55plus oct nov

Savvy Senior: Resources for Older Job Seekers

55

JFK ASSASSINATION 50 YEARS AGO STILL BRINGS DEEP EMOTIONS

Jim Sollecito ‘My Arctic Adventure’ If you think a bad break- up is embarrassing at 20, try it at 55.

See inside

PLUS

Issue 47 October / November 2013

For Active Adults in Centra New York

$25 MILLION GIFT TO CNY New foundation in Oswego making donations to enhance life in CNY

Meet Fred Wilson, CNY’s New Fitness Guru Saving On Energy Bills: Tips from ACCES Pickleball: The Biggest Unheard-of Sport

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3

Smart Giving Will Carry On for Letty Murray

Letty Murray sits in her home at The Nottingham alongside a photo from her wedding day in 1942.

It just came naturally for us to be charitable. When my late husband, Gil, suggested that we open a donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation to help increase our charitable impact, I trusted his good judgment. That was in 1960, when donor-advised funds were a relatively new vehicle for giving.

Over the past 50 years, we used our modest fund to support causes we cared about deeply. We actively participated in the grantmaking process while taking advantage of being part of a larger investment pool for continued growth. I feel strongly that our family’s legacy of generosity should continue on long after I am gone, and have turned to the Community Foundation to carry that torch.

I have entrusted the Community Foundation to continue giving in the Murray name in perpetuity, supporting the greatest needs of the community. There is no better way to honor Gil than to leave a lasting mark on the community we love. Our fund has had immeasureable impact for over half a century and will carry on for generations, making the Community Foundation Where the Smart Money Gives.

Where the Smart Money Gives.

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55 PLUS - October / November 2013

55 PLUS

55 PLUS

October / November 2013

Savvy Senior 6 Financial Health 8 Gardening 10 Aging 22 My Turn 32 Golden Years 38 Consumers Corner 46 Druger’s Zoo 48 Last Page 50

16 12 OUTDOORS

• Two Central New Yorkers recount adventure in the Arctic

16 FITNESS

• Meet Fred Wilson, a Camillus resident turned fitness guru

20 RELATIONSHIPS

• If you think a bad break-up is embarrassing at 20, try it at 55

24 COVER STORY

• Barbara Shineman oversees $25 million endowment to enrich Central New York

29 HISTORY

• JFK assassination 50 years ago shook people to emotional roots

CONTENTS

12

29

40

34 EDUCATION

• People take to the classroom in never-ending search for education • Education enhances retirement

40 PROFILE

• Kathleen “Casey” Crabill, new OCC president, plans on touching all the bases

42 SAVINGS

• Organization helps people understand their energy options and lower their bills

44 VISITS

• 10 things to do in Dutchess County

50 LAST PAGE

• Therese Schoeneck’s big milestone October / November 2013 - 55 PLUS

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savvy senior

By Jim Miller

Resources for Older Job Seekers

W

hile the U.S. job market has improved slightly over the past year or so, challenges persist for many older job seekers. Fortunately, there are a number of free online tools and in-person training centers scattered across the country today that can help you find employment. Here’s what you should know.

Online Resources If you have Internet access, there are a number of 50-and-older online employment networks that can help you connect with companies that are interested in hiring older workers.

Two of the best are workreimagined. org, a resource developed by AARP that combines career advice, job listings and online discussion tied to LinkedIn’s professional networking platform. And retirementjobs.com, which offers a job search engine that lists thousands of jobs nationwide from companies that are actively seeking workers over the age of 50.

Some other good 50-plus job seeking sites to try are workforce50.com, retiredbrains.com, retireeworkforce. com, and encore.org a resource that helps older workers find meaningful work in the second half of life.

In-Person Help Another good place to get help finding a job is at a Career OneStop center. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, these are free job resource centers that can help you explore career options, search for jobs, find training, write a resume, prepare for an interview and much more.

There are around 3,000 of these centers located throughout the country. To find one near you, call 877-348-0502 or go to careeronestop.org.

Depending on your financial situation, another program that may help is the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). Also 6

55 PLUS - October / November 2013

sponsored by the Department of Labor, SCSEP offers access to training and part time job placements in a wide variety of community service positions such as day care centers, senior centers, governmental agencies, schools, hospitals, libraries and landscaping centers. To learn more or locate a program in your area visit www.doleta. gov/seniors or call 877-872-5627.

Work at Home If you’re interested in working at home, there are many opportunities depending on your skills, but be careful of rampant work-at-home scams that offer big paydays without much effort.

Some of the more popular workat-home jobs include “customer service agents” who field calls from their employers’ customers and prospective customers — you don’t place telemarketing calls. Agents earn an average of $8 to $15 an hour and many also receive incentives and commission, too. To find these jobs see arise.com, alpineaccess.com, liveops. com and workingsolutions.com.

If you have good typing skills there are “transcriptionist” jobs that pay around $10 per hour for typing verbatim accounts of board meetings, presentations, conference calls, etc.

Companies that hire transcriptionists are tigerfish.com, ubiqus.com, ctran. com.

And if you have a college degree, online “tutoring” or “proofreading” jobs are always available. See tutor. com to find tutoring opportunities, which pay between $10 and $15 per hour. Or, if you have some writing or editing experience, proofreading pays $12 to $20 per hour. See firstediting. com and cactusglobal.com to look for proofreading jobs.

For more work at home ideas and resources, see retiredbrains.com and click on the “Work from Home” tab on the left side of the page.

55PLUS Editor and Publisher Wagner Dotto

Associate Editor Lou Sorendo

Writers

Deborah Jeanne Sergeant Laura Thompson, Aaron Giffod Avery Galek, Sandra Scott Mary Beth Roach, Matthew Liptak

Columnists

Eva Briggs, M.D., Bruce Frassinelli Marilyn Pinsky, Harold Miller Jim Sollecito, David J. Zumpano Marvin Druger

Advertising

Jasmine Maldonado Marsha Preston

Office Manager

Laura J. Beckwith

Layout and Design Chris Crocker

Cover Photo

Chuck Wainwright 55 PLUS –A Magazine for Active Adults in Central New York is published six times a year by Local News, Inc., which also publishes In Good Health–CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper.

Health in good

CNY’s Healthcare Newspaper

Published at 185 E. Seneca St. PO Box 276 Oswego, NY 13126.

Subscription: $15 a year © 2013 by 55 PLUS – A Magazine for Active Adults in Upstate New York.

No material may be reproduced in whole or in part from this publication without the express written permission of the publisher.

Third class postage paid at Syracuse, NY. Permit Number: 3071

How to Reach Us P.O. Box 276 Oswego, NY 13126 Phone: 315-342-1182 Fax: 315-342-7776 Email: editor@CNY55.com Editor@cnyhealth.com

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October / November 2013 - 55 PLUS

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financial health

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55 PLUS - October / November 2013

By David J. Zumpano

S

When Should I Do My Estate Plan?

o when should you do your estate planning? My cute answer is, “Get to me at least 30 days before your stroke, accident, or death.” Many chuckle but let me explain why you shouldn’t.

Recently, a woman called our office telling us she needed help in face of her husband’s failing health. She had been procrastinating quite a while.

After learning of the issues it became apparent to us that if something happened, she would be adversely affected severely, so we offered to come to her house on that Friday to have the husband sign some key documents to ensure she was protected if anything happened to her husband. She replied, “No, it can wait ‘till next week.’” It turned out that over the weekend her husband died without the planning being implemented.

Most clients tell us they don’t want to become a burden to their family, they want to stay in control and they want to keep it simple. Interestingly, while they want to achieve those goals, it cannot occur without a plan.

Simple planning ensures you remain in control, and you never become a burden to your children. Is it simple? It actually is, but does require you to get it done. And only you can do that.

In another case, we had a client we had been working with for more than 45 days after her husband had unexpectedly gone into a nursing home. We identified a major problem in her plan that could lead to unnecessary taxes if something happened to her husband. We worked diligently to get the new plan done to avoid the tax and she had an appointment scheduled to sign it on a Wednesday. Wednesday morning she called us and asked if she could postpone the meeting because “something came up.” We encouraged her to come in nonetheless but she opted to reschedule to Friday.

Her husband died on Thursday, resulting in an extra $150,000 in taxes that would not have occurred had

she signed the plan on Wednesday.

Another couple in their early 70s and healthy went through our planning process, got everything just the way they wanted it, and were scheduled to sign their document on a Thursday.

We confirmed the appointment on Wednesday, and they were excited to be coming in and getting it complete.

Wednesday evening the husband died in his sleep. He was totally healthy — or so we thought.

So when should you plan? There’s no time like the present. Everyone needs planning whether you’re young or not so young. Estate planning is about ensuring that no matter what happens, what you want to happen with you and your “stuff” will happen even if you’re unable to carry it out yourself. A good estate plan becomes your “voice,” in the event of your disability or death. Planning could be as simple as healthcare instructions (health care proxy), legal and financial instructions (power of attorney), or ensuring tax avoidance or the loss of assets to a nursing home, lawsuit, or other creditors.

When is it too late? Well it’s too late when you’ve died or had a debilitating event and even then, there are things we can still get done despite your lack of planning. The importance of planning is to keep you in control. If you don’t, you will be subject to what others (or the government) dictates.

There are always options, but after something happens like a disability, your options are severely restricted and often takes away much control and many of the advantages you could have had had you planned before the crisis appeared. So when should you plan? There’s no time like the present.

Plan when you think it is best; just make sure it’s before crisis hits.

David J. Zumpano is an attorney and a certified public accountant (CPA). He operates Estate Planning Law Center. He can be reached at 793-3622.

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October / November 2013 - 55 PLUS

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Gardening

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55 PLUS - October / November 2013

I

Yes, it’s fall-is-for-planting season

t’s a good feeling to get excited about something. It could be a football game, maybe a special occasion, perhaps a wedding or even a new movie. Our senses come alive, our brainpower seems to sharpen and life is just more colorful.

Heck, we might even get some new threads, get all gussied up and become more colorful ourselves.

And outdoors, the fall foliage seems to beckon “let’s party!”

As for me, it’s the fall-is-forplanting season that really winds my watch. The ground is moist and warm. And although the tops of woody plants are done growing, root systems will keep gaining ground until the soil freezes. Shrubs, trees and perennials planted now will be way ahead of any installed next spring. This is because their root systems will have outgrown the container they were in and will now have a toe-hold (or maybe a Sollecito-hold…) into the soil in your yard. As this new root system extends into the new surroundings, the plant will be much more likely to reach its full genetic potential. Another bonus: autumn rains mean you’ll have a lot less watering to do.

Normally, I don’t have to set my alarm clock, ever. My internal system knows when it’s time to start my engine no matter what time I want to rise. In the fall, it’s even difficult to fall asleep. I can’t wait for daylight so I can begin my next day. Because I know what comes after autumn.

But now is the time for garden editing and interesting additions.

For more butterflies in the landscape, remember that they are near-sighted. They are more attracted to masses of plants and flowers. Instead of planting barberries to keep out the neighbor’s dog, I now plant raspberries for attractive flowers and delicious fruit. And butterflies are attracted to some of the berries I leave on the stems in fall. Watching monarchs in the fall with their bright orange wings only adds to the excitement, so why not plant a few things to help keep them in my neck of the woods?

It’s time to reconsider plants that haven’t been thriving.

If you observed underwhelming growth, weak flowering or if a plant just didn’t live up to the hype, you have two choices.

Move it or remove it. Assess that struggling plant. If it were for sale, would you buy it? This might be your opportunity for something new. Life is too short to surround yourself with things you don’t enjoy.

Most flowering plants bloom for a mere two weeks. Fall color can last a month or more. This world is full of plants that offer weeks of bloom and fall foliage color. Fall planting season comes around just once a year. If you don’t have enough excitement in your life, what are you waiting for?

Remember, the best way to get something done is to begin.

Jim Sollecito is the first lifetime senior certified landscape professional in NYS. He operates Sollecito Landscaping Nursery in Syracuse. Contact him at 468-1142 or at jim@sollecito.com.

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October / November 2013 - 55 PLUS

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55+

outdoors

Icy arctic waters of Natchvak Fjord in the Torngat Mountains.

My Arctic Adventure Faced with unthinkable odds, our fishing team comes through with honors

By Jim Sollecito

A

dventure can mean different things to different people.

If it’s new and exciting and my pulse quickens just thinking about it, it works for me.

Having been to the Arctic years ago on an organized hunting and fishing trip, I had a taste for what this barren land might offer. When the opportunity arose to discover and explore fishing locations that nobody had likely ever fished, I jumped at the chance.

Last March, my fishing buddy Dennis Ouellette, owner of Ontario Orchards in Oswego, asked, “Hey Jim, are you interested in going to the Arctic for some exploratory fishing the first week in August?”

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55 PLUS - October / November 2013

At age 67, Ouellette is the most avid fly fisherman I’ve ever met. He started fly fishing when he was 12 and has never stopped. Over the decades, we have fished together from Alaska to the Baja. His enthusiasm is admired by even the most adventuresome among us.

We planned to leave on Friday, Aug. 2. Our friend Keith Richardson, a very experienced 60-year-old airplane pilot and licensed guide, called July 31 and said we’d better take that short 5.5-hour drive to his house ASAP so we could get airborne and beat the big storm headed across Canada.

Sensing his urgency, we hurriedly threw our things into duffle bags two days earlier than planned, and drove

to Racine, an hour east of Montreal where we met our sage pilot. He has owned the same Cessna Aerocet 3500 single-engine floatplane since it was new in 1978.

This would be our workhorse, ferrying three of us, our equipment and 12 five imperial-gallon jugs of fuel stowed in the floats. Since this kind of bushplane cruises at around 110 mph and has a fuel capacity of 84 gallons, burning 17 gallons an hour gave us a range of about 400 miles, an estimated 4 1/2 hours flying time; more with a tailwind, less with bad weather.

We would be heading up to the 59th parallel into what Richardson referred to as the “The Capitol of Bad Weather.”

How would you pack for a 12-day trip? I prefer to be prepared. If there’s a chance I might need something, I include it. Richardson made me unpack my hastily packed bag, culling out many of my “necessities.” Along

with personal items, he saw no need for my extra set of waders, a decision that would later haunt me.

At this point, it was all about weight and room in the plane. We needed to be able to carry enough fuel to reach our destination and get back again.

Father-son pilot team Keith Richardson’s 32-year-old son, Patrick, is a commercial helicopter pilot. Patrick has spent years flying the backcountry of Alaska and has his own four-seat Robinson Raven 11 helicopter. The chopper can fly low, a mere 30 feet above the ground at 100 mph, but doesn’t have the fuel capacity to make such a remote trip.

Hence the need for coordination between father and son pilots and their two machines: the plane accessed and carried the fuel. The helicopter accessed the fishing locations.

We also had to deal with the constantly changing weather; that’s a lot to consider.

First we took an 850-mile eighthour series of flight legs in the bush plane to Nain, the northernmost settlement in Labrador. From Nain, it took three trips to fly supplies and more fuel to our base camp. Keith Richardson’s timing was impeccable

Base camp on Tsasiujak Lake: floatplane and helicopter being loaded for fishing 200 miles away.

and we did beat the weather. Other flights and sportsmen were fogged in at the airport for the following five days. We had safely reached our destination: a cozy camp on Tsasiujak Lake, where we were socked in for days.

The camp consisted of an unfinished boarded-up building, an outhouse, two paddle canoes and a freighter canoe with a 10-horse engine.

Our quarry here were Arctic char, huge Jim Sollecito holds up his new world record arctic char before burying it with rocks so the polar bears would not smell it.

lake trout and brook trout up to five pounds. People don’t take this trip for the view although it was stupendous.

If you were to scout a filming location for a fake lunar landing, this would be it.

The camp was just south of the Torngat Mountains of Northern Labrador, 60 miles north of Nain.

The bugs were so thick that swatting was insufficient. We scraped them off with our hands. We applied DEET a few times every day and again before hitting the sleeping bags. I learned that wearing blue and green-colored clothing keeps down the bug attacks; anything else was an attractant.

The fish eat these same mosquitoes and black flies during July and August, the two months that the lakes aren’t frozen over.

Foggy outlook The first four days of the trip we were fogged in, so we fished within hiking distance, a few miles from camp. Some guys stayed inside and built bunks, put up walls, and made a kitchen. We enjoyed good fishing followed by meals of Arctic char, often starting with sushi. One morning with my first 12 casts I caught 12 lake trout on 12-pound test line that all weighed at least 12 pounds. That day I caught over 350 pounds of fish.

One of the few rodents in the north country is porcupine. They literally October / November 2013 - 55 PLUS

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outdoors

eat their way up the trunk of a spruce, leaving a sharp quill here and there. I found one early in the trip, enduring leaky waders for the duration. It’s not good to have wet feet in the arctic.

There was no sign of humans anyplace. We did see black bears, polar bears, wolves, beluga whales, harp seals, and did I mention the polar bears? We could tell we were sharing the fishing spots with polar bears by the large paw prints along some of the rivers.

The key to bear defense is to have a bear monitor with you. That would be an Inuit with a rifle. Inuits lead tough lives. A 50-year-old Inuit is considered old up there. Since there were five of us fishing and just one monitor, we shared him. I kept my bear spray handy.

The inaccessibility of the area was the charm and appeal but also the challenge. Fishing the secluded rivers as far as 200 miles from base requires a helicopter. The floatplane is needed to get fuel for the chopper and other supplies. This unique land was rugged and remote. Intense evening conversations were spent planning, plotting, sequencing for the efficient acquisition and use of fuel. All this and of course, where we thought the Arctic char might be located.

Once the wind shifted and the sun shone, a typical clear day started with a plane or chopper dropping Ouellette and me 30-50 miles from camp. We were left for the day to “bar hop.”

This means fly fishing one river bar and wading to the next. Around 5 p.m., we were picked up and flown back to camp. Most of the 20-30 fish we caught in a day were released unharmed. If conditions changed, such as fog or wind, then we were prepared to spend the night sharing the riverbanks with the bears and wolves. If you see a bear, he’s already seen you. Keep doing what you do, most of the time they are merely feeding and will move along.

On cool, rainy days the water level in the rivers dropped. With sunshine, the glaciers melted and water levels rose. It was counter-intuitive. We witnessed this as we lunched on threepound brook trout we caught and roasted on stones over a small fire.

The pristine aspect alone was worth 14

55 PLUS - October / November 2013

Dennis Ouellette, owner of Ontario Orchards in Oswego, catching and then releasing an 18 pound lake trout on his fly rod. the price of admission. We drank river water and never saw another soul. It was spiritual indeed.

The azure blue water ran fast and cold. Once the char started their migration from the ocean, the fishing really picked up as did their size.

From the air we spotted char by the thousands, and we also scanned for bears. We were dropped off to fish for a period of time then moved on to a different piece of Windex-colored water. I have seen fish jump waterfalls in Alaska; here the powerful char swim up them. Amazing.

Shatters world record In the Natchvak Fjord on the last day, I was able to hook and land the new IGFA world fly-fishing record Arctic char. After a torrid fight in the river, I landed the 17.5-pound male on 12-pound test leader. When I caught him, I was pretty sure he was a world record. First I had to bury him with stones in the river so the bears

wouldn’t smell him and wait three hours for the chopper to finally return.

Waiting for a flight was always a test of faith and gave me time to think a lot about life in general. Fuel was hard to come by and necessary to return to camp, then finally home. Some days we flew 100 miles to find fuel so we could fly another 300 more. It was that kind of place.

Nature’s way, and ours for this adventure, was one of constant readjustment. The weather turned so the trip was cut short.

It was a harrowing flight home. I used to quip “If I die on the way home from a fishing trip, don’t worry about it. If I die on the way up, that’s the time to be sad.”

Those words haunted me on the stressful 10-hour bush plane ride home.

Pilots require intricate math, weather science and flying skills. Fortunately, everyone involved was keenly dialed in and we arrived safely.

Parts of this adventure will be with me for the rest of my days. Not just the fishing, but the whole experience, the perspective and vastness of the natural world. When Ama, the Inuit bear monitor, asked me what I did for a living, I told him, “I plant trees.”

He calmly looked at me and asked, “Why?” In the natural world, there are more questions than answers.

Jim Sollecito is the first lifetime senior certified landscape professional in NYS. He operates Sollecito Landscaping Nursery in Syracuse. Contact him at 468-1142 or at jim@sollecito.com.

Social Security

Q&A

Q: Are Social Security numbers reassigned after a person dies?

A: No. We do not reassign Social Security numbers. In all, we have assigned more than 460 million Social Security numbers. Each year we assign about 5.5 million new numbers. There are over one billion combinations of the nine-digit Social Security number. As a result, the current system has enough new numbers to last for several more generations. For more information about Social Security, visit our website at www.socialsecurity.gov.

Q: Can I apply online for retirement benefits?

A: Yes. In fact, almost half of all individuals apply for retirement benefits online. Join the millions of Americans who have saved a trip to a Social Security office and applied the quickest and easiest way—online. In as little as 15 minutes you can submit your application electronically. In most cases, once you’ve submitted your application, you’re done and there are no forms to sign or documents to send in. If we do need more information to process your application, a representative will contact you. For more information about applying online, visit our website at www. socialsecurity.gov or call us toll-free at 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778).

Q: If both my spouse and I are entitled to Social Security benefits based on our own work records, is there any reduction in our payments because we are married?

A: No. We independently calculate each person’s Social Security benefit amount. Each spouse receives a monthly benefit amount based on his or her own earnings. Couples are not penalized simply because they are married. If one member of the couple earned low wages or did not earn enough Social Security credits to be eligible for retirement benefits, he or she may be eligible to receive benefits as a spouse.

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October / November 2013 - 55 PLUS

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fitness

Fitness Guru

With the help of Weight Watchers and a dietitian, 72-year-old dropped 50 pounds and in the process came up with his own exercise regimen, “Fitness After 50.” Now he coaches others how to stay in shape

By Aaron Gifford

A

s a youngster, Fred Wilson was not big on physical fitness or sports. He was happy to trade his baseball glove, tennis shoes or the old pigskin

for a trumpet or pair of drum sticks.

But that love of music would pair nicely with the lifestyle change he would take on as an older adult.

“It [physical activity] was just

Fred Wilson, 72, has a physique of a man half his age and has invented a new exercise program — “Fitness After 50” — that has local seniors attending fitness classes in droves 16

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not something I was ever interested in,” the Camillus resident said. “All through high school, I shied away from sports. I was in the school band, but I didn’t even know how to swim.”

Fast forward several decades.

Wilson, now 72, has a physique of a man half his age and has invented exciting new exercise programs that have local seniors attending fitness classes in droves. At around the age of retirement, he reinvented himself and found a way to make a living melding together two passions that he had not known for most of his adult life.

The first, of course, is fitness, the second is writing, an interest he developed during his 30-plus years in the medical technology field.

“People are living longer these days,” he said. “The days of stopping at 65 are long gone. I’m going to work past 65 — fine. But it’s going to be something I enjoy.”

Wilson grew up in Sharon, Pa., not far from the Ohio border. His father, one of the few college graduates in the community back then, worked as a tool maker for Westinghouse Electrical for more than 40 years. He believed higher education was the path to success, and pushed his five children to do well in school and continue onto college. All of his children went on to earn graduate degrees.

Fred Wilson graduated from Westminster College in Pennsylvania and moved to Syracuse to further his education. He studied zoology and chemistry but later switched Continues on page 18

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17

Fitness Guru Continued from page 16

to the medical technology program and earned a master’s degree. The changes in that field in the decades that followed, he said, are staggering.

“DNA was just an idea at that time,” he recalled. “They were learning about the chemical structure of it, but there was nothing they could do with it.”

Upon graduation, Wilson found work performing blood tests and chemical profiles at different labs throughout the Syracuse area. He got married and had three children in Central New York but was relocated to Boston, Indiana and other parts of New York state for career opportunities before returning here. In Ithaca, he worked for a program at Cornell University that performed drug tests on race horses.

While in his 40s, Wilson enrolled in a martial arts program for a few years and earned an orange belt. He said that was the first time in his life that he was in good physical shape. He had to stop going because of arthritis pain and his work schedule, so to stay fit he began riding his bike to work every day, except for on snowy days, and continued that routine for about 15 years.

In 1998, Wilson began working as a freelance technical writer, taking assignments from medical product companies, consulting firms, publishers, researches and trade magazines that needed authors with a background in science and medical technology.

At first the assignments were sporadic, but the income was good.

WIlson said it took him about five years to build that business to the point where he had enough assignments to remain busy for 40 hours a week or more.

But it was also during those five years of engrossing himself in work where Wilson became overweight and rarely exercised. In 2008, at the age of 65, Wilson affirmed that, with his commitment to continue working, he would also need a lifestyle change.

“I was just at an age where I couldn’t take my health for granted,” he said. “I had probably been overweight 18

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for 10 years. The doctor asked me if I could at least go on walks. I said, ‘yeah — walks to the refrigerator.’”

With the help of Weight Watchers and a dietitian, Wilson dropped 50 pounds. That accomplishment inspired him to help others, so he started reading up on personal training. He completed several online courses, earned his personal trainer credentials and launched his “Fitness After 50” business.

“I had the interpersonal skills as a supervisor and the knowledge of science and physiology, so it seemed like a natural fit,” he said.

Wilson specialized in working with seniors, and he opted to create his own programs instead of using existing physical fitness curriculums for older adults. He has been able to complete his technical writing assignments on evenings and weekends, spending much of his weekday time working with clients one on one and teaching fitness classes that are offered through the adult education program at West Genesee High School.

Both of his classes at the adult education program are centered on music. The first is a 30-minute aerobics class that moves to the pace of “128 beats per minute” he explained. For that class he’ll play contemporary pop music as well as some older big band stuff.

“Seniors need music,” he said.

“Seniors love music. The new stuff isn’t so bad. We’re part of the modern era, too.”

For the other class, which is focused on strength and flexibility, Wilson plays classical music as participants are challenged to stretch every muscle.

“Mozart and Beethoven,” he said.

“You’re not doing it to a beat, but you’re not stationary, either. The main concern is that they’re moving. You don’t have to do it the way I do it, but we’re stretching every muscles. They can chose to do it in a chair or stand up.

You do the best you can – period.”

Some of Wilson’s clients prefer to use their own exercise equipment, while others opt for exercises that involve their own weight. Wilson is a big proponent of resistance training

with the use of machines that use pulleys and rubber bands instead of metal weights. They are safer and more efficient for isolating muscle groups, he says.

“Older folks need to realize that they can respond to exercise just like a 25-year-old can. But the big difference for us [older adults] is that we consult a doctor first.”

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that older adults engage in resistance training sessions (20 to 45 minutes) up to three times a week with a 48-hour break in between sessions. That agency also completed a study on weight training, which found that adults who begin lifting weights early in life may benefit from fewer muscle-loss problems when they get older and could expect to live independently longer.

The study found that older adults (65 and up) gain an average of 2.42 pounds of lean body mass, mostly muscle, after about 20 weeks of strength training. That increase counteracts the 0.4 pounds of muscle lost each year by inactive adults over the age of 50.

The sooner individuals start weight training, the better chance they have to delay age-related muscle deterioration that can lead to disabilities, loss of mobility and loss of independence.

In 2011, the ACSM presented a study by scientists in Portugal and Japan (seniors between the ages of 65 and 96) and found strong correlations between physical activity and perceived health, functional fitness and mood, the agency reported on its web site. Researchers found that a lack of exercise correlated with poor balance, depression and perceptions of poor health.

In Wilson’s experience, physical fitness for older adults is a relatively new phenomenon, and one that opened up a whole new world for him.

“The way that’s it’s worked out — writing has stimulated my brain and fitness training has stimulated my body. I have more energy now than I did 40 years ago. I expect to keep doing this until I drop.”

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October / November 2013 - 55 PLUS

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relationships

Blundering Love If you think a bad break-up is embarrassing at 20, try it at 55

By Laura Thompson

A

t a certain point in time, and quite possibly it’s this one, we are expected to know certain truths, to have a certain body of wisdom and knowledge available to us. But when it comes to matters of the heart, even the most mature among us can misstep, and forge love alliances that are not, ultimately, in their best interests.

After all, we’re not dead yet.

No matter what our age, we crave social contact, companionship, and the human touch. While the Boomer generation is beginning to thin, those of us left behind still long for that special relationship. We may be the widow or widower, we may be the newly divorced. We may finally be at a point in our lives where we are only responsible for ourselves, and want a little joy and pleasure in our lives.

But with all of our accumulated life lessons, we may not be any wiser than a dewy-eyed 20 year old when it comes to the matter of romance.

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Here’s a cautionary tale of love in the middle ages….

Three years ago, a man began ardently pursuing me. His eyes and face lit up whenever we ran into one another; he glowed in his interest.

He was handsome, in the rugged, roughhewn way of sailors and Vikings.

His silvery mane of curls rested on top of a massive, well-formed head, and his sea green and blue eyes stood out against his deeply tanned skin. He was handsome, he was charming, he was employed.

Oh, and he drank a little.

For four long months, I resisted him. I enjoyed his company, I told him, but we had very different values and backgrounds. Opposites attract, he responded. We batted this conversation back and forth on numerous social outings, until one day he turned to me and said, “I don’t know why you won’t give me a chance!” He spoke so vehemently it struck a chord deep within me, and why, I wondered,

wouldn’t I? What harm could giving him a chance do? How dangerous could this possibly be? Wouldn’t it be nice to be adored, for a while? Had I really become so old, so careful, so safe that I could not give the man a chance?

So he got his chance. And I fell madly, head over heels in love with him, in short order. We discovered many similar interests…American history, particularly the Civil War, WW II, and the Roaring Twenties…we were both avid readers, devouring books and magazines, as well as the daily paper….we were interested in local history and touring the back roads of the region….I loved to cook and he loved to eat. We were having fun, life was good, and oh, yeah, he drank a little.

We finally decided we were so compatible that we should move in together. After all, our combined rents exceeded $1,000 monthly. Two can live as cheaply as one, it is said,

and we were sailing along so well. We had only been together a few months at that point, but as wiser, older and more mature adults, we knew what we were doing.

Right?

Even if he did drink a little more than I had realized.

Flash ahead three years. I am 100 pounds heavier, and so depressed there are days I don’t get out of my bathrobe.

He is unhappy as well; he drinks a lot more than a little, and always secretly did. He’s having blackouts nightly, and the problem can no longer be denied.

Nothing, nothing I do pleases him.

He is exhibiting signs of dementia, possibly due to his excessive drinking and, yes, there are moments when he becomes aggressive. Sometimes, I am afraid of him.

I no longer recognize either one of us. Where are those two people who were so happy together?

Finally, there is a very difficult scene, and he is more than aggressive than usual. Finally, there are lights, cameras, actions taken, police, lawyers, and a hasty move apart, leaving everyone angry, exhausted, bitter and broke.

If you think a bad break up is embarrassing at 20, try it at 55. You will never, ever get that egg off your face. Complete strangers will feel free to pass stern judgment on you, and to suggest you are one damn fool, right in front of you. After all, you should have known better — at your advanced age and all.

Love can be as difficult in the middle ages as at any earlier time in life. I, for one, simply don’t bounce as well. Romance gone wrong at my age can be an expensive proposition, involving not only financial risk and loss, but loss of reputation as well.

Broken hearts can exacerbate physical problems and health issues. Daily, I think the stress alone may kill me. And who needs stress and heartache with all the other issues confronting us?

Love in the middle ages may not be for me.

For the rest of you, I advise caution.

While the temptation to throw it all to the winds may be strong, resist it.

Step lightly in love, enjoy yourself but guard your life as well. Blundering love is painful at any age and never more so in these middle years.

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October / November 2013 - 55 PLUS

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aging

By Marilyn L. Pinsky

Pickleball

“

The biggest unheard-of sport in America

You want me to play what?”

This was my response to my daughter Debbie, the director of a large fitness and recreation center in the Albany area after she said, “Mom, you should play pickleball. It’s the biggest game for seniors at our center.”

The next day, I fortuitously got a call from my friend Mary Gillen, whom as it turns out, is one of the local ambassadors for the sport. She is a player who loves the game and has a desire to share it with others.

If this sport is so big in other places, why am I just hearing about it?

“It only came to this area about four seasons ago because of Shirlee Angerame,” said Gillen. “It was her perseverance that made it happen.

If not for her, there would not be pickleball in our area.”

I tracked down Angerame and asked, “What is there about pickleball that it has become such a phenomenon?”

“It’s a good way to get exercise, have fun and socialize. I was never that athletic before and even I was able to pick it up easily,” Angerame said.

Here are some basic facts: It is a paddle game that combines elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong. The pickleball court is one-third the size of a tennis or badminton court, and the net is lower.

The game is played with a big, short paddle, smaller than a tennis racquet but bigger than a ping-pong paddle, either made out of a composite

of graphite or solid wood, with prices ranging from $20 on up.

The play can go fast or slow, as the ball is a baseball-sized whiffle ball. The game can be played either as singles or doubles.

No special outfit is needed, just shorts, T-shirts or other comfortable clothing, but it is important to wear some type of court shoe.

“It really is the only sport I know of where you get laughs in. How many other games can you make mistakes while playing and then all laugh about it? I hate exercising and would rather do this than machines or weights,” she said.

“I learned about pickleball in Florida 10 years ago in Sun City and The Villages, where they have hundreds

A group of people playing pickeball at Cicero Family Sports Center. The pickleball court is one-third the size of a tennis or badminton court, and the net is lower.

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of courts,” said Angerame. “You walk down the streets and it sounds like you’re in a casino—ding, ding, ding all over the place. It can be addictive. When I came back from Florida, I found this recreation center in Cicero with a gym that agreed to have games there. Then I posted fliers in a number of places to get players, put information out on the Internet and in local newspapers and we were off.”

Grassroots level About five years ago, Marie Mulcahy also brought the game with her from Florida to her home in Skaneateles.

“With the help of the Skaneateles Community Center (now the YMCA) and the town who bought the nets, balls and some inexpensive paddles, we took off,” Mulcahy said. “The group started with four players and is now at 30 and growing. We play

“If this sport is so big in other places, why am I just hearing about it?” three times a week outdoors when the weather is nice, at the Auburn YMCA for additional winter play and are now part of the Finger Lakes Pickleball League.”

“Once people try it, they really like it. It’s a wonderful sport and very social because you just show up. You don’t need to bring a partner and we play in a round robin fashion so everyone gets a turn,” Mulcahy said.

Al Lavalle and Bob McClure asked Tom White, center director for the City of Syracuse Department of Parks, Recreation and Youth’s Magnarelli Center, if they could present the game to the center.

White asked Mary Henry, who had been coming to Magnarelli for yoga and aerobic classes, to help start pickleball there.

McClure and Lavalle taught Henry and others how to play and the group grew.

Pickleball aficionados, from right, Ann Barnes, Bob McClure, Mary Henry, Bob Stella and Sharon Gloska at Magnarelli Center. Pickeball is a paddle game that combines elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong The day I was there, the three original players joined Al Stella, Ann Barnes and Sharon Gloska and were playing amid waves of laughter.

I love the sign hanging in the Magnarelli Center gym: “We don’t stop exercising because we grow old. We grow old because we stop exercising.”

A prime example of that was watching McClure, the International Senior Games 80+ division pickleball c h a m p i o n , i n s t ru c t i n g M a r v i n Goldenberg, a national race walking champion in the 80+ division, in the game of pickleball.

The benefits of pickleball Though pickleball provides an aerobic workout, it is easy on the joints because it is a low impact sport where strength and speed are not as important as strategy and knowing where to place the ball.

In Central New York, the sport is being played in the city of Syracuse at the Magnarelli Center, the Cicero

Family Sports Center and in Skaneateles at the YMCA, and the list is growing.

Also, the Fayetteville YMCA has pickleball play and guests are welcome to play with YMCA members.

For more information, contact Mary Beth Anderson, active older adults coordinator, at manderson@syracuseymca.org or 315637-2025, ext. 208.

USAPA.org is a website for information about the rules of pickleball, video of actual play and where play is going on wherever you are in the country. Just turn up to get involved.

Let’s end with Gillen who, along with many others, loves to mentor new players and just started a beginners program in Mexico. She said it is unnecessary to have been particularly athletic in the past, though it helps to have some eye-hand coordination and be agile. But you can still be successful at different skill levels and have fun.

See you on the courts.

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cover

Firm Foundation

Barbara Shineman oversees $25 million endowment to enrich Central New York

By Lou Sorendo

S

he is the bearer of good fortune.

But it did not come easy for Barbara Palmer Shineman.

Shineman, a retired professor of education at SUNY Oswego, leads the board of directors of the Richard S. Shineman Foundation, established in memory of her late husband, Richard S. Shineman.

The foundation recently gifted $4 million to the new science complex on campus, which is appropriately named the Richard S. Shineman Center for Science, Engineering and Innovation.

Barbara gifted $1 million herself.

It is the largest philanthropic gift in SUNY Oswego’s 150-year history.

The original foundation’s endowment totaled approximately $25 million, which is designed to enhance the quality of life in Central New York through grants to nonprofit organizations.

The private foundation was established by the bequest of the late Richard Shineman, a tenured professor of chemistry at SUNY Oswego.

Richard Shineman joined the faculty in 1962. He was one of the founders of Oswego’s chemistry program and its first chairman, as well as part of a team of professors who helped design the science facilities in Snygg Hall. He earned an undergraduate degree from Cornell University, a master’s from Syracuse and a doctorate from Ohio State 24

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University.

The foundation’s vision is to become a “catalyst for change” across Central New York and in particular, Oswego County, Barbara noted.

The creation of the foundation happened nearly two months before Richard died.

He finalized his will in April of 2010. The foundation was established under the will.

He died on May 27, 2010. The funds went through his estate before being distributed to the foundation in September of 2012.

“The science building is the newest building with great promise for the campus and for students,” Barbara said. “It was just the right thing to do.”

When Barbara, originally from Albion, finished high school at 17, she worked for a telephone company for two years. She then married Robert Palmer, her high school sweetheart, who attended Cornell University.

Barbara’s family lived in Ithaca.

After Palmer completed his coursework, he worked in the hospitality industry, which meant a lot of moving for Barbara and family.

Barbara came to Oswego with her first husband and two children in 1958.

“I always said it is a great place to raise children,” Barbara said. “You knew who the parents of children were

and could pretty much decide that their children and your children will probably be OK together.”

Unfortunately, Barbara became widowed when Palmer suddenly died.

Despite being a single mother of two teens, Barbara went on to graduate from SUNY Oswego as a non-traditional student with an undergraduate degree in childhood education in 1965, master’s in reading education in 1971 and a certificate of advanced study in school administration. She earned her doctorate at Syracuse University.

“As a woman, Barb is especially inspiring,” said Lauren Pistell, who serves as executive director of the foundation.

Pistell said Barbara showed the self-belief and motivation to take on the dual role of career woman and mother.

Robert’s sudden death was cushioned by support Barbara received on campus.

“It was remarkable. It just seemed like it was meant that I was going to keep on doing things for this college,” Barbara said.

She taught at the Campus School, and when it closed, joined the elementary education department at Oswego, where she taught until her retirement in 1989.

Well-rounded relationship

Barbara has received both the Oswego Alumni Association’s Lifetime Award of Merit and the Presidential Medal for her lifelong support to SUNY Oswego.

“It’s humbling,” she said. “It gives me a feeling that I am really a part of this school and this campus.”

She sat on the College Foundation for several years, giving her the chance to see the college operate on a business level.

“This is a fine school and I’m fortunate to be here, make contributions and have it recognized,” she said.

Barbara said she enjoys keeping in touch with her former college students “to see what else they did with their lives after they got out of college.”

Barbara and Richard loved to travel. Their daughter, Kathy Barker, lived in England for a number of years, and the couple made frequent trips there. They also journeyed to the Galapagos Islands, Machu Picchu in Peru, Ecuador, Mexico and Alaska.

They also traveled to Europe and the South Pacific.

“It was all very inspiring,” she said.

The couple enjoyed traveling with college groups from Cornell— Richard’s alma mater—and Syracuse universities.

“We had genuine love and respect for one another,” she said. “So much of the whole success of it was the fact that we both thought the other person was doing the right things in their lives and marriage.”

For recreation, the couple played golf and enjoyed classical and contemporary music.

“We loved going to the theater,” she said. “It all went much too fast.

Barbara said Richard was “a careful person managing his money from the time he was a little boy.”

“He had his own goals and he invested quite a bit in stocks as a younger person,” she said. “And then of course, his father was a successful man.”

Richard’s father Edward worked his way up to chairman of the board at Beech-Nut. “Richard started out with his own means but he didn’t want to keep it all for himself. That is what makes him so admirable,” she said.

Barbara recalls the time when Richard would receive letters from October / November 2013 - 55 PLUS

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various organizations requesting dues and financial support.

He would collect all the correspondence, and then make it a point to address the requests every year in June.

“He literally would come out with a huge amount of envelopes, open them, and start writing checks,” Barbara said. “I would pound on the living room rug and be upset for a couple of days.”

“He was very precise. I’m still getting some of those [requests], but I don’t think I’m going to do that anymore,” she said.

One of Richard’s characteristics that Barbara admired the most was his humility.

“I admire humility in people. He was a humble person,” she said. “He did not like to toot his own horn.”

“He was a principled man and cared about other people,” she said.

“He was very respectful of other people and very sure that everybody had a fine worth in this world.”

Barbara said Richard’s father Edward instilled in him the need to share with others when he was just a youth.

Richard hailed from Canajoharie in Montgomery County, home to Beech-Nut, the baby food producer.

An Oswego resident, Barbara said both she and Richard “felt and do feel education is probably one of the most important things in the world to have.”

“I don’t know if I quite agree that everyone should have a college education, but you better have something really significant behind you if you are looking to get a good job, support a family and take your place in the world,” Barbara said.

Gift of astronomical proportions

Peggy Ogden, retired president and CEO at the Central New York Community Foundation, has served as a consultant for the foundation.

Ogden is the principal at Peggy Ogden LLC-Philanthropic Consulting.

She said this is one of the largest philanthropic gifts she has seen in the Central New York area.

“Maybe a few have gotten larger gifts, but I know for SUNY Oswego it is the largest gift,” she said. “It’s a marvelous testament both to Barbara and her late husband that they want to invest back into the institution that they both participated in and loved.”

The Shinemans were married for 37 years.

“From my experience, it is one of the largest to one institution,” she said.

The Community Foundation has received larger gifts to its endowment

Grant Beneficiaries From Home Aides of CNY to Baltimore Woods to Enable, foundation has given several million dollars Here are the larger grants from the Richard S. Shineman Foundation that have been made public: • SUNY Oswego — $4 million • Oswego YMCA Capital Campaign — $250,000 pledge • SUNY Oswego, Office of Business and Community Relations — $10,000 for Thrive Initiative • Oswego County Habitat for Humanity —$25,000 for A Brush With Kindness program • Oswego County Youth Bureau — $50,000 for Camp Zerbe repairs • Oswego Renaissance Association — $45,000 • Enable — $10,000 for Enabling Parents program for parents of children with autism • Home Aides of Central NY — $10,000 for van recruitment program for Oswego County • ARISE — $40,000 for HOME repairs for interior modifications to 26

55 PLUS - October / November 2013

From left, Lauren Pistell and Barbara P. Shineman presenting Mary Anne Hankins and Laurie Walker of Home Aides of Central New York a check for $10,000. homes to improve accessibility • YMCA Fulton/Oswego — $47,000 • L i t e r a c y Vo l u n t e e r s o f Greater Syracuse — $15,000 for online historical retrospective and promotion of literacy • Baltimore Woods — $5,000 Nature in the City sponsorship • Artswego — $5,000 for community performances • H. Lee White Marine Museum

— $10,000 for strategic partnershipmerger costs • CNY Arts Center — $13,000 for sound equipment and school drama program • Oswego County Opportunities — $25,000 • United Way of Greater Oswego — $20,000 matching grant for new or increased employee contributions from OCO and Huhtamaki

55+ through bequests, she said.

She said the only ones that might surpass the Shineman gift in magnitude would be to Syracuse University.

The Kari and Dick Clark Foundation recently donated $5 million toward the $18 million renovation of one of the buildings at Syracuse’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Robert L. and Catherine H. McDevitt left about $50 million to Le Moyne College in Syracuse to be added to the college’s endowment in 2009.

“When her late husband set up this foundation, Barbara did not have any prior knowledge or experience with foundations,” Ogden said. “She has just really embraced it and wants to learn everything about it. I admire her thirst for knowledge and wanting to do the right thing by honoring Dick’s wishes.”

“I love her spunk. She really is just a delightful woman and someone that I greatly admire,” she added.

Applying for grants The foundation has a grant application that is available online at www .shinemanfoundation.org. “We are looking for a shared mission where the foundation’s goals and mission meet the organization seeking grant dollars,” Pistell said.

She said two questions on the application capture the essence of the type of organization that the foundation wants to provide assistance to.

“We ask how the program or project the organization is proposing involves collaborating with other people or organizations in the community,” she said. “A high level of collaboration is something we value very highly.”

“We also ask the organization how this project or proposal is going to be a catalyst for change,” she said. How that question is answered provides insight into the value of the program, Pistell added.

She noted that the foundation is also looking at sustainability.

“We ask ourselves, ‘Is this going to be a development for this organization or for this community that will then take off and be able to perpetuate itself beyond a single infusing of cash?’”

Pistell said.

cover

Enable/TLS Executive Director Prudence York (from left) with Barbara Shineman and Lauren Pistell of the Richard S. Shineman Foundation.

The foundation aims to exist in perpetuity, Pistell said.

However, there are certain IRS regulations that require private foundations to distribute 5 percent of their net value every year.

“The goal then is to earn at least 5 percent in income and asset appreciation so that amount required to distribute to either equaled by your investment income or growth,” she noted.

Workforce development Pistell foresees the new science complex as being a center of excellence for science education in the region.

“It could attract some exceptional science students to choose SUNY Oswego,” Pistell said. “We are hoping to assist in development projects and programs that connect students with local businesses and industry. We bring in talent and then the community can keep the talent here.”

Pistell said the foundat ion continues to target the type of grants that have the college and community working in tandem “to really improve Oswego.”

A key issue before the foundation board involves professional people who work in the city—whether at the

nuclear plants or Oswego Health— who choose to live elsewhere and commute to Oswego.

Pistell said a long-term goal for the foundation is to examine why that is happening, and then take steps to address housing, education and cultural options “that would allow people to choose to make Oswego their home as well.”

“One of the things about our foundation is we really want to try to find programs that are going to be a catalyst for change and really raise the bar for Oswego a little bit higher,” Pistell noted.

Barbara said she would like to see a tighter bond between the college and city.

She said there is mutual support happening, “but I think you have to work at it and be honest enough to ask, ‘There are things happening on campus that the community doesn’t really pay attention to. Why?” Barbara is an honorary Rotarian, and also is active with the Philanthropic Education Organization, which raises money for scholarships for young women.

Besides her daughter, Barbara also has a son, Bob Palmer.

October / November 2013 - 55 PLUS

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55+

history

The End of Innocence

JFK assassination 50 years ago shook people to emotional roots

By Lynn Cuda

E

veryone has at least one m o m e n t f ro z e n i n t i m e for them, when an event, so big, that all of it, plus its surrounding details, are permanently etched in their brain.

I remember, as a very little girl, my mother recalling exactly where she was, with the rest of our family (I wasn’t born yet) when she learned that Pearl Harbor had been attacked, Sunday, Dec, 7, 1941.

It was a cold sunny day when she and Dad switched on the car radio and heard the fateful news. News that made them pull over to the side of the road, just to get their breath and take it all in, because they knew

that meant we were destined to enter World War II. “I felt fear and I felt worry. Here we were, just starting out really, with your two sisters, aged 4 and 5, and now I knew we would be at war. A sense of panic just swept over us. I think we drove home in complete silence,” she would tell me, year after year, when the subject came up.

For my adult children, now in their 30s, their day was 9/11 and the dawning of a new age of terrorism, a day marked by an unthinkable homeland attack, and, like 60 years earlier, also by planes.

But for me, and probably most of you reading this 55 Plus magazine,

it will always be Nov. 22, 1963, the day we grew up and cried, not for ourselves, but for our president and our country.

I was 13. Junior high was a blissful time of bike riding, school dances, and all the endless adventures that come with adolescence. It was a Friday, lunchtime was over and we were in our social studies class with our favorite teacher, Mr. Fletcher. He was a tall, youngish man with a crew cut who made history come alive for me and many others. He was the teacher who actually had the confidence and dedication to come to school with a Mohawk haircut and face paint just to help us better understand the October / November 2013 - 55 PLUS

29

Iroquois.

He even had had the nerve to wear a small red, white, and blue “JFK” button to school on his lapel, something discouraged back then, since teachers weren’t ever supposed to reveal their political preferences.

But Fletcher, the Irishman married to a nurse and father of six children, made no secret that John Fitzgerald Kennedy was his hero.

So, that day, just when we were all starting to think about our upcoming Thanksgiving break from school, it seemed a bit odd when, right in the middle of his class, there was a knock on the classroom door. Our music teacher, obviously upset, came in and whispered something in Fletcher’s ear, and then left.

Reduced to tears To our complete shock and amazement, Fletcher cradled his head in his hands and sobbed. There was no other sound in our classroom. All 26 of us were fixated on what was unfolding before us. What in the world could make this giant of a man cry like this?

And then after what seemed like an awfully long time, he lifted his head

and said softly, “Something awful has just happened. Our president has been shot, and ... ” The door opened at that moment; it was the music teacher again. She immediately waved us all up and out of the room and down the hall to her large music room, complete with grand piano, where, for a reason that

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55 PLUS - October / November 2013

wasn’t quite clear to us yet, she led us in the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” followed by other patriotic songs.

We noticed teachers, along with the principal, huddled together out in the hall, and next thing we knew, we were being let out early, though it was already close to our regular dismissal time.

We learned that our 35th president had been assassinated at approximately 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas and was pronounced dead by 1 p.m. (2 p.m.

EST).

With the official announcement from the White House at 1:33 p.m. and that shaky, emotional statement

by Walter Cronkite, the CBS newsman who, we all knew, was the “most trusted man in America,” it all became so real.

When he read from that paper, and kept putting his black reading glasses on and then off, we felt his sorrow and choked up right along with him.

I often wondered why we were released early on that Friday, knowing that now that most likely would not, or could not, happen. But back then we were in the Cold War, and that first hour or two after the assassination, everyone was in a totally confused state, much like on 9/11.

Was this some kind of coordinated attack? Would something else happen?

Lyndon Baines Johnson, then vice president, took the oath of office aboard Air Force One at 2:38 p.m.

as Jackie Kennedy, still in that blood stained pink two-piece suit, looked on.

Spiritless holiday Our Thanksgiving that year was part of the darkest, dreariest, saddest string of days we ever experienced.

It was as if everything moved in slow motion. How appropriate that we only had a blurry black-and-white television then, because everything over the next few days was truly only black and white. It was like all the color had drained out of us, except for that pink blood stained suit that I am guessing we all remember.

The local radio stations played only a somber mix of patriotic songs and classical music. Parents cautioned their children not to play noisily outside.

It was not uncommon to see people crying on the street. Churches quickly opened their doors for community prayer.

Most shops and businesses closed, right through Monday, with no school Monday. Television showed us the minute-by-minute drama as it unfolded, beginning with that famous

Cronkite announcement. That was followed by the hunt and arrest of 25-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald, and his subsequent murder by Jack Ruby on Sunday played out live, right on television.

After that, it was state funeral and then burial on Nov. 25 in Arlington National Cemetery.

All television coverage for those four days was totally devoted to the assassination and its aftermath.

The images I have never forgotten are, besides Jackie’s blood stained clothes, the funeral procession to the Capitol with the six gray horses and the one black riderless horse who appeared wild and angry; and the appearance of young John-John saluting his slain father alongside his mother. She was dressed in black with her face shielded by a heavy black veil.

But most of all, I remember dear Mr. Fletcher, our favorite teacher, who could not shield us from his personal pain that day, and, in doing so, taught us something else: empathy.

October / November 2013 - 55 PLUS

31

my turn

By Bruce Frassinelli Email: bruce@cny55.com

50 Years Ago in November: ‘President Kennedy Is Dead’

F

ifty years ago, on Nov. 22, 1963, the president of the United States was gunned down in Dallas, Texas, the fourth president to be assassinated in our country’s history.

Those old enough to recall that day have frozen it in time. As with all cataclysmic events, we tend to remember where we were, even what we were doing when we first heard the news.

Two weeks before the assassination, I had changed professions. I left my job as French and English teacher at Washington, N.J., High School and had begun my duties as program, news, sports director at a small daytime-only radio station in Stroudsburg, Pa. I recall having gone home over the noon hour — it was a Friday afternoon, six days before Thanksgiving. I had cod fish cakes for lunch (back in the days when Catholics observed Friday as a meatless day).

I was poring over the bills that were coming due at the end of the month and trying to figure out how to rob Peter to pay Paul. The telephone rang. It was the on-air announcer at the radio station. “The president’s been shot,” he shouted with panic in his voice. It took me a few seconds to process what he had just said. My first reaction was that he was pulling my leg. “I’m not kidding,” he insisted; “this is for real.”

I asked whether the president was alive. He didn’t know, indicating that the only information the wire services had transmitted was that he had been taken to a hospital in Dallas for treatment.

“Did you run a bulletin?” I asked.

“Yes,” the announcer replied, “just a minute ago.”

“I’ll be right there,” I said and 32

55 PLUS - October / November 2013

hung up. “President Kennedy’s been shot,” I mumbled in a stunned voice to no one in particular. In a flash I was out the door.

The seven-minute trip back to the radio station was a blur, because I was trying to block out my emotions and imagining how we might cover this as a news event. I was also concerned that as a rookie who was on the job for only a couple of weeks, whether I was capable of handling something of this magnitude. The last time a president of the United States had been assassinated was in 1901, when William McKinley was shot at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo.

When I arrived at the radio station, several of the business office employees had gathered around the United Press International Teletype machine. Some were crying; everyone was concerned about the president’s health and what the shooting signified.

Several employees told me later that I appeared more ashen and shaken than they had ever seen me.

In the early moments, amid all the confusion, there was fear that the shooting may have been tied to a Soviet attack or invasion. This was during the height of the Cold War, and the Cuban Missile Crisis that brought the United States and the Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear war just 13 months earlier was still fresh on many people’s minds.

There were a number of internal advisories from UPI to news editors indicating that there was total confusion in Dallas and that it was very difficult to get authoritative information.

We also learned that Texas Gov. John Connally, who was in a limousine with the president, also was shot and seriously wounded.

I grabbed our general manager,

who was mesmerized watching the Teletype clack out sketchy information, and pulled him into a nearby recording studio where we roughed out strategy for handling the crisis.

I had never encountered anything even remotely close to the magnitude of this news story. Whatever we decided to do would be by trial and error. For the next four hours — 75 minutes beyond normal sign-off time — we broadcast classical music interspersed with news bulletins and sought reaction from community leaders.

Since we made a judgment call that this was an emergency, we decided to stay on the air until 6 p.m. Being a daytime-only radio station, we had to sign off at sunset, which the Federal Communications Commission said is 4:45 p.m. in November.

As the general manager and I were agreeing on our game plan and returning to the Teletype for the latest information, the UPI Teletype clanged 10 rapid-fire bells.

“My God,” I said, “it’s a flash.”

It was the first time in the four years I had been working at the radio station — as a part-timer up to two weeks prior — that I had heard 10 bells under real conditions. Once a week, UPI tested the Teletype and rang 10 bells on those occasions.

UPI designated top, unplanned news stories as “Flash,” “Bulletin” or “Urgent.” “Bulletin” and “Urgent” were characterized by five bells.

“Flash,” news of the most monumental and extraordinary nature, was accompanied by 10 bells.

I feared the worst.

“President Kennedy dead,” read the flash.

I ripped the yellow piece of paper from the machine, dashed into the

control room, pushed our announcer aside and told our listeners that our president had been assassinated.

At that point, we cleared commercial messages from the station for the remainder of the afternoon and the entire next day. We stopped playing our “quality sound of music” — light, non-brassy, vocal or instrumental standards — and put on somber classical music of the Bach and Mozart variety.

I strung a long power cord from our control room board to the Teletype machine so I could report new information instantaneously. In between, I ad-libbed and updated new listeners. Our telephone lines were swamped. Many people were crying; others were panicky, asking whether they should take cover in shelters in case the Soviets bombed us. We told them to stay calm and stay tuned, that we would tell them everything we knew as soon as we learned it.

At 3 p.m., a little over an hour after President Kennedy had been pronounced dead, I dismantled the microphone at the Teletype and began giving news updates every 10 minutes.

That freed me to make phone calls to ministers and other community leaders so they could share words of comfort with our grieving listeners.

We a i r e d p u b l i c s e r v i c e announcements from churches, which had begun scheduling special prayer services to honor the slain president. We also broadcast a number of cancellations of community events scheduled for that evening and for the rest of the weekend.

After we had signed off that evening, I was finally able to deal with my own grief. Until then, my concern had been in making sure our listeners were getting the timeliest information possible.

Now, for the first time, I had time to reflect on what had happened in Dallas. Now it was time for me to join millions of other grieving Americans in praying for this young president and his family.

It was also on Nov. 22, 1963, that I knew for sure what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Although until then, I wore three hats — program, news and sports director – it was on that day that I knew I wanted to wear only one — the hat of a news journalist.

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education Thirst for Knowledge

55+

A group of students confer during a course at Cayuga Community College.

People take to the classroom in never-ending search for education

By Lou Sorendo

E

ven in their golden years, many people are continuing their education on both the credit and credit-free levels.

For many, their thirst for knowledge is never quenched while they seek learning opportunities they may not have had earlier in life.

Margaret Spillett, director of public relations and institutional communication at Cayuga Community College in Auburn and Fulton, reported that 225 non-traditional students over the age of 55 enrolled in 308 courses during the 2013 spring semester.

Spillett said these students took more than one course.

Of those registrations, 226 were on the Auburn campus, 34

55 PLUS - October / November 2013

48 at the Fulton campus, and 34 participated online.

Fifty nine percent—182 of the 308—course registrations were for the fitness center.

Since 2008, the number of seniors enrolled at CCC has steadily risen: As of Sept. 10, 423 of the 13,971 registrations were made by students aged 55 and older.

In 2008, for example, the number of over-55 students was 31.

Never too old CCC even had an 87-yearold enrolled in the Fitness Center III Practicum on an auditing basis and not for a grade.

“This was required for the individual to be able to use the

college fitness center,” Spillett said.

CCC also had a 74-year-old who audited Introduction to Philosophy.

It also featured a 65-yearold who earned an “A” in a criminal justice course.

“They are coming to represent a larger percentage of our total student body, although this may be in part due to the requirement of our seniors to enroll in a fitness center course before being able to use the college workout center,” she said.

Spillett said nearly half, or 467 of 1,032, of CCC’s seniors who enrolled in courses during the fall semester between 2008-13 were enrolled in the “Fitness Center” or “Wellness Center” course, which is required of anyone who wants to use the

55+ college fitness center in Auburn.

“Seniors can enroll in these courses for free and then have free access to use the workout equipment on campus,” she noted.

Scholarly seniors Spillett said CCC’s Community Education and Workforce Development is exploring the establishment of a senior scholars program, formerly known as Elderhostel, to enrich the lives of baby boomers and seniors through trips and courses tailored to their unique interests.

“Through that credit-free division, we already offer courses developed with the senior in mind, including fitness class ZumbaGold, Internet for Seniors, Reverse Osteoporosis, trips to Cooperstown and New York City, and an Adirondack cruise,” she said.

“Baby boomers make up one of the largest segments of our leisure-learning students at almost 18 percent. So many of them now are doing those things they have always wanted to do.”

The senior demographic is not necessarily targeted during CCC’s marketing and recruiting efforts. “However, we try to include photos, profiles and stories of a diverse group of students, and age is certainly one of those considerations,” she said.

SUNY Oswego scene This past spring semester, there were 38 students aged 55 years and older at SUNY Oswego, according to Julie Blissert, director of public affairs.

This past spring, 3.18 percent of non-traditional students—those 25 years and older—were aged 55 and older.

They made up about 0.5 percent of the total student body.

Out of the 38 students aged 55 and older this past spring, four were in the Career & Technical Ed (MSED) program, three were in the fine arts BFA program, and three were in the mental health counseling program.

The highest percentage were

education

non-degree students, Blissert said.

Other programs in which that group was enrolled during spring 2013 include accounting, business and marketing education, business administration, computer science, health careers education, history, human computer interaction, public justice, philosophy-psychology, physics, psychology, and trade education. ”Since we have not been tracking all students over 55, the closest we can get to a trend is by looking at the “Distribution of Undergraduate Student Ages Fall 2008-Fall 2012” in our fact book online, which does not include graduate students,” Blissert said. “It shows a slight decline in the 50-64 age group.”

“We do expect to see an increase in adults and older adults in our health-related graduate and certificate programs, which are just coming online,” she added.

At OCC Roger Mirabito, communications coordinator at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, said fall 2012 numbers are the most recent regarding seniors attending OCC. In that semester, OCC featured 187 students aged 55 and over.

“These are credit-bearing students, meaning they are enrolled in degree-seeking programs. I do not have numbers on how many 55-plus students are simply taking a class here or there,” Mirabito said.

Those students over 55 comprise approximately 1.5 percent of the total student population.

The oldest student presently in OCC’s system is 84 years old and has been taking classes over the last three years.

“By rule we are prevented from releasing the person’s ID,” Mirabito said.

Mirabito did note that the number of 55-plus students taking classes has been trending down slightly since 2009.

“Again, these are the 55-plus students who are credit-bearing and pursuing degrees,” he noted.

Back to the Books

Several reasons bring people back to school

By Lou Sorendo

T

he majority of students return to college to finish their degree, said Eileen T. Jevis, public relations manager at Syracuse University.

“The reasons include to advance in their career, change careers, or personal achievement,” she said.

In addition to credit courses, the TEDCenter (Talent and Educational Development Center) at SU continues to develop programs that will help support and advance people in their training and skills, Jevis said.

In the classes the TEDCenter has run, there have been two major reasons why mature workers are taking the workshops, Jevis said.

“They must find additional skills to find employment, while many are looking for the certification to demonstrate that they have the skills,” she said.

“They will be using additional skills to enhance their current job or volunteer role,” she added.

“We believe these individuals gain confidence in the classroom as well. Some have not had a great deal of experience with computers or it has been a while since they were in a classroom,” Jevis said. “Being successful in this experience gives them reassurance they carry into interviews or as they apply new skills.”

The TEDCenter has had many over-55 class participants in the WIN curricula as part of the Unemployed Worker Training Grant and social media programs.

October / November 2013 - 55 PLUS

35

Training for the future Participants in the UWTG have used their skills to find employment or as a launch into additional education, such as HVAC or electrical programs at BOCES, nursing at Onondaga Community College, CNA at a school in the South, and the Higher Education Opportunity Program at SU. “Other courses we believe are popular among the over-55 group are those which help these individuals retain their certifications,” Jevis said.

“New programming we will be launching this year includes project management courses to help prepare for or support certification retention of the project management professional certification; understanding intellectual property, patent, and trademark certifications; and cultural competence certifications for individuals who want to conduct business in specific countries such as Brazil, Korea, China, or Germany.

“The 50 and over population for the total SU population was fairly steady over the last five years with a peak in 2010,” Jevis noted.

Seniors at SU

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55 PLUS - October / November 2013

In spring 2013, Syracuse University had 93 students aged 55 and older that registered as non-matriculated graduate and undergraduates, and matriculated undergraduate students, according to Jevis.

Approximately 13 percent of SU’s non-matriculated graduate students for spring 2013 were 55 and older and 3 percent of its undergraduate students were 55 and older.

Fall 2013 data shows that 4.6 percent of the graduate student population is 50 and over and 0.4 percent of the undergraduates are over 50.

Looking at the total Syracuse University student population, there was one undergraduate student who was 65 and over for the fall 2012 semester and six graduate students.

“The 55-plus group falls under our generic marketing efforts, such as ads, emails, and behavioral targeting,” Jevis said. “We have attempted to reach this specific audience in the past with direct mail campaigns promoting scholarships for this demographic.”

“This fall, we are planning to drill down into the wide age range of our target audience and do more agespecific marketing,” she said.

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education

Enriching Education Enhances Retirement Some are opting to audit classes at local colleges, taking classes

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

N

ow that you’re retired, it’s time to do what you want. But what? And how?

Fortunately, you have plenty of opportunities to hone your skill in hobbies you’ve neglected or never tried during your busy career years.

Going to college isn’t just for recent high school graduates or working people trying to further their career.

If you’ve always wanted to learn more about a particular subject, why not audit a class at a local college?

Most colleges allow seniors to sit in on classes for free, though you’ll not receive credit and you will not be tested or graded.

Your ability to audit a class depends upon the type of class (for example, laboratory-based classes may be exempt) and if space is still available. You still may need to pay a little something if you want to really enjoy the class.

“Text books or other related materials may be purchased at the prevailing student price,” said Tim Nekritz, director of Web communications with SUNY Oswego.

“Senior citizens should register as an auditor during the late registration/ add period at the beginning of each semester.”

Stephanie Schuster, coordinator of community education at Cayuga Community College in Auburn and Fulton, said that the school offers hundreds of classes you might enjoy.

“A lot of [seniors] really enjoy improving their technology skills,” she said. “They want to learn how to use the technology to stay current.”

Like at SUNY Oswego, seniors may a u d i t c re d i t - b e a r i n g classes at no charge.

“Leisure learning classes offer an opportunity for seniors to make social connections, learn new skills, whether computer training or a foreign language,” Schuster said.

Some classes specifically target seniors, like “Internet for Seniors” and “Facebook for Seniors.” The school also offers many health and fitness classes like cooking, ballroom dancing, swing dancing, yoga and tai chi which are appropriate for seniors.

Most people tend to think of BOCES as an educational opportunity for young people entering a skilled t r a d e ; h o w e v e r, a t O n o n d a g a Cortland Madison Counties Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (OCM BOCES) in Liverpool, seniors can take classes in activities such as basket weaving, painting, knitting, quilting, floral gardening, photography, basic computer training, creative writing, scrap booking, dance classes, yoga, R/C aviation, and cooking.

Though OCM BOCES classes do not specifically target seniors, they seem to attract them.

“A lot of people don’t realize we offer these types of classes,” said Amanda Redhead, registration clerk.

“Older people tend to discover us and then take everything we have.

They want to learn a new hobby they didn’t have time for before. Now they

have the time. Some take classes to stay active, like the dancing classes.

It’s interesting the variety of students we have in our building.”

The classes also attract a few older instructors, such as Diane Molekey, a country line dancing instructor who is 66 and lives in Liverpool.

“Line dancing is a wonderful form of exercise where you learn news steps so you use your brain,” she said. “It’s also very social. The mix of generations is wonderful. The young ones are supportive of the older ones and they help each other. It’s an inspiration to see the older ones.”

The group dances at outdoor venues all summer, wherever they find country groups playing throughout Central New York.

Molekey thinks that the life enrichment classes are probably more populated than the trade classes at OCM BOCES. “When we’re retired, we can do things for our lives, not things geared towards children and grandchildren,” she said.

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golden years

By Harold Miller Email: hal@cny55.com

Tale of the Tree Octopus

I

Educators think that the flood of technological data available on the Internet is creating a smarter generation. I question that thinking

n 2005 researchers at the University of Connecticut asked a group of seventh graders to read a website full of information about the Pacific Northwest tree octopus, or “Octopus paxarbolis.” The Web page described the creatures’ mating rituals, preferred diet and leafy habitat in precise detail. Applying an analytical model they’d learned, the students evaluated the trustworthiness of the site and the information it offered.

Their judgment? The tree octopus was legitimate. All but one of the pupils rated the website as “very credible.”

The headline of the university’s press release read, “Researchers Find Kids Need Better Online Academic Skills.”

The computer and the resultant websites and the online information they produce have changed our world in ways yet to be discovered. As it stands now, online teaching is the basic tool for educating our children.

The problem is that our teachers and institutions are frog-leaping over basic knowledge in the quest for academic skills. In the case of the seventh graders — the missing knowledge was basic understanding of sea-dwelling creatures. This would have tipped them off to the fact that the website given as reference was a booby trap.

Many educators think that the flood of technological data available on the Internet is creating a smarter generation. I question that thinking.

An increasing faction within education talks of “21st Century skills” or “digital literacy” and other faddish phrases. In their view, academic skills trump knowledge. Additionally, high school and college curricula are sidestepping basic knowledge courses such as biology, physics and math.

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Even teaching penmanship has gone the way of ways in this age of the word processor. Consequently, many of our high school graduates are not fully prepared for college and work.

N e w Yo r k S t a t e E d u c a t i o n Department’s “college and career” ready rate — the percentage of students who scored at least 75 on the English language arts Regents exam and 80 on the math Regents — was only 35.3 percent Effectively, we are educating a generation of kids who will not be able to write legibly, balance a checkbook or understand that an object in motion tends to stay in motion and an object at rest tends to stay at rest. Even the most sophisticated digital literacy skills won’t help students or workers navigate the world if they don’t have a broad base of knowledge as to how the world actually operates.

On the other side of the coin — giving the Internet its due — worldwide communication and technology have expanded exponentially in the past few years. Storing reams of data in individual computers is no longer necessary. This data has ascended to the ‘cloud’ that now contains unimaginable quantities of data and information.

Medicine, engineering, scientific research every other discipline known to mankind has benefited enormously from this 21st century tool.

Google is another tool of enormous proportions. There is hardly a question that the mind can conjure up, that cannot be answered by Googling it.

Pick a subject, an event, a famous person (or practically any person), the U.S. Constitution, the location of virtually anyone’s house (with photo and market value): it’s all there with a

click of your mouse.

However, as with any tool invented by man, beware that it does not become your master. An inanimate object (even one with the power of the computer) has no common sense, no morals, or any sense of value.

Think of the sorcerer’s apprentice in “Fantasia.” His master ordered him to fetch water from the well. Being lazy, (an inherent human condition) he stole the sorcerer’s magic hat while he slept and commanded a broom to do his job. Then he could not control the broom to stop — and you know the rest of the story.

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Check out the growing list of benefits you can achieve with the WRVO MemberCard Visit membercard.com/wrvo/

To learn how you can qualify to receive your own WRVO MemberCard, visit wrvo.org/membercard Morning Edition | Diane Rehm | Fresh Air | Tell Me More with Michel Martin | Talk of the Nation | All Things Considered As It Happens | Capitol Pressroom | Q with Jian Ghomeshi | Science in Action | Marketplace Money | Only a Game Weekend Edition Saturday/Sunday | Car Talk | Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me | Says You! | This American Life with Ira Glass Snap Judgement | On the Media | Day 6 with Brent Banbury | A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor Moth Radio Hour | Selected Shorts | One Planet | Prime Time Radio | Studio 360 | Splendid Table | Radio Lab TED Radio Hour | Weekend All Things Considered | Campbell Conversations | Take Care | Big Picture Science HealthLink | Tuned to Yesterday | BBC News Day

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55+

‘Casey’ Comes to Bat OCC features new president who plans on touching all the bases

By Mary Beth Roach

T

he summer months might be quiet for some in academia.

Not so for Kathleen “Casey” Crabill.

She has spent the summer acclimating herself to a new job and community.

“It’s like drinking from a fire hose,” she said chuckling, but she is thoroughly enjoying the process of immersing herself in learning all she can about OCC. “This is a very proud institution,” she noted. “It’s got a great history, but it’s got an even better future.”

A future she is excited to help shape.

The college, with a student population of approximately 12,000, has done an amazing job in responding to a huge growth in enrollment, and the demand for education from students who want the whole experience, she said.

She credits former president 40

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Debbie Sydow with much of the growth, and from her office in the Whitney Building, she can see the recently constructed SRC Arena.

Not too far away are residence halls. Down Onondaga Road from one of OCC’s main entrances are the former Van Duyn facilities, which have been rehabbed to Mulroy Hall and H-3.

In September, plans called for the opening of a new building on campus, named Academic II, which spans the gorge that cuts through the middle of campus.

The façade of the building is modeled after the frets of a guitar, and it will house the school’s music department, including a 150-seat recital hall, soundproof rooms for practicing and classrooms.

Yet, she is interested in updating the library and renovating the space in order to provide a technologysupported learning space.

profile

Editor’s Note: Kathleen “Casey” Crabill became the eighth president of Onondaga Community College in July. The 57-year-old took some time recently to share her vision for the school, its role in the Central New York community, and the joy she gets as she celebrates the achievements of her students, whether they be 18 or 68.

In order for students to be successful upon graduation, she said, they need to be prepared to compete, whether it’s for a job or a transfer to a four-year college.

Emphasis on technology “Part of that competition is being technologically savvy and information savvy. So I’m very interested in pursuing information literacy. Meanwhile, I want to live in the rest of the space and see how it feels,” she said.

Crabill had been an interim college president in Connecticut then headed up the College of the Redwoods.

In 2006, she became president of Raritan Valley Community College in New Jersey, and during her tenure, the school saw record enrollments, expansions of facilities and national honors, according to the Hunterdon

County Democrat.

Her career has had her crisscrossing the country, but she had always planned to return to her native New York state.

“I was looking for an opportunity at a college that was of a similar quality. There are a lot of ideas, a lot of opportunity and a lot of drive. Where OCC was, what it needed and what the board was looking for—it felt like a really good fit,” she said.

She was quick to point out that she enjoyed her years at Raritan, but she was ready for another challenge. “I think the challenges here are exciting,” she said.

OCC—and community colleges overall—need to remain accessible and affordable to meet the demands of a very diverse student population, according to Crabill.

“Our challenge is to keep that door open by making sure that at least the pipeline that we’re responsible for is within financial reach. And that gets harder every year. The fixed costs don’t slow down,” she explained.

“Students today may not have four or five jobs, but four or five careers,” she noted. “They might see us as an 18-year-old in their first pass-through; they might see us as a 35-year-old because they thought they wanted to be something and now they want to change; or they might see us as a 55-year-old looking to get back into the work force. So keeping our curriculum relevant and on target so that the students can do it effectively, efficiently, and with the funds they have available at the time they have them available.

‘Never a dull place’ “Making sure we target our

55

resources in such a way that we fit into people’s lives is a huge challenge.

That’s community college in a nutshell—every age, every approach to education, whether it’s formal or whether it’s more education for lifelong learning for business. We’re never a dull place,” she said.

Central New York features a number of institutions of higher learning, such as Syracuse University, Le Moyne College, Cazenovia College and the nearby state colleges to name a few. Crabill sees OCC as vital to the overall educational picture.

“Community colleges have a four-part mission and each part of the mission will touch those other institutions,” she said.

She said OCC gives students the opportunity to get the necessary credits to continue on to four-year colleges; to prepare them for the workplace; to provide high school graduates with the skill sets to go on to college; and to offer the training and skill upgrades for business and industry in the areas. “ We a re re a l l y p a r t o f t h e educational fabric, and we are a deep part of the fabric,” she said.

Some describe a college president’s job as being 24/7, but Crabill joked that it’s more like 32/8.

She finds her balance, she said, in calendar management.

There’s a rhythm to the academic calendar, with the down times allowing one to prepare for the more hectic times, she explained.

She also likes to garden, cook and entertain friends.

In her business, she explained, one moves around often, so she has colleagues all over the place that will gather from time to time throughout

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Focus on health, finances, travel, housing, family, leisure.

the year. She also likes to spend time with her parents and daughter, Katherine, a sophomore at the New England School of Music Conservatory in Boston.

Wearing different hats Being the mother of a college student while the president of a college is not as trying as it was earlier in her career, she said. “It’s easier than being a college president and having a 17-month-old as when I started,” she said.

As the college planning began for her daughter, she found that Katherine’s friends would seek her advice more than her daughter.

“It’s humbling,” she quipped.

“You’re never a prophet in your own kingdom.”

But since Katherine is a music student, she is on a different track than is Crabill’s area of expertise.

As she begins a new chapter in her career, Crabill is far from retiring.

“I’m not even close to being ready to retire. I’m not done yet. I hope I have the mechanism that gives me a clue when I am done. I’m still excited about what I’m doing. If you want to see me on cloud 9, talk to me the hour after commencement. A community college commencement is magic. You have a thousand graduates; you have a thousand different stories. You have a thousand different families in the room. “Somebody’s yelling ‘That’s my mom,’ ‘That’s my dad.’ I heard ‘That’s my grandma’ once,” she said.

The pride and joy she gets from one commencement a year can inspire her.

“I get up every morning happy to go to work, happy to be in this field,” she said.

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55+

savings

Energy: ACCES the Truth Organization helps people understand their energy options and lower their bills

By Avery Galek

M

any citizens are often misinformed or unaware of their alternative energy options.

So, for all the savvy seniors out there, the biggest piece of advice usually given is to stay educated.

To put it simply, watch your back.

The American Coalition of Competitive Energy Suppliers works to educate the public that it has a choice in who supplies their energy, such as natural gas and electric. The coalition takes no part in promoting any one company, but strives to inform the consumer.

“We find that seniors are typically very nervous or conservative about switching,” said Larry Schmidt, administrator for Oswego County Office for the Aging. “I think in that case they’re worried there will be a catch and they’re going to end up paying more money. I don’t think that’s really the case necessarily.”

People are more willing to switch if they heat with oil or propane, he added, but with popular utilities such as National Grid, they do not have the same willingness to look around.

“We have referred people to EmPower New York as a program, which helps people make their house more energy efficient,” Schmidt said.

“We also help 1,500 families a year with the Home Energy Assistance Program.”

Several assistance programs in 42

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Onondaga County have been cut, such as the weatherization referral and packaging program, which gave seniors a chance to be interviewed for priority status.

‘Empower’ the consumer “EmPower is a good program because with our long waiting list, when somebody applies there is a 16-week turnover,” said Jessica Deer, administrative assistant for Onondaga County’s EmPower New York. “They will be able to receive some services from us in the beginning, relatively quick, as long as they’re on top of their paper work.”

One thing to keep in mind is that an individual’s energy consumption is an eligibility factor. If the consumption is too low, it is possible to be denied.

If the fuel use is over a certain amount a year, a home performance audit is completed. EmPower will come evaluate possible air sealing measures, insulation, safety issues and more.

What many customers overlook is the fact that the utility company merely delivers the energy, along with maintaining and repairing infrastructure. Aside from that, the energy suppliers themselves compete in an open marketplace by offering a variety of services and incentives.

“There are opportunities or alternatives for seniors who are considering if they would like to switch from their traditional utility supplier,

which is very reliable and has been there all along,” said ACCES spokesperson Michael Meath. “However, utilities are not necessarily in the business to save money for people.”

Some competitive energy suppliers will guarantee savings or even a senior discount, he added.

Are you ready to switch?

But ACCES does not sugarcoat the common myth that switching to any competitive energy supplier can help save a lot of money.

So if it does not necessarily offer a lower cost, what are some incentives for switching?

An important factor is that seniors may get a fixed price to match a fixed income, according to Meath. That price might include something else along with it, such as added points toward airline miles or equipment repair programs and warranties.

This all contributes to peace of mind, he said. For some seniors, it is a blatant interest in something different.

There are numerous energy companies who steer toward environmentally friendly practices.

Other companies might support an important cause in various communities that provide an incentive for switching. Many offer peace of mind by speedy repairs if something goes wrong.

“What might be helpful is that you can get your supply and delivery

charges on the same bill,” said ACCES spokesperson Crystal Smith. “So it’s not adding an additional bill or an additional way to pay.”

Payment methods are offered online as well as traditional paper bills mailed directly to the customer.

Utilities often offer programs such as deferred payment agreements.

‘Don’t just jump at something’ “Get educated,” Meath said.

“Understand what the offers are that might be out there. And just be careful.

Don’t just jump at something. Make sure it’s something right for you.”

A few key points ACCES emphasizes for seniors considering switching their energy supplier include: • Understand how long you are signing up for • Understand what is involved in the contract • Know what the terms and conditions are • Know what is required up front • Know what is required to break the deal ACCES works with the Public Service Commission, Consumer Protection Board and Better Business Bureau in spreading the word and getting the message out to the public on various alternative energy options. These partnerships also help keep an eye out for possible scams circulating.

The coalition has been communicating with realtor organizations and policy regulators, creating mailing lists and public service announcements.

“Don’t do anything rash,” Meath said. “Get educated first. Know what you’re getting into. Know what your rights are. It’s not anything to be afraid of. Just be cautious.”

To learn more about the power of choice and available resources, visit the ACCES website (www.

CompetitiveEnergy.org). It provides customer rights and what to look for in an offer, along with common facts versus myths.

Additional information can be found at the New York State Public Service Commission. For a list of all the competitive energy suppliers in New York, go to www. newyorkpowertochoose.com.

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visits

10 Things to Do in Dutchess County Culinary Institute of America offers great meals at affordable prices.

By Sandra Scott

D

utchess County is located midway between Albany and New York City on the east side of the Hudson.

The county was named for the wife of James, the Duke of York. The river, rolling countryside, and quaint villages offer a plethora of things to see and do.

It is easily accessible by car and train.

1

Franklin Roosevelt: Learn about the man and the Roosevelt years starting with the 20-minute film, “Rendezvous with History” in the Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center. When FDR took office in 1933 unemployment was at 25 percent. Roosevelt promised the American people a “New Deal” that focused on the “Three Rs” — relief, recovery and reform. He created a plethora of “Alphabet Agencies” such as the CCC, WPA, FHA and 44

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many other entities that created jobs and made life easier for the poor.

Roosevelt said of Springwood, his beloved home, “All that is within me cries out to go back to my home on the Hudson River.”

2

Eleanor Roosevelt: Visit Val-Kill, Mrs. Roosevelt’s lovely home tucked in the woods overlooking a pond and stream. It is very modest considering she was called “First Lady of the World.” She had a tremendous impact on her husband’s presidency. She said that, “…sometimes I acted as a spur even though the spur was not always wanted.”

Watch the video about the lady who had a $25,000 bounty on her head by the Klu Klux Klan. Mrs. Roosevelt said, “…prevent human misery not avenge it.”

3

Walkway: Kudos go to whoever came up with the idea to turn an old railroad bridge over the Hudson River into a walkway. The railroad bridge was built in 1889 and was in service until 1974. Though the cooperation of public and private groups the Walkway Over the Hudson Historic Park opened in 2009 making it the longest footbridge in the world. A kiosk with storyboards near the parking lots tells the story of the Walkway and explains that the Hudson River flows two ways for 150 miles — from Manhattan to Troy — as the river changes with the tide.

4 Art: Vassar College is home to the free Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. The Cesar Pelli-designed Art Center is an interesting juxtaposition to Vassar’s Gothic buildings. While not vast in size it has a comprehensive selection of art with one room devoted

to the Hudson River School of Art. The Hudson River Schools of Artists Romanized the beauty and grandeur of nature. The museum’s works range from Greek sculptures to pottery from the Han periods to Picasso’s artwork.

And, as a special treat there is a lovely sculpture garden.

5

Wineries: Enjoy the rural splendor by traveling the Dutchess Wine Trail. One must-do stop is Millbrook Winery where the vineyard has labels indicating the kind of grapes that are being grown. On a tour learn about how the owner designed unique devices that allow more sun and air to reach the growing grapes. The former farm barn now houses the gift shop, tasting room, and wine making facility.

Many wineries have become artsy destinations. This is true of Millbrook where they frequently host jazz groups and feature Art in the Loft Exhibitions.

6

CIA: The Culinary Institute of America has an excellent international reputation and is more than a place to get a college degree.

Visitors can take a tour, dine at one of their restaurants and participate in classes for food enthusiasts that range from demonstrations to wine tastings to a variety of cooking classes. The CIA was founded in 1946 in New Haven, Conn., to provide culinary career training for World War II veterans and moved to its current location, which was the St. Andrew-on-Hudson, a former Jesuit novitiate. The CIA has 2800 students at the Hyde Park campus but they also have schools in California, Texas and Singapore.

Old Rhinebeck Aerodome

7

Gilded Age: Only a Vanderbilt family member would refer to the Vanderbilt Mansion as “Uncle Freddy’s Cottage on the Hudson.” Frederick Vanderbilt was one of the wealthiest Americans having made his money in the railroad business. Even though the mansion is elegant with imported furniture, Italian marble fireplaces,17th-century Florentine tapestries, and more, it was “modest” in comparison to some of the other Gilded Age mansions but then it was mainly a spring and fall getaway home. The American Beaux-Arts mansion is a glimpse into the days of the Gilded Age before taxes.

8

Old Rhinebeck Aerodome: The Aerodrome is a living museum with one of the largest collections for historic airplanes offering airshows with dogfights and plane rides.

The museum also features early cars and motorcycles.

When conditions are right the 1909 Bleriot, the oldest flying Val-Kill, Eleanor Roosevelt’s lovely home tucked in the woods aircraft in the United States, overlooking a pond and stream.

takes wing. Learn about Harriet Quimby, the first licensed American female pilot and other fascinating tales from the land and air.

9

Nature: Sprout Creek Farm, outside of Poughkeepsie, is the “everything” farm, run by two nuns of the Sacred Heart order who were gifted the property. The working farm is an educational center, summer camp, and a market for the cheese they make from their freerange goats and cows. Visit the Beatrix Farrand Garden, near the FDR estate, which has the ambiance of the “Secret Garden” and where visitors can take a cell phone tour. Or wander the 185-acre Innisfree Gardens near Millbrook that blends Japanese, Chinese and American garden styles.

Plus there are many nature trails to explore including The Poet’s Walk near Red Hook.

10

And more: Enjoy a narrated boat tour of the Hudson River on the “Mystere” which used to sail out of Brewerton.

Tee off at one of the several golf courses. Lift a pint in the bar at Beekman where the argument began that led to the Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr duel. Or, dine at the Terrapin Restaurant in what was once a church. Check out the unique shops and antique mall in quaint Rhinebeck. For more information check Dutchesstourism.com or call 800-4453131.

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consumers corner

By Eva Briggs

Understanding How Poison Gas Works Sarin, which was recently used in Syria, is a colorless and odorless gas that can affect the body as soon as it enters in contact with it

R

ecent current events in Syria made me wonder about what exactly is sarin and how it wreaks its damage. German chemists discovered the chemical in the 1930s as part of a quest to find more powerful pesticides. By manipulating a class of chemicals called organophosphates, German scientists developed a group of toxic compounds dubbed the G-series (for German). Sarin is the most potent and dangerous of this group.

Sarin and its relatives are called nerve agents because they disrupt the body’s nerve communication system. Nerve cells meet at junctions called synapses, narrow spaces where messages are relayed via chemicals called neurotransmitters from one nerve cell to the next. Acetylcholine is one common and vital neurotransmitter used by nerve cells throughout the body. Normally a burst of acetylcholine is released by one cell into the synapse where it quickly binds to receptors on the second cell. Almost as soon as this signal is sent, an enzyme called

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acetylcholinesterase breaks down the acetylcholine so that it can be reabsorbed by the nerve cell for later reuse.

Nerve agents block acetylcholinesterase so that the acetylcholine doesn’t break down.

Instead it keeps stimulating its target, essentially sending the nerves into overdrive, leading to a toxidrome (cluster of symptoms) typical of e x p o s u re t o o rg a n o p h o s p h a t e pesticides and nerve agents. A common mnemonic describing the effects is SLUDGE: salivation, lacrimation, urination, defecation, gastrointestinal pain, and emesis.

Symptoms begin within moments of inhaling sarin gas. Initially a victim develops a runny nose, chest tightness, and constricted pupils. Nausea, drooling, and trouble breathing follow soon afterward. As body functions are lost, the victim urinates, defecates, and begins to twitch and jerk. Finally the victim falls unconscious, begins to convulse, and suffocates from damage to the respiratory muscles combined with massive bronchial mucous production.

This entire lethal cascade can occur within moments of inhalation. Sarin on a victim’s clothing and skin continues to release vapors that can sicken others — including medical personnel — for 30 minutes after the initial exposure. And the stuff is 500 times more potent than cyanide.

A single drop can kill

an adult. Survivors often experience permanent nerve damage.

There are antidotes. Atropine is a substance that blocks some types of acetylcholine receptors, and combats some of the symptoms of sarin poisoning. But it doesn’t reverse sarin’s muscle effects. Pralidoxime helps regenerate acetylcholinesterase, the enzyme blocked by sarin. Biperidin is a synthetic chemical that blocks acetylcholine and may be an alternative to atropine because it is more potent and also is better able to reach the brain. Military nerve gas antidote kits contain an auto injector (like an epi-pen) with both atropine and pralidoxime. But most civilians don’t have access to such kits.

To be effective, an antidote has to be administered just before sarin exposure or immediately after exposure. Because sarin is colorless and odorless, by the time a victim realizes what is happening, he or she may be incapacitated too quickly to self-administer any antidote.

Sarin’s extreme lethality, its capacity to cause agonizing painful death or permanent nerve damage, and ability to indiscriminately kill civilians, led the United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention signed by 162 member countries called for the complete destruction of all specified stockpiles of chemical weapons by April 2007.

Eva Briggs is a medical doctor who works at two urgent care centers (Central Square and Fulton) operated by Oswego Health

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We’re All About Healthcare ������� George W. Bush’s Heart Problems A healthy and fit former President Bush finds himself with heart problems. What does it say for the rest of us?

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Participating in school sports offers students unique opportunities to develop lifelong fitness habits; however, sports can also expose children to environments and activities where injury is common

Page Page199

Halting Hunger

City / Town _________________ State

Page 14

Meet Your Doctor Orthopedic surgeon Naven Duggal hails from Boston. He is now with SOS

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New leader at Central New York Food Bank focused on broadening programs Page 11

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My First Triathlon

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VNA Homecare’s Dea Kuiper, described as a “trusted, tireless advocate,” is among 10 finalists from across the country who will get the title of Home Care & Hospice Nurse of the Year Page 20

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October / November 2013 - 55 PLUS

47

druger’s zoo

By Marvin Druger

Pet Stories A childhood pet’s death had a profound effect on my future interest in having a pet dog

P

ets are of great value to people. They give you something alive to care for and love and they make you feel good. Most people seem to have a pet. It may be a reptile, a fish, a bird, a cat, a dog or some strange living thing. Pets are active recipients of our caring and emotions. We can talk to our pets and tell them our secrets without fear of criticism or contradictions. We generally can control our pets and we derive satisfaction from their behaviors.

Dogs and cats are popular pets. My own experiences have been with dogs, so I can tell you my perspective that has evolved over the years.

Somehow, poverty does not

48

55 PLUS - October / November 2013

prevent people from having pets.

My family in Brooklyn was poor, but we had a cocker spaniel named Topsy. She was purebred and had a written pedigree. Naming a dog can be a difficult task. It’s comparable to naming a new baby. I recall that Topsy’s mother was Lady Resurgum Ballad and her father was ShootingBox-This-a-Way. We loved Topsy but, in older age, she became ill and needed a hysterectomy. My family had to decide whether to go through the expense of the operation, or to let her die. We decided that we had to give her a chance to live, regardless of cost. My two brothers and I rented a taxi to take Topsy to the veterinary surgeon. While the cab was en route to the doctor, Topsy died in my brother’s arms. Topsy’s death had a profound effect on my future interest in having a pet dog.

There are wonderful psychological benefits from having a pet dog. They are also a great source for regular exercise, since dogs need to be walked regularly. However, there are some drawbacks. They have to be trained not to deposit wastes in the house; they shed hair all over the house; they are expensive to maintain; their health has to be monitored; they restrict the owner’s travel, since someone has to care for them when the owner is away; in some ways they train the owner, rather than the other way around.

The greatest issue is that dogs may live only a dozen years or so, and they are likely to die during the owner’s lifetime. This is always a tragic event that is very difficult to cope with. The loss of any family pet is traumatic. One friend said to me, “If you want your children to learn about death, get them an aquarium with fish.” I even wrote

a poem about the death of my daughter’s dog, Max, for my poetry book, “Even Stranger Creatures and Other Poems,” (available through my website, marvindruger.com at $10.95 plus tax and shipping):

My Dog Max Max grew old and ill And he finally passed away, My dog was gone forever, It was a sad, sad day.

I cried myself to sleep, There was no end to sorrow, My life was full of sadness, Max would not be here tomorrow.

I wondered about life And why it has to end, Why did Max have to die When he was my best friend?

‘Cause it’s a rule of nature That all living things must die, All life lasts just a moment And then must say goodbye.

But Max had a happy life, His time on earth was good, We shared many happy moments And he lived life as best he could.

Although I’m very sad ‘Cause he’s no longer here, My love for him stays strong And Max will never disappear.

After these experiences with dog mortality, I decided that I would never own a dog again.

Instead, I adopted my daughter’s new dog and the dog that lives in my neighbor’s house, and I have several other “granddogs.”

Years ago, my neighbor in

Syracuse owned a German shepherd, named Leonard. This dog was ferocious and it would bark and growl at me at every opportunity.

It reminded me of another episode with a German shepherd. I was filming an interview program for my TV show, “Druger’s Working World.” This was a series of halfhour programs on Newchannels Cable TV in Syracuse. The programs were designed to introduce young people to possible careers in different fields. One program involved interviewing people in the law profession. One interview was with an officer who worked in the canine division. He wrapped a pad around my right arm and then told me to run away. At the officer’s command, Shamos, the police German shepherd, charged after me. Shamos grabbed my padded arm and held on. I was terrified and yelled all sorts of vile words to get Shamos to let go of my arm. It didn’t work. The police officer later told me that the dog will only respond to his command.

Now they tell me! I still remember the pressure exerted on my arm when Shamos clamped onto it.

My new neighbor in Syracuse has a dog named Gracie. She is a mixed breed of some sort. When Gracie first saw me, she growled and barked and made an attempt to attack me. The owner held her back on a leash. The next day, I bought a dog toy and gave it to Gracie.

This time, she looked at me and the toy suspiciously, grabbed the toy, and ran off with it. From then on, I was greeted by Gracie as the toy man bearing gifts. Now, she shows friendly, eager anticipation whenever she sees me, and Gracie is my friend and is one of my adopted dogs.

My daughter, Lauren, lives in Maryland. She owns a golden retriever named Bailey. This dog has always been my friend from the very beginning, and is my favorite adopted dog. Whenever my daughter visits us in Syracuse, Bailey goes wild with affection for me. She jumps on me, licks me and hangs around me. I give her dog toys and treats, occasionally walk her outside, and pet her lovingly.

Receiving her enthusiastic affection makes me feel good. Dogs offer

wholehearted loving behavior to their owners and friends, and this is one of the most positive features of having a dog. It’s great to know that something behaves as if it loves you.

My son, Robert, who operates Druger Eye Care in Camillus, has several dogs that I can also turn to when the need for dog affection hits me. Molly and Libby are two Cavalier King Charles dogs. Annie and Sully are two collies. I should mention that Robert and his wife, Suzanne, have a farm in Manlius.

They have four dogs, five barn cats, one house cat, two rabbits, 10 geese, 10 chickens, two horses, three bee hives, and three children.

My adopted dogs give me satisfaction, and I don’t have to deal with any of the drawbacks of owning a dog. However, I do have some pets of my own at home. About 30 years ago, I planted two Saguaro cactus seeds in separate pots. I didn’t have to train them, or walk them, or worry about them. I simply give them a bit of water once a week and they both are now about 10 inches tall and two inches in diameter. Saguaro cactus are desert plants in the southwestern U.S. They generally live more than 150 years, so my cactus plants will be mourning over me. The cactus plants are not warm, fuzzy pets, but their sharp spines give them character.

I have another pet that requires no care, i.e., a stuffed monkey, named Bobo. This monkey is about 20 inches tall and has a waistline of about 20 inches. Bobo has been a member of my family for about 36 years.

A few years ago, my wife bought me another pet. It’s a wooden dalmation, named Spot. This wooden dog is about 20 inches tall and two inches wide. It sits by the fireplace and requires no care whatsoever.

It’s not easy to fall in love with my current pets, but they require no care, and they don’t die. My active pet needs can be accommodated by Gracie and Bailey.

Everyone is different and has unique relationships with their pets. Every pet, even an inanimate one, has its own personality. I can hug Bobo and tell it my innermost secrets. Bobo always responds with its unchanging bright, button eyes and face. So, enjoy your pet, no matter what it is.

Does Being a Bookworm Boost Your Brainpower in Old Age?

N

ew research suggests that reading books, writing and participating in brainstimulating activities at any age may preserve memory. The study was published in the July 3 online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of N e u r o l o g y.

“Our study suggests that exercising your brain by taking part in activities such as these across a person’s lifetime, from childhood t h r o u g h old age, is important for brain health in old age,” said study author Robert S. Wilson, with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

The research found that people who participated in mentally stimulating activities both early and late in life had a slower rate of decline in memory compared to those who did not participate in such activities across their lifetime, after adjusting for differing levels of plaques and tangles in the brain. Mental activity accounted for nearly 15 percent of the difference in decline beyond what is explained by plaques and tangles in the brain.

“Based on this, we shouldn’t underestimate the effects of everyday activities, such as reading and writing, on our children, ourselves and our parents or grandparents,” said Wilson.

October / November 2013 - 55 PLUS

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last

page

By Lou Sorendo

Therese Schoeneck Founder and executive director of Hope for Bereaved to be honored Q. This year marks the 20th annual Celebration of Hope dinner on Nov. 1 in the OnCenter Grand Ballroom, Syracuse. In what ways is it a celebration?

A. We celebrate the lives of our loved ones and that we have them in our lives. We are also celebrating 35 years that Hope has been helping grieving children and adults in our community and beyond. It’s also a celebration that grief has softened for thousands of bereaved and they can appreciate life and the people in their lives.

Q. What is the theme of this year’s celebration?

A. The theme revolves around a painting by Carol Peltier. She was a board member who had pancreatic cancer and died. It is on our magnets, individual corporate sponsorship packets, invitations and program booklets. It shows an open cocoon and there’s a rainbow and butterfly, which are the symbols of hope. The cocoon shows the struggle of grief.

Q. You are going to be honored for many years of dedication. What are your thoughts on that?

A. That is very sweet. I’m more excited that Hope for Bereaved has been here for 35 years. Now, we are looking forward to securing the future of Hope for the next 35 years. We have our building at 4500 Onondaga Blvd., Syracuse, that we bought in 1991 for $310,000. It is now down to $33,000.

I would love to pay off the building.

Then I would know Hope has a home for the rest of its life.

Q. What is Hope for Bereaved all about?

A. At Hope for Bereaved, we try to 50

55 PLUS - October / November 2013

do a lot of listening, validate feelings and then provide realistic hope and maybe suggestions for coping if they need them. We want people to know we are here in case they need us. We have 12 different support groups. The suicide support group meets twice a month, while the others meet once a month. Support groups are free, as are counseling and a monthly newsletter.

Q. Can you characterize the demand for services your organization provides?

A. Demand is high particularly in the suicide support group. They are so devastated. People don’t know how to help them, and they don’t know how to help themselves. I think they are very grateful we are here. The same thing is true with widows and bereaved parents. They come in such pain. Those who participate in support groups know the facilitators’ stories.

They know we are bereaved or our child has died by suicide. We don’t have that pain on our face anymore.

We made peace and it has softened.

What we say is, “You are never the same, but you can be a good new you.”

Sometimes friends and family want you back like you were, but you can’t be. But you can still be a good new you. What we try to do is walk with people. It’s a journey and it’s not one that you want. It’s painful physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. We’ve been there, and they can tell by our faces that we are in a better place.

Q. What is the most gratifying aspect of being founder and executive director of Hope for Bereaved?

A. We had this one lady whose son died by suicide who said our newsletter gave her the courage to put her feet on the floor, get out of bed

and go to work. People at work would say to her, “I don’t know how you do it.” People will say it was our book, counseling, newsletter or support group that saved their lives. That is a big statement. In some cases, there just are not other people to turn to. We are in the business of saving lives or at least getting them to a better place. It’s very rewarding.

Q. What inspired you to found the organization?

A. Our 21-year-old daughter was with a friend and he drove across the yellow line and went down an embankment and hit a telephone pole and Mary died instantly. As a parent, you don’t expect to outlive your children. I would have gone anywhere in the state, but there wasn’t anything in 1978. Our first meeting was Dec. 4, 1978. Mary died on Aug. 21, 1977. I spent a whole year collecting names from the newspapers of bereaved parents. I worked at Family Life Education, and went to the director to ask for a program for bereaved parents on how to cope with the holidays.

That’s how Hope was born.

For more information about Hope for Bereaved, call 315-475-9675.

New Medicare plans for 2014!

The Benefits You Care About...

Are Right Here.

For 2014, here are highlights of our in-network(2) benefits compared to Original Medicare.

Monthly Plan Premium (1) Flex Benefit Part B Deductible PCP Copay Specialist Copay Outpatient Surgery in a Hospital Outpatient Surgery in an Ambulatory Surgical Center Lab Tests X-�ays Preventive Services MRIs, CT Scans, PET Scans Inpatient Copay Part D Prescription Drug Coverage Preventive Dental

$104.90

Fidelis Medicare Advantage without Rx (HMO-POS) $0

Fidelis Medicare Advantage Flex (HMO-POS) $37.20

None $147 20% 20% 20%

None None $10 $20 $285

$500 per year None $0 $0 $285

$100 per year None $15 $25 $285

20%

$285

$285

$285

0% - 20% 20% $0 20%

0%-20% $10 $0 20%

0% $10 $0 20%

0%-20% $10 $0 20%

$1,184 No

$285 per day for days 1-5, per admission No

$285 per day for days 1-5, per admission Yes, with $0 deductible

None

None

$285 per day for days 1-5, per admission Yes, with $0 deductible for preferred and non-preferred generics Yes

Original Medicare(3)

Benefit

*Fidelis Medicare $0 Premium (HMO) $0

Yes

Call 1-800-860-8707 (TTY: 1-800-558-1125)

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The benefit information provided is a brief summary, not a complete description of benefits. For more information contact the plan. Limitations, copayments, and restrictions may apply. Benefits, formulary, pharmacy network, premium and/or copayments/coinsurance may change on January 1 of each year. 1You must continue to pay your Medicare Part B premium. 2Out-of-network services may require more out-of-pocket expense than in-network services. Benefit restrictions apply. 3These are 2013 amounts and may change for 2014.

Fidelis Care is a health plan with a Medicare contract H3328 FC 13097 CMS Accepted

Be Young! Youth is not a period of life, but an attitude of mind.

Learn something new! Challenge your mind and continue your personal growth.

Improve your Health with physical activity and informed decisions.

Meet people with similar interests. Make new friends.

Make a difference in your community. Volunteer your time.

Get going! Travel with OASIS friends to interesting places.

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