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ur summer 2019 issue is brimming with interesting biographies, personal memories, descriptions of events here and in our vicinity, and wondrous photographs. Muriel Fox recounts the impressive life achievements of Kendal resident and founder Jim Wood. Pat Taylor describes the KoH social work internship of a graduate student from Fordham. Norman Sissman ennumerates some recent threats to the health and beauty of our beloved Hudson River and how these are being opposed by environmentally oriented groups and individuals. Edith Litt remembers amusing anecdotes from her childhood and adult life. Sheila Benedis muses in verse on how she awakened to the beauty of nature and learned to use it in her art. Bill Smethurst pays tribute to the admired Kendal art teacher and mentor, Paul Jeffries. Inspired by Edith Litt, I transcribe some short memories from my early years. Pat Taylor details the events of a recent weekend, here, of fine outdoor music, delicious light fare, and the semiannual celebratory gathering of our wonderful staff. Gloria Lewit relates a gratifying experience she had at Sleepy Hollow’s Warner Library. Arthur Brady assembled and processed our color covers. The front cover was taken by Arthur while he was on a past sabbatical leave in Paris. It captures an aspect of the beauty of the Notre Dame cathedral before it was recently so severely damaged by fire. The inside of the front cover depicts a typical shoreline on Virgin Gorda, in the British Virgin Islands, recorded by Caroline Persell during one of her many vacations there. Inside the back cover is Arthur’s collage of shots he took during the opening reception of the Mostly Blue & White Art Show. The back cover is a scene on Birch Close, the nearest street to Kendal in Sleepy Hollow Manor on our southern border. Anne White, who photographed it, calls it “Sheep Guarding the Yard.” Anyone who passes by it again will find exactly the same scene, except for the flowers! Arthur also laid out and captioned the color spread, on pages twelve and thirteen, of photographs of the exceptional weekend of music and celebration described in Pat Taylor’s piece. He also took the portrait of our social work intern, Jessica Pfau.
As you can see, I have titled the reminiscences of Edith Litt and myself, “Memory Snapshots.” I invite all of you to contribute some brief memories of your own to Kendal View. I hope these will foster more widespread participation, among residents, in our little journal and, in addition, help us to get to know each more fully. The journal’s staff will be happy to assist in the writing of these recollections, if requested. Finally: Although Kendal View’s goals are entertainment and occasional edification by literary means, we would be remiss in not taking note of the significant changes that have occurred in Kendal’s administration over the past several weeks. We welcome these, and look forward to continuing our lives here in the secure, joyful, and fulfilling environment, here, that we love.
Norman J. Sissman 1
JIM WOOD LIVES THE QUAKER LIFE If someone asks you about the connection between Kendal on Hudson and “Quaker Values,” tell them about Jim Wood. Jim is an inspiring example of the Quaker ethos in action Jim has been a leader in the birth of KoH and its expanding vitality through the years. His interest began while a member of the Purchase Quarterly Quaker Meeting. A major concern of the members was to help improve care and options for older people. They supported the longtime Quaker crusade with the motto of “Untie the Elderly.” In other words, help older people enjoy a happy, meaningful life instead of following the traditional practice of tying them to beds and wheelchairs. In the early 1970s or 1980s their group, led by Gay Berger, the Oltmans and others, began looking for a site where a senior community could be built. They did not want to move to retirement housing in other states where several successful Quaker communities were thriving. A search committee was formed and Twink, Jim’s wife, was on it. They searched for a location with 100 to 150 acres available for buildings similar to those in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. They looked at more than 200 places in this area but came up blank! Fortunately Twink talked with their friend Maarten van Hengel, then chair of the board of Phelps Hospital in Sleepy Hollow. The hospital wondered if there might be a way to utilize a certain unoccupied piece of its land located on a steep slope, where development was hampered by rocks and trees. Its approximately seventeen acres were much smaller than the selection committee was seeking; but perhaps it might be possible to build multistory buildings, instead of spread out cottages, on the land. Twink arranged for Van Hengel to get together with the Kendal Corporation in Kennett Square and the local Quaker group, and the rest is our history. Jim served six years on the board of our parent organization, Kendal Corporation. He chaired its Finance Committee for a time. One of his duties was to look at various CCRCs which wanted to join the system. Most of the groups were rejected for various reasons. Jim also served eight years on the board of Kendal on Hudson. And now he is a member of the KoH Residents Council. One of the main attractions of Kendal on Hudson is our adherence to Quaker values that encourage community life and honor the value of all individuals. Kendal follows the Advices and Queries of New York Yearly Quaker Meeting. Jim especially likes Query Number 12: “Do we acknowledge the oneness of humanity and foster a loving spirit toward all people? Do we honor Friends’ traditional testimony that men and women are equal? How do we work to make these ideals a reality?" Jim is a birthright Quaker and says he follows the Friends ethos that “there is something of God in each person, with a goal of peace and justice for all people.” He divides his life activities into three parts: his family, working for profit, and his nonprofit work. His special interests are justice for all, education, and preserving the environment. Jim was born in Mt. Kisco. He attended Deerfield Academy, earned a B.A. in political science at Haverford College, and studied economics at New York University and the University of Michigan. He met Frances “Twink” Randall at a wedding reception at the Sleepy Hollow 2
Country Club. They have been happily married for sixty-six years and have six grandchildren and six great grandchildren. Twink subscribes to Quaker values but never joined the Friends. She’s still Dutch Reformed. Jim’s ancestors came here from Yorkshire, England. They passed along the family’s dedication to progressive ideals. Grandfather, aunts, and parents were all suffragists. Jim’s father was a founding member of the National Urban League that worked for interracial justice, and served on the board of Fisk University promoting higher education for African-Americans. He is also a founding member of the American Friends Service Committee for which his sister, Carolena, managed its program to feed children in Germany after World War I. The family were friends of Eleanor Roosevelt and Margaret Sanger, who founded Planned Parenthood. Jim’s mother worked with Jane Addams at Hull House in Chicago. Jim’s grandfather ran for Congress but would not take contributions from donors and thus lost the election. Jim worked for twenty-eight years at the Bank of New York, ending as a vice president, and then at other institutions in investment research and management for twenty-six more years. While Jim toiled on Wall Street, he and his children ran their Braewold Farm in Mt. Kisco. First dairy, then beef cattle. In 1950 one of their Norway Spruce trees was chosen to be the official Christmas tree of Rockefeller Center! For KoH, Jim has served on the Welcoming Team (heading it with Twink), the Education Committee, and the Loss Committee. He is a proud Co-Pilot. Apart from his work for Kendal, what were some of Jim’s other public service activities? Let us count the ways: the governing boards of Haverford and Bryn Mawr colleges; board member, including 10 years as chair of the Board of the American Bible Society; two advisory boards of the Kellogg Foundation; the Westchester Historical Society; chair of financial planning for the town of Bedford; president of the Mt. Kisco Lions Club; the Oakwood Cemetery, and the Bedford Farmers Club. Jim is trustee emeritus of the Jewish Foundation for the Education of Women. And he serves on the board of Bedford 2020, which has the goal of eliminating twenty per cent of carbon emissions by the year 2020 in the town of Bedford; a plan that can be replicated elsewhere As a result of his involvement with the Kellogg Foundation, he traveled to El Salvador as an elections monitor. Jim worked on the Teatown Lake Reservation project to develop educational projects for young people, et cetera, et cetera. Any one of the activist Quaker precepts could describe Jim’s life. We might summarize it simply in this quote: “He believes in giving back.”
Muriel Fox
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AN INTERN GOES FROM FORDHAM TO KENDAL — AND TO HER FUTURE In June, Jessica Pfau completed the 600 hours as a nonpaid intern needed to get her Master’s Degree from the Fordham School of Social Work. The last of the 600 hours were spent at Kendal, completing the last of her three required internships. From last September to this June, Jessica worked three days a week at Kendal (in addition to attending classes at the West Harrison Fordham campus and holding a part-time job). This placement was initiated by Fordham, which, as colleges do, arranges resources for intern positions (in a previous issue, Kendal View reported on our internship program with Pace University). As an intern at Kendal, Jessica was provided with an opportunity to experience several levels of care environments. She started in Sunnyside, learning how to devise service plans for residents with cognitive disabilities. She was then assigned to Adirondack, where she received invaluable experience in one-on-one counseling. For her last two months at Kendal, Jessica worked in Clearwater, where she made individual care plans and assessments of social histories for individual residents, as well as learning the correct procedures for discharging patients from a care unit. While at Kendal, Jessica reported directly to Stacey Conway, Director of Social Services. The latter’s mentorship was key to her internship as Jessica was required to work at the side of a seasoned professional. Stacey’s Master’s Degree in Social Work is from Adelphi; she is also a New York State LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker). Stacey started at Kendal in April 2005 — one month before its first residents began moving in. She used that month to organize the Adirondack and Clearwater units of Kendal’s Health Services and prepare the many required forms (since this was before office computers, paper charts were the order of the day). As it happened, five or six residents were almost immediately admitted directly to Clearwater from other facilities or their homes because they had become ill between the time of signing up and Kendal’s opening. Stacey also is proud of how she survived Project Renew, which involved the reallocation of beds to create Sunnyside. But then, nothing fazes Stacey, including adding the supervision of an intern to her busy schedule. Now that she has her Master’s, Jessica Pfau’s next step is preparing for a major New York State test in August to obtain licensing to give counseling care to patients. Then in the fall, she will look for her first real job, which she hopes will be in Westchester. We wish her well! Pat Taylor
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Overheard in the Bistro In my first 2019 column, I recounted the story of how a fin de siecle woman’s club in Englewood, New Jersey, organized a successful public campaign to save the natural beauty of the Hudson River from destruction by the depredations of local industrial development. Since environmental conservation is one of the many good goals in our too unregulated capitalistic society that are never permanently reached (as we all know), I thought it would be of interest to to add, now, a brief history of the battles that have ensued over the past seventy-five years or so to maintain the health and unspoiled appearance of our treasured river. As an indication of the scale and urgency of the continuing problems with the Hudson, a 2019 report by American Rivers, a national research group, lists the Hudson as the second most threatened river in the United States; to learn its reasons, read on. One of the earliest and most significant threats to the Hudson was the proposal in 1962, by Con Edison, to build a massive power plant on Storm King Mountain on the west bank of the Hudson just south of the town of Newburgh. This was to be a hydroelectric plant that would pump large volumes of water to the top of the mountain during periods (such as night) in which the cost of pumping would be low, and then generate electricity by releasing a downward flow of water when the demand for electricity was high, thus generating profits. The proposed stucture was enormous; it would have defaced the entire mountain as well as creating a large reservoir in most of what is now the adjacent Black Rock Forest. The planned project stimulated intense citizen-based opposition, and after years of public campaigning and legal maneuvers, Con Edison not only abandoned the project in 1979 but donated twelve million dollars to the Hudson River Foundation. Storm Mountain now is a popular state park. Early in the fight over Storm Mountain, six individuals who were the most active in opposing the project formed a new conservation organization, and named it Scenic Hudson. Scenic Hudson has prospered and grown since then, and is now one of two major nongovernmental, nonprofit groups protecting the river. The legal victory Scenic Hudson won over Con Edison has been called the cornerstone of environmental law in the entire country. The organization, now headquartered in Poughkeepsie, lists on its Website fifty-six employees. It concentrates on four major areas of activity; a) Land preservation; over its more than fifty
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year history, Scenic Hudson has purchased over 31,000 acres of land and established over sixty parks and historic sites on them; b) Working with riverfront cities and towns to balance conservation and developmental goals; c) Advocating sound environmental public policies; d) Developing conservation science and disseminating its results. The other major conservation organization in our area is Riverkeeper. Riverkeeper also was founded in the 1960s but its original members were professional and amateur fishermen who became concerned that continuing pollution of the Hudson from industrial waste and sewage systems was killing the source of their livelihood, the river’s once abundant fish. Riverkeeper, like Scenic Hudson, has grown into a major nonprofit organization. With headquarters in Ossining and a listed staff of thirty-two, Riverkeeper’s goal is to protect the river from industrial waste and malfunctioning sewage systems, and to monitor the area’s drinking water sources. Riverkeeper maintains a thirty-six foot wooden patrol and research boat; it continually samples water all along the lower Hudson River for contaminants such as E. coli bacteria, and publishes the results annually. The vessel also responds to citizens’ reports of illegal discharges into the river. Riverkeeper has often issued legal challenges to force pollutors to comply with legal limits; Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was its lead prosecuting attorney for many years in the 1980s. The organization has also frequently joined other groups in actions against those who inflict environmental damage on the Lower Hudson Valley. In my opinion, both Scenic Hudson and Riverkeeper are very worthy recipients of charitable donations! One of the longest and most bitter campaigns of Scenic Hudson and Riverkeeper, and many similar groups such as Pete Seeger’s Clearwater, has been to hold General Electric to the task of removing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from the Hudson River bed. PCBs are chemicals used as coolants for electrical equipment; they have been shown to be carcinogenic and the cause of human developmental defects and many symptoms such as chronic headaches. Between 1947 and 1977, two GE manufacturing plants located on the banks of the Hudson north of Troy, NY, released about 1.3 million pounds of PCBs into the river, where they sank to the river bed and remained without decomposing, but continually leaching into the water. This resulted in toxic contamination of the Hudson’s fish and much other wildlife; to this day, eating fish from the Hudson is prohibited. In 2006 the Environmental Protection Agency issued a decision requiring GE to clean up the PCBs from what it designated a superfund site. GE waged a vigorous and expensive advertising campaign to delay the start of the PCB removal (which required massive dredging and disposal procedures) until 2009. Even then it was able to divide the decontamination into two phases, the first requiring removal of only 10 percent of the material. Under intense citizen and organizational pressure GE has finally, very recently, begun the much more extensive Phase Two. Scenic Hudson and Riverkeeper are continually monitoring this activity. Two other more recent threats to the health and beauty of the Hudson indicate that dangers ever recur. In 2016, the U.S. Coast Guard published an industry plan to build new anchorages in ten locations along the river, each containing an average of four berths for large ships and barges. Not only would these anchorages be eyesores, but their construction presaged 6
a significant increase in the amount of commercial traffic on the river. The Coast Guard, as required by law, invited public comment. Inspired by a publicity campaign by opponents of the plan, it received over ten thousand comments, 94% of which were negative. Responding to the same public outcry, the New York Legislature passed a bill giving the state greater authority to regulate the anchorages. Shortly thereafter, the shipping industry withdrew its anchorage proposal. The second recent threat to the life and vigor of the Hudson is still in its early phase, and environmentalists are mobilizing for a long and difficult battle. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has proposed building storm surge barriers (giant movable ocean gates across the mouth of the Hudson and adjacent waterways) to prevent flooding from future hurricanes and other extreme weather events. Six potential plans have been presented for comment; these include a five mile long barrier between Breezy Point, on Long Island, and Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and a similar structure across the Verrazano Narrows. Estimated costs range from four to fifty billion dollars! In opposing all these schemes, Riverkeeper has published a detailed list of the detrimental effects all of these proposals would have on the lower Hudson: even though the gates would be closed only when flooding is threatened, their mere presence would choke off normal tidal flows and strongly negatively affect vital migration patterns of fish and other sea life; equally, if not more important, such an enormous expenditure of funds would not address the fundamental threat of rising sea levels that will inevitably result from global warming. The Corps of Engineers is scheduled to issue a final report on these plans in 2021, and will recommend a specific plan within the following year, so this issue is sure to generate more publicity and heated discussion between now and then. I haven’t included in this description of threats to the Hudson the presence of the Indian Point nuclear power plant. For decades this facility has periodically leaked radioactive material into the river and its shores, has destroyed billions of fish eggs and small marine life in the filters of its cooling towers, and has presented a continual threat to its adjacent population of about ten million people should a serious nuclear accident (such as occurred at Chernobyl and Fukushima, Japan) develop. Fortunately, the facility will be shut down by 2022; the untoward consequences of removing it as a source of electrical power, and of ending the financial support to local communties and school systems that Indian Point’s taxes have provided, have proven exaggerated. I hope my brief descriptions may activate some of my Kendal readers to become a little more involved in protecting our iconic river. Norman J. Sissman
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Some Memory Snapshots My mother drove my big brother to kindergarten each day. Once he opened the car door before she had stopped, and he fell out. Although he didn’t seem to be hurt, something had to be wrong, so she drove him home and gave him milk of magnesia. Couldn’t hurt! * * * * * * When I was twelve years old, we caught a mouse in our apartment. Only my mother and I were home when we found it, and neither of us wanted to touch it. We called the super, who came immediately, took the mouse out of the trap, opened the window, and dropped the mouse sixteen stories down onto the West 96th Street sidewalk. I have always hoped it didn’t land on someone’s head. * * * * * * Some years after I went to work, I was promoted to vice-president, the fifth or sixth in our small firm to have that title, but the first woman. I didn’t know whether my promotion was due to the quality of my work or to show the firm’s commitment to equal opportunity. One day, in the course of an argument with my boss, he called me names. That night, I gleefully reported to my husband that I had arrived, I was just one of the guys – my boss had called me a “fucking idiot.” I emphasized the “g” at the end. My husband guffawed: “You don’t even know how to pronounce it!” * * * * * * How I learned to love reading: As I remember it, when I was maybe nine years old, my older brother teased me contstantly at dinner, the one time of day when the whole family was together. He teased me; I lost my temper; I was sent to my room. I finally discovered that if I took lots of books from the library each week, I’d have something to do during the inevitable evenings alone in my room. In fact, I grew to look forward to my reading time. (Of course, if my brother were still alive, he’d have a different version of the story. And so would my parents.) But I did love to read many, many books each week.
Edith Litt 8
Learning to Love Nature My childhood in the Connecticut countryside, only a superficial knowledge of nature, I feel incompetent to judge, know little of nature or art. After college, life involves little of nature until meeting my future husband. For a weekend hiking trip to Tuckerman’s Ravine in New Hampshire, I buy my first pair of hiking boots. Beauty and calmness overwhelm me. I am hooked. Through a lot of hiking I gradually appreciate natural beauty, journey from darkness into light, filled with serenity, confidence, joy, inner peace; a new life for me. I develop a love of trees and plants, enabling me to feel more competent to judge nature. I can realize my love of organic shapes, free flowing, asymmetrical, earth tones, tactile surfaces in nature. After a basketry workshop with a Japanese instructor I collect natural materials in the woods, study sculpture. My teacher encourages me, gives me self confidence, energy, enables my recognition of artistic abilities, my purpose in life; becomes my mentor. I interact with nature. Sensuous trees speak to me, give me empowerment, listen, intuition, inspiration. I struggle to release inner feeling, bursting, twisting, spilling over to go into my soul, my mouth, my eyes,
what has never been seen before, sense how to use natural materials in art work. Interesting effects emerge, come to life. I produce woven baskets with an Eastern sensibility that become sculptures, weave nature into my life, my art, exhibit them throughout the country at museums and galleries. I learn to use nature, not just appreciate it, until the weaving process becomes tedious. I start making paper out of an Asian plant, gampi. Inspired by nature, constantly growing, installation pieces are born, until going into an artist residency. Installation work too large to transport, I start making artist books, a new form of sculpture. Off to a new venture, another transition. Paper becomes my medium, resonates throughout my life, love texture, patterned, printed paper, collected on trips all over the world, paper with a foreign pedigree. My favorite paper handmade, soft, smooth, supple, sense of touch. Start doing collage with organic shapes, tear, cut, fold, place, glue paper, so exciting, sticks together. I stay connected with myself, the world. Reach career aspirations. Nature empowers me, my art, my world. All the possibilities, art, culture, society, so proud, serendipity. Learning to love nature. sheila benedis 9
Paul Jeffries For eight years, we have been fortunate to have had Paul Jeffries, a gifted sculptor and artist, as our mentor and instructor in painting and drawing. During his weekly Saturday morning sessions in the Art Room, he shows a magical touch that enables him both to introduce new techniques and aesthetics to accomplished artists and develop unknown capabilities in hapless beginners, such as I. This is a rare and wonderful quality and I look forward to our regular meetings as one of the highlights of being a resident of this wonderful and always exciting community. Paul first came to Kendal through the aegis of Dorothy Hill, now deceased, who met him in an art colony before she moved here. Paul has an unusually diverse background: his father was a descendent of Elijah de Vilna (the Vilna Gaon), the world-famous commentator on Torah and Talmud, and one of the greatest sages of the 18th century. I am sure Paul has inherited his lecturing skill and ability to inspire others. His mother was a classical pianist. Paul initially studied medical illustration at Brown University. This was the era before the Internet changed everything (for better or worse). While at Brown he was drawn to sculpture and took courses at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). After a couple of years at Brown he decided to focus on becoming a creative artist; he transferred to RISD, full-time. At RISD, Paul excelled and received a scholarship to study art in Rome — the same city in which his predecessor, Michelangelo, did his apprenticeship five hundred years earlier! Paul found an apartment near the Colosseum where he could work as a sculptor and sleep from time to time. He studied under some very talented Italian artists, including the great Emilio Greco, but his work continued to have an American quality. Paul was also one of only three artists who assisted Henry Moore, the brilliant and innovative British artist and sculptor, in his studio in Italy. After his stay in Rome, Paul went to the Boston Center for the Arts where he was part of a group that won a competition for new sculpture for the Boston City Hall. He then joined an advertising firm in Boston, making models for its clients - one model was the logo for the “Pizza Company” at its brownstone in the South End. When Yale Law School conducted a competition to provide sculptures for the courtyard of its Law School, Paul won, and his sculpture adorns a beautiful garden there. A few years ago when Bix and I visited New Haven for the reopening of the Yale Art Gallery, we were bowled over by the striking quality of Paul Jeffries’ work in the Law School garden; it was a high point of our trip. From Boston, Paul moved to New York City. He met his delightful and supportive wife, Andrea, there, and soon afterward they left to live in Croton-on-Hudson. For many years, Andrea headed a United Federation of Teachers-sponsored Teacher’s Center in New York City, where an elite group of teachers taught their colleagues how to adapt themselves to be more effective in their profession. Now retired, she writes; a number of her articles have been published in a variety of magazines. Their house is rather large, with a glorious studio designed for Paul’s sculptures in progress. And, as it turned out, Paul and Andrea lived two doors down the street from Aaron Copland, for whom Paul designed a commemorative stamp First-Day-ofIssue envelope. 10
Time Life commissioned Paul to make forty-two sculptures for one of their sales subsidiaries. His works were sold to eager buyers. Since then Paul has received a large number of commissions from churches, synagogues, and individuals in the United States and Europe. He has given numerous lectures at the Harvard Club and many institutions of higher learning. Paul says that he naturally enjoys teaching. This gives him the opportunity to explore the many facets of all art in addition to his expertise in sculpture. He especially enjoys his time and instruction at Kendal on Hudson. He says he feels that it is a great joy and privilege to work so closely with retired individuals here, who, after they have succeeded in professions and many fields of business and academia, find joy and a sense of accomplishment in their sessions with him. We at Kendal have been lucky to have had Paul give us adventurous, fulfilling and luminous guidance in art at Kendal on Hudson for almost eight years. As one of his struggling beginners I can only say, “What a wonderful guy - and what a wonderful teacher and artist.” Bill Smethurst
NOTES ON A KENDAL WEEKEND At a planning session last winter, the Kendal Marketing Department, under the aegis of interim director Deborah Potter, decided to invite prospective residents to a major event: a Concert on the Hudson. The first decision, in view of the uncertainty of the weather these days, was to rent a tent. The second decision was to invite residents to a reprise of the concert on the following day and also to offer the use of the tent for the semiannual staff party the day after that. Marketing Coordinator Stephanie Fuda worked tirelessly to organize the event. It turned out to be perfectly planned, and the weather was perfect, too. At five p.m. on Friday, May 31, 2019, more than seventy people on Marketing’s A-list of prospects stepped through the Clermont cul de sac into a magical setting: three tents, connecting one end of the Kendal garden terrace to the other, overlooked a magnificent view of plants, flowers, trees, and the Hudson. Volunteers selected by the Residents Council greeted guests and directed them to a food station for lavish hors d’oeuvres, one of two wine bars, and then to round tables that had been set up in two of the smaller tents. A most convivial cocktail hour ensued. Shortly after six, everyone moved to the center tent to sit in rows of chairs facing the Music from Copland House (MCH) quartet and the Hudson beyond. The ninety-minute performance by the pianist and the string trio was a pièce de résistance, if there ever was one.
(Continued on page 14 after the photo spread of the weekend) 11
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(Continued from page 11) MCH is an internationally acclaimed touring ensemble in residence at Aaron Copland’s national historic landmark home in Cortlandt Manor. The performance had been arranged through pianist Michael Boriskin, the artistic and executive director of Copland House. All four musicians have played in concerts and festivals all over the world. Fittingly, they were given a standing ovation at the end of the superb concert. Friday evening ended with a dramatic blood-red sunset over the Hudson — a reminder to prospective residents of what they would see on many an evening at Kendal. On Saturday, at three p.m., nearly ninety residents attended a repeat of the concert. As they assembled under the tent, cookies, lemonade, and iced tea were served — then the magnificent piano and string quartets by Mozart, Mahler, and Brahms wafted through the air. Mr. Boriskin is well-known to Kendal residents. For twelve years, he has taught seminars here on various aspects of music. In addition, MCH has given six Sunday afternoon concerts at Kendal and will return for an encore on Sunday, November 24. The Kendal Trips Committee has twice arranged field trips to Copland House, at which Mr. Boriskin served as host and docent. The tents were again the focal points as staff and their families gathered at three p.m. on a lovely Sunday afternoon. With the piano and seats removed, there was plenty of space for kids to run around, have their faces painted, and occasionally pop a balloon. Fred Coppola, Kendal’s new Director of Dining, was in charge of the grille, turning out an amazing number of hot dogs and burgers. The Kendal pool was available, with a lifeguard in attendance, to all. All these elements, plus taped music in the background, contributed to a fun afternoon for everyone. The traditional highlight of every staff party is the distribution to individual staff members of residents’ generous donations to the semiannual Staff Appreciation Fund. This year, there were also prizes given by lottery, plus awards to two staff members nominated by their fellow employees: the “WOW!” award to Martell Bias of Housekeeping, and “The Risk Taker” to Ivon Chacon-Silva, Waitstaff team leader. It was some weekend at Kendal! Pat Taylor
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Other Memory Snapshots In the second grade, our teacher gave us an assignment that, today, would have resulted in her dismissal. She asked each pupil to stand up and tell the class what his or her father’s annual income was. All the kids knew she was an overweight, middle-aged, unhappy “old maid,” but we couldn’t detect any pedagogical purpose to this exercise. Having no idea whatsoever what my father earned, I stood up and said, “$10,000.” Over dinner that evening, I told my parents what I had said. I was answered with silence and a change in the subject, and to this day I do not know whether this figure was too high, too low, or nearly correct. In retrospect, since my father was a solo practitioner of general dentistry in the midst of the Great Depression, it was probably too high. ****** When I was eleven and twelve I spent two idyllic summers at a northern Michigan summer cottage owned by one of my mother’s sisters. In those days, it took an entire day to drive from my aunt’s home in Cleveland to the lake. On one of these trips we stopped by a roadside table to eat our wrapped pieces of chicken and fruit. Seeing no waste disposal basket, we tidied up and took the bag of leftover garbage with us in the car. Shortly thereafter an uncle in the car rolled down the back window and tossed out the bag, chortling with glee, “Bombs away!” The state trooper who happened to be right behind us pulled us over. Instead of issuing a ticket, he stayed with us until we picked up every piece. Be assured that the culprit was an uncle by marriage. ****** In my mid-teens I decided to try to meet some real people from different backgrounds. I secured a summer job working as a laborer in a Jones & Laughlin steel plant in infamous Homestead, Pennsylvania, a suburb of my home city, Pittsburgh. Immediately an obstacle to my plans arose: my mother insisted on driving me to the mill every day, to protect me from what she thought would be possible harrassment, or even physical harm, from the ruffian workers there, who were mostly from eastern Europe. “But, Mom, I want to be one of the guys, not be seen being dropped off by a Buick.” So I learned my first lesson in compromise: she took me to a site about a block away from the mill, and I walked from there, carrying my metal lunch box as if I had come from the streetcar. I made many friends among my fellow workers that summer. ****** Charlotte and I and our son were concluding a magical cruise through the Greek Islands with a two-day stay in Venice. We were taken from the dock, in a gondola, to an upscale hotel. Soon after settling in, we noticed a steady drip of water leaking from a pipe in the bathroom ceiling. I called the Front Desk and soon a spendidly uniformed attendant arrived with a short ladder and several large towels; he proceeded to go up the ladder and press a towel onto the leaking spot. He explained that no plumbers were available in Venice on weekends. My Italian was not good enough to find out if he intended to stand there the rest of the night, but I was able, shortly thereafter, to arrange for us to be transferred to another suite. Norman J. Sissman 15
My Unexpected Takeaway from the Warner Library It all started with the “In Our Libraries” column in The Hudson Independent: “June 1 – August 17. ‘Unhinged’ – the summer reading program returns! Read or listen to any book, fill out our review sheet, and win a prize. Call or visit the reference desk for details. For ages eighteen and up.” Well qualified by age, I had just read an amazing story and was eager to promote the book. It being August 17, the final day, I went to Warner and was directed to the Reference Librarian, who thanked me for my review. Then she said, “There are the prizes,” pointing to a nearby table, “take a look.” I did so, but not finding anything of interest, just said “thank you again” as I passed by. “Would you like some wine?” That unexpected question was confusing, and I muttered something about my driving. “Not a glass but a bottle,” was her reply. I love libraries. After years of using the Grand Army Plaza Library in Brooklyn, the local library where I lived, and visiting libraries wherever I vacationed, I had a first. I left the Warner clutching a bottle of wine – a most unexpected takeaway! P.S. The book I wrote about is The Fox Hunt, by Mohammed Al Samawi — “a memoir wrapped in a thriller” as well as a key to understanding the Middle East in conflict. A must-read. Gloria Lewitt
Kendal View Staff Editor 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 Arthur Brady, Caroline Persell Advertising and Billing Norman J. Sissman 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 Heritage Newsletters, Somers, NY 10589. 16
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
The Zegarelli dental office has been located in Tarrytown since 1982. We have been serving KoH residents since the Kendal opening day in 2005.
Ninety-One North Broadway Tarrytown, NY 10591 (914) 631-0983 www.coffeyfuneralhome.com NANCY COFFEY • MICHAEL COFFEY A Family-Operated Business Serving Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow Since 1911 Pre-Planning Available
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 Joseph DePietro, MD Board Certified in Otolaryngology, Balloon Sinus surgery and Sleep apnea
Fellowship Trained Laryngologist, Voice and Swallowing Disorders
Jill Zeitlin, MD
Mark Davis-Lorton, MD
Board Certified in Otolaryngology, Specializes in Hearing Services
Adult and Pediatric Allergist
Licensed Audiologists
Jessica Comparetto, MA, F-AAA Lucia Khoder, AuD, CCC-A, F-AAA Rebecca Bieker, AuD, CCC-A, F-AAA
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!
Book Online, Anytime!
Phelps Hospital invites you to participate in our free programs for seniors: • • • • • • • • • •
Socialize and learn at Breakfast Club Stimulate your cognitive skills with Mind Games Receive free screenings and health information with Senior Steps Learn about underlying causes of illness with Functional Medicine Keep your balance with Fall Prevention and Tai Chi For information, contact Understand bone loss with Osteoporosis Education & Support Ellen Woods at Gather with your peers at Alzheimer’s Caregiver Support Group 914-366-3937 or Gain insight into retirement savings with Elder Law Series ewoods3@northwell.edu. Navigate health insurance with Demystifying Medicare Search for life’s meaning and purpose with the Spirituality Program Plus, special events throughout the year
Powerful Innovation, Compassionate Care
FYO Accounting & Tax Services
914-631-8868 Keeping the Kendal community mobile with one-stop auto repair services
Mickey Keegan, Owner mickey@mickeys-automotive.com
WE SERVICE ALL CARS
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
FRONT END SPECIALISTS · TIRES WEEL ALIGNMENT & BALANCE EXHAUST REPAIR · HEAT/AC COOLANT · BRAKES · AND MORE!
25% discount to Kendal residents.
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Off-Season Tax Special: Provide your prior year tax returns and receive a free review, consultation, and fee quote. No obligation.
Your Great Expectations... Can Be Filled.
GRAPE EXPECTATIONS
Wine and Liquor Merchant 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 and styling Mondays Sandra does mani/pedi and waxing Enrico cuts and styles and Tatiana consults on color Wednesday Wednesdays Kim does hair color/cut and styling Hairstyling by Kim Thursday Wednesdays through Fridays Toni does hair color/cut and styling Maria does manicures MariaThursday does manicures and waxing and Fridays once aHairstyling month, by by appointment Toni Fridays Friday Christina does pedicures, manicures and hair. Toni and Andi do hair color/cut and styling
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 Premises Free Estimates Pick Up & Delivery
914.631.3224
Harnik Bros. Jewelers 6 North Broadway, Tarrytown, NY 10591
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Nonprofit, Nonsectarian. Established 1849
Community mausoleum, traditional in-ground burials, natural burial grounds, private family mausoleums. 540 North Broadway ◆ Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591 914-631-0081 ◆ www.sleepyhollowcemetery.org Kendal ad 2018.indd 1
Powerful Innovation, Compassionate Care
3/1/18 10:03 AM
Advanced treatment options, leading edge research and expert care – right here in your neighborhood. Whatever your healthcare needs may be, we’ll welcome you into our community of people caring for people.
701 North Broadway Sleepy Hollow, NY 914-366-3000 phelpshospital.org