FYI
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orman Sissman writes up his conversations with some non-human Kendal residents and their families. Part Two of Pat Taylor’s history of the founding of Kendal includes interviews with many Kendal Founders. Stefan Kanfer recalls some of his meetings with the late great American illustrator and author, Maurice Sendak, and comments on some of the highlights of Sendak’s career. Eugene Dubow records the lifelong evolution of his attitudes toward Roman Catholics, and he traces some larger interactions of Jews and Catholics in our society (of which he was a part) during the last half of the 20th century. After he and his wife recently leased a new car, Bert Pepper expresses high praise for its automatic safety features and recommends that other Kemal residents acquire them in the same way. Pat Doyle takes a well-deserved respite from her monthly column, Standing Pat; she will return next month.
Caroline Persell was the cover photograph editor for this issue. The two outside covers invoke the spring that is coming, despite the light April snow that is falling as I write these words: Caroline captured the magnolia blossoms in Rockwood Park on the front cover, and Martin Smolin shot the gorgeous peonies that were sent from Japan a few years ago, and grace the entrance to the Rockefeller State Preserve --- they are well worth a special visit when they are in bloom! On the inside of the front cover, Martin Smolin records a street scene in Havana, Cuba, during a recent trip there; and Caroline views an iconic building, located in a town several miles to our south.
Norman J. Sissman
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Overheard in the Bistro
This month I have decided to take a break from writing about residents and do some interviews with members of our pet population. Originally I referred to all these Kendalites as four-legged, until I met Birdie Fenton. Birdie is a lovely standard cockatiel; he has a gray body trimmed with white primary wing coverts, a yellow face and striking crest, and bright round orange dots on his checks that look like a clown’s makeup. He is a Kendal founder, having joined the Fenton family shortly before they moved here. His generic name is the result of his mistress Ruth’s penchant for forgetting proper names. Birdie has a cage where he sleeps but is allowed free run (or flyover, as the case may be) of the Fenton apartment most of the day. I inquired whether he was “apartment trained” and was told that he was “most of the time,” but even when accidents occur, they are small and easily cleaned up. Birdie is quite affectionate with people he knows, and loves to be petted on the top of his head. Although he doesn’t talk much, he shows some humanoid tendencies in that the favorite phrase he repeats is, “you’re such a good bird!” His favorite toys are paper envelopes; he repeatedly plays with them and chews them, removing a piece at a time until they are miniscule. Birdie has never taken a bath, but grooms himself meticulously. His diet is a mixture of seeds and Quaker Wheat Squares cereal (a good Kendal choice), but every afternoon he enjoys a treat of three peanuts. I was intrigued to see how deftly he holds and manipulates 2
a peanut with his tiny toes, turning it round and round as he nibbles it. Aware of how many cats there are in Mary Powell and other buildings, and knowing how felines frequently feast on their feathered friends, I was originally fearful that Birdie might be in danger of becoming someone’s lunch, but Ruth Fenton assured me that he still hasn’t learned where the front door to his apartment is; and having met many of our cat denizens and seen how generally calm and, indeed, slothful they are, my concerns have been eased. One exception to this widespread placidity is Mary Jane Berger, whose portrait graced the cover of a recent issue of Kendal View. The story of Mary Jane and her half-sister, Ursula Hart (a.k.a. Sushi) is an interesting one, to say the least. Both Ursula and Mary Jane are ragdolls, an American breed so named because of the tendency of its members to go limp when picked up. They are supposedly very friendly and almost dog-like in relationships, according to Wikipedia. Well --- tell that to Mary Jane! She and Ursula were originally adopted by Jane Hart. Within a day of their arrival at Kendal, Mary Jane, somewhat younger and bigger than Ursula, began to harass her sibling. She pushed her away from their feeding bowl, she tried to prevent her from using their litter box, and she often disrupted Ursula from whatever perch she had settled onto. I’m told that sisters are sometimes catty with each other, but this was beyond the spat. Attempts at remediation (e.g.,
two separate feeding bowls and litter boxes) and some brief sessions of mindfulness training brought minimal improvement. And --- during this time both kittens were tense and standoffish vis-à-vis people. The tipping point occurred one day when Jane Hart was sitting on a sofa engrossed in her laptop. Mary Jane jumped up next to her, apparently to snuggle, and then ---- pee’d onto Jane’s blue jeans --- while Jane was wearing them! An exhaustive and expensive veterinarian workup of Mary Jane’s urinary tract concluded that the episode’s etiology was “behavioral.” The inevitable conclusion: the pugnacious pussy had to be separated from her pusillanimous partner and materfamilias. Luckily, before members of the Westchester Department of Kitty Protection arrived, serendipity found Gay and Horst Berger, who agreed to take Mary Jane and provide her with a peaceful Quaker upbringing. I’m very happy to report that after the new home for Mary Jane was secured, both cats almost immediately calmed down, prospered, and reverted to the affectionate friendly personalities typical of their breed (the illustration here is of me interviewing Ursula, taken by Jane Hart). Another Kendal cat of a special breed, and, I must say, equally as beautiful and aristocratic as the ragdolls in my opinion, is Molly Albertson. Molly is
a Maine coon cat; large (13 pounds), long- haired (including fine hairs sprouting from her ears), and a lovely beige and white color. She, also, is a Kendal Founder, having come into the Albertson family shortly before Betty and her late husband, Bob, moved to Kendal in 2005. Molly’s life has been entirely free of the strife that occurred among the ragdoll sisters. She has an elaborate cat exercise stand from the top of which she can watch her favorite outdoor activity: mockingbirds, sparrows, and blackbirds flying by. Now to two canine residents: Missy Smethurst is well-known to most of Kendal’s human residents, as she goes for walks with her master three times a day, rain or shine, and frequently accompanies him when he picks up his mail and cubby contents. Missy has a couple of selfcontradictions. She is of southern origin, having been born in Biloxi, Mississippi, yet she is exceptionally fond of cold weather and positively yearns to frolic in any snow that may accumulate. She seems to have had a tough puppyhood, since she was one of many dogs that were found roaming the streets of the south after Hurricane Katrina, and then picked up and brought to animal shelters in the north, including one in New Jersey where the Smethursts found and adopted her. Although she appeared somewhat malnourished at that time, 3
she is now very well fed, although she retains a constant eagerness to eat that sometimes must be curbed. Because she is of a mixed breed, the Smethursts actually had her DNA analyzed in an attempt to discover who her ancestors were. The only breed to test positive from this was that of a Siberian husky (which, of course, explains the affection for cold and snow). Just from clinical observation of Missy’s long torso and relatively short legs, I myself am sure that there is a “long gene” somewhere in there, perhaps from a Bassett hound? Missy has always seemed to me a calm relaxed individual, but one afternoon I saw her play briefly with Rich, our driver, on Main Street (across from the mailboxes), after which Missy took off as if she had been shot out of a canine cannon, dashing down the hallway to the Front Desk, where she knew she would be rewarded with a biscuit treat! My final interview was with Daisy Appleby, a sprightly affectionate Norfolk terrier. Her mistress, Doris, gave me a bit of historical information about Norfolks. At least one accompanied almost every English fox hunting party. Usually it was carried in a leather bag slung over one of the rider’s saddle. If the fox, as often happened, tried to hide in a hole in the ground, the Norfolk was pulled out and it immediately went fearlessly into the hole. After he (or she) succeeded in dislodging the fox, the Norfolk’s tail was just the right length to permit her being pulled out by it, ready for another mission! Daisy is Doris’s first Norfolk; 4
she previously spent almost two decades as owner and trainer of Portuguese water dogs (akin to the current White House dog, named Bo after the president’s initials). Among Doris’s Portuguese water dogs were two highly decorated ones, Moliero’s Golden Pond, a.k.a. Carlos, (1992-2002) and Cutwater Dreams & Fame, a.k.a. Poppy (20052015). When Doris moved to Kendal, she felt that she needed a smaller canine companion; thus, Ketka’s Daisy Miller, a.k.a. Daisy. Daisy seems more drawn to human females than to males, but when she met me it didn’t take more than a few sniffs to become friendly (and licky). Daisy has just enrolled in an eight-week Therapy Dog course, after which she will bring entertainment and solace to patients in hospitals and hospices. Doris’s daughter, Karen (recently retired as a systems analyst at IBM) currently runs a dog boarding house in Ossining, where both Daisy and Missy have stayed when their families are away. I discovered soon after I began writing this column that there were many more pets at Kendal than I could possibly interview in the space of one essay. Also, I am very aware of several beloved pets who have died recently and who are still missed and mourned. To all these, my apologies. My selection was purely arbitrary, based on chance and familiarity, and no offense to any was intended. Norman J. Sissman
THE FOUNDING OF KENDAL: PART TWO — MOVING IN…AND ON
The brand-new Kendal on Hudson opened on May 9, 2005. That first night, there were seven people on the property: Pat Doyle, two support services men, an emergency response nurse, the late Joan Vogel, and Annette Leyden, now our longest in-residence member, who had moved in that day with her husband.
In the evening, there was a lovely dinner, with salmon and all the fixings, in the Bistro, attended by theabove plus Horst and Gay Berger, Joan and Jim Oltman, and Maarten Van Hengel (former Chair of the Phelps Board) and his wife. Pat Doyle had joined Kendal in September 2003 as Executive Director. To start with, he job involved the following: overseeing the huge construction project, backing up marketing efforts to attract residents (which included frequent social events), training a new staff, handling shortterm crises and making long-term decisions. Then she got really busy. One of the most remarkable aspects of the pre-opening days of Kendal was how future residents established and worked on various committees – such as Education, Library, CAFA, Bylaws, and Community Connections – while the original construction was going on.
Once we opened, they moved in with enormous gusto to establish new lives. And over the years, they have moved on to help Kendal evolve into what it is today. You can catch the spirit of some of our founders from the following reminiscences based on individual interviews:
Harold Adel, M.D.:
From the very beginning, there was a great emphasis on health, with Patty Munson hired to design a Wellness Center before we even opened. For several years after we did open, we held an annual Heath Fair on the campus. Health education materials, demonstration, and small group meetings provided opportunities for discussion of health issues with residents, staff members, Phelps personnel, and seniors from local communities who were bussed in for the day. Another Health Fair is under consideration for 2017.
Jane Beers:
There were only two other residents in Clermont when I moved in. That changed pretty fast, of course. The atmosphere was absolutely charged with excitement and a sense of adventure. We all instantly bonded, helped by committee meetings and lots of activities from the get-go. I remember that the Education Committee had a 5
lecture scheduled the first week after opening. I attended several meetings we had with our newly-hired chef and yes, the food was as delicious as it is today.
Dot Bone:
My late husband and I decided in 2003 that Kendal was for us and we signed up when Mary Powell was the only completed building. (By Christmas 2005, all four buildings were filled and there was a long waiting list!) We first saw the apartment we had chosen from a floor plan the week before we moved in. Å week after, we attended Pat Doyle’s first Fireside Chat in a very small area that is now part of the Residents Lounge. It was a lovely meeting.
Phyllis and Peter Davies:
Though non-Quakers, we have always felt close to the Quaker philosophy, so it was no surprise that we ended up at Kendal on Hudson. Before that, though, we had visited Longwood, stayed with a close Riverdale friend at Kendal at Hanover and put down a deposit at Ithaca because our son was an assistant professor at Cornell. We transferred our deposit to KOH when he moved to Washington state. This meant we could maintain friendships in Riverdale and also enjoy the cultural offerings of the city. As we attended numerous planning meetings, we became very involved in pre-opening committees. It was great to discover that others who were coming here had values like our own and that our wide international experience living 6
abroad and world outlook would be so compatible, as they have proved to be.
Gerry Gold:
Well before we opened, some prospective residents felt we should start an interim Residents’ Council to oversee all the ad hoc (pre-Kendal was definitely an ad hoc kind of place) committees being formed. By fall 2005, Pat Doyle had formed an Election Committee, of which I was chosen as chair. We got 27 people to run and over 85% of KOH residents voted for the 15 members of the Interim Residents’ Council, charged with laying the groundwork for the formation of a friendly, responsive, efficient and smooth-running community. Obviously, they succeeded.
Ed Hanin:
When Gerry and I moved in a week after KOH opened, there were six people in Mary Powell. People didn’t make plans for dinner, we just sat together. Only the Bistro (a much smaller version than today’s) was open; the FDR several months later. At first, everyone was on the same plan of one meal a day – the “25 a month” plan came later. Breakfast and lunch were available options. There were two or three move-ins a day so we got to meet “newbies” immediately. By Christmas, all four buildings were finished, we were 97% filled, and we had a substantial waiting list. The average age of residents that first year was 78 (now
it’s 85). Another interesting fact about our early days: at first, apartments in Assisted Living were handled as rentals.
Sidney Hines:
I’ll never forget the day I moved into Kendal. I drove up from my condo in Heritage Hills with my car loaded with the small stuff. I approached Clermont and there were Pat Doyle and marketing maven Terry Minervini waiting for me. They insisted on helping me to unpack my car and get settled in my new home. And I’ve happily been there ever since.
Shirley Lobenthal:
I was living in Manhattan when I heard about this retirement community being built in Westchester and I started researching it. I found that their Marketing Department had scheduled a series of parties in the city for people like me. I attended several of them -- and met wonderful people like Ed Hanin, Gerry Gold, Çaroline and Charlie Persell, and Bill and Peggy Pennell. It was so great to move into Kendal and be greeted by people one had already met.
Joan Oltman:
About three months after Kendal opened, the late Aline Benjamin posted a neat note on our bulletin board: “Anyone interested in starting a newsletter for Kendal, please call me at my extension.” I called her and, over tea in her exquisite Robert Fulton
apartment, we exchanged backgrounds: she had been an editor with the publisher, Prentice Hall, and was editing the Katonah Museum’s newsletter; I was a writer with numerous newsletters under my belt, a novel half-finished and a master’s degree in creative writing. Thus Kendal View was born; it has appeared eleven months each year ever since. Aline insisted that I was coeditor, but in my view she was the boss. We worked happily together until health problems necessitated her becoming less active. At that point Norman Sissman agreed, to my everlasting gratitude, to share the editing. We are always on the lookout for new material from all residents, reminiscences, stories, photographs, opinion pieces and more; and we offer whatever editorial help we can.
Caroline and Charles Persell:
We are a great example of how a couple can meld two lifestyles into a harmonious whole at KOH. For the first six years after our move, I continued to work in the city three or four days a week – further proof that one of Kendal’s strongest selling points is location, location, location. Meanwhile, Charlie was spending time as chair of the Residents’ Council. In the early years, we remember discussions of issues such as smoking, holiday decorations, and locking outside doors.
Marian Weinberg:
We lived in Pleasantville for over 7
47 years. We had ties to Dartmouth and were planning to move to Kendal at Hanover. Then we learned there were plans to build a Kendal in Sleepy Hollow. The location was more accessible for our far-flung children to visit and more conducive to continuing our present activities. We moved to Kendal in 2005 knowing no one other than those we encountered at pre-opening meetings. It was a new experience for everyone. Cocktail parties before dinner were the norm. The residents were intelligent and friendly. The management and staff were caring. We felt welcome!
that continues today. Among the donations were five fine pianos, placed in Adirondack, Clearwater, the Private Dining Room, a classroom and most importantly, in the Gathering Room, which is still graced by the splendid Steinway grand given by the late Clara Loominitz.
Pat Taylor
Jackie Wilke:
Hubie’s and my first exposure to the possibility of a Kendal being built in Westchester came at a meeting at the Unitarian Society in Hastings where we lived. In May, 2003, with KOH set to go, several committees were formed at a gathering at Purchase Meeting, including the Common Areas Furniture and Art Committee (CAFA). About a dozen of us committee members started to work to assure that all public spaces in our future home would be as attractive as possible, seeking tax deductible donations of art (some original), decorative accessories, and furniture to add to what was acquired with Kendal funds. Before the opening two years later, CAFA members had been in touch with many incoming residents who needed to downsize before moving in, a process
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Father of the Wild Things
Ridgefield, Connecticut, is not exactly a cultural center, though a great place to hang out in the summer. I ought to know; my cousin Konrad Bercovici owned vast swaths of the place, gradually selling off lot after lot rather than work at a job. But Ridgefield will soon be the locale of the Maurice Sendak Museum. As specified in the will of the doyen of American children’s books, it will be a place for scholars, artists, and writers
rather than the general public. I.e., no souvenir shop, no magical mystery tours. The behest personifies the professional crank and artistic genius. I ought to know that as well; as Time magazine’s book review editor, I was invited to Maurice’s Ridgefield house on several occasions. He always began as a curmudgeon and ended as a humorous and self-deprecating interviewee. Sendak began his long career by designing windows for F. A. O. Schwarz’s toy store, graduated to illustrating a science book, Atomics for the Millions, published in 1947, and then set his sights on a different kind of audience. Gradually he became known for his fresh, quirky approach, first with drawings for A Hole Is to Dig, and later with such perennial favorites as The Nutshell Library (“Cooking once / cooking twice / cooking chicken soup with rice”) and Little Bear, the
foundation of a children’s TV series. But it was with the publication of Where the Wild Things Are that Sendak vaulted into the consciousness of the American child. For years he had planned to write and illustrate the story of a boy being punished for disobedience. Max was to escape to “the land of wild horses,” where he would experience fear, intrigue, and mystery before returning to the safety of his room. The trouble was, Sendak couldn’t draw horses. Eventually he arrived at a solution: the imaginary Wild Things would be representations of his shtetl-born, Brooklyn-bound aunts and uncles, who “scared the hell out of me when I visited them in their apartments.” Indeed, when he collaborated on an opera based on the book, Sendak took his creatures out of the closet. The Wild Things were called by their original names: Aaron, Bernard, Emile, Moishe, and Tzippy.
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The little volume reached into the dark world of children’s psyches, sold 19 million copies—and showed publishers that nightmare visions, abolished since the days of Alice in Wonderland, were back in style. By age 52, Sendak had become prominent enough for the coffee-table book treatment. Selma G. Lanes’s oversized, perceptive volume, The Art of Maurice Sendak, showcased an extraordinary range of talent. Sendak could render Grimms’ Fairy Tales with the bite of a Dürer etching—and create soft, brightly colored homages to the king of the Sunday funnies, Winsor McCay. In later years, Sendak came to regard Wild Things as part of a trilogy including In the Night Kitchen and Outside Over There. Their creator called the books “variations on the same theme: how children master various feelings—danger, boredom, fear, frustration, jealousy—and manage to come to grips with the realities of their lives.” Not everyone approved of Sendak’s approach to childhood. Night Kitchen, for example, featured an unclad little boy, his genitals completely exposed, causing some librarians to censure the author and censor his work. His defense was pugnacious but inarguable: “Children are tough, though we tend to think of them as fragile. They have to be tough. Childhood is not easy. We sentimentalize children, but they
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know what’s real and what’s not. They understand metaphor and symbol. If children are different from us, they are more spontaneous. Grown-up lives have become overlaid with dross.” In part to tweak his critics, in part to indulge himself, Sendak continued to depict his private obsessions: portraits of Mozart, his favorite composer; the ladder used to kidnap Charles Lindbergh’s baby—a terrifying photo in the tabloids of his childhood; his pet German Shepherds; and Mickey Mouse. All found a place in the oeuvre, even when they had nothing to do with the story. The author/illustrator rarely made public appearances. From his Connecticut redoubt Sendak continued to draw and write seven days a week, despite a series of pains and losses— failing health (he had suffered a major heart attack at the age of 39); the death of his beloved brother, Jack; and the death of psychiatrist Eugene Glynn, his companion for decades (“My parents thought I was straight; they never, never, never knew”). To the end, work remained consolation as well as livelihood. He designed stage sets for Mozart’s Magic Flute, Prokofiev’s Love of Three Oranges, Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen, and many other operas and ballets. Yet to the end children remained his favorite audience. They were the ones
who wrote admiring letters to Mr. Sun Deck and gave him far more reason to smile than any rave review: “Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it,” he recalled. “I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters—sometimes very hastily—but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, ‘Dear Jim: I loved your card.’ Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, ‘Jim loved your card so much he ate it.’ That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.”
Stefan Kanfer
My Journey Through Time and Catholic America
I grew up in the West Bronx in an almost totally Jewish neighborhood. However, close by was a small area of mostly Irish Catholics who used to live in close proximity to a Catholic church,
St. Margaret Mary (SMM) on the Grand Concourse at Tremont Avenue. The Jewish kids went to the local public schools and the Catholics to the SMM Parochial School. There was almost no communication between the two groups. The 1930s and the 1940s were not the years of interreligious understanding and cooperation, especially among little kids and teenagers. Suspicion and dislike reigned supreme. There was friction and an occasional fight. No one got killed, but it was an ugly time. There were two Irish teens, when I was 6 or 7, who scared me to death when I saw them in the street. O’Hagan and Bone! They were mean! No matter what your age, wouldn’t you be scared to death of a big hulking guy named Bone? (My apologies to Dot, a resident here, whom I would never have any negative feelings about.) Somehow we all managed to grow up, except O’Hagan (who must have had a first name, but no one knew it); he was killed in a bar fight somewhere on the West Coast when he was in the Navy during World War II. Many years later when I was grown and married, I saw Bone at a football game. I still shivered and quaked; I couldn’t help it. I later found out that his real name was Bob Macken and that he was a beloved football coach. Things change and people change. I
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guess he did, and I did eventually as well. But, I am getting ahead of myself. Please scroll ahead to the 1960s: I was a New York State Parole Officer. I had to make a visit to the Bronx Arrest Court, as one of my parolees had been arrested and I had to lodge a Violation of Parole warrant. I ran into two of the SMM kids, John Quirk and Tom Cleary, both detectives. We talked a little in a friendly way about the old neighborhood. We certainly came from different backgrounds but we ended up in the same business. They seemed perfectly nice and normal; I wonder what they thought of me. Without thinking much about it, my feelings about Catholics were obviously changing. During the eight years I dealt with paroled felons I came to know many Catholic cops and parole personnel, and saw them only as fellow law enforcement professionals. Now scroll ahead another ten years. In 1966 I left the Division of Parole and started a career with the American Jewish Committee (AJC), as director of its Westchester Regional Office. In 1965, AJC began to work closely with the Catholic Church after the Nostra Aetate, the Vatican document that positively transformed Catholic-Jewish relationships. This document stated, on the basis of Christian scriptures, that Jews cannot be held collectively responsible for the death of Jesus;
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God’s covenant with the Jewish people continues, and anti-Semitism violates church teaching. Nostra Aetate marked a fresh beginning for Catholics and Jews. All the AJC regional offices dove headlong into “inter-religious activity.” We had meetings, underwrote studies, developed seminars, had teaching materials written, and just plain started to get to know Catholic clergy and lay people. I had arrived at AJC just in time to be part of one of the greatest interreligious developments in American religious history. In 1970 the AJC promoted me, so Tish and I, plus one daughter, moved to Chicago; a second child was added while we were there. The Chicago Catholic scene was still rather conservative, but we developed relationships with the more liberal Catholics such as Father John Pawlikowski of the Catholic Theological Seminary, who today heads the Catholic-Jewish Studies Program at CTU. In the 1970s many of us in Jewish organizations worked on trying to get Jews out of the USSR. Several million were stuck and discriminated against for wanting to emigrate to Israel and other countries in the west. The Soviet Jewry movement became a serious agenda item for the AJC. The Jewish community was trying everything it knew, including trying to get the U.S. government to apply official pressure on the Soviets.
One day as assistant of mine came to me with a newspaper article noting that a Roman Catholic nun had made a speech about Soviet Jewry. I was surprised as that particular issue had not become part of the Jewish-Catholic dialogue. We quickly made plans to meet with the speaker; and thus Sister Margaret Traxler (of the School Sisters of Notre Dame) entered my life and the Soviet Jewry Movement. Nuns are among the most devoted people I have ever met. Giving the totality of their existence to an institution and whatever cause they undertake is something that most of us cannot understand. Margaret (we became good friends), through her commitment to her church, had decided that the fight against injustice was what her life would be all about. She was on what I called “detached duty” from her order and was working as the director of the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice. The church itself was not yet involved in the civil rights movement, but the priests and nuns who joined the NCCIJ were an advanced group that had great influence in the years ahead, as the church began to understand the needs of African-Americans. Margaret was also a dedicated feminist. I suggested an interreligious meeting on Soviet Jewry, and Margaret agreed. Our New York staff saw the possibilities of making Soviet Jewry an international human rights issue and moving it out
into the greater panoply of issues that Americans were feeling strongly about in the 1970s. It became more than just a Jewish cause. It’s a long story as to how the National Interreligious Task Force on Soviet Jewry (NIYFSJ) grew, but its importance developed largely because Margaret persuaded another nun, Sister Ann Gillen, to move to Chicago to become its director. Ann spent more than a decade attempting to get Christians to help the plight of the helpless Jews in the USSR. In doing so she became a sort of Jewish saint. She was greeted like one every time she appeared at a synagogue or at any Jewish meeting. Sometime in the late 1970s Margaret asked me if I would become a board member of the NCCIJ. I was honored, and accepted, and became the lone Jew on the board. I went to all the meetings, which always had a church service of some kind; I learned a great deal about Catholicism. The services seemed to me not so different than Reform Jewish services I have attended. Both have wine, although Jews get challah bread with it while Catholics get only a wafer! The Soviet Jewry Task Force continued its work until the USSR collapsed in the early 1990s, at which time its work was done, and massive emigration began. Both Margaret and Ann have since passed away. The
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church has not canonized them as saints, but I have in my heart and mind. So there you have it: a life that began with a distinct dislike for Catholics; now changed, and with a great affection and deep understanding of them and their religion. A short time ago I started to think about this journey of mine. I decided that on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day (Jews always start holidays the night before), I would invite five Irish Catholic friends here at Kendal to join me for dinner in the Formal Dining Room. They agreed and I spent the first ten or fifteen minutes that we were together telling them the story of my journey. I enjoyed it and I hope they did too; it was important for me. We have all taken these kinds of journeys in our lives. As we get closer to our ends, stories like mine (and many undoubtedly are more interesting than mine) deserve telling. I hope that my fellow residents at Kendal will join in and share their own journeys with the rest of us.
Eugene Dubow
Want to Keep Driving?
Here’s Why You Should Consider Buying a New Car
We are changing, and cars are changing. We are getting older, slower, more forgetful and less attentive. Cars are getting smarter, quicker, more able to avoid accidents, and consequently safer. We older drivers need all the help we can get to avoid injury, and perhaps more important, to avoid hurting someone else. Just for fun, when I meet a new Kendal resident, I ask three questions: 1. Do you read the New York Times? 2. Do you subscribe to the New Yorker, even though you don’t read all the long articles? 3. Do you now, or did you ever subscribe to Consumer Reports? Yes, yes, yes, and the person probably will be comfortable living with us at Kendal. Now, you are probably thinking that I have lost my train of thought, because this has nothing to do with buying a car. Wrong! A recent issue of Consumer Reports magazine, the annual auto issue, describes newly available safety features in the 2016 models. We concluded that Peggy’s 2003 Camry, like our thinking, was obsolete about safety. Admittedly, I have been concerned about auto safety since the 1950s. After
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reading Unsafe at Any Speed by Ralph Nader I looked into installing seatbelts in my 1958 Volkswagen Beetle. None was available, so I bought lap belts designed for a tractor from the Sears Roebuck catalog, drilled holes in the belly pan of the car, and installed the belts myself. Six months later my previous wife rolled the Volkswagen over three times on a Texas freeway. She was seven months pregnant with our second son. She walked away from the car, unhurt, and delivered a healthy boy two months later. My first son, then 18 months old, was uninjured. He was in the back seat, in a car seat that was restrained by a seat belt. Back to 2016. There are many new optional features that a careful shopper can specify in a modestly priced new car: 1. Collision avoidance: The car in front of you suddenly stops. Your car slams on your brakes before you have time to react. 2. Adaptive cruise control: you are on the highway with your cruise control set at 50 miles an hour, and you come up behind a car going 40. Your cruise control slows you down to 40 and keeps you at a safe following distance. The car in front of you speeds up to 50, and your car automatically speeds up to 50.
your turn signal. A light flashes or a buzzer sounds, or both. 4. Blind spot alert: There is another car in your blind spot. You glance at your side view mirror and, although you can’t see the car, there is a light flashing in your mirror, telling you not to change lanes. 5. Backup alert: You start to back up without checking your dash– mounted backup television screen, and there is a person or vehicle behind your car. You get an audible or visible warning. Peggy and I decided to lease a Subaru Legacy, a midsize sedan that we ordered with all the safety features mentioned above and then some. As we experience the inevitable slowing down of aging, and still want the freedom that driving allows, we admitted that we need all the help we can get. This is our first leased vehicle. Until now we have bought our cars and driven them hundreds of thousands of miles. This time we decided that if either of us is still driving in three years we will probably be ready for an even safer car that we will drive, or an autonomous, robotic, self-driving vehicle that will be a safer driver than either of us ever was.
Bert Pepper
3. Lane change warning: you start to change your lane without putting on 15
Kendal View Staff Co-editors: Joan Oltman, Norman J. Sissman Editorial Committee: Gloria Cooper, Sue Phillips Photography Editors: Caroline Persell, Horst Berger Advertising and Billing: Norman J. Sissman, Hubie Wilke, Jim Wood
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BETTY AMICO 914-962-5475 Seniors Transition Services, LLC strans1@gmail.com Reduce the Stress of Downsizing SERVICES OFFERED • Assist You/Your Family in Vacating Apartments • Pack Charitable Donations • Obtain Estimates from Movers • Achieve Maximum Tax Benefit • Work Within Your Time Frame Insured Call for Free Estimate 914-962-5475
www.ambins.com PERSONAL INSURANCE Auto Insurance Homeowners Insurance Personal Umbrella Jewelry and Artwork Insurance Condo/Co-op Renters Insurance Watercraft And More!
BUSINESS INSURANCE
Cyber Liability General Liability Insurance Pollution Liability Business Property Restaurant Marine Coverage Employment Practices Liability Business Umbrella And More!
ADDITIONAL COVERAGE Group Benefits Life Insurance Term & Whole Life Insurance Buy/Sell Insurance Key Man Insurance Disability Insurance And More!
JoAnne Murray jmurray@ambins.com 24 South Broadway T: (914) 631-4353 Tarrytown, NY 10591 F: (914) 631-2930
The Editorial Forces Team You know you have book in you. Let us help you tell your story. Our editorial group – an author and an editor – has a combined forty years’ experience working with prestigious publishers and authors. Whether you need a manuscript critique for an overall assessment of your book-to-be, a developmental edit to organize your text, or a line edit to perfect your manuscript, we are here for you. We also offer ghost writing services.
For more information please contact KJ Fallon: editorialforces@gmail.com https://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/editorseditor/
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!
The
Phelps
Community
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
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9 am - 6 pm
Located on the first floor of the 777 Building on the Phelps Campus Jos
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777 N. Broadway on Route 9 at Route 117
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www.phelpshospital.org
(914) 366-1400
Keeping the Kendal community mobile with one-stop auto repair services COMPLETE SYSTEMS ANALYSIS - ALL CARS BRAKES TIRES COOLANT HEAT/AC EXHAUST ALIGNMENTS STEERING SUSPENSION & MORE! Call today for an appointment:
Mickey Keegan, Owner
mickey@mickeys-automotive.com As always, free pick up and delivery for all Kendal residents
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. Mondays EnricoMondays cuts and styles Tatianacuts consults on color Enrico and styles and TatianaTuesdays consults -on color Wednesdays Ida does pedicures by appointment Hairstyling by Kim Wednesdays Wednesdays through Fridays Hairstyling by Kim Maria does manicures Wednesdays Fridays Thursdaythrough and Fridays - Maria does manicures Hairstyling by Toni Fridays Thursday and Fridays Christina doesHairstyling pedicures, manicures and hair. by Toni
Call Callfor forappointments appointments 523-6382 922-1057 523-6382 or or 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