May/June 2014 60 PLUS In Omaha by Omaha Magazine

LETTER from editor

EADING THE STORY ABOUT the regal Blackstone

Hotel that begins on the following page was a real trip down memory lane for me.

Many Omahans my age have fond recollections of the fedora-topped, white-gloved world of the Blackstone, but I have reason to be doubly nostalgic in reading writer Judy Horan’s great story because I have a special connection to the historic place. The summer between my junior and senior year of high school back in…no, no, no…you didn’t think I was actually going to “go there,” did you? Suffice it to say that it was in an earlier millennia that I took my first job other than babysitting. And what a job it was! I was an elevator operator back in the day when there were… well, elevator operators. Especially because I was on the 4 to midnight shift, I often had the pleasure of ferrying people to the land of Nod that awaited in their majestic suites. And there was no shortage of notables among my passengers. There were countless celebrities, statesmen, and icons of the entertainment world. I overheard the most fascinating conversations and imagined myself as being part of them, rubbing elbows with all the swells in the swankiest hotel in town. My role in those chats involved nothing more than the opportunity to contribute such riveting tidbits as “Fifth Floor” and “Watch your step, please,” but it was just all so very…glamorous. I distinctly remember the time that one of my riders was the dashingly handsome screen idol…uh…oh my! You know the one. He was in that one movie co-starring that woman— the one my mother didn’t like—who later married and then divorced that fellow who…bingo! I knew you’d remember! Thanks for helping me out!

CONTENTS

volume 2 . issue 3

History: Crystal and Corned Beef, History of the Blackstone Hotel___ S4 Active Living: Skating and Aging with Grace, Mike Barwig_______ S6 Feature: Going Platinum, Norman and Vernita Kruse______ S8 Cover Story: Elaine Jabenis, Fashionably Late___________ S12 Health: Vision Quest_____________S14 The Grandpa Chronicles: Pumpkinpalooza in May?_______S16 Style: Investing in You__________ S18

And thanks for reading our magazine!

Gwen Gwen Lemke Contributing Editor, 60PLUS In Omaha

Comments? Send your letter to the editor to: david@omahamagazine.com All versions of Omaha Magazine are published bimonthly by Omaha Magazine, LTD, P.O. Box 461208, Omaha NE 68046-1208. Telephone: (402) 884-2000; fax (402) 884-2001. Subscription rates: $19.95 for 6 issues (one year), $24.95 for 12 issues (two years). No whole or part of the contents herein may be reproduced without prior written permission of Omaha Magazine, excepting individually copyrighted articles and photographs. Unsolicited manuscripts are accepted, however no responsibility will be assumed for such solicitations. Best of Omaha®™ is a registered tradename of Omaha Magazine.

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60PLUS feature Story by Judy Horan • Photo courtesy of the KMTV 3 / Bostwick-Frohardt Collection at the Durham Museum

Crystal and Corned Beef

The Blackstone Hotel is the birthplace of the Reuben, and don’t let anyone suggest otherwise.

IGH-STAKES MEETINGS AND STYLISH parties were held on the

hotel’s top floor ballroom. Lush rooftop gardens looked out over bustling Midtown Omaha. The elegant Blackstone Hotel towered over Midtown, even casting its name onto the surrounding neighborhood. It was a short stroll from where I worked at WOWT to the hotel’s front door. The Blackstone was a second home to those of us who wanted to grab an after-work drink at the Cottonwood Room—a fun hangout with a whimsical décor and air. How could it not be an enjoyable place? In the center of the bar stood an elaborate replica of a cottonwood tree densely festooned in leaves. Upstairs, the hotel’s Orleans Room was reserved for special-occasion dining. Presiding as maître d’ hôtel was a tall, distinguishedlooking black man who was always seen wearing a tuxedo. Called by diners the “Governor,” he looked like an ambassador and was just as charming. S4 60PLUS

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If you had dined at the Orleans Room before, the Governor remembered your name, your preferred drink and where you wanted to be seated. Meals were always prepared tableside. It was the type of personal service rarely seen anymore. The room attracted visiting celebrities over the years. A hallway was lined with photos of stars who had dined at the Orleans Room. Mark Schimmel remembers spending time in the coffee shop with comedian Jack Benny. The self-described “miser” would allow Mark to pay for his coffee. Mark’s father, Edward Schimmel, was the hotel’s general manager for many years. Now living in Wentzville, Mo., Mark was the manager when the family-owned hotel was sold to Radisson in 1968. He stayed on. A busy Golden Spur coffee shop in the hotel was good for a quick lunch. Each of the seven walls displayed a different decor, according to Mark, with whom I recently traded fond memories of the Blackstone days.

“It was like going into a museum.” he said, Spurs hanging from one wall explained the room’s name. In earlier days, the room was called the Plush Horse. The Golden Spur is where I tasted my first Reuben sandwich. For countless Omahans and Blackstone guests, this was also the first place they tasted the famed Reuben. But, was it the first place? The big question for posterity: Was I eating a Reuben from the actual birthplace of the now-iconic sandwich? While the Blackstone is most often mentioned as the home of the Reuben, others outside Omaha have tried to stake claim. Debate no more. The case is closed. The Reuben was invented at the Blackstone. Mary Bernstein—the granddaughter of Blackstone owner Charles Schimmel—got the story firsthand. “Here’s the scoop,” she says. “My father, Bernard Schimmel, had just returned from school in Switzerland where he trained to be a chef. His father, Charles, held a weekly

poker game at the Blackstone Sunday nights. He said to my dad, ‘Reuben wants you to make some sandwiches with corned beef and sauerkraut.’ “And my dad put together this concoction of corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, Thousand Island dressing and dark rye bread and grilled them, then took them to the poker players. After it later received such wide acclaim, they decided to put it on the menu at the Schimmel hotels and call it the Reuben sandwich, because Reuben Kulakofsky had requested it.” The exact date is lost in family history. But it would have to be after Bernard returned in 1928 from Switzerland. The first menu the family has uncovered that lists the Reuben sandwich was from the Cornhusker Hotel in Lincoln in 1934, according to Judy Weil of San Francisco, the family historian. Because the Reuben sandwich apparently Sharon Olson (left) and Beth Richards first appeared a menu at the Cornhusker, areon “The Minne Lusa Ladies.” it is sometime mistakenly assumed that the

sandwich was created there. Charles Schimmel added the Blackstone to his stable of hotels in 1920. The building became an Omaha Landmark in 1983 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. He trained his four sons in the hotel business. They along with other family members each ran one of the seven Schimmel hotels. In Omaha, the hotels were the Blackstone and Indian Hills Inn. In Lincoln, Schimmel owned the Cornhusker. The Schimmel family’s sandwich story has been repeated throughout the nation. Bernard’s granddaughter Elizabeth Weil wrote about her family’s appetizing creation in the New York Times. Bernstein still advocates for the Reuben sandwich, but admits she no longer eats the corned beef and sauerkraut concoction. She’s now a vegetarian.

The Original Reuben Sandwich 2 slices dark rye bread 2 thin slices Switzerland Ementhaler cheese 4 (or more) slices Kosher-style corned beef brisket 2 ounces sauerkraut, chilled and well-drained 1 ounce (or less) Thousand Island dressing Butter, softened Mix Thousand Island dressing with sauerkraut that has been drained. Spread outside of each slice of dark rye bread with soft butter. Lay bread, unbuttered side up, side-by-side. Place Swiss cheese on each piece, corned beef on one piece, sauerkraut on corned beef and then put together for grilling on sandwich grill or skillet. Press together with spatula and cook until brown and hot through so cheese oozes.

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60PLUS feature Story by Doug Meigs • Photogrpahy by Bill Sitzmann

Skating & Aging With Grace.

Older figure skaters leap over preconceptions of their sport. S6 60PLUS

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IKE BARWIG IS AN early

morning warrior, an ice dancer. It’s 6:30 a.m. and the 63-yearold man glides across the skating rink at Motto McLean Arena. Twig-like pre-teens and tiny high school queens flitter about like fairies in The Nutcracker on Ice. Barwig sets his toe pick with a crunch. He curls elbows into his torso for a pivot. He becomes a twirling father figure, a mass of mature manliness. As he spins, Barwig gradually relaxes his shoulders, opening his arms as if a flower in bloom. His final pose evokes a sapling tree in springtime.

At first glance, Barwig really doesn’t resemble the typical figure skater. He has broad muscular shoulders, a stocky neck and body composition that would seem more appropriate for a football coach. Actually, he was a football player. But that was a lifetime ago. “I had married a figure skater,” Barwig says. “I met her while taking skating classes in high school.” High school football teammates teased him about his brief intro lessons. Never mind. He went on to walk-on as a lineman for Northwestern University’s football team. One marriage and four children later, he rediscovered skating. “After I got divorced, I wanted something to do,” he says. “I always liked ice skating and I thought I should start up again.” There was a group in Lincoln he would join once a week. But he was based in Hastings at the time, working in the ethanol and biofuels industry. Eventually, he moved to Omaha with his career. The relocation allowed convenient access to rinks. He could then pursue skating more intensely. Early morning skating sessions fit perfectly with his work schedule. He now skates four days per week, upping the routine to six days while training for competitions. He does ice dancing and free-skating. He has gone to eight adult national competitions. Once, Barwig placed as high as third place at nationals with his dancing partner. “Competitions are broken down by age group (by 10-year increments),” he says, “so now I’m in the upper group, which we call ‘61-to-death.’” The phrasing sounds harsh, but it goes to show Barwig’s self-deprecating humor. Figure skating coach Brenda Bader has been working with Barwig for a decade. She says Barwig represents a growing demographic for the sport. “I actually coach three people who are in their 60s right now, several in their 50s and down the line,” she says. One 66-year-old female skater has even undergone hip and knee replacement surgeries. Yet that woman still makes regular trips from Lincoln to practice with Bader.

“The adult skating community is really growing,” she says. “We are finding a lot more skaters in the 50 and 60-age range because their kids are grown and they finally have time for themselves. They have established careers and can afford to do something for themselves.” Among Omaha’s community of older adult skaters, Bader says the demographic is evenly divided between those who skated as kids and those who are newcomers. Paula Turpin is in her late 50s. She represents the later group. While Barwig was practicing his loop jump—a leaping maneuver where he twirls in air and lands on the same foot—Turpin was perfecting her own moves. “One of my daughters skated. That’s how I made time for myself. I had to bring her; so instead of just sitting here, I thought, ‘my gosh, I can skate with this time,’” Turpin says. Her epiphany came 15 years ago. She’s been skating since. “My daughter gave me the gift of time and place.” Turpin, Barwig and other adult skaters allow time for extra warm-ups to avoid injury. Barwig even uses an elliptical machine for 15 to 20 minutes to minimize his arthritis before morning practices. Turpin has suffered hamstring injuries, but nothing serious. “If you really like skating, there’s no need to quit,” she says, before leaving the rink to start her administrative job at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. They are part of a close-knit group of eight adult Nebraska skaters who travel to nationals almost every year from Nebraska’s three figure skating clubs. Barwig has endured bumps and bruises from skating. But he insists that spending a few days away from the rink is more painful. For him, figure skating isn’t only exercise. “There’s a certain freedom to it. You feel like you’re flying, when you get going fast enough. It’s not just physical. It’s also very mental,” he says. “There’s a challenge to always get better, not staying happy with the status quo. To me, that’s part of not getting old. It gets me out of bed in the morning.” may/june • 2014

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60PLUS feature Story by Kristen Hoffman • Photogrpahy by Bill Sitzmann

Going Platinum

With their recent 70th Anniversary, Norman and Vernita Kruse have joined a very exclusive club. S8 60PLUS

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HE SMELL OF FRESHLY baked rye

bread and German chocolate cake swirled in the air. The warmth enveloping the home of Norman and Vernita Kruse was enough to make anyone forget the cold, rainy day outside. Arm-in-arm, these two sat down, excited to share about their recent 70th wedding anniversary. Norman reached for a photograph in a brown frame and displayed it on the table. “That was when we met in 1942,” he says. “We were about 19 and 20 there. That was 70 years ago. If you don’t recognize me, it’s because I’m older now.” Vernita chuckles. Norman’s dry humor still tickles after 70 years of marriage. It may be rare to find the same sense of humor so enjoyable after nearly three-quarters of a century. What is even more rare, though, is the Kruses’ platinum wedding anniversary. Indeed, studies suggest that only one in 10,000 couples make it that far together. The photo Norman held revealed a brunette girl in a turtleneck sweater sitting on the lap of a young farmer. The couple posed in front of their brick high school. Norman continues: “I don’t know where I had been that evening, but I stopped into the drug store because she was working there. She made me the best malted milk—and I never forgot her. Ever since that day, we have always been together. It’s a pretty simple story. “The soda fountain at the drug store was the place where all the young people hung

out,” Vernita explains. “It was wartime and our brothers were fighting in the South Pacific. There was gas rationing and sugar rationing, and we had to be careful about how much we drove.” Apparently the gas and sugar rationing wasn’t enough to keep Norman from driving to the soda fountain to spend time with Vernita. The two were married soon afterwards, and lived in a small home without water, electricity, or even an indoor bathroom. “The reason we don’t like camping anymore is because we spent the first year of our life together in what was practically a tent,” Vernita says, laughing. The couple reminisced about their favorite years together. On warm Saturday nights they would dance the night away to Lawrence Welk at Peony Park’s Royal Grove in “West Omaha.” Norman and Vernita acknowledge their marriage hasn’t been without trials, but agreed that they got through them with a lot of faith, love, and some good friends with whom they have played cards for the past 60 years. The couple shared about their individual passions in life. Norman has designed floor plans for two of their homes and enjoys going to car shows. Vernita spends her free time sewing quilts for hospitals, for the homeless, and for those in shelters for battered women. Vernita says that in the past year she has made 280 quilts to give away. “That would cover two acres of ground!” Norman shares with pride. When asked what kept their marriage alive, their answers were classic. “It is important to keep your faith,” Vernita shares, “and to enjoy each other’s family. You’ve got to try in marriage—and a date night a week is just lovely.” “I always let her have her way.” Norman adds with a chuckle. “But in all honesty, our church was a big thing that kept us together, and we enjoy the simple things in life.”

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Elaine Jabenis Fashionably Late

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60PLUS cover Story by Josie Bungert • Photography by Bill Sitzmann

MAHA NATIVE AND ICON

Elaine Jabenis has had a full life and career, from working a stint at the New York Times to being on both radio and television in Omaha. Now, at 93, she’s adding a new job title to her long resume— author of fiction. Before her first fiction book entitled Georgia’s Secret was released in late February, Jabenis had done other writing, starting with writing for the Omaha World-Herald while on Central High School’s newspaper. When she got married, her husband’s job with the Air Transport Command moved the two to New York City. One day in the pouring rain, she walked into the New York Times Building for shelter, and got her first real shot. “I thought, ya know, I got nothing to do, I think I’ll go up there and just make out an application just for the heck of it.” After getting hired for a temporary secretarial position and working in a few other departments throughout the publication, Jabenis and her husband returned to Omaha. It was here where she worked in theater, radio, television, and, most importantly to the book, fashion. “As I progressed in my position at Brandeis, I became the fashion merchandising director for all of the stores,” Jabenis says. “I began to realize they were bringing a lot of people in for training for this kind of thing, [but] the schools have had no textbooks. They had a lot of textbooks about merchandising, but not this particular area.” Jabenis contacted one of her friends in New York, who was editor of Seventeen Magazine at the time, about writing a textbook of this nature. Jabenis was then put in contact with the editor at John Wiley & Sons publications. “I sold it to them on the basis of an outline and chapter breakdown, but I hadn’t written one word of the book and they signed me,” Jabenis says. “And they signed me on my credentials only.” The textbook, which the Fashion Institute of Technology bought 300 copies of right away, was used for 10 years, was adapted to fit both women and men in the industry, and was even translated into Japanese. Jabenis left Brandeis after a 23-year career,

and went into business of being her own producer, which gave her control of her time and work. The process of moving from television and textbooks to fiction started 10 years ago. “It was going very well for awhile, but then I began to lose my sight, and I had four eye operations … four cornea transplants,” Jabenis says. “And every time I had one, I had to stop writing because I didn’t have any vision and I didn’t think there was any way of doing it otherwise so it took me years to get this book out.” The book is a story about a 22-year-old who works in a department store . She is burdened with an unbearable secret that puts her in a situation to be blackmailed. “[She is] very successful, but all the time, this secret is keeping her imprisoned. She’s not just trying to assume any place in the sun for herself, but she does try to help others,” Jabenis says. “It’s a romance suspense novel.” Though much of the background knowledge included in the story stems from Jabenis’ time working in fashion, she says none of the people or places are based on true events. “Writing a book, I was able to make a composite of characters that you meet throughout your life or you envision or that you have witnessed or that you just make up and of course that’s what the fun is, the making up these people that never existed except in your mind, and they become so real to you, and once I got going on it the characters really take over,” Jabenis says. Even though her first book just hit the shelves, she already has plans for a second and third book, both of which cover other industries she has worked with in her life. “I read the concept to someone, to my daughter first, and she said: ‘Oh mom you’ve just got to write this, you gotta promise me you’ll write this.’” “I thought, ‘Gee, this is great. It gives me something to look forward to,’” she says. “I’m just so glad I had this urge to do this, and all I really want out of it is to have people open it and read it and say I enjoyed this, I had a good time reading it, and it was informative and I had fun with it or it made me feel, whatever.” may/june • 2014

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60PLUS health Story by Robert Nelson •

Photography by Bill Sitzmann

Vision Quest

WO YEARS AGO, WILLIAM Siert’s

vision had degenerated so much he was forced to surrender his driver’s license. Within a year, macular degeneration in his eyes had made it impossible for him to read. “Life was pretty dark,” the 91-yearold Omaha resident says. “You can’t get around, you can’t enjoy a book. Your world becomes very small.” As his eyes faded, though, technology swiftly brightened prospects for Siert and others with impaired vision. The same technology that has made smart phones capable of ¬—well, seemingly everything—has also given birth to revolutionary advances in aids for the visually impaired. Siert says he was directed by friends to Pat Fischer, who, since 1997, has specialized in providing devices for the region’s blind and visually impaired. Fischer’s company, Nebraska Low Vision, focuses primarily on providing magnifiers for those who, in many cases, thought they’d never be able to read again.

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“It took a number of significant technological advances coming together to take the devices to a whole different level,” Fischer says. “It’s a very exciting time. Technology is very quickly changing the prospects for the visually impaired.” Many of the technologies at the heart of low-vision devices are likely already part of your life. High-definition screens and high-resolution images greatly enhance the readability of magnified type. The quality of the image from tiny video cameras has increased profoundly in the last couple years. The processing power needed to handle realtime video streaming now, for the most part, can fit in a hand-held device the size of a large smart phone. Devices fall into two main categories. Desktop magnifiers, which are more powerful machines with larger monitors, are generally for home use. Hand-held devices, like the Ruby XL HD, are helpful for trips outside the house. Siert says the hand-held device he owns is particularly helpful in places like restaurants.

“You’re in low light looking at fine print,” he says. The device that has changed Siert’s life, though, is the larger-screened, high-definition magnifier he bought for home use. “I never cared much about reading earlier in life, but started absolutely loving it in later years,” he says. “To lose that was awful. To get it back—it just makes you grateful for all these advances in technology.” Siert’s machine isn’t cheap. At $3,000, he says, “you do have to weigh the benefits.” The desktop devices are capable of changing the colors of text and background, Fischer says, a feature that can, for some, “help greatly in making the text stand out for the background.” “In my case, I was buying a piece of my freedom back,” Siert says of his home magnifier. “I want to read. It’s a huge part of my life. Now I can read again.”.

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60PLUS the grandpa chronicles Story by David WIlliams

Pumpkinpalooza in May?

IME TO START PLANNING for

Halloween. No, really. I mean it. Pumpkin seeds in these climes should be in the ground by late May, which means that it is now decision time on the subject of “to pumpkin” or “not to pumpkin.” My wife, Julie, and I had never planted pumpkins until just last year. The idea was that our preschool grandsons, Easton and Barrett, would help with the planting and nurturing of their favorite orbs. It would all culminate in a pumpkin decorating party of epic proportions. But I was more than a little reluctant. My hesitation was related to the fact that pumpkins are, as you know, a vining plant. The widest bed in our back yard is only about eight feet across. That’s not a lot of breathing room. Taking the pumpkin plunge, I knew right from the start, had the potential to get a little hairy. I had no idea. Long before harvest time our backyard already looked like a scene from The Day of the Triffids, the classic British sci-fi flick where post-apocalyptic, man-eating vegetable matter threatened to devour the planet.

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Mowing became almost impossible because octopus-like tendrils reached into every nook and cranny of the yard. Vine vagabonds even went calling on the neighbors when they found their way through knotholes and other imperfections in our fence. But that wasn’t the least of my worries. Almost overnight our precious—if not precocious—crop became covered in a white fungus that I soon came to know as something called powdery mildew. The interwebs told me that the only solution was to amputate with gusto. Any and all hint of the offending disease had to be removed. Rapunzel’s tresses needed a serious trim. A post-op appraisal of my surgical handiwork revealed that only two softballsized pumpkins remained, and now it was our duty to baby those things along so that each grandson would have their own personal share of the bounty. The grandkids have a season pass to Vala’s Pumpkin Patch and go totally gaga exploring every square inch of that sprawling wonderland. It’s not like they are in danger of suffering from any kind of pumpkin deficit

disorder. The problems of two little pumpkins don’t amount to a hill of beans in Easton and Barrett’s gourd-crazed world, so why couldn’t that powdery mildew have gone two vines more and just put me out of my misery? It was then that Julie reminded me of The Plan. The plantings were nothing but a vehicle to set up a pumpkin decorating party. None of those store-bought pretenders in our home. It was to be the most Rockwellian of scenes— the four of us laboring to schlep gargantuan, potentially record-breaking behemoths into the house as an array of googly-eyed craft supplies stood at the ready. We were to create the most breathtaking… Check that. Instead, we ended up with a pair of rather anemic, lopsided nuggets no larger than an average cantaloupe. But Julie was right. Our little pumpkindecorating party was a blast and the results were perfect, in a Charlie Brown Christmas tree kind of way. The simple had triumphed over the sophisticated. And that is why, despite all reason, we are dedicated once again to executing The Plan. Pumpkinpalooza awaits.