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I N S I D E … BALTIMORE BEACON — JULY 2020
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Love, marriage in the time of pandemic By Sheri Venema The bride wore sensible sandals and the white lace dress she had fortunately purchased in pre-pandemic times. Her left hand clutched a small bouquet of white and pink roses. The groom wore a dark sports coat with a boutonniere to match her bouquet. Her hair was white; what remained of his was gray. The chapel pews were empty. With their Baltimore County retirement community under lockdown, Helen Baker, 84, and Dan Kott, 82, walked down the hall to the chapel to be married. Only three others were allowed at the April 24 ceremony: an officiant, a photographer and a Scripture reader. As soon as all five were in the chapel, the doors were locked behind them. “It was kind of like we were sneaking around,” Kott said. It wasn’t the wedding they had planned. But their happiness brightened the pandemic gloom for residents at Oak Crest, a sprawling 87-acre retirement community in Parkville operated by Erickson Living. “That marriage was a moment of joy in this time,” said Rev. Emily Holman, an Episcopal deacon and fellow resident of Oak Crest who performed the ceremony. “Everyone was so happy about it.” Kott, a Baltimore native and retired computer programmer analyst, moved to Oak Crest in 2013 with his first wife, who had dementia. Home to about 1,800 residents in independent-living apartments and another 300 in continuing care units, Oak Crest was a good fit. Unfortunately, his wife passed away four months after the move; they had been married for 50 years. Baker, twice-widowed and a retired Baltimore County schoolteacher, moved to Oak Crest early in 2018. “I liked it right from the beginning,” she said. “When I met Dan, I liked it even more.” About nine months after she moved in — Nov. 10, 2018, to be exact — she was taking an evening walk and noticed a friend playing piano. Here’s the story, as they tell it: Kott: “In one of the lobbies on Saturday nights, a lady would come up and play the piano and entertain. I would walk over and listen to the music. A lot of times folks would sing along. “One evening I was sitting there, and Helen was stopping by. There was only one
PHOTO BY JEFF GETEK
Stephen King has called Pelecanos “perhaps the greatest living American crime writer,” and Esquire magazine called him the “poet laureate of the D.C. crime world.” Readers will find detectives, cops, crooks and law-abiding citizens of the D.C. area interacting in dramatic and exciting books such as The Night Gardener, Drama City, Hard Revolution, Soul Circus, Hell to
PHOTO BY ROSA PELECANOS COURTESY OF LITTLE, BROWN AND CO.
Characters are survivors
JULY 2020
More than 125,000 readers throughout Greater Baltimore
Novelist’s unique take on crime By Robert Friedman George Pelecanos is the award-winning writer of 21 novels, all researched, he said, “in the street rather than the library.” Pelecanos, 63, prides himself for prowling mean inner-city streets to get the most accurate descriptions for his crime novels. Lately, though, the Maryland resident has become a homebody, like the rest of us, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s such a tremendous event in the nation’s history,” Pelecanos told the Beacon in a recent interview. “We don’t even know how it is going to play out. “This will certainly impact the people I write about. The most negative effects will be felt by the working class, the people at the bottom,” he said. In addition to publishing bestselling novels, many of which are set in Washington, D.C., Pelecanos is also a writer and producer, along with David Simon, of several highly lauded TV series. Among the most notable was “The Wire,” which was set and filmed in Baltimore. His other TV work with Simon includes “Treme,” shot in New Orleans, and “The Deuce,” set on the seamy side of New York. Currently, Pelecanos is working with Simon and writer Ed Burns on a new TV series also to be set in Baltimore.
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The coronavirus couldn’t stop octogenarians Helen Baker and Dan Kott from tying the knot in April at their retirement community, Oak Crest. The private event was “a moment of joy,” said Rev. Emily Holman, a fellow resident who performed the ceremony.
place to sit, and that was on the sofa next to me. And she did. And I’ll let her tell the rest of the story.” Baker: “I had been in the habit of taking a walk after dinner. So, when I saw Natalie was playing, I thought I’d stop. There was no place else to sit. “At the end, we started to talk, and then we started walking home…He asked me to dinner the next night. We kept on walking and talking and having dinner a lot.”
Best laid plans A year later, the couple was talking about marriage. They reserved Oak Crest’s chapel for a May 2 ceremony and the Garden Room across the hall for a reception. In January, they bought rings. Baker went to Macy’s and found the lace dress. Their families would meet for the first time: Baker’s daughter and two sons from Connecticut, Philadelphia and Baltimore; Kott’s three daughters from Baltimore.
Baker’s three granddaughters would do the readings, and her grandson would play “Amazing Grace” on his saxophone. Then: coronavirus. On Friday, March 13, state and county courts announced they would close, and the couple didn’t yet have a marriage license. “We were really worrying that we wouldn’t be able to get out and get it,” Kott said. But they did, squeezing in just under the wire that day. By Monday, the courts were shuttered. Then, on March 31, Oak Crest went under lockdown. Independent living residents were asked to stay in their apartments. Its dining rooms, snack bars, fitness center and hair salon closed. The pool and gyms closed. No tai chi classes or knitting groups, no mahjong games, no woodworking. The piano in the lobby fell silent. No visitors were allowed from outside the campus. Meals and snacks were delivered directly to apartments. Employees were screened for illness.
Those restrictions proved a bulwark against the virus; as of June 1, Oak Crest reported not one case among its independent residents, according to Oak Crest spokesman Jeff Getek. But all that social distancing didn’t stand in the way of romance. “We used to sneak out in the evening and spend a couple of hours together,” Kott admitted.
The big day The couple decided to move forward with their wedding on April 24. Oak Crest agreed to open the closed chapel for their nuptials. Baker asked Holman, an ordained deacon who has lived at Oak Crest for three years, to officiate. Getek offered to take photos. An Oak Crest pastoral associate would read Scripture. Masks were required. Empty pews. No family, no other friends, no live music, no See LOVE, page B-3
SEE SPECIAL INSERT Housing & Homecare Options following page 12
Born and raised in Maryland, George Pelecanos is author of more than 20 crime novels, most set in the local area. He has also worked as a writer, editor and producer of television series such as “The Wire,” and is now working on a new HBO series. Although he writes about crime, Pelecanos said, “I’m interested in… the social conditions and inequalities that push people to make choices that others, frankly, never have to consider.”
Pay, Right as Rain, The Sweet Forever and King Suckerman. “I write about the people affected by the political system — those who have been ignored yet survived, and who will continue to be ignored and will continue to sur-
vive,” Pelecanos said. As a result, the label of crime fiction doesn’t quite fit his work, he said, which he classifies as “social realism” rather than
Do you enjoy the Beacon? Would you appreciate a monthly email that links directly to our latest issue? Either email your name and address to info@thebeaconnewspapers.com, or fill out our free e-subscription form at bit.ly/beacondrawing, and we will enter you into a random drawing to win one of five autographed copies of George Pelecanos’ latest book, The Man Who Came Uptown.
See PELECANOS, page 21
ARTS & STYLE
From expert lectures to private museum tours, the Art Seminar Group has something for every art lover; plus, Shakespeare classes from home page 20
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