also “blown away by the superb condition of this property after thirteen years – thanks to the dedication of our staff.” Pat terms Project Renew a resounding success, despite the inconveniences during construction. We now have more apartments in Adirondack, a family-type environment for Clearwater and our new Sunnyside, and our beautiful new Residents Lounge and Gathering Room. Pat says CCRCs offer their residents a unique combination of Insurance, Hospitality Services and Health Care. But she expects these life care models to evolve considerably in the future, as baby boomers and millennials demand greater flexibility, and more varied options for payment. “The next generation will be less likely to have pensions, and they’ll rely more often on longterm health insurance policies.” She points out that some boomers have already moved into apartments here, and already many millennials are members of the staff. Pat’s main goal now is to return Kendal on Hudson to 94 percent occupancy. When it was first built, we reached full occupancy in only seven months rather than the usual three years. We paid off our original construction loan in only nine months. But since most residents in 2005 were about the same age, we’ve experienced more deaths and more moves into the Health Care Center at the same time over the last three years. “The finances are cyclical. As groups of residents age, they need to be replenished.” The unique characteristics of Kendal on Hudson, including our stunning views and our remarkable residents, required a very unusual CEO to help fulfill our potential. Fortunately for us, as we all agree, those requirements were met when the Kendal System recruited Pat Doyle.
Muriel Fox
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The Forgetful Detective, cont’d When last we left Paul Jacobson, hero of Retirement Homes Are Murder (book review, June 2014), the self-styled old geezer was at loose ends. He had finally solved — at no small risk to life and limb — the mystery of the dead body he’d found stuffed into the trash chute on his first day as a resident of the Kina Nani Retirement Home in beautiful Hawaii — and, as if that were not conclusion enough, the three people he’d come to care about were all moving on, each in a different direction. Meyer, best pal and, despite his many infirmities, stalwart partner in amateur sleuthing, was transferring to a care home. Jennifer, Nancy Drew wannabe who had introduced her dubious Grandpa to modern technology by tracking the killer’s whereabouts on her home computer, was heading back to junior high. And Marion, seductive female resident with “still-good legs” and lately Paul’s energetic squeeze, was leaving for the mainland to live with her daughter. Clearly, something had to be done with Paul . . . As it turns out, though, we needn’t have worried: his creator, Mike Befelor, had the future well in hand. They would all meet again in the sequel. Or, more precisely, sequels. Today, in addition to Retirement Homes, the “Paul Jacobson Geezer-Lit Mystery” brand includes Living with Your Kids is Murder; Cruising in Your Eighties is Murder; Care Homes Are Murder; Senior Moments Are Murder; and, most recently, Nursing Homes Are Murder. (The setting of this last one, by the way, is more plausible than one might think: readers of the AARP Bulletin may recall an April report about a 100-year-old resident of a Massachusetts nursing home who was allegedly strangled to death by her 97-year-old roommate. Although no motive was given, several possibilities come to mind.) Throughout these adventures, Paul carries with him a set of traits less commonly seen in fictional detectives than in, say, residents of Kendal: advanced age, resistance to technology, a penchant for groan-inducing wordplay, and, most important, a peculiar form of short-term memory loss. This affliction becomes especially inconvenient when, as happens with some frequency, he finds himself in the vicinity of a murder and, naturally, its prime suspect, with no way out but to catch the culprit himself. In Nursing Homes that scenario gets a bit of a twist. Of course the original cast is still around, most notably Marion, now Paul’s wife, with whom he’s vacationing. But this time, the local cops are well-acquainted with Paul’s talent for detection (presumably from having read the previous novels), and want his help on a case of elder abuse. A female resident at the Pacific Vista Nursing Home has been sexually assaulted, and who better equipped to be an undercover agent than a memory-challenged octogenarian? So Paul settles in as resident mole at Pacific Vista — a place of locked doors, bingo games, and green jello; a place peopled with humorless nurses and elusive doctors, with aides and therapists and visitors and security guys, any one of whom might be what Paul has taken to calling “the perp.” And then there are the residents — three, in particular, to keep your eye on. (Each will be crucial at the climax.) Evelyn, happy in her dementia (she thinks that Paul is
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her little boy and appears in his room each night to tuck him in), also enjoys her synesthesia, a rare condition that causes her to see lovely colors in place of numbers and letters. Ralph, Paul’s roommate, immobile and blind, compensates with a sense of hearing that allows him to recognize people by their footfalls. And Alice, competitive thrill-seeker, has a passion for racing her wheelchair that knows no bounds. As for the victim, alas, she’s not much help in describing her assailant, and even less so after he returns one night and kills her. Thus nicely thickened with murder, the plot sends Paul in hot pursuit of one clue after another, from a World War II Bronze Star to a tube of stage make-up, from a diamond bracelet to the jersey worn by football legend Bo Jackson. Things grow hotter still when Marion is kidnapped and Paul’s kept busy dodging rocks and escaping from an airless storeroom. (This is where he figures out how to use his dreaded cell phone). Still, even amid the mayhem, there’s plenty of time for recreation — a game of geezer jokes with Jennifer, a reunion with the old Retirement Homes gang, and, not least, a conjugal visit from Marion, which once again, besides its other salubrious benefits, restores Paul’s memory (though only for a day). And so on. Would it be giving too much away if I said that it all works out in the end? Paul Jacobson is no hard-boiled Sam Spade, no genteel Miss Marple. Nor (thankfully!), is he an Inspector Lewis, whose convoluted plots can pass all understanding. Rather, as Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and Library Journal have variously concluded, the series is “lighthearted,” “humorous,” “appealing,” and “cozy.” In other words, for certain readers of a certain age, geezer-lit has its charms.
Gloria Cooper
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Kendal View Staff Editors: Norman J. Sissman
Managing Editor: Pat Taylor
Editor Emerita: Joan Oltman Editorial Staff: Gloria Cooper, Eugene Dubow, Doris L. Eder, Muriel Fox, Edith Litt, Deborah O’Keefe, Sue Phillips, Bill Smethurst Photography Editors: Horst Berger and Caroline Persell Advertising and Billing: Norman J. Sissman, Bill Smethurst, Jim Wood
Kendal View is published by The Residents Association of Kendal on Hudson, a nonprofit organization in compliance with IRS regulations under 501 (c) (3). It is printed by Accel Printing & Graphics, 128 Radio Circle, Mt. Kisco, NY 10549.
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Dentistry, as with other health services, is rapidly changing. Technology is constantly improving, allowing us to deliver quality care in less time and with less stress. Most importantly though, dentistry is still an art as well as a science. As a health service, the patient care is provided not only by the doctor, but by the entire office staff. Dentistry as a health service means properly placed restorations and courteously answered phones. Rapidly changing technology will not change this philosophy of service.
Peter J. Zegarelli, DDS - General Dentistry 87 North Broadway • Tarrytown, NY 10591 • 914-631-1800 Website: www.drzegarelli.com • Email: info@drzegarelli.com The Zegarelli dental office has been located in Tarrytown since 1982. We have been serving KoH residents since the Kendal opening day in 2005.
BOSTICK, MURPHY & COMPANY CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS P.C. Individual, Business, Trust and Estate Tax consulting, planning and return preparation We will meet at your home, office or at our location in Mount Kisco William G. Bostick, CPA, CVA Patricia A. Murphy, CPA, CVA, CFP, CHFC, PFS, CGMA 113 SMITH AVE. MT. KISCO, NY 10549 (914) 666-6336 (914) 666-0396 fax pmurphycpa@aol.com
We can assist you with your hearing loss, hearing aids, nasal and throat problems, and allergies. Michael Bergstein, MD, FACS
Salvatore Taliercio, MD
Board Certified in Otolaryngology, Balloon Sinus surgery and Sleep apnea
Jill Zeitlin, MD
Board Certified in Otolaryngology, Specializes in Hearing Services
Fellowship Trained Laryngologist, Voice and Swallowing Disorders
John County, MD, FAAAAI
Board Certified in Allergy and Immunology
Jessica Comparetto, MA, CCC-A licensed audiologist
358 North Broadway, Suite 203 • Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591 Tel: 914-631-3053 • Fax: 914-631-2807
Ear, Nose, Throat and Allergy care in YOUR neighborhood!
Call us today. See us today!
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Pharmacy
One-Stop Pharmacy Shopping Prescriptions Medical Equipment l Sundries Our friendly, professiomal staff take the time to get to know each customer. We do more than fill prescriptions. We provide the best in over-the-counter and post-surgical supplies. So stop by, say hello, and let us know how we can help you. Open Monday - Friday
9 am - 6 pm
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www.phelpshospital.org
(914) 366-1400
FYO Accounting & Tax Services In-home service Tax Preparation & Planning Bookkeeping Filing & Organizing • Bill Paying • • • •
Owner: Jean Mayer, EA
Serving residents at Kendal on Hudson since its opening. 914-862-2305
jean@crotontax.com
25% discount to Kendal residents. Pre-Season Tax Special: Provide your prior-year tax returns by January 15, 2017 and receive a free review and no-obligation fee quote.
P H E L P S Donald R. Reed Speech & Hearing Center
Comprehensive care close to home at Phelps Memorial Hospital Center
914-366-3010
Institute for Voice and Swallowing Disorders Craig H. Zalvan, MD Laryngologist
914-366-3636 777 North Broadway Suite 303 Sleepy Hollow, NY
Hearing Testing Hearing Aid Dispensing Comprehensive Care of Voice and Swallowing Evaluation and Treatment of Speech and Language Disorders Van Tassel
Cleaners
Your Great Expectations... Can Be Filled.
GRAPE EXPECTATIONS
Wine and Liquor Merchant
“Better Cleaners For Those Who Care”
Family Owned And Operated Since 1929 We serve over 70 Kendal customers, so you have probably seen our white and red lettered delivery truck making the rounds to all four residential buildings. Dependable delivery and pickup of laundry, dry cleaning, clothing repairs and adjustments.
Turn Around Service 631-7787
A few doors from C Town. Free parking in the back away from traffic. Knowledgeable and friendly staff will answer questions and help you select from the largest and most unique display in the Rivertowns. ❖ Competitive pricing and discounts. ❖ I look forward to having you join our many Kendal customers. John Sarofeen, Proprietor
Tel. 914-332-0294
92 N. Broadway, Tarrytown, NY
Westchester’s Finest Clockmaker since 1951
Harnik Bros. J E W E L E R S
Enrico Hair Care, Inc. Enrico Hair Care, Inc. Tuesday Enrico does hair color/cut Mondays - and styling Sandra doescuts mani/pedi and and waxing Enrico and styles Tatiana consults on color Wednesday Wednesdays Kim doesHairstyling hair color/cut and styling by Kim Wednesdays through Fridays Thursday Friday Maria does & manicures Tony Thursday does hair color/cut and styling and Fridays Hairstyling by Toni Friday Fridays Maria does manicure Christina does pedicures, manicures and hair.
Call Callfor forappointments appointments 523-6382 523-6382 or or 922-1057 922-1057
Specializing in Watch Repair • Clock Repair Jewelry Repair & Remodeling Battery and Band Replacements Tall Case • Ships • Atmos • Carriages
Museum Quality Restoration Since 1951
All Work Done On Premise Free Estimates Pick Up & Delivery
914.631.3224
Harnik Bros. Jewelers 6 North Broadway, Tarrytown, NY 10591
WINNER: WINNER:
Top Top 100 100 Chinese Chinese Restaurants Restaurants in in the the USA USA 2007 2007 We’ve We’ve been been serving serving the the community community since since 1990. 1990. Special thanks to our many patrons Special thanks to our many patrons for for years years of of support. support. We’ll We’ll continue continue to to serve serve the the best best quality quality & & most most nutritious food with less oil, less salt & less nutritious food with less oil, less salt & less starch starch for for the the years years to to come. come. “Your “Your health, health, Our Our Mission.” Mission.” 17 17 Main Main Street Street Tarrytown, Tarrytown, New New York York 10591 10591 (Located (Located on on the the corner corner opposite opposite the Music the Music Hall) Hall)
Monday Monday -- Saturday: Saturday: 11am 11am -- 11pm 11pm Sunday: Noon Sunday: Noon - 11pm 11pm
Tel: Tel: 914.332.1625 914.332.1625 // 1640 1640 Fax: Fax: 914.332.1644 914.332.1644
FREE FREE DELIVERY DELIVERY
Tarrytown Floral Design For For the the past past 8 8 years years Kendal Kendal Residents Residents have have chosen us to have their fresh chosen us to have their fresh flower flower arrangements arrangements delivered delivered to to friends friends near near and and far. far. Orchids, Orchids, tropical tropical plants, plants, blooming blooming plants, plants, and and kosher baskets, along with some surprises kosher baskets, along with some surprises from from our our new new expanded expanded space space next next time time you you call. call. Each Each order order is is hand hand delivered delivered throughout throughout Westchester or by FTD Westchester or by FTD all all over over the the USA. USA. Do Do come come in in and and see see our flowers for our flowers for yourself. yourself. Open Open 7 7 Days Days a a Week Week •• Call, Call, Click Click or or Come Come In In 7 7 South South Broadway Broadway in in Tarrytown Tarrytown 909-6393 909-6393 tarrytownfloraldesigns.com tarrytownfloraldesigns.com
Where Better Hearing 10% OFF Means Better Living Why Why choose choose an an AudigyCertified™ AudigyCertified™ professional? professional? BBoard-certified oard-certified doctors doctors of of audiology audiology C Comprehensive omprehensive hearing hearing evaluations evaluations Tinnitus Tinnitus treatment treatment Hearing Hearing aid aid orientation orientation
M Multiple ultiple manufacturers— manufacturers— because because one one brand brand does does not fit all not fit all 75-day 75-day evaluation evaluation period period 3-year extended 3-year extended warranty warranty 3 3 years years of of batteries batteries
the the purchase purchase of of new new hearing aid(s) for hearing aid(s) for Kendal Kendal on on Hudson Hudson residents* residents* * Not to be combined with * Not to be combined with other offers. other offers.
914.290.4849 Julie Julie B. B. O’Shea, O’Shea, Au.D., Au.D., Owner, Owner, Doctor Doctor of of Audiology Audiology Patricia Patricia A. A. Martucci, Martucci, Au.D., Au.D., Doctor Doctor of of Audiology Audiology Donna Donna T.T. Ronan, Ronan, Au.D., Au.D., Doctor Doctor of of Audiology Audiology Debra Debra Skorney, Skorney, Au.D., Au.D., Owner, Owner, Doctor Doctor of of Audiology Audiology Jennifer Ratner, Au.D., Doctor of Audiology Jennifer Ratner, Au.D., Doctor of Audiology Lidis Lidis Pacheco, Pacheco, HIS HIS
Visit Visit us us online online at at Hearing-Care.org Hearing-Care.org
785 785 Mamaroneck Mamaroneck Ave Ave •• White White Plains, Plains, NY NY 10605 10605 Free Free Parking, Parking, Handicap Handicap Accessible Accessible
Angels on Call is pleased to announce that we have opened a satellite office located right here at Kendal on Hudson in the main building on Level C
Angels on Call has been a favorite of Kendal
Call 845-628-2255 today to discover why residents for over 10 years
Offering multiple services to augment the lives of you and your loved ones RN/LPN Services In-Home Assessments by qualified RNs Medication Pours HHA/Companion Services Attentive and experienced Home Health Aides carefully supervised and monitored by an RN Assistance with Personal Hygiene and Grooming Nutritious Meal Planning and Preparation Medication Reminders Companionship Respite Care Exercise Additional Services Escorts to Doctor Appointment/Shopping/Errands Conscientious Pet Care and Plant Care General Tidying and Trash Removal* Laundry and Linen Changes
Angels on Call, a passion for providing quality homecare to extend the independence of all Kendal residents
Call 845-628-2255 or email us at info@aochc.com today to experience the best that home health care has to offer
* Angels on Call is not a home cleaning service. However, if such services are required, we would be delighted to make an appropriate referral