20 FEATURES
Peoria Times
September 9, 2021
Motors and Meals returns this October
BY PEORIA TIMES STAFF
After being on hiatus during the pandemic, Motors and Meals is returning from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, at the Beardsley Recreation Center, 128th Avenue and Beardsley Road, in Sun City West. Admission is free to the event, which
includes live entertainment, food trucks, displays of restored vehicles, wine and beer tents, and exhibits from local businesses and organizations. “Hundreds of people have attended this event in past years, and we’re glad to be able to bring it back,” said Julie Kent-Partridge, chair of the Northwest Valley Connect board of directors.
“This very popular event will be a great time for people to get together, have a good time, and learn about community agencies and businesses.” Businesses and nonprofits wishing to participate can contact NVC Executive Director Kathy Chandler at 623-282-9304. “We are aware the COVID-19 situation is very fluid and will be work-
ing with health care professionals to ensure social distancing and provide hand sanitizing and whatever else may be beneficial,” Chandler said. Northwest Valley Connect is a nonprofit organization to serve Peoria residents and others in the area who need help with transportation in a region that doesn’t have public transit.
Technology keeps centenarian inspired BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI Peoria Times Executive Editor
Miriam Hirschl has lived a life most would only dream of. She has spent 101 years — or 102, depending on who is asked — living in the Panama Canal Zone, doting on her family and keeping up with technology. “I’m optimistic, and I keep up with the times,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’m constantly going on Zoom. I have a calendar for my Zoom classes. I have to keep track of all my Zoom classes. I keep active doing word games and things like that. I read a lot. I’ve done exercise all my life.” She takes ballet, art and lecture classes offered through the Jewish Family & Children’s Services virtual center for senior enrichment.
“If you don’t adapt, you’re not living,” she said. “I know a lot of people my age who will not touch a computer. They do not have a smartphone. They have a flip phone. If you’re going to live in this age, you have to do what others are doing.” A New York native, Hirschl grew up in Auburn with her grocer father. “I was born during the Spanish flu,” she said. “My official date is Jan. 5, 1920. I’m 101 right now, but my son found a certificate. I don’t know where he found it. It says I was born in 1919. Nobody knows how old I really am.” When she was 15, the family relocated to Brooklyn, where he obtained a larger space. Soon thereafter, she met the love of her life, Daniel, a pediatric intern at a Brooklyn hospital, where she was employed. The two married, and he began
Enrichment program open house BY PEORIA TIMES STAFF Benevilla’s West Valley Life Enrichment Day program includes an open house from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, October 6, at Church at Cactus, 8133 W. Cactus Road, Peoria. One of four Benevilla Life Enrichment Programs, this program supports a diverse group of people with a wide range of care needs. The program provides daytime care for members with dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease as well as adults with disabil-
ities or those disabled by a stroke who live in Peoria, Glendale and West Phoenix. Activities are adapted for specific physical challenges to include everyone’s participation. Outings, meals and social exchanges create nice days for members, and provide caregivers the respite they need. Stop by the West Valley program and meet Director Kylee Lavigne and her staff. For reservations, call 623-5844999. Social distancing and masks are required.
doing house calls. “He didn’t like it,” she said. Daniel was sitting at his desk one day when he heard about a pediatrician position at a hospital in the Panama Canal Zone. He applied and was hired for the job. Married for 57 years, the Hirschls spent 31 years in Panama, from 1952 to 1983. She described the time as magical. While her husband treated children at a government hospital, she worked as a kindergarten teacher. “When I first got there, it Miriam Hirschl with her grandson, Jared Hirschl. was so different,” she said. She said her family is extremely close and fre“The culture was so differ- quently Zooms. (Photo courtesy of the Hirschl family) ent. I learned to love it, and “It was an amazing, amazing time, I made a lot of friends there.” She boasts about her handmade bed- really,” she said about Panama. “At that spread she acquired in Panama. In the time, he was the chief of pediatrics. He same breath, she excitedly shares a time was on the governor’s list. We used to when a visiting queen allowed her to do a lot of entertaining and visit the embassies.” open the gates. These days, she’s entertaining “Not too many people opened the gates,” she said. “I was horrified. I her children, grandchildren and didn’t know if it was going to open. great-grandchildren via Zoom. She’s They told me to just turn the lever. It hoping to visit Michigan over Thanksgiving to see her son, Dr. Ronald Bruce was absolutely amazing. “I had some very nice experiences Hirschl, who helms pediatric surgery at in Panama. I didn’t want to leave, but The University of Michigan Hospital. “I have a good rapport with my my husband didn’t want to practice any grandchildren,” she said. “We’re a very longer in Panama.” Daniel retired at age 62 and the cou- close family — extremely close. They ple moved to Sun City West, where call me all the time. My great-grandMiriam still resides. Born on Sept. 13, children, when they say goodbye, they kiss the telephone.” 1914, Daniel died May 6, 1999.
