55 Plus of Rochester, #10: July – August 2011 by 55 Plus: For Active Adults in Rochester

The Dorrs: Traveling the World Taking Photos ✓ Jim Terwilliger: How to Achieve Financial Wellness

55 PLUS Issue 10 July / August 2011

For Active Adults in the Rochester Area

Keeping Score with

Boomers Training to Be Triathlon Athletes

CRAIG HARMON Legendary golfer is celebrating 40 years with Oak Hill Country Club.

INSIDE: WEIGHT-LIFTING CHAMP WILLIE MURPHY, 74 July / AugustMary 2011 - 55 PLUS SPECIAL How to Create the Perfect Bloody

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55 PLUS - July / August 2011

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55 PLUS - July / August 2011

Seven States Now Have Median Age Over 40

h e U . S . C e n s u s B u re a u released in May a 2010 Census brief on the nation’s changing age and sex composition that shows the nation grew older while the male population grew faster than the female population over the last decade. According to “Age and Sex Composition: 2010,” the median age of Americans is now 37.2, with seven states recording a median age of 40 or older. New York is not among those states — the median age here is 38. The brief also shows the male population grew 9.9 percent between 2000 and 2010, while the female population grew 9.5 percent. Of the total 2010 Census population, 157.0 million people were female (50.8 percent) and 151.8 million were male (49.2 percent).

Selected Age Categories Between 2000 and 2010, the population 45 to 64 years old grew 31.5 percent to 81.5 million. This age group now makes up 26.4 percent of the total U.S. population. The large growth among 45- to 64-year-olds is primarily because of the aging of the baby boom population. The 65-andolder population also grew faster than most younger population groups at a rate of 15.1 percent to 40.3 million people, or 13.0 percent of the total population. For those under 18 and between the ages of 18 and 44, growth rates were much slower. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of people under 18 grew 2.6 percent to 74.2 million people, comprising 24.0 percent of the total population.

Median Age In 2010, the median age increased to 37.2 from 35.3 in 2000, with the proportion of older Americans increasing. The 1.9-year increase between 2000 and 2010 was a more modest increase than the 2.4-year increase in median age that occurred between 1990 and 2000. The aging of the baby boom population, along with stabilizing birth rates and longer life

expectancy, have contributed to the increase in median age.

Geographic Distribution In the 2010 Census, seven states had a median age of 40 or older: Maine (42.7), Vermont (41.5), West Virginia (41.3), New Hampshire (41.1), Florida (40.7), Pennsylvania (40.1) and Connecticut (40.0). In both 1990 and 2000, West Virginia and Florida had the highest median age of all states. Maine overtook West Virginia and Florida as the state with the highest median age in 2010, while Utah remained the state with the lowest median age. States with the lowest median age (excluding the District of Columbia) remained the same as they were in 2000: Utah (29.2), Texas (33.6), Alaska (33.8) and Idaho (34.6). Utah had the highest percentage of population under age 18 (31.5 percent) and remained the only state with a median age under 30. All states experienced an increase in median age when compared with 2000 - a further indication of population aging. However, the District of Columbia experienced a decrease in median age, declining from 34.6 to 33.8. In the District of Columbia, almost half (48.6 percent) of the 2010 Census population was between the ages of 18 and 44. Regionally, the Northeast recorded the oldest median age at 39.2, followed by the Midwest at 37.7, the South at 37.0 and the West at 35.6. In the West, 24.9 percent of people were under the age of 18 and 37.8 percent of people were between the ages of 18 and 44. The Northeast recorded the largest percentages of people in the age groups 45 to 64, and 65 and over (27.7 percent and 14.1 percent, respectively). All four regions of the United States had a sex ratio of less than 100 in 2010, indicating more females than males nationwide. The Northeast had the lowest sex ratio (94.5 males per 100 females), followed by the South (96.1), the Midwest (96.8) and the West (99.3).

55 PLUS

July / August 2011

8 HealthWatch 6 Financial Health 7 Golden Years 11 Long-Term Care 12 My Turn 35 Hearing 39 Last Page 42

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14 8 ADVENTURE

• Brighton couple has traveled the world, cameras in hand, snapping photos of exotic things

14 FITNESS

• How some baby boomers stay ﬁt

18 LIFESTYLE

• Training to be triathlon athletes

26 COVER STORY

• Golfer Craig Harmon is celebrating 40 years this year as the head of the golf program at Oak Hill Country Club. He talks about his legacy

CONTENTS

SUBSCRIBE roc55.com Find Us Online at

32 TECHNOLOGY

• TechAge Adult Computer Learning Center offers free classes about computer use. It may be Rochester’s best kept secret

37 HOBBIES

• Retired science teacher has brought the majesty of New York’s raptors to children and adults for about 30 years

40 VISITS

• Central Park is the green jewel of the Big Apple and one of the world’s most visited parks receiving 35 million visitors a year July / August 2011 - 55 PLUS

HEALTH WATCH Doctors Prescribing Meditation, Yoga More Often

ind-body therapies such as yoga, meditation and deep-breathing exercises appear to be gaining more acceptance in mainstream medicine, according to a new study. Mind-body therapy is used by more than one-third of Americans, and that number is rising, the researchers noted. They found that one in 30 Americans using some type of mindbody therapy was referred to the treatment by a medical provider. “There’s good evidence to support using mind-body therapies clinically,” the study’s lead author, Aditi Nerurkar, an integrative medicine fellow at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said in a news release from Beth Israel. “Still, we didn’t expect to see provider referral rates that were quite so high.” Nerurkar and her colleagues analyzed data from more than 23,000 households that took part

in the 2007 U.S. National Health Interview Survey. Nearly 3 percent of the people in those households, or about 6.3 million people, used mind-body therapies after referral by a mainstream medical provider, the study found. These people tended to be sicker and used the healthcare system more than people who started using the therapies without a referral. “What we learned suggests that providers are referring their patients for mind-body therapies as a last resort once conventional therapeutic options have failed,” Nerurkar said. “It makes us wonder whether referring patients for these therapies earlier in the treatment process could lead to less use of the health-care system and, possibly, better outcomes for these patients.” The study is published in the May 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

A Little Belly Fat Can Double the Risk of Death

ne of the largest studies of its kind has found that people with coronary artery disease who have even a modest beer belly or muffin top are at higher risk for death than people whose fat collects elsewhere. The effect was observed even in patients with a normal body mass index (BMI). The findings are reported in the May 10 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Researchers analyzed data from 15,923 people with coronary artery disease involved in five studies from around the world. They found that those with coronary artery disease 6

55 PLUS - July / August 2011

and central obesity, measured by waist circumference and waist-tohip ratio, have up to twice the risk of dying. That is equivalent to the risk of smoking a pack of cigarettes per day or having very high cholesterol, particularly for men. “Visceral fat has been found to be more metabolically active. It produces more changes in cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar. However, people who have fat mostly in other locations in the body, specifically, the legs and buttocks, don’t show this increased risk,” says Thais Coutinho, the study’s lead author and a cardiology fellow at Mayo Clinic.

55PLUS Editor and Publisher Wagner Dotto

Associate Editor Lou Sorendo

Writer

Mike Costanza

Contributing Writers

Deborah Jeanne Sergeant Amy Cavalier, Deborah Graf, Beth Emley, Sandra Scott

Columnists

Jim Terwilliger, Susan Suben Bruce Frassinelli Harold Miller

Advertising

Marsha K. Preston, Marlene Raite Beth Clark

Ofﬁce Manager

Laura J. Beckwith

Layout and Design Chris Crocker

Cover Photo

Chuck Wainwright 55 PLUS –A Magazine for Active Adults in the Rochester Area is published six times a year by Local News, Inc., which also publishes In Good Health–Rochester–Genesee Valley’s Healthcare Newspaper.

Health in good

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Mailing Address PO Box 525 Victor, NY 14564 Subscription: $15 a year © 2011 by 55 PLUS – A Magazine for Active Adults in the Rochester Area. 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 525 Victor, NY 14564 Voice: (585) 421-8109 Fax: (585) 421-8129 Editor@GVhealthnews.com

financial health By Jim Terwilliger

Achieving Financial Wellness in Retirement

etting one’s financial house i n o rd e r i s i m p o r t a n t t h ro u g h o u t l i f e . I t i s particularly important in retirement when a steady paycheck is usually replaced by a combination of Social Security benefits and distributions from a variety of personal savings, investment and retirement accounts. The days of employer pensions are quickly disappearing. Achieving and maintaining a good balance between available resources and desired standard of living during retirement leaves little room for error. This, coupled with the fact that very few of us know how long our retirements will last, demands that each of us has our financial act together. Financial wellness in retirement is not about wealth. It is about: • Ensuring that your standard of living can be supported by your resources — requiring a well-defined plan • Having an investment and account-distribution strategy that is consistent with your plan • Building the financial capacity to weather financial surprises and upsets • Protecting your plan with appropriate choices of insurance • Getting your estate plan in order. It is an ongoing journey, not a one-time exercise.

Some of the key principles include: Live below your means. This is equally important in all phases of life. It provides the capacity to deal with unexpected financial demands. Believe it or not, this can be just as difficult for “wealthy” folks as it is for the rest of us. The concept is simple. “Pay” yourself first by setting some money aside for the proverbial rainy day. Consider helping others through

charitable giving. Learn to live on the remainder. Doing this requires focus, discipline, and priority setting. Align your investments. A large portion of retirement income likely will come from your accumulated savings/investments. Retirement is a good time to consolidate accounts, simplify, and put into place a coherent, focused, and understandable investment strategy — using broad diversification covering multiple asset classes. Carefully choose an overall stockrelated allocation — one that lets you not lose sleep over multiple market cycles. Many new retirees start with a balanced allocation (50 percent stocks), reducing to about 30 percent over the following few decades. Others may be a bit more or less conservative. Having some exposure to stocks is critically important. It will give you the best shot at maintaining the purchasing power of your portfolio and your annual distributions over a 20-40 year retirement. A rough rule of thumb is that a retirement nest egg is likely to last a lifetime if no more than 4 percent is withdrawn the first year, allowing for future years’ withdrawals to index upward with inflation. A nest egg of $1 million would allow for a “safe” first-year withdrawal of $40,000. Sobering, isn’t it? Review and update your insurance. A primary purpose of insurance is to protect your plan in the event that an unexpected, financially-catastrophic event confronts you or your family. To do so, the level of coverage must be consistent with your needs and goals. Excepting permanent life insurance, we all hope that a claim never has to be made. In addition to the standard life, auto, and homeowner ’s insurance protection most of us carry, umbrella

liability and long-term care insurance protection are becoming increasing important. When considering the latter, act sooner rather than later. Initial annual premiums rise rapidly for folks applying in their 60s and 70s. Review and update your estate plan. Most wills are out of date or, for many people, do not even exist. Ongoing changes in estate tax laws and changing life conditions have made the need for updating wills a priority. Again, the purpose for doing so is to protect your plan. A good plan will survive you, providing for your family and other important people or institutions in your life. Associated activities include updating your healthcare proxy, living will, durable power of attorney, and life insurance and retirement plan beneﬁciaries. All need to be consistent with your will and with the estate plans of family members. Make tax planning a year-round activity. While some tax-saving activities can be executed at year’s end, most require ongoing planning and implementation. Examples include offsetting investment gains with losses; restructuring debt to take advantage of tax-favored borrowing; utilizing tax breaks from long-term care insurance premiums; and optimizing the timing of distributions from tax-deferred retirement plans vs. taxable investment accounts. Act now. Financial wellness does not just happen. Take action now to make it happen. James Terwilliger, CFP®, is vice president, Financial Planning, Wealth Strategies Group, Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Company. He can be reached at 585-419-0670 ext. 50630 or by email at jterwilliger@cnbank.com. July / August 2011 - 55 PLUS

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adventure Glenys Dorr near a baby humpback whale on the Hawaiian Islands. She was photographed by a friend, Robert Raima.

An Eye for Wildlife Brighton couple began photographing whales on the Hawaiian Islands’ shores in late ‘80s. In 2004 they decided to get serious about their passion By Mike Costanza

lenys Dorr was photographing a baby humpback whale one moment, and the next she was in the water. The 15-ton mammal had ﬂipped her kayak, dumping the 72-year-old in the drink. “I was swimming with the whales,” she says, grinning. For Glenys and her husband, Jim, the April incident off the coast of Maui was all part of capturing the images of animals in the wild. The Brighton couple has traveled the world for decades, cameras in hand, snapping away for the love of it. “We love observing, watching and photographing the animals,” 8

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Jim says. Photos of whales breaching, mountain gorillas gazing enigmatically from the African bush, and dolphins dancing beneath the waves adorn the Dorr’s airy Brighton home. Their photos have also appeared in the Maui News, which serves the Hawaiian island of Maui, where the Dorrs have a second home. Head to their website, and you’ll watch striking videos of the animals they’ve observed. Jim met Glenys in 1986, when he was working as systems engineer for IBM and she was an aerobics director and instructor for Bally Total Fitness. Jim enrolled in an aerobics class that she happened to be teaching.

“Boy, did she look good,” he says. “I plied her with wine and good dinners, and now she’s mine.” Glenys admits she took a younger husband—Jim turned 70 yearsold this year. After marrying in 1988, they traveled through Europe, visited Bora Bora and New Zealand, and traveled extensively in Tahiti and the Hawaiian Islands, Jim says. Returning to the Hawaiian island of Maui for vacations, they began photographing whales from shore or while on whale watching expeditions. In 2004 they decided to “get serious,” Jim says, and headed out to sea in kayaks, cameras in hand. The small craft allowed them to get much closer to the huge mammals. “We’ve had whales breach next to the kayak—you’re talking 40 tons of whale pop up next to the kayak,” Jim says. Since then, the couple has gathered a large collection of cameras, lenses, tripods and other equipment

55+ for capturing creatures in the wild. Though the equipment allows them to take underwater videos of dolphins and close-up, still photos of bald eagles, good wildlife photos also require skill, split-second timing, vigilance, and a willingness to wait hours for just the right shots. “We’re very patient,” Glenys says. “One of us is,” Jim adds, prompting a laugh from his wife. Still, the Dorrs seem willing to do what it takes to get the right shot. One recent Saturday, Jim spent about six hours at the Montezuma National Wildlife Preserve in Seneca Falls waiting for a bald eagle to return to its nest with a ﬁsh. He turned away from the nest twice, he says, just as the eagle landed with a ﬁsh in its talons. “The moral of the story is you

adventure

cannot take your eyes off, or your vigilance away,” he says, with a touch of a scowl. On the other hand, a bald eagle is not going to toss you into the drink while your husband watches. “The whale came up, looked over its shoulder at the bottom of the kayak, and then just ﬂipped it with its tail,” Jim says of the humpback that upended Glenys’craft. The baby humpback was part of a “pod,” or social group of whales, she says. After it ﬂipped her kayak, the two adults in the pod—the mother of the baby and an adult male— circled her repeatedly. Such behaviors indicate that something had upset the whales, she says “Normally, a mother and a baby are so calm,” Glenys says.

Glenys curled her legs beneath her kayak for protection. After they left, she climbed back in, and the couple paddled away. Though the Dorrs have photographed whales underwater, they do so by putting their cameras beneath the surface—not by swimming with them. They have swum with turtles and other undersea creatures— dolphins are particularly beautiful up close. “It’s like watching a ballet—they are so graceful,” Glenys says. As picturesque as the Hawaiian Islands can be, other parts of the world have drawn the Dorrs down through the years, especially parts of Africa. A 2007 trip to Uganda gave them the chance to photograph the rare mountain gorilla, Jim says. Only

Glenys and Jim Dorr with their Nikon D 300 camera with 200-400 mm F4.D zoom lenses. The couple has a large collection of cameras, lenses, tripods and other equipment.

July / August 2011 - 55 PLUS

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adventure

about 600 of the rare primates are left in the world. One night during the expedition, the Dorrs heard something bouncing off the roof of their tent, Glenys says. Upon awakening, they found that gorillas had been bombarding their tent with fruit from nearby trees. One adult male, or “silverback,” was sitting on the sidewalk only 20 feet away, eating fruit. “We were wondering how to get by him to go to breakfast,” Glenys says. Jim says he and Glenys found the animal less fearsome than the human guerillas that would come down to raid local villages. Armed 10

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guards accompanied the tour as it photographed the gorillas. “We had guys with AK-47’s every place we met,” Jim says. The Dorrs have eight grown children and 19 grandchildren between them from previous marriages, Jim says. He retired from IBM in 2002 after 45 years, though he continued to work for them as a contractor until 2009. He was slated to do so again starting in June. “We need some new lenses,” he says. Glenys went on to own three skin and hair care stores, including one on Maui, but had sold them all by 2005. Nowadays, they divide their time

between Maui and Brighton. “We have deer in the backyard here, with the babies, and we’ll just spend hours watching,” Glenys says. To s e e m o re o f t h e D o r r s ’ work, go to their website, http:// widgeandcrudge.com. You’ll find photos and videos as well. The name comes from their nicknames for each other, Glenys says. She’s “Widge.” “My husband, one day, started calling me “Widget,” she says. His is “Crudge.” “That’s just curmudgeon,” he says, grinning.

golden years By Harold Miller E-mail: HMillerMOD@aol.com.

It’s a Brave New (Electronic) World

y favorite Sunday read used to be “Parade Magazine.” Advice columnist Marilyn Vos Savant, a combination of Mensa intelligence and practical sense, could answer any question on any subject. The “Personality Parade” page brought the latest gossip about our American idols, and feature articles chronicled the lives of interesting people. Now I don’t recognize any of the tattooed beauties from Hollywood or any of the hip hop crowd featured in the Personality Parade, and Marilyn’s column has been reduced to an outsized postage stamp. The magazine has been so reduced in size and content that it is unrecognizable. The entire Sunday newspaper is a giant ad sheet (so that the publisher can make a little proﬁt — damn little) with a few news items sprinkled within. The current generation doesn’t read the newspaper — they get their news from the Internet. Look for printed newspapers to go the way of the milkman. The days of browsing in your favorite bookstore are also on the way out. Borders is already bankrupt and Barnes and Noble/ Waldenbooks are not far behind. Although most of us — myself included — can never see the day we won’t hold a book in our hands, the form of the book and the way we buy them will change dramatically. The sale of electronic books already outpaces hardcopy books in most of the ‘big box’ bookstore chains. As it is, bookstores are not stocking books as they used to. You can buy your favorite book cheaper and get it quicker through Amazon.com. New titles are being restricted by

the publishing crisis. Large publishing houses such as McGraw-Hill and Harper-Collins are going the way of the dodo bird. I visited both of these major houses in the throes of getting a new book published and was told that they had to be confident that at least 50,000 copies could be sold the first year. They are even rejecting the works of established authors because of the above-mentioned demise of retail outlets for hard copy books. As a result I will be self publishing my book, “Memoirs of an Entrepreneur,” on the website — in both hard copy and electronic versions. The music industry is also on its way out. This is a disturbing and distressing trend because new artists and new music are being denied to those of us who love music. Recording companies and radio conglomerates are committing hara-kiri. Virtually half of all the CDs purchased today are “catalog items” (read “the oldies” for old frogs like us). This generation gets its music directly from the Internet via iTunes, and other downloading venues and plays the music through their iPods. The bottom line: there is little financial gain for recording companies to bring new talent into the business. It’s a lose-lose situation. Cable television is also a threatened business — there is a substantial drop in revenue for all of the TV networks. Again, people of this generation is watching TV and movies broadcast through their computers. They are also playing games on their TV sets — all of which displaces the time spent watching prime-time network shows (have you seen some of the idiotic new sitcoms on the boob tube lately?) The cable companies are aiding and abetting this sweeping change by charging exorbitant rates and

increasing the number of maddening commercials — about one every five minutes. Can you say good riddance? Your land-line telephone will also be a thing of the past. Is there anyone reading this that doesn’t have a cell phone? If so, your land line is completely redundant, and costly. You can keep in touch with all your kids, family, and friends easier, cheaper and faster (I’m trying to convince my wife about this, but old habits die hard). Finally, have you heard about the cloud? For all but computer geeks this is a difﬁcult concept to get your arms around but it’s coming our way, and will substantially reduce your costs for computer hardware and software. Today, your computer has a hard drive and you store your documents, music, movies and pictures. Your software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install these if necessary. All of this will change. Apple, Microsoft and Google will soon be offering their “cloud services.” This means that when you turn on your computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system. Windows, Google and Microsoft will be tied directly into the Internet — click an icon and it will open something in the Internet “cloud.” If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud. There will probably be a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider. Got that? If not, don’t email me for any further clariﬁcation — I’m no computer geek. We l l — t h e r e y o u h a v e i t . I recommend that all 55-plusers embrace the computer before it’s too late. If not, you’ll be sitting in your rocking chair wondering what’s going on. If our 90-year-old condominium association president can do it — you can do it. July / August 2011 - 55 PLUS

long-term care By Susan Suben

Why Planning for Long-Term Care is a Necessity “How many of you have talked to your own parents about their wishes and finances should they need long-term care?

hat is your plan for living a long life? Living a long life means that you will get old, when you get old, you get sick, and when you get sick, you will need care. How will you pay for that care and what will the ﬁnancial and emotional consequences be on your family if you live a long life? Living a long life is a relatively sure thing. According to the Center for Disease Control, the average life expectancy is 77.5 years — with males averaging 75.4 years and females averaging 80.4 years. If you take into consideration that 50 percent of us over age 80 will need long-term care, you should come to the conclusion that planning ahead is now a necessity. What is long-term care? Longterm care refers to a range of services, commonly known as custodial care, that you will need when a chronic illness, cognitive impairment or disability limits your ability to perform activities of daily living. Care can be received at home, in an adult day care center, assisted living facility or nursing home. Why don’t people plan for long-term care? There are several reasons: Denial: If you are healthy and active, being disabled is the last thing on your mind. If you have never experienced a long-term care situation in your own family or with a friend, you will not have felt any of the emotional and ﬁnancial consequences of caring for someone. Therefore, you don’t see any urgency in being prepared. Misinformation about Medicare and Medicaid: Medicare is the nation’s largest health insurance program for 12

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those over 65. It was not designed to be “pay-all” insurance. Medicare pays for the first 20 days in a nursing home only if you have spent three full days in a hospital; require skilled care; and the nursing home is Medicare approved. The next 80 days Medicare pays for everything but a co-pay of $141.50 in 2011. After 100 days, Medicare pays for nothing. It does not pay for adult day care or assisted living. In order for Medicare to pay for home care, you must need skilled care, the care has to be rehabilitative, and you must be homebound. It does not pay for custodial care. Medicaid provides medical assistance for individuals with low income and limited assets. It requires the spend-down of your assets or the completion of a five-year lookback period for transferring assets otherwise there is a penalty period that will make you ineligible for coverage. An individual on Medicaid in a nursing home can only keep $13,800 in assets and $50/month of income. A couple’s resources can be a maximum of $109,560 excluding the home. The institutional spouse can keep $50/ month and the community spouse can keep $2,739/month of income. Medicaid pays for limited home care, but does not pay for adult day care, and rarely pays for assisted living, It is meant to pay for the one place you do not want to be — a nursing home. My family will take care of me: Does you spouse or significant other work? Do your adult children have their own children to care for? Your family will always want to be there

for you but to what extent do you want to change their lives because you need care? It’s a difficult conversation: How many of you have talked to your own parents about their wishes and finances should they need longterm care? It’s not easy to talk about issues that could affect your family dynamics. So, what are the consequences of not planning for a long life? The biggest impact is on your family. The emotional, physical and financial stress on the primary caregiver would be immeasurable. The strain and tension that it can create between siblings trying to share caregiving responsibilities could be irreparable. Then consider the loss of assets, the loss of income from those assets, the tax implications resulting from liquidating assets to pay for care, and the negative impact on the standard of living of the well spouse/ family member. What about broken promises? Maybe you intended to help your grandchildren go to college but instead spend the money on your care. It’s very easy to put off thinking about long-term care especially when you are young and healthy. But time is not infinite and every day you’re getting older. Susan Suben, MS, CSA, is president of Long Term Care Associates, Inc. and a consultant for Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Company. She can be reached at 800-422-2655 or by email at susansuben@31greenbush.com.

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fitness

Thomas Dimitri, 71, of Brighton, works out at World Gym in Rochester.

Fitness in the Golden Years

Keeping active and fit means a better quality of life By Deborah Graf

o matter what your age, attitude is everything when it comes to health. Studies by the National Institutes of Health have shown that fitness levels decline dramatically with age, but exercise can help reduce the losses and not only make your body feel years younger, but your mind healthier as well. “When you are 18 you don’t think as much about your overall health,” says Arthur Douglas, of Perinton, 72, a former therapeutic massage therapist. “But that changes as you get older and you want to improve your quality of life.” Douglas is one of a growing community of seniors who chose to change his health habits later in life. He began doing race-walking 14

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marathons at age 60, as well as yoga. “When I started training for marathons I noticed immediately how much more energized I felt,” he says. “I felt so much better mentally and physically which then gave me a better attitude about life and ﬁtness overall.” Researchers at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Md., have demonstrated that over time, aerobic capacity will decline, but someone who exercises will have a much better ﬁtness level than someone who does not. Add a mental component to that, such as yoga or tai chi, and you have a combination that can’t be beat. Thomas Dimitri, 71, of Brighton, who holds a doctorate in adult education, said as we age we need

to be more concerned about balance, flexibility and strength, and has developed his own fitness routine that includes yoga, dynamic tension, and tai chi to stay fit. “I’m not doing anything new,” he says. “I’m just taking things that have been around for many years that work for me, and incorporate them into a workout that creates a greater range of physical fitness.”

Donning ‘Silver Sneakers’ Laura Fasano, director of program development for the Greater Rochester YMCA, could not agree more. The Y offers a wide range of classes and personal training promoting health and well being to the older adult population. “Our Silver Sneakers classes are

packed and strong,” she says. “Our types of programming are about getting the senior set moving. Maybe this is their first time in 50 years they have come to exercise in an organized setting.” She said their classes focus on promoting functionality, such as living longer independently, and comfortably doing things like grocery shopping and cleaning the house. “The group activities have some specificity to them,” she says. “The Y plugs people into their specific needs, and it’s a home run for them.” Physical fitness helps create a positive mental attitude as well. A healthy lifestyle that includes regular exercise can make a positive difference in how our bodies feel, as well as our minds. Mike Asselta, 65, of Fairport, is an avid cyclist. He rides between 12 and 20 miles three times a week. “When I’m out by myself and my mind relaxes, I feel like a free spirit,” Asselta says. “You just let your mind go. Plus you stay in shape and it makes you feel good. It’s therapeutic.” The therapeutic benefits of exercise also work well in numbers. Asselta is part of a group of cyclists who ride for charity. “I do as many charity rides as I can,” says Asselta. “Riding with others is fun. Sometimes it’s like a traffic jam of bikes. But it keeps me physically fit and I just find it completely satisfying.”

Partners in fitness Christine Kenneths, 82, of Penfield, likes having an exercise partner and working out with others her age. “It’s nice to have someone to share the fun, and sometimes the pain with,” she says. “My cardiologist told me to go to exercise classes for camaraderie and support, and it helps.” Fasano sees how well emotional support works. “When seniors are connected with a group of their peers and there is a social aspect, they find they are in a safe, nurturing environment,” she says. “Maybe they have coffee after class or go out to lunch together. These types of things really do help with retaining consistency and people coming back

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to classes over and over.” It’s important to keep moving during the senior years, and ﬁnding a way to do it that works best for you is key. But it is also important not to compare yourself to others who may be younger or more ﬁt. “Fitness is a state of mind,” says Brighton resident, Thomas Dimitri, 71. “Don’t let what people look like intimidate you from being able to reach your own potential.” He explains that even in learning, you go at your own pace, and remember that as you age, you continue to learn about your own body. “Awareness of your health and

what your body feels like is very important,” says Douglas. “You pay attention to yourself and you may discover things that will help you feel better. Knowing when you are too tight, or have eaten the wrong foods makes a difference.” The old saying, “You are what you eat,” still holds true, especially for seniors. How and what you eat is one of the major components of a ﬁt body.

Nutrition vital key Douglas has studied health and fitness for years through his therapeutic massage training, which

Mike Asselta, 65, of Fairport, is an avid cyclist. He rides between 12 and 20 miles three times a week. “When I’m out by myself and my mind relaxes, I feel like a free spirit,” Asselta says. 16

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included the benefits of proper nutrition. “Food is a very important part of physical fitness,” he says. “Watch closely, and try to include healthier foods in your diet.” Douglas cut out fried foods altogether, doesn’t eat many fats, and uses more olive oil. He also offsets what he eats with exercise. “I eat differently and I feel different,” he says. Everyone’s life experiences help shape and mold how they feel. Dimitri, a Vietnam veteran who broke his back during the war, felt the effects of that for many years. He spent a long time learning what would help him feel better. “Even in learning we go at our own pace,” is something Dimitri has taught through his adult education for years. “You must be real about it. It takes time to learn how to eat better. Listen to your body. Stretch and don’t strain. If you hurt you’ve done too much.” Dimitri is trying to share his message with others. He is developing a fitness video that will demonstrate his work-out routine, talk about the things he eats to feel well, and hopes it will help others. “Part of what I would like to do is to coach people,” he says. “We all need encouragement, and we need people of a similar age to teach us.” Fasano says the Y has older adult exercise leaders who specifically work with their own age group. “They are great listeners and can connect with their groups because they are peers,” she said. The message is simple. As older adults we need to change the way we think about ourselves and our health. We need to respect ourselves for who we are and what we can do to reach our full potential, regardless of our physical limitations. There is opportunity to do that if we have a mindset to try things, find what is important to us and it will in turn help us feel better. “Challenge yourself mentally and physically. You may not live longer,” Dimitri says, “but you will live a much better life.”

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Training for a Triathlon Debbie Bowman preparing for a triathlon competition at Perinton Park in Fairport.

Boomers in Rochester area taking on triathlons By Beth Emley

hree Rochester residents in their 50s are among a group of about 35 now preparing for a big new challenge: a triathlon consisting of a half-mile swim, a 12-to15-mile bike ride and a 5K run. The competitors have been p a r t i c i p a t i n g i n t h e Tr i a t h l o n Community College 11-week course, offered through Fleet Feet Sports in Brighton, and their training started in early May. All of the competitors are beginners who say they were looking 18

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to get involved in a level of physical activity they had never tried before. Following are proﬁles of each of the three competitors: Jim Keegan and Debbie Bowman, both of Fairport, and Mary Erturk of Pittsford.

Jim Keegan Keegan, 51, general manager of a telecommunications company, said he got interested in triathlons about two years ago by accident when he was vacationing in Lake Placid and witnessed the Lake Placid Ironman. “It was inspiring to watch people

come across the ﬁnish line as much as 17 hours after they had started. I wondered what kind of effort it would take to prepare for such an event,” he said. Keegan said after seeing that triathlon, he started paying more attention to how much time he spent on keeping ﬁt and started going to the gym more often and doing more cardio activities. After seeing the Lake Placid event while on vacation again last year, Keegan said he decided to try something. He found a Rochester

55+ Autumn Duathlon scheduled for October and he started training along with his 15-year-old son and did some 5K runs and biking to get prepared. “Although I didn’t break any records, I finished in about the time I thought I would. One thing that was clear was I didn’t really know what I should have done relative to training, pre-activity nutrition, etc. Getting off the bike and running was tough when your legs feel like they weigh 200 pounds,” he said. This spring, Keegan found out about the Fleet Feet Triathlon Community College and decided to get involved. “Ellen Brenner and everyone at Fleet Feet and the coaches are fantastic people and committed to help everyone in the program succeed from whatever level we are starting at,” he said. Keegan said increasing his general cardio capacity and swimming are the biggest challenges so far. “After the first swimming session, it was clear I had lots of work to do,” he said. “After the 100-yard time trial to baseline where everyone is at, I thought my lungs were going to explode. I’m not sure if it was because of all the water I ingested or just a complete lack of proper form creating too much drag, probably both actually.” Another challenge is balancing the required training with the rest of life and there is a lot less time available to do “nothing,” Keegan said. “As it turns out, it’s a good thing. In just two weeks of the program my general fitness has improved,” Keegan said during an interview on May 22. Keegan said he has signed up for the Finger Lakes Triathlon in Canandaigua in September and may try to find another one before that. The Finger Lakes event has a “train for treatment” program that provides a website for the participants to raise money for a child patient of the Mary M. Gooley Hemophilia Center. Keegan said he’ll be assigned one of the kids as a “tri-buddy.” “I think doing anything where you are helping children in need gives us a little extra motivation to work a

little harder,” he said. Keegan said his training consists of swimming 600 to 800 yards twice a week, two bike rides of 45 minutes each, and two runs at 30 minutes each. He’s also doing a yoga program and says he spends seven to nine hours a week on training. He said he would recommend training for a triathlon to anyone. “Jump in and give it a shot if you have the time,” he said.

Debbie Bowman Debbie Bowman, 58, of Fairport, said she had fun training for a 5K race last fall and decided to give

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the triathlon a shot this year. She’s training along with a neighbor. “She’s a stronger swimmer and I’m a stronger runner,” remarked Bowman, who said her goal will be to ﬁnish the race. Bowman, who doesn’t work outside the home, said she has extra time now to train for the triathlon but wonders how other people ﬁt it all in. She said she’s been trying to follow the schedule of training suggested by the coaches of the Triathlon Community College. Typically, that consists of swimming 600 yards at a time, running for 30 minutes and

Debbie Bowman, 58, of Fairport, said she had fun training for a 5K race last fall and decided to give the triathlon a shot this year. Her exercise regimen consists of swimming 600 yards at a time, running for 30 minutes and biking for 45 minutes. “I don’t practice on Sunday. I need a day off and that’s my church day,” Bowman said. Photo taken at Perinton Park, Fairport. July / August 2011 - 55 PLUS

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biking for 45 minutes. “I don’t practice on Sunday. I need a day off and that’s my church day,” Bowman said. In a recent interview, she said she usually tries to do two different disciplines a day. Bowman said it will be interesting to combine the running, biking and swimming all together at once. In recent practices, she has run for a half-

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hour and then waited awhile before she went for a bike ride. In the triathlon, she will have to go from one event to the next but said she has three and a half months to build up to that endurance level. Bowman is participating in a Finger Lakes Triathlon in September in Canandaigua. Bowman said she may try another triathlon after the one she does in September. “I know a lot of people who have done these and love them. They are kind of addictive,” she said. “We will see how this one goes, and kind of go from there.” Added Bowman: “It’s fun to have a challenge like this. I can certainly tell I don’t have a 25-year-old body but it’s kind of surprising to know what you can do if you set your mind to it.”

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Mary Erturk, 55, a critical care nurse from Pittsford, said her sister-inlaw and her sister-in-law’s daughter have competed in triathlons for two years so she decided she ought to try one too. This year, Erturk will participate in the triathlon at Oneida Lake on Aug. 7 with the other two women. “I’ve never done anything competitive like this and ﬁgured if she can do it, so can I,” Erturk said. In a recent interview, Erturk said she tries to practice biking, swimming and running three to four times a week. She’s been swimming at the Harro East Ballroom’s pool, and also got a new bike. She has also been

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Keegan biking at Ellison Park, Penfield running on a treadmill and tries to get outside. “I’m not in shape at all and for six months, everything has been aching,” she said. Finding time to train is difficult, she acknowledged, but getting ready for the triathlon has forced her to train. “Setting a goal forces me to do it. Many times, I thought I couldn’t do it,” she said. “The kids are home this summer and the family is kind of into it. It makes it really hard to back out of it.” Erturk said she has seen an improvement since she started to train last November. At that time, she said she couldn’t do five minutes of running without stopping. Now she can do 30 minutes without stopping. “It’s amazing that the more you do it, the better you get at it. It’s amazing how efficient you can get,” she said. Erturk said she doesn’t know if she’ll do another triathlon after the August event is over. “I’ve been told it’s a little addictive and I’m not sure. I may be happy it’s done,” she said.

55+ Training for triathlons not out of senior set’s realm

You can do it! By Beth Emley

ver thought of challenging yourself with a triathlon but didn’t know how to get started? In early May, Fleet Feet Sports, 2210 Monroe Ave., Brighton, began an 11-week course—the Triathlon Community College—for beginners hoping to do their first triathlon race this summer or for those new to biking, running and swimming and looking to improve. Ellen Brenner, owner of Fleet Feet Sports, 2210 Monroe Ave., Brighton, and a program coach, said once participants complete the course they will be able to compete in a triathlon of their choice. The triathlon consists of a half-mile swim, a 12-to-15-mile bike run and a 5K run. “It’s hands-on coaching for all those participating and we provide a schedule so they can put everything together,” Brenner said. Swimmers are able to get into the water at the pool at the Harro East Ballroom in downtown Rochester and in open water at Canandaigua or Lake Ontario later on in the training. Coaches are also suggesting good places to bike and run in the Rochester area. The training will extend through the end of July and “most people will follow through to the end and do the triathlon,” Brenner said. “Most

people are beginners. We have found that someone may be really good at one of the sports but not able to put all of them together. That’s what they (coaches) work on.” Dede Rupley, 58, of Gates is coaching participants on the swimming portion of the triathlon. An adult swim instructor at the Westside Y in Gates, Rupley said the program has 35 participants of varying abilities and they are divided into beginner, intermediate and advanced groups.

Making a splash They typically meet once a week for swimming training and are given a workout to do in the meantime. The program also focuses on doing drills to improve kicking, stroke, how to practice swimming with one’s head out of the water, swim with multiple people in a lane, get used to swimming in a crowd and learn better breathing techniques, Rupley said. “Some people come here not even wanting to put their face in the water. Many people have swimming as a weak point,” she said. She said once people get into the lake they will become more comfortable in water that moves around. “Some people have an anxiety about that, and we will teach them how to become familiar with wetsuits and goggles, and how to get out of a

life style wet suit quickly,” she said. She thinks that for most people, swimming is definitely the toughest part of the triathlon. “Just getting them going in the pool will help them build up stamina and endurance, and reassure them they can make the transition to the open water more comfortably,” she said. Those training for the triathlon are of various ages but Rupley said it’s “an incredible thing” to work with people 55 and older. “They have so much desire to do something like this and a lot have a lot of skill. They just lack a little confidence, and it’s just a matter of encouraging them to take the step and give it a try,” she said. “People this age are more aware of health and wellness and fitness. It’s incredible to know your body is still solid, and the way this program is designed, you can do it.”

‘Power through it’ Rupley said she still runs on a hip she broke two years ago, and there are others with knee and joint problems and weight issues who are “still powering through it.” For those considering a triathlon, Rupley advised them to look for a program like the one Fleet Feet offers. “The more support you have, the better your chance of success,” she said. “It also makes you hold yourself accountable when you have signed up and are expected to do certain things. You are far more likely to do training you need to compete in whatever event you are doing.” Rupley said the skills one learns in the training situations are transferable to other situations in life. “The patience and tenacity you learn in training serves you well in other aspects of life and you are mentally and physically strengthened,” she said. Added Rupley: “The fun in doing this is seeing people succeed who didn’t think they would be able to be a success. It’s just a wonderful thing. It’s so rewarding and the sense of pride you have in yourself is incredible.” July / August 2011 - 55 PLUS

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Creating the Perfect Bloody Mary Good Chemistry of Fresh Ingredients

fter tackling the chemistry of coffee, tea, fruit juices, soda pop, beer, wine and other alcoholic beverages, doctors have decided to take on the ultimate challenge, the Mount Everest of cocktails, what may be the most chemically complex cocktail in the world, the bloody mary. “It’s a very complicated drink,” said Neil C. Da Costa, Ph.D., a expert on the chemical analysis of flavors who discussed the topic at the National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS) at the end of March in California. “The bloody mary has been called the world’s most complex cocktail, and from the standpoint of flavor chemistry, you’ve got a blend of hundreds of flavor compounds that act on the taste senses. It covers almost the entire range of

human taste sensations — sweet, salty, sour and umami or savory— but not bitter.” Da Costa said those ﬂavors originate in the basic ingredients in the traditional bloody mary, which by one account originated in a Paris bar in the 1930’s. Stories link the name to various historical ﬁgures, especially Queen Mary I of England, noted for her bloody repression of religious dissenters. The ingredients include tomato juice, Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce, fresh lemon or lime juice, horseradish, black pepper, and celery salt. Shaken with ice or served over ice, it is often garnished with celery and a lemon wedge.

“Most of the ingredients have been analyzed for their key flavor volatiles, the chemicals that can evaporate from the glass and produce the aroma,” Da Costa explained. “Similarly for the non-volatiles, which are the chemicals that stay in the liquid and contribute toward the flavor there. My presentation reviews the composition of these ingredients and highlights the key components and their sensory attributes.” Some of the ingredients have been linked with beneficial health effects, Da Costa, noted, citing the rich source of lycopene, for instance, in the tomato juice; horseradish with its allyl isothiocyanate, which can be effective at lower concentrations; other phytochemicals in lemon; and even the alcohol in vodka, which some studies suggest can be beneficial when taken occasionally in small amounts. Does Da Costa’s research provide any insights for making a good bloody mary? He cites several: • Make it fresh. Chemically, the bloody mary is a “highly unstable” concoction, and the quality tends to deteriorate quickly. • Ice it up. Serving bloody marys on ice helps to slow down the chemical reactions involving acids in tomato juice and other ingredients that degrade the taste. • Mind your mixes. If you use a cocktail mix, add some fresh ingredients to enhance the flavor and aroma.

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• Splurge on the juice. Tomato juice makes up most of the bloody mary’s volume, so use high quality juice that has a deep, rich ﬂavor. • Economize on the vodka. The intense, spicy ﬂavor of a bloody mary masks the vodka, and using premium vodka makes little sense.

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Craig Harmon hitting a ball at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford. He’s been with the club for 40 years already.

55 PLUS - July / August 2011

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cover

Reaching the Pinnacle Craig Harmon has created long-lasting legacy at Oak Hill By Amy Cavalier

raig Harmon, 65, has proudly followed in his father Claude Harmon Sr.’s footsteps as a dedicated PGA professional and premiere instructor. This year, he celebrates 40 years as head pro at the world-famous Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford. Craig may have had his competition cut out for him growing up among masters in golf. The Harmon name is synonymous with the sport. Craig’s father Claude Harmon Sr. won the 1948 Masters and mentored many of golf’s greats, such as Jack Burke Jr. who won the 1956 Masters and PGA Championship, Dick Mayer who won the 1954 U.S. Open, and 1965 PGA Champion Dave Marr. Craig’s brothers Butch, Billy and the late Dick Harmon are top 50 teachers in the game, and Butch was Tiger Woods’ swing coach from back when he was a teenager up until a few years ago. Not to be outdone, Craig has tallied up his own list of impressive accomplishments, setting himself among the top golf professionals in the country.

Take a look at these stats Craig was hired as head professional at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford in 1972 at the age of 25. As the 2004 PGA Golf Professional of the Year, he and his father are the only father-son duo ever to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, according to “Sunrise to Sunset: A PGA Professonal’s Life,” a recent

“I don’t think I do anything differently now than I did at age 25 ... age hasn’t changed a thing yet.” Craig Harmon

special by CBS Sports marking the association’s 95-year anniversary. The 65-year-old scratch golfer is a ﬁve-time Western New York PGA Teacher of the Year. With 40 years under his belt as head professional at one of the most storied golf courses in the country, and having taught golfers like 1988 PGA Champion Jeff Sluman, Craig is a legend in his own right. “I’ve said this for years, that if you took my abilities, Butch’s abilities and Dick’s abilities and added them all up, they still wouldn’t add up to Craig’s,” said his brother Bill. For Craig, life isn’t about the best score, or what other people think of you. Craig’s deﬁnition of success is setting high standards for himself and meeting those standards. “He’s not a chest beater,” said Bill. “He’s embarrassed by awards. He’s just a very decent, unassuming person that derives his own pleasure from working hard. He never did these things to be recognized or get awards, but he’s received the highest

honors in the PGA.” Craig is so humble, he didn’t even tell his brothers that he was being inducted into the PGA Hall of Fame in 2004. When Craig’s brother Dick asked him why he didn’t share the news, Craig said he was embarrassed “because dad’s not in the Hall of Fame and he’s better than all of us put together.” C l a u d e H a r m o n S r. w a s inducted into the PGA Hall of Fame posthumously in 2009. A youthful prodigy, Harmon Sr. qualified for the 1931 U.S. Amateur at the age of 15. Craig’s father spent summers working as the head professional at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y. from 1945 to 1977, and winters at Seminole Golf Club in Palm Beach, Florida from 1945 to 1957. He also worked at Thunderbird Country Club in Palm Springs, Calif. from 1959 to 1977. Claude was the last PGA club professional to claim a major championship, winning the Masters in 1948, and he was a three-time semifinalist in the PGA Championship. As the host professional at Winged Foot for the 1959 U.S. Open, Claude finished third, a feat no other PGA professional can boast. From the time he was a teen, Craig knew he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps as a club pro rather than becoming a touring pro. “I liked my dad’s life,” said Craig. “He always seemed happy taking July / August 2011 - 55 PLUS

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care of people. We got to know the people at the various clubs. They were all wonderful people he worked around. I just saw this great working environment, saw one of the best in the business do his craft, and I wanted to emulate it.” Greg Rule, general manager at Oak Hill, said the Harmon family’s heritage in golf is special, but Craig is one-of-a-kind in his own right. “I think the thing that makes Craig such a special guy is every day he comes into work he’s got the same enthusiasm that I believe he had when he ﬁrst came here in 1972,” he said. It has nothing to do with being a good golf professional, Craig said. “It’s about being good in life; how you treat people, how you handle

people and how you love what you’re doing,” he said.

The call that changed his life After graduating from high school in Palm Springs, Calif., Craig attended College of the Desert and San Jose State before landing his ﬁrst job as an assistant professional at Lakeside Golf Club of North Hollywood from 1969 to 1971. In the winter of 1971, Craig was working as an assistant under his father at Thunderbird. Across the country, back in Rochester, Oak Hill Country Club was looking for someone to ﬁll head professional Jack Lumpkin’s shoes. Claude had originally recommended Lumpkin for the position, so when they began looking a new head pro,

Craig Harmon with Ben Hogan, one of the top four golfers of all time, taken in mid-1970. The photos is also signed by Ben Hogan. 28

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Oak Hill turned to him once again. He suggested his son Craig for the job. Craig said he thought he had a good shot at landing it. “I was unusually confident and I shouldn’t have been,” he said. “It never entered my mind that I couldn’t do the job. I always felt I was qualified to do the job. Whether I was or not is another story.” Bill Thaney, a member of Oak Hill since 1946, was on the five-man selection committee. Thaney first met Craig when the two played against one another in the Anderson Memorial Tournament at Winged Foot. “Another fellow and I from Oak Hill played against two young men, 17 and 15-years-old at the time,” said Thaney of Craig and his younger brother Dick. “I’m sorry to say they were victorious. When we finished, I shook the hand of a gentleman and nothing has ever changed my mind about him.” Years later, when Oak Hill began the search for a new head professional, they brought in six candidates, the youngest of which was Craig. “I somehow swayed them at age 25 that I could do the job,” he said. During the interview, the selection committee asked Craig if a position opened up at Winged Foot five or six years down the line, would he leave to go follow in his father’s footsteps? “I told them that wouldn’t happen,” Craig recalls. “If I’m lucky enough to be hired as the head professional at Oak Hill, I’ll make Oak Hill my Winged Foot.” Craig felt confident that he’d nailed the interview, but it was 10 days before Joe King, president of Oak Hill, and Bill Thaney, chairman of the search committee, called Craig to offer him the job. “I knew then I had the job because it didn’t take two of them to tell me I didn’t have the job,” he said. Although the two men have played golf many times since, Thaney said he’s never been able to beat Craig. Thaney said Craig has an incredible personality, is a superb teacher and is truly a man of his word. “If I were chairman of the selection committee and had to go out and find

55+ a head pro, I’d do it all over again with the same man,” said Thaney. “He is the best representative a golf club could have.” Despite the fact that he was only 25 and had never held the position of head pro, Craig said he felt prepared to take the job for one of the most prestigious clubs in the country. “I feel like I was fully trained to do the job, and if I didn’t know how to do something, I’d work hard enough to learn how to do it,” he said. “I think that’s the key.”

Where legends are born Oak Hill was incorporated in 1901, nine holes on 85 acres along the Genesee River, and 137 members. Members purchased the club in 1905 and the course subsequently expanded, adding nine holes and a new clubhouse. In 1921, the University of Rochester proposed a land swap to the members for a 355-acre plot of farmland in the town of Pittsford. The deal included $360,000 and was sealed in April 1924. Oak Hill boasts two 18-hole courses designed by Donald Ross. Born in Dornoch, Scotland in 1872, Ross designed more than 400 U.S. courses. Oak Hill gained national recognition when the USGA chose the course as the site of the 1949 U.S. Amateur and the tournaments have been coming ever since. The course is the only club in the world to lay claim to having hosted the PGA Championship, Ryder Cup, U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, U.S. Senior Open and the Senior PGA Championship, according to Sal Maiorana, a sports writer for the Democrat and Chronicle and author of “Through the Green.” As head professional, Craig has helped organize thousands of club tournaments, and professional tournaments such as the 2003 PGA Championship which drew in the top 100 players in the world. The country club has about 920 members and is preparing to host the 2013 PGA Championships, played twice before at Oak Hill in 1980 and 2003. In addition to running and owning the pro shop, Craig and his staff of four assistant professionals run

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Craig Harmon’s scorecard: His game: • Coach of 1988 PGA Champ Jeff Sluman • 2004 PGA Golf Professional of the Year • 35th inductee into Oak Hill’s Hill of Fame in 2003 • Five-time Western New York PGA Teacher of the Year (1986, ‘91, ‘95 and 2002, ‘10) • 1983 Western New York PGA Golf Professional of the Year • GOLF Magazine Top 100 Instructor • Voted 24th best teacher in America by Golf Digest His family: • Harmon lives in Rochester with his wife Sandy. They have four children, John, Liz, Joe and Ben, ranging in ages from 23 to 37, and two grandsons, James and Chris. • His father, world-famous instructor and head professional Claude Harmon Sr., died in 1989. • His brother Dick passed away about ﬁve years ago. His brothers Butch and Bill remain heavily involved in the game. the active club tournament program, instructional programs, outdoor golf operations including the driving range, golf carts, the bag storage area, and he’s in charge of merchandising and tournament operation. Oak Hill runs about 80 tournaments annually for the membership. Neil Reidy, 30, worked under Craig as an assistant at MacArther Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Fla., from 2008-2010 where Craig serves as director of instruction from January through March. “Craig Harmon is the best professional in this area, if not as far as I’m concerned the best professional there is,” he said. “To have the opportunity to learn my profession from him is invaluable to say the

least.” Recently, Reidy landed the job of director of instruction at Cobblestone Creek in Victor, an accomplishment he accredits to Craig’s teaching. “When I interviewed for the job at Cobblestone, there wasn’t anything they could ask me about that I hadn’t already gotten experience in working for Craig,” said Reidy. “The great thing about working for Craig is you take on all the responsibilities of a head professional as an assistant.” Whether he’s working with professionals or an amateur golfer with a 40 handicap, Reidy said, Craig shows the same amount of enthusiasm and excitement over the player’s swing. “Craig loves to get his hands on July / August 2011 - 55 PLUS

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Craig Harmon, left, with his brother Bill, Jay Haas (a touring pro), and friend Jerry Edwards taken in the 1980’s.

beginners and he just loves to see people improve,” he said. “That’s a pretty awesome quality because it’s not true of all instructors.” From May through the end of October, Craig estimates he works 65 hours a week. “I wouldn’t know what a 9 to 5 is,” he said. “I love it. I’m in control of my own hours.” He doesn’t get much time to play golf for leisure. During the summer, he might get to hit the links once a week. Over the winter in Florida, he teaches four to six hours a day, so he’s able to play more and join his wife Sandy for a game here and there. There are no negatives to his job, Craig said. “If there were a negative, I’d turn it into a positive,” he said. “I don’t deal in negatives.”

Never stop learning A large part of Craig’s job as head professional is teaching and helping members improve their game. He 30

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served as co-chairman of the PGA Teaching and Coaching Summit in 1994 and as chairman in 1996. His most famous pupil is Sluman. The Greece native won the 1988 PGA championship under Craig’s tutelage. An up-and-coming junior golfer with the 1977 State Amateur title to his name, Sluman sought out Craig when he was about 19 years old. “In golf, the Harmon name, it doesn’t get any better than that name,” said Sluman. “I knew if I could get a Harmon to take a look at my golf swing, it was going to help me out.” Sluman said Craig is a “pro’s pro,” which is one of the highest compliments you can give anybody in the business. Being a pro on tour is not even in the same league as what Craig has done at Oak Hill every day for the past 40 years, Sluman said. His dedication to ensuring that members and their families have a great day on the golf course is admirable, said Sluman, and Craig’s success is apparent in the way he is so revered

and loved by the membership. Now 53 years old, Sluman is on the Championship Tour. “I’ve done things that I never thought I’d be able to do, gone to places, traveled and met people a local kid from Greece, New York would never dream about,” he said. “It’s just been a terriﬁc experience so far. It takes a lot of effort, a lot of work, a lot of skill and a little luck to last as long as I have and play as competitively as I have all these years. That once again goes back to the solid fundamentals that Craig’s drilled into me.” Craig and Jeff get to play golf together in Florida. Sluman said the same three to four simple fundamentals that Craig taught him at the age of 19 have seen him through the past 30 years. “I think I gave Jeff some sound fundamentals on his golf swing that have never changed, so when he starts playing poorly, he goes back to those fundamentals,” said Craig. “I’ve given him the gift of being able to ﬁgure

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himself out, which is a gift for him because they’re out there alone all the time. There’s no one that can go out on the course during a tournament. You have to ﬁgure it out on your own.” The key to life is to never stop learning. Craig said his father would tell him ‘It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.’” “My whole life has been about educating myself,” he said. “If you have someone who isn’t getting it, I would blame myself. I might call someone to get some advice or study a little bit more, but it’s so unusual for me not to know what to do after all these years. It’s so unusual when someone stumps me; I can’t even remember the last time that it happened.” As far as a golf professional goes, it’s about how you stimulate golf at your club, he said. “If I can stimulate golf, then we’re very successful; if I can’t, we go to down the tubes, but that’s how it is in life,” he said. “It’s about treating people in life well. It’s really how you handle your life. I was raised that way. It was more about being good in life than being a good pro.”

Age hasn’t changed a thing “I don’t think I do anything differently now than I did at age 25,” Craig said. “I’m wiser from trial and error, making mistakes, and improving on those, but age hasn’t changed a thing yet.” From the day Craig fell in love with golf at the age of 10, his passion has never wavered one bit, Bill said. “He’s one of the only people I know that’s exactly the same person he was before he became successful,” Bill said. Craig said it never occurred to him that he’d be at Oak Hill all these decades. “Every year I have to be more creative, I’ve been doing this for so long,” he said. “If you can come to work stimulated everyday, everything ﬂows from that.” If he had to pick one area where he’s had the biggest impact at Oak Hill, he said, it’s the way he’s been able to stimulate members—the men,

Harmon at the Oak Hill Country Club pro shop, when he was named PGA Head Professional of the Year in 2004. women and children of different generations—to enjoy golf. “I think people thoroughly enjoy coming out here, thoroughly enjoy the treatment we give them, thoroughly enjoy the golf programs we develop to help them get better, and just thoroughly enjoy the game,” he said. Craig isn’t hesitant to seek out other professionals for opinions, for advice and even to tweak his own swing. “As you get older you don’t hit as far, and so having been at this place for 40 years you notice it very quickly because 10 years ago you’d shoot much farther than you do now,” he said. “It’s a stark reminder that you’re getting older and you’re not shooting

as long as you used to be. That’s what you notice most.” But you don’t have to stop playing just because you’re getting older. There are other ways to shoot a good golf score. Craig said he’s given a lesson to Errie Ball, a golfer who played in the ﬁrst Masters in 1934. Ball still plays golf and gives lessons a few times a week in Florida. “He’s one of the coolest guys I’ve ever met in my life, he said. “He signed up to take lessons from me because he was ticked off that he wasn’t hitting as well as he used to at 97. As long as you’re healthy, you can go forever in golf. There aren’t too many sports you can say that of, if any.” July / August 2011 - 55 PLUS

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Pat Anderson, standing in the back, instructs a group of seniors in Microsoft 2007 during a recent class at the TechAge Adult Computer Learning Center at the JCC.

Becoming Computer Savvy Offering computer classes, seminars, and free open computer lab hours for individuals 45 and up, the TechAge Adult Computer Learning Center may be Rochester’s best kept secret. By Amy Cavalier

erhaps your son or daughter recently bought you a computer or digital camera; maybe all your friends are on the Internet and you feel like you “need to get with it” or maybe you already have a grasp on technology and you want to learn how to take yourself to the next level. Whatever your reason for wanting to become more computer-savvy, the TechAge Adult Computer Learning Center has the classes, seminars and coaches to help you learn. “It just opens up the world for people because they can sit at home 32

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and see the latest pictures of the grandkids or they can communicate with their children and grandchildren by email and Skype, and they can go online to renew their drivers license and look at the New York Times,” said Joel Elias, coordinator of the TechAge Learning Center. Started in 2000 by Jewish Community Center staff, TechAge is run by a group of 79 volunteers dedicated to teaching adults 45 and older about computers. Starting with an “Introduction to Computers” class, the center in its 11 years has provided more than 3,500 older adults with

classes, seminars, open computer labs, and more. Agnes Gebauer, 75, decided to take a class because she felt intimidated by her husband’s computer knowledge. “I think it was largely the fact that he knew so much and I knew so little,” she said. “I wanted to be at an equal or slightly higher level.” Gebauer heard about the TechAge Learning Center from her neighbor. As a former school teacher, Gebauer was familiar with Microsoft Word. Now she knows much more. She said she’s gained a lot of practical computer knowledge and advice

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from the classes and instructors at public are always welcome. On Wednesdays, current TechAge the center. She’s learned editing techniques, shortcuts and how to students can receive expert help with any computer issue from instructors email her grandchildren. “I just personally feel I’m a bit Craig Cucchi and Jay Kornguth during better than I was,” she said. “It’s more an “Ask the Pros” session. Periodic the internal security of being more in seminars are offered throughout the year on everything from computer command.” Courses typically meet once a security, social networking and Skype week for two hours in the morning, to iTunes, iPhones and iPods, all afternoon or evening, and typically of which are free and open to the run for eight weeks. The classes public. During a recent Microsoft 2007 ‘maximum size is 10 students. They can cost anywhere from $40 to $75. class, Pat Anderson instructed a class Classes are broken up by basic, of seven students, along with the help intermediate and advanced levels, with of coaches Kathi Amish and Betsy the offerings changing throughout Sconﬁetti. “One of the nice things about the year. The 2011 schedule includes several introduction to computer having three coaches is if someone classes, Internet and email, Google, needs additional help, we’ll assign a Microsoft Word 2007, intro to digital coach to that person,” said Elias. “We photography, digital photo editing, like to keep people moving in the class and cards, crafts, calendars and and keep them up to speed with the more. The cost of the class includes a class, and if they need additional help, guidebook which students can keep it’s available for us to do that.” A former K-8 teacher and after the course is completed. Introduction to computers is computer programmer for the University of Rochester, Anderson has Elias’ favorite class. “We start them by turning on been volunteering with the TechAge the computer and having them use Learning Center for six years. She the mouse, and we take them all the said teaching adults over 45 is much easier. way to the Internet “There’s no and email in the eight discipline problems weeks,” he said. “The and they all want to students love the class be here,” she said. and I love teaching “But you have to it.” separate husbands You don’t have and wives.” take classes to take Instructors like to advantage of the keep the tone light and learning center. There fun. If it’s not fun, they are also free open don’t want to come, labs from noon to 2 Anderson said. p.m. Monday through Marie D’Lima, Friday where adults 45 an instructor and and over can use their publicity chairperson own laptops or the for the center, finds center’s computers to students are anxious surf the Internet, send to learn. email and enhance their “Now with skills with assistance everything being on from coaches. TechAge the Internet, they have students often come to know how to use in during lab hours Joel Elias, coordinator it,” D’Lima said. t o c o m p l e t e t h e i r of the TechAge Learning “This is basically homework and walkCenter. just to keep up ins by the general

Rochester TechAge Adult Computer Learning Center offers:

• Classes: The schedule usually includes Intro to Computers, Internet and email, Word 2007, digital photography, and more. • Ask the Pros: TechAge students can receive expert help with computer issues during“Ask the Pros” sessions on Wednesdays with instructors Craig Cucchi and Jay Kornguth. • Free Open Labs: Any adults over 45 are welcome to use the Center’s computers from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday to surf the Internet, send emails, and enhance their computer skills with assistance from coaches at no cost. • Gift Certificates are available. The TechAge Adult Computer Learning Center is located at the JCC and can be reached at (585) 461-2000 ext. 463. You do not need to be a JCC member to participate in TechAge or use the Learning Center. Visit www.RocTechAge.org for more information, or to learn more about volunteer opportunities. with society, the world, and your children.” Older adults sometimes lack conﬁdence in their ability to grasp new technology, she said “People come in uptight, unsure if they can learn this,” said D’Lima. “Many don’t think they can do it at this age.” Having older coaches and instructors makes students much more comfortable, she added. Concerns about security is another reason seniors avoid using or buying things off the Internet. “We try to guide them through that,” said Elias. “We tell them what to avoid; don’t respond to junk email, avoid Internet sites that might compromise their security. We teach them how to create secure passwords and to never give out July / August 2011 - 55 PLUS

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becoming computer savvy personal information in an email or on a website if they’re solicited to.” Elias begins each session by asking students what they’d like to get out of the class. When it’s complete, students fill out evaluations to determine which things they can do on their own when they get home, which tasks they still need to refer to the manual to complete, and which tasks they need help with. “Our goal is for people to be able to go out and do it on their own,” he said. Ask the volunteers and they’ll tell you they get just as much satisfaction out of volunteering at the Center as the students gain knowledge. I love it,” said Anderson. “I get so energized because of their enthusiasm. You can see it in their faces.” Elias, 67, retired as a research chemist from Dupont at 51. Elias responded to a poster seeking volunteers for the TechAge Adult Computer Learning Center 11 years ago. Now he’s hooked. “I’ve been having so much fun, and time flies,” he said. A nine-member Council for TechAge runs the show, and volunteers put in many hours helping as instructors, writing curriculum, or helping with administrative functions such as registration, scheduling and accounting. The Center holds a recognition dinner for volunteers in May. Elias said TechAge is always looking for people with computer skills who enjoy teaching to volunteer as instructors, coaches, and more. D’Lima said volunteering with TechAge has given him a sense of fulfillment after retirement. “We come out of this professional scenario and we have no where we can go to use our skills and expertise,” she said of 50-somethings. “This is about the best thing that could happen to a retired person, some structure, motivation, and it beats the heck out of sitting home watching television.”

my turn By Bruce Frassinelli

The Day I Die How I want my family to handle my funeral arrangements

have just ﬁnished committing to writing my wishes for the handling of my funeral service and the post-service gettogether I am requesting. The mere idea of this exercise is driving my wife, Marie, nuts, because she doesn’t want to think about death — hers or mine. Although I am in great health, I have just hit 72, so I can hear the tick-tick-tick of our mantle clock just a little louder these days, so I thought it would be a good idea to make my wishes ofﬁcial. Sort of gives a new meaning to the phrase “death wish,” don’t you think? After all, some can view these requests as a bit on the morbid side, but I am relying on Marie and my son, Mike, to carry out my wishes.

Here are some of my requests: • Be cremated in the most economical way possible — I am sure this will endear me in perpetuity to the local funeral director who might have been salivating at a big payday. • Don’t have an open-casket viewing — I just can’t bring myself to the thought of having relatives and friends standing or kneeling by the casket, elbowing each other and commenting, “Didn’t they make him up to look good?” • Have a memorial service that is not somber but one that celebrates my life. As part of this service, I would like to invite family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances to share recollections and reminiscences that are apropos of the things I did or said during my lifetime — I am really curious how this will play out with the parish priest, who might not go along with the plan. If that happens, I am

The mere idea of this exercise is driving my wife, Marie, nuts, because she doesn’t want to think about death — hers or mine. asking Marie and Mike to take the “event” to an establishment whose owner might appreciate the ﬁner points of life (or, in this case, death). • Have after this service a “let’s celebrate Bruce’s life” gettogether, which includes food and drink following the service at a location that beﬁts the occasion, where people can have a chance to enjoy each other’s company and to reminisce. Even though I might not be there to enjoy it, I would like the bartender to make a chilled Manhattan up with two cherries — my favorite drink — and have it sit on the bar for the duration. I would like ‘50s and early-‘60s music played to commemorate how much I enjoyed this musical era and the wonderful memories it held for me and those of my age. I want “Moments to Remember” by The Four Lads featured prominently. I would truly enjoy being “roasted”

by anyone in attendance, especially my children who do hilarious imitations of my idiosyncrasies even now. My hope is that I can be aware of what is being said so I can join in the laughter; it would be a shame to miss what people had to say about me that they might not tell me to my face. I want Marie to engineer all of this, because her organizational skills are legendary. In the event she predeceases me or declines this “honor,” then I appoint my son, Mike, whose quirky sense of humor parallels mine. The fact that we are both journalists might explain it. When I showed Marie this document, she was horrified. When it comes to christenings, first holy communions, confirmations, weddings and, yes, funerals, she is dogmatic in her reverence for these milestones She admits being torn; on the one hand, she wants to respect my wishes in death, but, on the other, she doesn’t want me to become the punchline of a community joke. She says, though, that she takes comfort in the expectation that I will outlive her, so she will not have to deal with “the situation” — as she calls it. I end my official request this way: “While I understand that some of these requests may be seen to be a bit unorthodox, I ask my family to acquiesce to and embrace my wishes.” The document is typed, dated, notarized and crisply folded. It sits next to my will and nearby the ticking mantle clock waiting for something to happen. Email the author at bfrassinelli@ptd.net July / August 2011 - 55 PLUS

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Enraptured with Raptors

Retired science teacher has brought the majesty of New York’s raptors to children and adults around the Rochester region for about 30 years By Mike Costanza

bird of prey need not do much to impress its audience. Ron Walker, founder and director of Friends with Feathers, Ltd., says that he only has to hold one of the nonproﬁt’s snowy owls or other raptors aloft to draw an “ooh” from those before him. “I tip my hand just a little bit, so they spread their wings,” the 72-yearold says.

Walker, who is also the nonproﬁt’s educator and principal volunteer, has brought the majesty of New York’s raptors to children and adults around the Rochester region for about 30 years. The retired science teacher says that he developed an interest in birds of prey back in about 1980, when he worked part-time as chief naturalist for the Cumming Nature Center,

the Rochester Museum and Science Center ’s environmental education center in Naples, Ontario County. While giving educational talks about the center’s raptors, Walker was struck by visitors’ reactions to the birds. “I saw how fascinated people were when they came to Cumming and watched the programs,” he says. When Cumming’s director asked July / August 2011 - 55 PLUS

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Walker to care for about ﬁve of the birds as a cost-cutting measure, he agreed, and built pens for the birds in his Avon home’s backyard. For about a year, he brought them back and forth to the nature center for educational programs while feeding them and cleaning their cages, all while working full-time as a teacher. In 1989, Cumming announced that it could no longer afford to keep the raptors in its collection, or its chief naturalist. It laid Walker off, but allowed him to retain the birds for which he’d been caring, he says. Raptors are considered natural resources under state and federal law, Walker says. Private citizens can’t own them, though the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the US Department of the Interior allow private citizens who meet their requirements to retain and care for such birds. The agencies would only allow Walker to keep the raptors in his possession if he formed a nonproﬁt for

More About Friends with Feather? For more information about Friends with Feathers, go to www.frontiernet.net/ ~friendswithfeathers. the purpose of doing so, and Friends with Feathers was born in 1990. Since then, a network of veterinarians and wildlife rehabilitators across the state has sent raptors to the nonproﬁt, Walker says. These days, 17 birds, including barred owls, red-tailed hawks and a turkey vulture call the 4,200 square foot structure that Walker built in his backyard home. All are no longer physically able to return to the wild, 14 of them due to the long-term effects of injuries they sustained through contact with man or his creations.

Ron Walker, founder and director of Friends with Feathers, Ltd, during a presentation late last year at Senior Lunch Bunch at Webster’s United Church of Christ. The retired science teacher spends part of his time showing different audiences a wide variety of raptors. 38

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“They came into contact with us, or the wires that we have strung up, or ran into one of the cars or trucks that we were driving,” Walker says. From September to June, Walker loads about three of the birds in their heavy pens into his car several times a week, and trundles them off to a school, church meeting room or other location. There, he gives lively, detailed presentations about the birds, and their value to the local ecology. Few may know, for example, that 70 percent of a raptor’s diet consists of shrews, moles, mice and other pests. “Without the birds of prey around, these populations would explode,” Walker says. Walker takes his birds around the area 10 months a year, helping everyone from elementary school students to senior citizens to learn about them. Thirty-four members of the Senior Lunch Bunch at Webster’s United Church of Christ sat enthralled one recent winter’s day as Walker introduced them to a red-tailed hawk, snowy owl, and barn owl. “It was absolutely fabulous,” says Ruth Morrill, who heads the group. Ken Clum says that he particularly enjoyed Walker’s presentation about barn owls. “I thought it was good—very knowledgeable,” the 83-year-old Webster resident says. Walker says that he presented his raptors program about 160 times last year alone. Donations from the organizations to which he presents those programs go to Friends with Feathers, and are used to cover the cost of feeding and caring for the nonproﬁt’s birds. Working with raptors does have its risks, Walker says. Though he handles them carefully and wears heavy leather gloves when he does so, the birds are not pets, and can lash out at the unwary with beak or claw seemingly without warning. Walker has suffered slashes or other injuries at the hands of his charges, several times, he says. “You can get hurt seriously if Continued on page 41

hearing By Larry Medwetsky

Hearing Loss and the Aging Parent Individuals with hearing loss are often the last to find out they have a hearing loss

s someone with aging parents, you may have experienced on occasion — if not frequently — difficulty communicating with them. Such difficulty may have occurred over a family dinner, on the telephone or if there was much background noise. You may have found yourself repeating information or talking louder or your parent may have given an answer that had nothing to do with a question you posed. It may have taken you some time to figure out that hearing loss may be the underlying cause for these difficulties. Hearing loss is usually very gradual and impacts individuals differently depending on the listening setting. For example, your parent may not experience much difficulty in a quiet room, but may reveal significant difficulty in noisy settings or if they are not facing you. Individuals with hearing loss are often the last to find out they have a hearing loss since they often don’t know what they are missing. In addition, they may also be having difficulty accepting the fact that they are getting older. Consequently, seniors often do not seek the hearing help they need. Hearing loss is one of the most common disabling conditions impacting seniors. Although the overall prevalence of hearing loss is approximately 11 percent, this percentage varies greatly with age. The following represents the

approximate percentage of hearing loss by age:

AGE

PREVALENCE

55 65 75 85

15% 33% 50% 75%-80%

Hearing loss can signiﬁcantly affect one’s quality of life. It can impact the ease of communicating with others, often resulting in increased frustration and stress. Because many leisure settings are noisy (restaurant, dinner party) or involve listening to sound at a distance (movie or play), individuals with hearing loss often have difﬁculty in these settings. Consequently, they may socially

withdraw from these settings as well as experience increased anxiety or depression. However, one can mitigate many of these negative outcomes. There is so much that is now available to help individuals with hearing loss. The advent of the computer age has resulted in highly advanced technology — such as digital hearing aids, ampliﬁed telephones and TV listeners, and hearing aid compatible blue-tooth devices for easy connection to cellphones and computers, to name a few. In addition, hearing aids have become more discrete and cosmetically appealing, thereby, overcoming many of the objections seniors used to have previously. What can you do? You can have a comprehensive hearing assessment — most hearing tests are covered by insurance except for the co-pay. However, you may ﬁnd your parent resisting going forward. If so, encourage them to focus on what they are “missing” and how much you want them to “enjoy life through good hearing.” By addressing their hearing loss, they will not only hear better but feel better as well. Larry Medwetsky, Ph.D. is the director of quality assurance and special projects at Rochester Hearing and Speech Center. For more information, call the him at 585-2710680, ext 1245, or visit www.rhsc.org. July / August 2011 - 55 PLUS

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visits

NYC’s Green Jewel

Central Park is the green jewel of the Big Apple and one of the world’s most visited parks receiving 35 million visitors a year By Sandra Scott

ew York City is many things to many people. The city is a Mecca for lovers of theater, art, history and museums. Amazingly, all of those aspects can be found in one tranquil green location in the middle of the pavement and skyscrapers. The 843 acres of Central Park in the heart of Manhattan has something for everyone. Central Park was designed in part by Frederick Law Olmstead and embodies his concept that public parks should be equally accessible to everyone, which was not the case in the 1800s. Prior to the creation of Central Park most parks were established by, and 40

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reserved for, the elite. Designed in the mid-1800s it is the centerpiece of New York City’s parks system and the ﬁrst man-made public park in the United States. Central Park offered respite from the chaotic noise of the industrial growth that was transforming the city — and still does. Construction took nearly 15 years. Stretching north from 59th Street to 110th Street, the park has 46 bridges and arches, seven bodies of water, 21 playgrounds, 58 miles of paths for pedestrian and horseback riders, and nearly seven miles of roadways for carriages, joggers and bikers. For Nature Lovers — The diverse landscape of Central Park

includes open ﬁelds, walking trails and ponds. Currently the Central Park Conservancy is sprucing up and restoring the park to its original splendor, caring for its 24,000 trees, 250 acres of lawns, 150 acres of water bodies, and 136 acres of woodlands. About 275 species of birds have been spotted in the park. So whether it is walking in the woodland area known as The Ramble, having a picnic lunch on the Great Lawn, boating on the pond, or just people watching from one of the park’s 9,000 benches, visitors will ﬁnd something to delight them. Remembering — The park’s oldest structure is Blockhouse

No. 1 built during the War of 1812 on the site where the British kept track of Colonial troops during the Revolutionary War. One of the newest and most visited places is Strawberry Fields. Located near Central Park West between 71st and 74th streets, Strawberry Fields is a 2.5-acre area that pays tribute to the late John Lennon, of the Beatles fame. The songwriter, musician and peace activist lived with his wife Yoko Ono in the Dakota Apartments just steps from the park. It is where Lennon was murdered in 1981. Strawberry Fields opened Oct. 9, 1985, the 45th anniversary of John Lennon’s birth. Annually, on this date, as well as on the anniversary of Lennon’s death, visitors and fans from all over the world flock to Strawberry Fields to pay homage to Lennon’s legacy. Every day flowers are left on the black and white Imagine mosaic. No less popular is the bronzed statue of Balto near the Tisch Children’s Zoo. It is a popular photo spot but many are unfamiliar with Balto’s heroic deed. In 1925 the isolated city of Nome, Alaska, was stricken with diphtheria outbreak. Not enough antitoxin was available to treat all the sick until teams of mushers and sled dogs battled a blinding blizzard and traveled 674 miles to deliver the medicine. Balto, a husky, was one of the heroic lead dogs. The Anchorage to Nome run is remembered yearly with the Iditarod sled race. The park honors real and fictional characters. Near East 74th Street, Alice in Wonderland stands 11 feet tall in bronze, surrounded by the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit and a few of her other friends. The Shakespeare Garden is located near the Delacorte Theatre, the site of the annual “Shakespeare in the Park” series held in the summer. Simon Bolivar, Sir Walter Scott, the 107th Regiment, and Hans Christian Anderson are just a few honored within the park. Things to do — Visit Belvedere Castle. It was intended to be a Victorian Folly. Today the fantasy

structure provides great views and serves as the Henry Luce Nature Observatory with a vast collection of natural history artifacts and displays. Wollman Rink offers ice skating from October to April but the other months the ice is replaced with Victorian Gardens. Young and old will enjoy the Central Park Zoo and the Friedsam Memorial Carousel. In summer, the Great Lawn plays host to free shows courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic. Elsewhere in the park, Rumsey Playfield is the home of SummerStage, a free performing arts festival featuring music, dance, film and more. Visitors can toss a frisbee on the Great Lawn, take a boat ride on The Lake, rent a bike, or go fishing. The Conservancy supplies poles for catch-and-release fishing. Bats, balls, and other game equipment including game pieces to use on their chess and checkers tables are available. The iconic and most touristy thing to do is to go for a spin in a horse-drawn carriage. Regardless of the season the park is beautiful. Often the site for weddings, the flowering trees of spring offer the perfect setting for wedding photos. Summer is the time to attend the concerts while during the fall the Mall lined with elms is splendid and ice skating in the park is a popular winter activity. Year-round the Central Park Conservancy offers walking tours led by experienced volunteer guides. The walks last from half an hour to two hours and take place rain or shine. No reservations are needed. They also offer self-guided audio tours. But visitors are free to wander, explore and get lost in the park. The park is open 365 days a year from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. Central Park is the green jewel of the Big Apple and one of the world’s most visited parks receiving 35 million visitors a year. For New Yorkers and tourists alike the park is a wonderful oasis in the middle of one of the world’s most dynamic cities. Visit centralpark.com and centralparknyc.org. for more.

Enraptured with Raptors Continued from page 37 you don’t watch them and read their feathers and their eyes and their looks,” Walker says. The raptors also require a great deal of care. Though two local veterinarians voluntarily treat the birds when necessary, Walker says that all the day-to-day work of caring for them falls on his shoulders. He spends about three hours a day just cleaning their cages, and additional time feeding them the eight rats and dozens of mice that make up their diets. The work has grown more difﬁcult, especially in the cold weather, since he developed arthritis in his shoulders. Walker retired from teaching in 1996, and hopes to be able to spend more time with his family. He says that he hopes that someone else will take the reins of Friends with Feathers within the next few years. Until then, he’ll continue working with his feathered friends. “These birds are ambassadors,” Walker says. “They’re one way of getting people to sit down and listen to messages about the environment, (and) about taking care of the environment.” July / August 2011 - 55 PLUS

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By Mike Costanza

Willie Murphy, 74 A true champion, a weight-lifting pro

t just five feet tall and 123 pounds, she may not appear a physical powerhouse, but don’t let her slight-seeming figure fool you. The 74-year-old Rochester resident won first place in World Natural Powerlifting Federation competitions last year, setting a world record for her weight class. On May 22, Murphy competed in the YMCA of Greater Rochester’s Bench Press Competition, a fundraiser for the the Y’s Invest In Youth Campaign. She has also taken hundreds of medals home from track-and-field competitions. 55-PLUS caught the energetic retiree at the Y’s Carlson MetroCenter after her workout. Q. You began running at the age of 60. What was that like for you? A. It took an effort to even walk a quarter mile. I used to run the baseball diamond at Flint Street [Community Center] all by myself trying to build up stamina. Round-and-around-andaround. I enjoyed the freedom of being out in the air myself, just running. I had nobody to run with. You see how the shadow is now? Depending on what time of day it was, I would try to beat my shadow [she laughed]. I got faster and faster. It was fun, and I enjoyed it. After I got stronger with my endurance, I started competition. Before I knew it, I was competing in the 100-meter. Then I said, “Well I’ll do the 200-meter.” Then I tried the 400. But that 1500-meter—that took a lot of endurance. I bested a lot of the ladies. Then I said, “What else is there?”

got about a hundred different medals in first place for my age group in track and field—the field would be the shot put. Before I stopped running, I could do the 100-meter in 16 seconds. Q. Twelve years ago, you added pumping iron to your exercise regimen. What drew you to the weight room? A. A lot of individuals my age that I would hang around with, they lifted the weights with the alcohol. When people are retired, a lot of them indulge themselves a little too much. I would leave. They’d say, “Where are you going?” I’d say, “I’m running.” I became stronger by lifting weights to do better in competition and track—that was my first love. It makes your legs stronger when you’re doing different activities. It gives you an edge. I [also] did it for strength training—to push my car, shovel my snow, move my furniture. I wasn’t thinking about power lifting, I was just maintaining, to be healthy. I [also] don’t have to compete against anybody—whereas in track, you compete against seven other ladies. At one time, I was the only woman that lifted weights here. Most people my age, they’re swimmers. I was the outsider, because I’d be with the men, and I’d get so much respect and so much hugs—I loved it. Q. How did you come to take up competitive weight lifting? A. By accident. I was always here just training. A professional trainer here said, “Miss Willie, why don’t you enter the competition?” That was the [World Natural Powerlifting Federation] nationals. I didn’t even realize that I was power lifting until I’d won.

Q. What else was there? A. I took up the shot put. When I started competition, I didn’t even know what a shot put was. I was out in a field throwing rocks. I’m self-taught. Q. How did it feel to win three When I finally bought a shot put, I won second place in the shot put in track times at your first competition? A. I was overwhelmed at first. and field. I used to compete at SUNY Cortland. Two thousand seniors from A lot of people are saying nice around the state would participate. I’ve things about you when you just do it 42

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ordinarily because it’s possible to do. People started saying, “You’ve got the gift.” Then you start to think maybe it is something special. Q. The gift? A. The gift is lifting as much weight as I lift at my age. In the world competition for power lifting in the nationals, the young girls, they have real good coaches and everything ,[but] they couldn’t lift as much as I’m lifting right now. The average weight was 85 pounds on the bench press, and I was doing 120. When I have a spotter I can go higher. A lot of other people can’t do it, so that makes me proud. Q. Tell us ﬁve things that might surprise the folks who know you at the gym. A. I enjoy live theater. I travel— been on 13 cruises around the world at my own expense. I enjoy spending quiet times by myself, but by the same token, I’m very sociable. I enjoy watching old movies. One of my favorites is “The Thief of Baghdad,” with Sabu [a child actor of the 1940s]— I’m dating myself! Another one is On the Waterfront with Marlon Brando. I’m very time-oriented—if I tell you I’m going to be someplace at 11, I’m there at 10 to 11. I don’t think of myself as being old or short or a woman. Q. Why not a woman? A. Because I’m able to do things independently.

a y b d e w o ll o f e b to ly e k li t o N . s r e k ee s h p a r g to u a f o d crow But to us, she’s one of the most important people on earth.

Somewhere along the way, people forgot that being older should make you more important. Not less. But at St. Ann’s, we never forgot. So we do everything we can to provide seniors with exceptional care. We oﬀer a complete continuum of services. We give our residents priority if you ever need the next level of care. And in everything we do, we apply old-fashioned values stemming from our roots in the Catholic tradition. So yes, our approach is somewhat extraordinary. But at St. Ann’s, we believe we’re caring for the most important people on earth. For more information, call Mary Ellen at (585) 697-6311.

www.StAnnsCommunity.com

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55 PLUS - July / August 2011