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Bringing new life to senior living!

We are pleased to present to you this edition of the Optimum Life® magazine, where we share the amazing stories of our residents living lives with meaning and purpose. Their stories support our commitment to bringing new life to senior living — changing the perception and experience of aging. The genuine bonds between our residents, their family members, and our associates make the difference for every one of us. Our culture of caring and our mission statement — “Enriching the lives of those we serve with compassion, respect, excellence, and integrity” – are reflected in the Brookdale brand.

And now, we are reigniting the Brookdale brand inside our communities and on national television. We are so proud of our Brookdale associates that are sharing the message on national TV and across the country. But don’t take my word for it: I am turning over the rest of this column to Brookdale’s CEO Andy Smith, because he is so passionate about our brand and our culture. I hope you are, too!

Vice President Resident and Family Engagement

FROM THE EDITOR

BRINGING NEW L IFE TO SENIOR L IV ING

Thanks for this opportunity to share my excitement about Brookdale’s new brand expression.

Let me tell you - it is fantastic! Every time I think about it, either the hair on the back of my neck stands up, or I start crying. This is because the new branding effort reflects what the 80,000 people who work at Brookdale do every day. The activation is centered on our associates and conveys all the emotion that comes with

the Brookdale experience. I know you are going to love it, and I hope it will reinforce the strong relationships I know you already have with our associates.

This new advertising campaign takes you up close and personal with 14 real-life Brookdale associates from around the country. Our associates work directly with residents in their apartments, at the front desk, in the dining hall, and in the clinical areas. They provide residents with programming, assistance, meals, and clean apartments. They provide therapy and home health, and, most importantly, they care deeply about the people they spend their days and nights with. If you know any of these associates personally, please tell them “thank you” from me. And go ahead and share my thanks with all of the associates you know in your community. They are the lifeblood of Brookdale!

At Brookdale, we have elected to look at aging differently. We see the dignity of aging as a mission, a coming-together and a calling to push the limits of how we can best serve our residents and their families. Growing old and becoming more isolated has become accepted as “the norm.” We reject that notion. Growing distant is no match for the close relationships we form with each resident and family member we serve. Disconnectedness and isolation are replaced with the connected community in which you live.

Brookdale is bringing new life into senior living from every angle. We have the largest network of senior living options that puts us closer to the greatest needs of people. And yet, we will always be dedicated to genuine relationships with each resident and family member. Thank you for allowing Brookdale to be such an important part of your life!

Chief Executive Officer

FROM THE CEO

BRINGING NEW L IFE TO SENIOR L IV ING

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“I can’t even imagine how I can possibly give the

residents what they give me.”

Desiree D., Resident Programs Director

“How can we inspire, galvanize and align all 80,000 of our associates around a common purpose? That became the foundation of this brand campaign.”

Will ClarkSVP, Strategy & Brand – Brookdale Senior Living

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“It never feels like I’m going to work because you know

why? It’s too much fun.”

Sandy A., Personalized Living Supervisor

“We hand-picked some wonderful, truthful, heartfelt associates who work at Brookdale, who are going to tell their story directly to camera. And they are going to explain to us what it means to work at Brookdale.

Don SchneiderExecutive Creative Advisor – The Buntin Group

We enrich livesevery day.

2 Brookdale residents help madagascar refugees

A Brookdale community in North Carolina hosted a fundraiser to benefit the furry-faced residents of a very different kind of Assisted Living community.

10 secrets from an insider

Brookdale resident Carol Netzer has written a book revealing an inside look at what Assisted Living is really like.

16 fire and sky

Retired Army Air Force pilot Ray Eby barely survived his fiery World War II battle – in Savannah, Georgia.

24 painting the big picture

More than 250 residents of a Brookdale community in Michigan collaborated to paint a giant 20-foot mural that was entered in the most lucrative art competition in the world.

30 birds of saigon

Larry Chambers, the former Captain of the carrier U.S.S. Midway, reflects on the 40-year anniversary of the Saigon evacuation.

38 The sound of silence

On the outskirts of Portland, Oregon, there is an Assisted Living community that is designed and staffed to serve deaf residents.

CONTENTS

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Editor-in-Chief Sara TerryCreative Director Danelle SadlerDesigner Leisa Bueno

Writer Paul BarnhillCopy Editors Lori Hill Samantha Donaldson Tara ThompsonProduction Coordinator Draper Matthews

46 dangerous flights

World War II ace fighter pilot Ed “Whitey” Feightner volunteered for high-risk duty as a test pilot to protect the lives of his fellow aviators.

52 naida’s sequel

Naida Webster wrote 25 novels that were never published – until a chance meeting with the daughter of her Brookdale neighbor.

58 living colorfully

Residents of a Skilled Nursing community experienced a reawakening of their minds, bodies, and spirits – by painting in an art class.

64 picture the world

Retired photojournalist Carl Purcell reflects on a 68-year career of traveling the world, documenting the work of American aid volunteers.

72 Brookdale Culinary Team

On move-in day, new Brookdale residents are greeted at the door of their new home with a housewarming gift they can truly savor.

76 digital seniors

A new survey of seniors highlights the challenges and benefits of electronic connections with family and friends.

80 Mark brooks Changed the future

A Brookdale resident recounts the little-known story of the pivotal role he played in the explosive expansion of the Internet.

88 remembering grants pass

An Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care resident was granted a wish — a return trip to her hometown that stimulated her memories.

94 Reporters undercover brookdale stories

Brookdale residents banded together to publish a newsletter filled with stories of kindness, self-sacrifice, and victory.

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Brookdale Residents Help Furry-Faced

MADAGASCAR’SRefugeeResidents at Brookdale Forest City in North Carolina hosted a fundraiser to benefit a very

different kind of assisted living community that cares for 250 Madagascar refugees

with furry faces.

Those endangered residents are lemurs. Their “assisted

living” community is the Duke University Lemur Center,

an 80-acre forested wildlife preserve.

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Lemurs Have Strange Funny Faces

Most people have no idea what lemurs look like. They live on Madagascar, a remote tropical island near the coast of east Africa.

There are 33 different lemur species, each bearing a slight resemblance to other more familiar animals. Lemurs can display the features of a monkey, a fox, cat, squirrel, or outer space alien.

At first sight, people often study lemurs simply to figure out what they are. Once you are drawn in by their odd faces, it’s easy to imagine personalities behind those strange lovable eyes.

Brookdale Celebrates: Madagascar

This senior-and-lemur connection began with Brookdale Celebrates, a program that presents a variety of fun monthly themes for dining menus and parties that take residents on a tour of world cuisines and cultures.

When Brookdale Forest City introduced the Madagascar theme, it piqued residents’ curiosity. Madagascar is a mystery. Most people know nothing about that obscure island.

Fortunately, the community’s Resident Programs Coordinator, Tish Zimmerman, plans travelogue-themed activities that spotlight each Brookdale

Celebrates country. After Tish learned that Madagascar is the home of the rare lemur, she found a documentary on lemurs hosted by John Cleese for a community matinee.

Monty Python Looks for Lemurs

For Cleese, best known from the Brit-ish comedy TV series “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” that documentary “In the Wild: Lemurs with John Cleese” was a labor of love. He has been drawn to lemurs ever since he was a college student, periodically sneaking away to the Bristol Zoo to see them. In the video, Cleese gushed, “I adore lemurs. They’re extremely gentle, well-man-nered, pretty, and yet great fun. I should have married one.”

The documentary followed an under-taking to repatriate a family of five U.S.-bred lemurs to the rainforests of Mad-agascar’s Betampona Reserve. Those lemurs were released into the native population to mate and introduce new genes to fortify the health of their dwindling numbers. “So they don’t be-come too inbred,” explained Cleese as he tramped through the jungle foliage. “Otherwise, they would get like the British upper class.”

Cleese and his film crew visited the island five months after the American lemur family arrived, to locate them in the wild and see how they were doing.

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The Carolina Connection

Tish found a connection to North Carolina included in that documentary. The lemurs Cleese searched for were dubbed, “The Carolina Five,” because they came from the Duke Lemur Center, a sanctuary managed by Duke University that provides a home to approximately 250 animals. Like the rest of the Forest City viewers, Gilda Deck was surprised. “I had no idea they were here in North Carolina,” she said.

Since the Duke lemurs were wearing tracking tags, Cleese and his crew used scanners to find them, but only managed to film them from a distance. Other lemur species on the island allowed Cleese to get closer as they displayed amusing, human-like behaviors shown in the video. Some lemurs begin their day by sunbathing, sitting upright in a Buddha-like meditation pose. The Sifaka lemur walks upright instead of on all fours. It can gracefully leap from tree to tree like a human acrobat, or sashay across the sand like a ballet dancer. Most comically, it can leap sideways for several yards, then turn to leap sideways in another direction.

In his silly fashion, Cleese imitated the lemur leaps and side-steps for his camera crew and viewers at home. Forest City residents joined the fun by also trying to mimic his lemur dance moves while using their walkers (while associates kept a watchful eye). Resident Johnnie Street said that Cleese

“was funny, and did a good job of explaining things.”

Everyone who watched the video found these creatures “just as cute as they could be,” according to Gilda Deck. But they were dismayed to learn that these adorable animals are endangered. Fifteen lemur species have already been wiped out, and those that remain are threatened by extinction, due to habitat destruction. Slash-and-burn corporate agriculture has destroyed 90% of Madagascar’s forests.

So, the Brookdale Forest City residents used a special piece of technology to discover how they could help the lemurs.

The InTouch Screen

InTouch is a large touchscreen display designed for people who might otherwise feel intimidated by a computer. From a menu of onscreen options, users simply touch the name of the task they want to perform. Brookdale residents use their community InTouch screen to listen to music, play games, find information on the Internet, send email, or create their own personal social network pages.

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Tish and several residents used InTouch to visit the website for the Duke Lemur Center (Lemur.Duke.edu) where they discovered the charity fundraising program, “Adopt a Lemur,” in which donors can “adopt” a lemur for as little as $50 and receive a lemur’s photo, biography, and a certificate of “adoption.” The residents said, “We want to adopt one.” Ruth Taylor wanted to name their adopted lemur. “My first choice is Oscar. If that name is taken, my second choice is Elvis.”

Brookdale Seniors Save Lemurs

Tish turned to Kristina McNeil, Sales & Marketing Director at Brookdale Forest City, for fundraising ideas. Kristina suggested a pocketbook and handbag auction, offering several from her collection.

Residents went to work, soliciting auction donations from their neighbors, families, friends, and outside partners. Donations included brand names like Prada, Coach, and

Dooney & Bourke. While resident Ruth Taylor and her neighbors prepared the bags for display, she joked, “It’s too bad there wasn’t any money left in them.” Residents also helped promote and host the event.

Tish served as auctioneer, having perfected the rhythm and fast pace of an auctioneer’s voice at previous events. Competing bids for the pocketbooks, handbags, and purses raised a total of $200 that day – enough to adopt four lemurs.

Sanctuaries for Residents Great and Small

At the Duke Lemur Center, 250 lemur residents roam the forest, climb trees, play, pick their favorite foods from branches, and sunbathe. Since they are protected and cared for by staff, they are free to do as they wish each day.

Brookdale Forest City is also a sanctuary. The assistance residents receive gives them the freedom to do as they please. They can be entertained, learn a new skill, practice a hobby, surf the Internet – or plan a charity event to save a wide-eyed, furry-faced creature.

A senior community helped a lemur community. Making the world a better place is part of living an Optimum Life.

Early arrivals gather to bid on their favorite designer handbags at the “Adopt a Lemur” Charity Auction.

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SECRETS FROM AN INSIDER

A p s y c h o l o g i s t ’s v i e w

When people consider moving into an Independent or Assisted

Living community, they can imagine all sorts of pleasant or unpleasant scenarios for what their future might hold. They may tour a senior living campus, look at the décor, read the brochures, listen to descriptions of services, and observe residents in the dining room, living room and activity rooms. But still, some mystery remains. In the end, an outsider can only wonder about the possibilities of life in a retirement community. How can you know in advance what it’s really like on the inside?

REVELATIONS FROM AN INSIDER Carol Netzer is an 88-year-old resident of the Brookdale Battery Park retirement community in New York City who has written a uniquely insightful book, “Assisted Living: An Insider’s View,” available now on Amazon.com. That book is supplemented by her online blog, “Overheard in Assisted Living,” providing a steady stream of quotes, observations and stories from

residents that mix wry humor with sobering poignancy. (See sidebar on next page.) Carol is particularly qualified to write about the thoughts and feelings of people trying to adjust and thrive in their new circumstances. She is a retired psychologist who gives adult children and caregivers a revealing peek inside the minds of the elders they care for.

With self-awareness, Carol also bravely exposes her inner struggles to maintain as much independence as possible, while fighting lapses of her own mind and body.

She confesses the mental oversights that alarmed her enough to consider Assisted Living:

“I tried to notice when I mislaid things, and either could not find them again, or found them in an unlikely place. A hairbrush in the laundry. The sugar bowl in the microwave. A blouse in Dick’s old shirt drawer. I asked myself dizzying questions, like ‘How will I know at what point I’ve failed to know my own mind?’ The answer was, I wouldn’t.”

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CAROL NETZER has opened a window to the world in which she lives. People outside now have an inside view of a world that is less of a mystery. People inside now have a brighter view of a world with broader horizons.

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HOUSES AGE TOO Some seniors resist moving to a retirement community, holding fierce attachments to their houses. But Carol saw the stark realities of her old residence:

“At night, in bed, I could not hide from myself the fact that the empty house made me fearful and lonely. My home of 40 years became a querulous stranger, full of demands. If a light blew out, I was afraid to deal with the circuit breakers. The kitchen floor buckled. The heat went off for no sensible reason.”

Among the residents she met in her Assisted Living community, Netzer found others who were glad to be rid of their old houses:

“Those who were widows and widowers or lived alone were relieved not to have all the responsibilities of work or home. Some found it oppressive to live on alone in a space they had shared for many years with a spouse, and were immensely relieved to leave it.”

One room in her house became particularly challenging – the kitchen:

“I used to enjoy cooking. But shopping for ingredients and cleaning up after myself became chores in and of themselves – chores that threatened to reveal other failings.”

Her neighborhood had also changed. Most of Carol’s friends were gone, and the community she knew and loved decades ago no longer existed:

“During the day, I felt out of place among the young and middle-aged in my own beloved neighborhood.”

OVERHEARD IN THE DINING ROOM:

“IF HE’DA LISTENED TO ME, HE’D BE ALIVE

TODAY.”

OVERHEARD IN THE LAUNDRY ROOM:

“HER GRANDSON GOT ON HER NERVES, SO SHE MOVED

INTO ASSISTED LIVING.”

OVERHEARD IN THE ELEVATOR:

“I DON’T THINK IT’S OLD AGE. SHE WAS ALWAYS A

LITTLE PECULIAR.”

OVERHEARD IN THE SWIMMING POOL:

“IT’S SIX WOMEN TO EVERY MAN HERE, SO THAT DOLLED-UP

BIDDIE CAN KISS HER HOPES GOODBYE!”

OVERHEARD IN THE LIVING ROOM:

“DON’T BOTHER WITH THE BRIDGE PLAYERS. THEY’RE

LIKE ROYALTY HERE.”

OVERHEARD IN THE LOBBY:

“THE MEN PAIR UP AS SOON AS THEY GET HERE.

THEY MISS THEIR MOMMIES OR SOMETHING”

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A GUIDEBOOK FOR SENIOR LIVING Carol’s book serves as an invaluable guide for seniors and their adult children to make the transition into a retirement community easier. She offers recommendations on how to “shop” for a retirement community. She explains how community size, policies on resident freedom of movement, types of activities, and the functional abilities of other residents have more impact on your quality of life than stylish décor in the lobby. For residents already in a senior community, Carol also gives practical advice on actions they can take to create a happier life.

SENIORS ARE PEOPLE TOO When an outsider observes the residents of an Assisted Living community, it’s easy to mistakenly view them as a homogenized collection of frail bodies, moving about slowly, always on the edge of hurting themselves. They seem to need constant tending.

But Carol’s book reveals the hidden backgrounds of the intelligent, highly educated and accomplished residents around her. She collects interesting accounts of the senior living experience from her neighbors, including a former biologist, engineer, economist, CEO, neurologist, magazine editor, doctor, psychiatrist, and Harvard professor.

Like any society, this retirement community contains a mix of extraordinary acts of kind support (as well as social cliques, offenses, romantic entanglements, competitions and jealousies). As a retired psychologist, Carol draws back the curtain on the invisible drama and provides insights on the thoughts and feelings of people who are still very much alive in this vibrant and quite serene society.

In one of her blog entries, “Iris the Husband-Stealer” Carol tells the story

of Leah, who lives at Brookdale Battery Park with her second husband, Herb. Thirty years earlier, while she was still with her first husband Robbie, Leah learned he was having an affair with his co-worker, Iris. So, Leah divorced Robbie and later married Herb. And now, husband-stealing Iris has moved into their community, wearing mascara and rouge, still looking for romance.

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Leah described her dilemma:

Herb often played darts with Ivor, a tall, thin widower in his eighties who had owned a string of beauty parlors.

So, Iris became very interested in playing darts.

“Do I have to live my whole life all over again, the aggravation of it?” Leah wailed to Herb.

“You have nothing to worry about,” Herb said. “Iris and Ivor have already arranged to move in together.”

“What? Now I’m really insulted!” Leah replied.

“You’re complaining when you should be happy. What’s wrong with you?”

What’s wrong is that Iris doesn’t think my new husband is good enough to steal!

That’s a real slap in the face from this 85-year-old chippie!

PRAISES AND CRITIQUES OF SENIOR LIVING Carol’s book advocates the positive benefits of living in a retirement community. She writes:

“You are free from the worry of everyday problems. You can do exactly as you please. For many people, this Is the first

time in their lives this is the case, and they want to use the time well. They’re buoyant and curious and develop new interests. They’ve raised a family, sacrificed and worried about it, and now their job is done and they can do as they like without compunction.”

But Carol also offers some criticism. She feels that too much control of residents’ daily lives fosters demoralization and increased dependency. For example, Carol wants the freedom to be picked up by a friend to see an evening concert, then enjoy a late night drink before coming home. Next morning, she wants the option of sleeping late without interruption.

Carol also says typical senior activities of bingo, bridge, and crafts are not enough. She prefers more intellectual activities, such as participating in the play script-reading group, going out to the symphony, or hearing educational presentations on interesting topics.

She believes senior communities could do a better job of matching new residents with others who share the same physical and mental capabilities.

This improves their chances for making new friends and connecting with their new community.

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To illustrate, Carol recounts the story of an outing to see Walden’s Pond in which residents at various levels of mobility were loaded into the van. When they arrived at that tourist attraction, no one was given the opportunity to leave the van, which simply idled in the parking lot for 10 minutes before the return trip home.

Because there were some who could not leave the van and walk to Henry David Thoreau’s cabin, no one else was allowed to. Carol suggests that separate outings for the able-bodied and able-minded would enable them to more fully engage with life and preserve their abilities longer.

SEE THROUGH SENIOR EYES If you have ever wondered how life in an Assisted Living community would look and feel, Carol Netzer lets you see through a senior’s eyes.

Her book, “Assisted Living: An Insider’s View,” is available on Amazon.com – in print for $7.99, or a downloadable electronic version for a Kindle tablet or PC for $3.99.

• If you are a caregiver in a senior living community, Carol’s book can help you understand what it’s like to live in your residents’ shoes.

• If you live in a retirement community, her book can give you the comfort of knowing you are not alone and tips for making your life better there.

• If you are an adult son or daughter of a parent considering a move to an Assisted Living community, Carol’s book can be a gift that helps your parent see the positive possibilities of that transition.

- Carol Netzer

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FIRE & SKYR AY E BY ’ S W O R L D WA R I I B AT T L E I N S AVA N N A H

In most retirement communities, you can find military veterans with stories they seldom tell about harrowing experiences in far-flung places with names like Bastogne, Luzon, Inchon, or Quang Tri City. At Brookdale Greenville in Ohio, you’ll

find a WWII vet who survived a fiery battle in a city that is more familiar and much closer – Savannah, Georgia.

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SEEKING FLIGHT In December 1942, Ray Eby felt a call of duty to enlist. Newspaper reports painted a grim picture of a world where Germany controlled Europe, bombed England, and invaded a large swath of the Soviet Union.

Ray left his father’s farm near Hollansburg, Ohio to join the Army Air Force. But after he completed cadet training, the only air crew instruction available was in the Radio Operators School, which wasn’t Ray’s first choice. He was only two weeks away from graduating that program when flight school openings were announced.

He immediately dropped out of radio school to grab an open slot for one more year of training to become a bomber pilot.

Ray’s introductory flight course went easily as he trained in a Stearman PT-13 biplane and passed his solo test on the first try.

Intermediate training placed him in the pilot’s seat of a twin-engine bomber. In his test for that phase, the instructors completely covered the windshield of his plane. Ray had to take off, and make course changes in direction and altitude, essentially blindfolded.

Finally, Ray moved on to the big prize — advanced training in a state-of-the-art “Flying Fortress” B-17 bomber. He was the co-pilot of a nine-man crew that would train together, then fly together in combat. They christened their plane “The Green Hornet.”

EAGER FOR WAR? During the two years Ray spent in training, he missed the D-Day invasion and the liberation of France and Belgium. Many of his friends were impatient, worried that the war would end before they had a chance to see combat.

But Ray was a 22-year-old married man, not quite as eager as his single crewmates. His wife Norma was ready to start a family and that made him more cautious. He thought about the possibility he could be hit by anti-aircraft flak or strafed by a Messerschmitt fighter over Germany.

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In January 1945, Allied armies were poised to invade Germany, and training for Ray’s crew was finally completed. They were ready to join the war. A FLYING FORTRESS IN FLAMES In the early morning of January 19, it was still dark at the Army air base near Savannah as the Green Hornet taxied out to the runway in the rain. Ray’s crew was about to embark on the first leg of their journey, the “puddle jump” over the Atlantic to an air base in England.

The four engines revved up, and the B-17 began its roll down the runway. As co-pilot, one of Ray’s tasks was to retract the landing gear immediately after takeoff. He had done this so often, he had a sense for the length of time the plane would accelerate before lifting off the runway.

But they went far beyond the usual number of seconds for takeoff. Could they have actually lifted off and Ray simply didn’t feel it? He asked pilot Henry Hale, “Should I pull up the wheels?” Henry replied, “No. We’re not in the air yet.”

Finally, after an anxiously long delay, the B-17 slowly rose a few feet above the runway. In the darkness and rain, they could not see the trees ahead.

A sudden crash broke off the bomber’s left wing, igniting 2,200 gallons of 100 octane fuel. Ray saw a fiery explosion, coupled with the sound of crunching metal and breaking glass. In those first microseconds, he thought they hit another plane. Then, a blow to the back of his head from a loose turret gun knocked him out. Only unconscious for a few moments, Ray awoke to smoke and fire all around him and said, “It’s over with. I’m done for.”

Everything that should have been in front of him — the bomber nose, windshield, instrument panel, the pilot, and even the pilot’s seat were no longer there. The exit behind the cockpit was blocked by flames. So, Ray jumped out of the gaping hole in front to the ground.

To his left, Ray could see a path through the woods, illuminated by the flames. As he ran, the rain on his skin felt like fire. He stopped in a clearing to try moving his arms around into different positions. His limbs seemed to be working properly. There in the darkness, Ray concluded he had not been hurt.

A NINE-MONTH BATTLE An ambulance arrived 10 minutes later to rush Ray and three other survivors to the military hospital in Savannah.

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When Ray wore long sleeves, there was no obvious sign of his fiery ordeal. In those days, “post-traumatic stress” was not in the national vocabulary. If a veteran suddenly woke in the night, thinking he was back at the scene of the battle where he was shot, he never mentioned it. If a former soldier became nervous around the flames of a campfire that reminded of a narrow escape from a burning tank, he would never show it. Ray simply and quietly plodded on, providing for his family as a farmer.

LIVING TO FLY In his 10th year working his farm, Ray was surprised when a farmhand announced he was learning to fly. Since the employee knew about Ray’s background, he asked him to come and watch. While standing at the side of the runway at East Richmond Airport, Ray met three investors who were planning to buy a plane and start a charter service.

He didn’t see how badly he had been burned until he was wheeled into the light of the hospital. Skin from his fingers was barely hanging on. Second or third-degree burns covered 80 percent of his body. All the hair on his head was gone, and the edges of his ears were burned off.

The doctors went to work, only adding to Ray’s pain. They sliced paper-thin sheets of skin from his stomach to perform skin grafts on his right arm and left leg. In recovery, his entire body was wrapped in bandages, with openings for his mouth and eyes. Ray said, “I looked like a mummy.”

His fiery WWII battle became a long and painful nine-month struggle in the hospital, marked by special days. One day in April, Ray’s medical discharge from the Army Air Force was delivered to his bed.

Five months into Ray’s stay, comedian Bob Hope included a visit to the Savannah base hospital during a USO tour. Hope stopped at Ray’s bedside to talk with him for a few minutes. Ray was star-struck, and later admitted, “I can’t remember anything either of us said.”

Ray was still in the hospital in May when word came that Germany had surrendered, followed by Japan in August. There would be no more B-17 bombing missions. Savannah was Ray’s first and last battle. Finally, in October 1945, he was released from the hospital to go home.

FORGETTING THE FIRE When Ray returned to the family farm in Hollansburg, his father bought another 80-acre farm nearby for Ray and Norma, where they worked and raised a son and daughter.

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They were very interested in getting his advice as a pilot.

Ray began to imagine a different career for himself in which he could provide for his family while fulfilling his long lost love of flying. So he began a new chapter by selling the farm and partnering with the three other investors to buy the plane and run the charter. Although his new career required tedious tasks of operations management, he had opportunities to fly from time to time.

One day, Ray met Chet Wagner, the inventor of the high-pressure, deep-fryer who founded the Henny Penny company to manufacture and sell those fryers to restaurants and fast food chains across North America. Wagner’s success enabled him to buy a new top of the line six-seat Piper Aztec. He came to Ray’s airfield ready to pay top dollar to hire a full-time pilot.

Ray imagined what it would be like to escape desk work and just fly for a living. So he sold his share of the charter plane to his partners and became the Henny Penny company pilot. Ray flew to cities all across the U.S. and Canada, sometimes for business, and sometimes just because the CEO felt like enjoying recreational visits to cities like New Orleans, New York, Miami, and San Francisco. Ray says that job “felt like a year-round vacation.”

After a few years, Ray decided to settle down in the final phase of his career by buying a Piper plane dealership and opening a flying school. He got to fly every day and be home with Norma each night.

As Ray was nearing retirement, one of his young students decided to fly over his girlfriend’s house during his first solo flight. Ray recalled, “The kid went too low and was waving at his girlfriend in her front yard when he flew into a tree. He wasn’t hurt, but the plane was totaled.”

He looks up at the clear blue sky and

remembers how it feels to rise off the ground like the morning mist and escape the confines of earth, lifted by wings into the heavens.

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The first and last years of Ray’s flying career were marked by planes flying into trees. The first crash was traumatic and fatal. The last crash was merely expensive.

BACK IN A B-17 Ray is now a longtime resident at the Brookdale Greenville retirement community. He first moved there when it was named Sterling House Greenville.

The Resident Programs Coordinator at the time heard about a B-17 bomber coming to the Richmond Airport as part of a national tour of vintage aircraft. They were charging $350 for rides on a short recreational flight. That price was too steep for Ray, who only charged $3 an hour back in the day when he rented planes. But because of Ray’s wartime service, the operators allowed him to sit in the cockpit for a while.

A few years later, Kristin Stephens, the Resident Programs Coordinator for Brookdale Greenville included Ray on a day trip to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. Once more, Ray got to see a B-17.

FORGETTING & REMEMBERING At 93 years of age, Ray forgets and remembers his past in the best ways possible.

When he sat in a vintage B-17 cockpit once again, he remembered the excitement of flying the most advanced aircraft of his day — the biggest and best toy any young man could ever want. Memories of the crash and his World War II battle in a Savannah hospital faded and lost their sting. He reached out and touched the flight controls once more with wrinkled skin that now hides the scars.

When he looks at a photo of his late wife Norma, Ray’s memories of the 72 years they had together are in sharp focus, but the nine months they were separated during his painful recovery are now a distant blur.

This early riser goes outside every morning with his hoe and trowel to tend the gardens around Brookdale Greenville, finishing his daily tasks before the day shift associates arrive at 7 a.m. As the first rays of sunlight streak across the sky, Ray’s doesn’t think of mornings on the farm that promised another long day of toil.

Instead, he vividly recalls daybreak on the airfield, heralded by the roar of an awakening engine, the smell of a freshly filled fuel tank, and the glint of sunrise reflecting off the windshield of his old favorite yellow Piper Cub. He looks up at the clear blue sky and remembers how it feels to rise off the ground like the morning mist and escape the confines of earth, lifted by wings into the heavens.

The experiences and events described herein are the firsthand accounts of the person who is the subject of the article.

22 | OPTIMUM LIFE

“Stop treating seniors like old people, and start treating

them just like people. You can learn a lot from their

experience and knowledge.”

Cade H., Physical Therapist

“It became apparent to us that there’s a simple thing that brings us all together and that was our mission. Our mission of enriching the lives of those we serve with compassion, respect, excellence and integrity. We Enrich Lives Every Day.”

Will ClarkSVP, Strategy & Brand – Brookdale Senior Living

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“The residents are my family, I have to say. I have about 250 more grandparents than I did

at 18-years-old.”

Daniel N., Dining Services Supervisor

“The core of what we do is 80,000 associates and 100,000 residents caring for one another to enrich each other’s lives.”

Will ClarkSVP, Strategy & Brand – Brookdale Senior Living

24 | OPTIMUM LIFE

From her studio and gallery, Carolyn Stich paints award-winning promotional artwork for city events, and illustrates children’s books.

Yet the works of art she treasures most are first-time creations by novices. This professional is a fan of amateurs. Carolyn believes everyone has the capacity to express something through art. That’s why this recruiter for the arts teaches classes for residents at Brookdale’s Freedom Village retirement community in Holland, Michigan. Among her eldest students, Carolyn watches their spirits lift and minds sharpen.

And when people buy their artwork at Freedom Village charity fundraisers, those retirees feel a sense of purpose, knowing their work benefits worthy causes. However, these events can also be a hindrance to new student recruitment.

Paintingthe Big Picture

Carolyn says, “When other residents see the high quality of work, many feel too intimidated to join my class.”

25 BROOKDALE.COM |

The Big-Easy Art ProjectCarolyn met with Marcia Schrotenboer, the Director of Resident Programs at Freedom Village Holland, to talk about resident reluctance to pick up a paintbrush or pencil. What could they do to convince novices that artistry is within their grasp? How could they make a first-time art project as simple as possible, for as many people as possible?

Together, they hatched an ingenious plan. Instead of making art easier by thinking small, they would make it easier by going big. How big? Imagine a wall mural measuring 5-feet tall by 20-feet wide.

To get the project started, Carolyn created a painting in the minimally detailed style of a children’s book illustration. Her panoramic scene depicted an elderly man walking down a pathway in a park with his small grandson at his side. She titled her work “Path of Wisdom.” The canvas measured one-foot by three-feet wide.

Carolyn took a photograph of that painting and selected a specialty shop to enlarge the image on a massive five-by-20-foot print. In her studio, she marked a grid pattern on the back of the entire surface, numbering each grid. She then cut up the huge print along the grid lines to produce 400 numbered pieces, each only six-inches square.

Small Pieces for a Big MosaicWhile Carolyn’s art class at Freedom Village customarily drew less than 10 residents, the April social that promised to reveal plans for the new community art project attracted more than 150.

At this inaugural event, Carolyn explained the plan. Residents would take a numbered six-inch square from the print and duplicate that piece by painting a numbered blank white square. The 400 painted squares would later be assembled like mosaic pieces to form a massive wall mural. The task of duplicating a square was so small and simple, anyone could do it. Yet, the size and scope of the combined artwork would be challenging enough to draw in the whole community. When complete, the impressive mural would be something they could be proud of — proud enough to enter in an art contest.

Marcia gave her residents an ambitious goal. If they finished their mural in 60

days, they could meet the June 18 deadline to exhibit it in the most lucrative art contest in the world. A major international art competition is hosted annually in nearby Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Yes, Grand Rapids.)

BIG ART FOR BIG PRIZESCertainly, there are more prestigious art competitions in New York and London, but none award more money than ArtPrize – $500,000, including two $200,000 Grand Prize awards and eight category awards of $12,500 each. Most of those awards are determined by spectator votes. Now in its seventh year, ArtPrize typically draws 400,000 attendees and more than 1,500 competitors from 50 states and 47 countries.

At the Freedom Village mural project kickoff, most who began painting that day were novices. But a few, like Thea and John Beebe, had practiced art hobbies for years. Thea still creates paintings and colored pencil sketches while John specializes in photography and wood crafting. Whenever family or friends visit the Beebes’ apartment, they often see a new creation on display and exclaim, “YOU did that?” The Beebes worked on their mosaic pieces in tandem.

Thea sketched on the blank squares in pencil. Then, John painted each one, following her lines. On that first day, Freedom Village residents created 80 of the needed 400 squares. From April until June, most mural pieces were painted each Tuesday during “ArtPrize Workshop.”

During those 60 days, more than 250 residents participated. Hidden MessagesAs Freedom Village residents painted their mosaic pieces, they added something of themselves to leave behind. They were encouraged to write words of advice to their grandchildren on their squares,

27 BROOKDALE.COM |

using colored felt tip pens that were slightly darker than the paint colors they used. Their messages would be too faint to be noticed in a full panoramic view of the mural. You wouldn’t see them unless you were close. Most of these nuggets of wisdom residents hid in the mural were words of spiritual inspiration.

A few contributed witty advice:

“If you are not happy where you are – move. You’re not a tree.”

“A penny saved isn’t much.”

“Learn the rules – so you can break them properly.”

“Don’t burn the bridges in front of you.”

“Don’t do anything you can’t tell your grandmother about.”

Peg Van Grouw decided she wanted to move to Freedom Village before construction was completed 24 years ago. Peg and fellow resident Thea Beebe joined to contribute their penmanship by clearly writing messages on the squares for their neighbors who found it difficult

to keep a perfectly steady hand. On one particular slip of paper, a resident had written the saying, “A Stich in Time Saves Nine.” Peg caught the misspelling of “Stitch,” but she decided to write it into the mural as written, in homage to her longtime friend, artist Carolyn Stich.

By the first week of June, Freedom Village residents had painted 300 of the 400 mural pieces, so the community staff planned a final social, a “100 to Go Marathon,” to finish the mural. At that event, Cathy Benedict, another 24-year Freedom Village resident, painted the square to be mounted in one of the last spots to complete the mural.

In the days that followed, residents walked along the length of the mural, looking for the mosaic pieces they painted. Carolyn observed, “Their faces lit up when they recognized their handiwork and saw how their squares fit with all the others like a puzzle. I don’t think they considered the work they did on their small pieces valuable until they saw the big picture.”

Whenever residents Thea and John Beebe show the finished mural

to awestruck family and friends, John remarks with a grin, “The squares that look really good are the ones we did.” Seeking a Big Place for a Big Mural Freedom Village Director of Resident Programs Marcia Schrotenboer discovered that finding a venue willing to display their contest entry was more difficult than creating it. ArtPrize entries must be exhibited at one of 162 registered venues within a two-square-mile radius of downtown Grand Rapids. Initially, she solicited the most desirable locations, such as the Grand Rapids Art Museum. All turned her down. She applied at more venues and received more declines. Each week that passed,

residents repeatedly saw Marcia’s bulletin update, “Still no venue.” The June 18 reservation deadline was approaching fast. Last-Minute Drama More rejections arrived in Marcia’s inbox June 17. But then, a last-minute acceptance message appeared from the Grand Rapids Downtown Market, a high-traffic venue that features an outdoor Farmer’s Market and an indoor Market Hall with specialty food shops and restaurants, a garden, and a cooking classroom. This “Yes” was a major victory. Marcia and her associates decided to keep their big news a secret.

They distributed special event flyers in all resident mailboxes with an urgent message from Executive Director Russ Turecky, “It is very important that you come to a social I will be hosting tomorrow night. I can’t tell you why.” This cryptic message created curiosity, concern, and speculation about what sort of good news or bad news might be in store for Freedom Village.

The next day, more than 250 residents gathered at 3 o’clock in the afternoon for a social that was much larger than their typical “Thirsty Thursday” event.

After Marcia announced the ArtPrize venue reservation deadline was only

two hours away, associates periodically

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walked up to hand her batches of decline messages from exhibit venues. Marcia read the emails aloud in a disappointed tone, as if she were seeing these rejections for the first time. Resident Cathy Benedict later commented, “Marcia deserved a Best Actress Oscar for her performance.” But finally, in a dramatic twist, art teacher Carolyn excitedly ran into the room, exclaiming, “Wait! Wait!” and handed Marcia the acceptance email from the Grand Rapids Market.

Cue the applause, cheers, and champagne celebration.

Preparing to PromoteArtPrize 2015 ran for three weeks. To vote, attendees used one of the voting stations at various locations throughout the event areas. Freedom Village Holland residents pre-registered to attend ArtPrize and soliciting their families and friends to also come and vote. During the event, residents promoted their entry by passing out photos of the mural printed on postcards with their Vote Code # 61700.

A Mosaic of PeopleVincent Van Gogh said, “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”

Each of those small mosaic pieces painted by a resident is unique – with colors, shapes, textures, and lines that make it different from all the rest. And

each individual square fits perfectly in one particular space that none other can fill. When they join together, we can see the big picture.

Likewise, the community at Freedom Village Holland is a human mosaic.

Look closely to see the faces of residents at all the ages and stages of life, surrounded by faces of associates who serve as their caregivers, cooks, cleaners, nurses, therapists, drivers, administrators, party planners, and art teachers. Then, step back for perspective, and you’ll see the big picture.

When all these individuals join together, they form

the panorama of a family portrait.

30 | OPTIMUM LIFE

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In oceans around the world, remote-controlled, deep-sea probes explore the seabed. Often equipped with sonar, floodlights and an HD camera, these robotic underwater

vehicles are used by oceanographers, oil companies, and treasure hunters. Someday, one of these probes may survey a particular section of the ocean floor beneath the South China Sea where sonar will detect unusual shapes ahead. It will alert the crew of the ship on the surface above to turn on the probe’s floodlights and video camera. On their screens, they will be startled to see a bizarre undersea panorama that baffles them.

HelicoptersHelicopters scattered haphazardly on the seabed. Helicopters of all sizes and shapes, including Hueys, Sea Knights, Sikorsky Sea Stallions and Jolly Green Giants, and huge Chinook dual-rotor behemoths. Some rest on their side, some are upside down, and others right side up. Corrosion and an assortment of crustaceans have established a foothold on each fuselage, but there are no bullet holes or rocket blasts, and no skeletal remains of pilots or crew. There is no apparent reason why these empty undamaged military aircraft worth millions of dollars are resting at the bottom of the South China Sea.

At Brookdale’s Freedom Plaza retirement community in Sun City Center, Florida, there is a resident who knows why those helicopters are on the ocean floor.

He put them there

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NO eASY WAY OUTForty years ago, Larry Chambers was on the South China Sea 100 miles off the coast of Vietnam aboard the aircraft carrier USS Midway. Larry was the Commanding Officer.

In April 1975 the Midway and two other carriers were stationed with approximately 40 other ships of various types from the 7th Fleet.

Their mission was to serve in a support role for the pending evacuation of Saigon. The exit plan, code-named “Operation Frequent Wind,” was devised several years in advance, complete with an order of priority for evacuees, bus routes to Tan Son Nhut Airport, and scheduled use of commercial airliners.

However, this step-by-step airlift plan was jeopardized by approaching North Vietnamese forces. Since most American troops had withdrawn, the North Vietnamese escalated their campaign in March and April, moving south with a surprising speed that brought them close enough to Saigon on April 27 to begin targeting the airport. Rockets and artillery shells rained down, cratering runways, damaging aircraft and killing two Marines.

When the airport was shut down on the morning of April 29, the orderly evacuation plan that mostly relied on airplanes was scuttled. Helicopters were the only remaining option for rescuing the thousands who needed to escape Saigon.

A White Christmas in Saigon

That morning, the announcer on the Armed Forces Radio station in Saigon broadcast a strange lead-in. “The temperature is 105 degrees and rising,” he said before playing Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas.” That was the pre-arranged signal for key Americans and hand-picked Vietnamese to go to their designated assembly spots and be picked up by buses bound for helipads at the Office of the Defense Attaché and the American Embassy.

APRIL 1975

APRIL 29EVACUATIONBEGINS EARLY

MORNING

KEY AMERICANS & VIETNAMESEASSEMBLE TO

DESIGNATED AREAS

APRIL 27NORTH VIETNAMESE DAMAGE AMERICAN AIRPORT RUNWAYS

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That afternoon, approximately 100 Air Force, Marine, and Air America (CIA contractor) helicopters began flying sorties back and forth between Saigon and the Navy ships, carrying American civilians, contractors, and their South Vietnamese dependents. These back and forth flights would continue non-stop around the clock for the next 18 hours.

Many had worked for the U.S. military or other government agencies and feared reprisal executions, imprisonment, or internment in communist “re-education camps.” At-risk Vietnamese government officials, senators, military officers and their families were given priority.

A Sacrifice of Birds

On the carrier Midway, Larry was amazed to see a 13-passenger Huey helicopter land and unload more than 50 desperate people. It was a sign of things to come. He kept flight operations moving at a rapid pace, allowing helicopters to only stay on deck long enough to drop off passengers, take on fuel, and lift off back to Saigon.

The flight deck of the Midway was already crowded with Marine and Air Force helicopters, deck crew, and refugees when new unexpected guests flew in from the west and circled above the carrier. They were South Vietnamese helicopter pilots who filled their aircraft with family and friends.

In interviews for the Tampa Times, Optimum Life magazine, NPR, and NavyHistory.org, Larry recalled those 18 hours were “controlled chaos.” “We were evacuating people all night,” he said. The ship’s crew fed more than 3,000 refugees and gave up their bunks to allow the Vietnamese to rest.

The next morning there seemed to be no end in sight for the Midway crew when yet another unexpected guest flew in from the west. It was a Cessna single-engine prop plane dubbed a “Bird Dog.” Although it resembled a common Cessna civilian plane, the Bird Dog model was designed for military reconnaissance. This one was piloted by a Vietnamese Air Force major who loaded his family onboard and followed the evacuation helicopters out to sea to find the Navy fleet.

Seeing the steady stream of helicopters, thousands of panicked South Vietnamese surrounded the embassy gates trying to get in.

18 HOURS OFNON-STOP

EVACUATIONSCONTINUE

MIDWAY WAS OVERCROWDED

WITH HELICOPTERS

“BIRD DOG” CESSNA ARRIVES

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Larry explained, when a man has the courage to put his family in a plane and make a daring escape like that, you have to have the heart to let him in.

Without a working radio, the Cessna pilot made a low pass to drop a note on the Midway flight deck. On three attempts, he saw his notes bounce

off into the water. On the fourth attempt, he dropped a note stuck to his pistol. That note read, “Can you move the helicopters to the other side? I can land on your runway. I can fly 1 hour more. Please rescue me. – Major Buang, wife, and 5 child.” Larry later reminisced, “I didn’t need the note. I knew what he wanted.”

Larry had only been in command of the Midway for one month. An admiral, also on the ship, ordered him to tell the pilot to ditch the plane in the sea. But through binoculars, Larry could see that a woman and children were indeed in the plane. As a naval aviator himself, Larry knew that as soon as the Cessna wheels hit the water, the plane would flip upside down and quickly sink, making a rescue virtually impossible. Larry explained, “When a man has the courage to put his family in a plane and make a daring escape like that, you have to have the heart to let him in.”

Larry got on the ship’s intercom to call all personnel not on watch to report to the flight deck. Out of a crew of 4,300, a working party of more than 3,000 came topside to carry out the orders to “clear the deck.” On this day, that meant pushing all helicopters in the landing area off the ship and into the water.

That assortment of helicopters belonged to the Army, the South Vietnamese Air Force, the Marines, and Air America (CIA). Larry later recalled how his men worked, “It was a demolition derby in the middle of the ocean. They were 19-year-olds. They were having fun,” he said. But Larry wasn’t having fun as millions of dollars of aircraft were swallowed by the ocean.

The Cessna pilot, Major Buang Ly had no training for a carrier landing, which presents the challenges of a short runway in forward motion, and possible pitching up and down and rolling side to side.

“BIRD DOG” SIGNALS FOR

LANDING

ORDERS TO CLEAR HELICOPTERS OFF

DECK INTO OCEAN

“BIRD DOG” IS CLEAR FOR

LANDING

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Certain that he would be court-martialed, Larry turned his back, so he could truthfully testify later, “I don’t know how many helicopters were pushed over the side.”

In addition, a Cessna doesn’t have a tail hook, which grabs a cable that stops a landing plane from rolling off the flight deck.

After several passes, Ly descended and managed to strike a perfect landing on the carrier deck, cutting his engine as soon as the wheels touched down. The Midway crew cheered while several ran to the rolling plane to bring it to a stop.

Larry Chambers only had a little more than a minute to briefly meet Buang Ly before returning to the business at hand. More Hueys and Sea Stallions were inbound to the Midway from Saigon. After the American ambassador was evacuated, a final helicopter flight retrieved the last contingent of Marines from the embassy roof. Three hours later, North Vietnamese tanks knocked down the gate of the Presidential Palace. The Vietnam War was over.

POST WAR EPILOGUE

In total, during an 18-hour period, Operation Frequent Wind evacuated 1,373 Americans and 5,595 South Vietnamese by helicopter. The Midway received 3,073 of those nearly 7,000 evacuees.

The crew of the Midway took up a collection to help Major Buang Ly and his family resettle in the United States.

Captain Larry Chambers’ decision to ditch all those helicopters was never questioned. At the time he made that risky decision, he did not know that helicopters were also being dumped from many other ships in his task force.

Admiral Larry Chambers’ retirement in 1984 capped a remarkable career, which he began as the second African-American midshipman to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy. As a naval aviator, Larry amassed more than 5,000 flight hours and 1,000 carrier landings. He was named Captain of the USS White Plains in 1972, and in 1975 became the first African-American to command an aircraft carrier, the USS Midway.

EVACUATIONIS COMPLETE

VIETNAM WAR IS OVER

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ReunionsIn 1987, the Cessna Bird Dog that Major Buang Ly landed on the Midway was added to the exhibits at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola. Larry and Ly were both on the way to the dedication ceremony when they spotted each other in the crowd as they arrived at the airport.

Mrs. Ly rushed to embrace Larrys’ wife, Sarah, and said in broken English, “My husband say your husband bravest man he ever knew.” Sarah replied, “That’s what my husband says about your husband.”

The USS Midway has since been decommissioned and modified to serve as a floating museum, now permanently tied up at the old naval supply pier in San Diego Harbor.

Four decades after Operation Frequent Wind, several of the officers and crew involved in the Saigon evacuation set foot once again on those decks that were a stepping stone to a new life for thousands of refugees. At the 40-year anniversary celebration this year, Larry and his air boss, Vern Jumper, served as guest speakers, telling stories about their crew members who demonstrated care and hospitality to people in their dire hour of need. Vietnamese refugees also spoke, sharing stories of rescue from their perspective. They told about their children who have since grown up as American citizens, some of whom became doctors, lawyers, and even helicopter pilots.

Monuments

At first glance, some might wonder why anyone would commemorate the last days of April 1975 that marked the end of the first war America lost. In the four decades since, it seems that our country has been trying to forget all things associated with Vietnam.

Yet those who were a part of Operation Frequent Wind do not forget, nor do they feel the shame or embarrassment of failure. They instead remember those two days of rescue with pride for the many ways our sailors and pilots revealed their humanitarian hearts.

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Although they were forced to abandon the field of battle, they demonstrated the best of American honor and character by not abandoning their brothers in arms.

Their victory in the face of defeat is memorialized with museum exhibits that display the Sea Knight helicopter that evacuated the American ambassador, the ladder that led from the embassy rooftop to the helipad, and Major Ly’s Cessna Bird Dog.

Larry Chambers mounted the original note that Buang Ly dropped from the Cessna and displayed it in the living room of his Freedom Plaza apartment (until Sarah convinced him he should give it to the Midway Museum). Among the many displays in that museum, there is a kiosk on the hangar deck that commemorates Operation Frequent Wind. Viewed by more than one million tourists each year, it tells the story of a heroic rescue mission that succeeded against the odds.

All the mementos are much like monuments, but there is one more monument that tourists will never see. It’s a monument that starkly exhibits the character of a ship’s captain who placed the welfare of people ahead of his career, and valued human lives as priceless – far greater than any multi-million dollar price tag.

That monument to Admiral Lawrence Chambers is a congregation of helicopters strewn in splendid disarray at the bottom of the South China Sea. These hulks of olive-colored steel that once flew above the jungle canopy now rest on the ocean floor, bearing witness to the heart of an American warrior.

Now retired, Larry Chambers currently serves as a guest lecturer at the Naval War College and hosts the annual Admiral Lawrence Chambers Golf Invitational (named for him by the USS Midway Museum) benefitting the San Diego Inner City Junior Golf Foundation.

The experiences and events described herein are the firsthand accounts of the person who is the subject of the article.

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If you tour Brookdale Chestnut Lane Gresham, you’ll notice that it’s remarkably quiet as you walk among residents congregated in the lobby, dining room and activity rooms. Step out on the fourth-floor patio, and you’ll see people taking in the scenic view of cedar, fir and pine trees that surround a snow-capped Mount Hood in the distance. But no one there says a word. Wander down the halls of private apartments, and you’ll hear no sounds from behind the doors. This community is more hushed than a library, more silent than a monastery.

In the suburban town of Gresham on the outskirts of Portland,

Oregon you’ll find an Assisted Living community like no other.

This symbolizes community’s nameChestnut Lane

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This World Adapts to the Deaf

The Deaf must often adapt to a hearing world that does not accommodate them. The

Deaf have their own language, which like all other languages of the world, is linked to a unique culture. Therefore, when the hearing world fails to make allowances for deaf communication, that failure is felt as a deeper rejection.

Instead of forcing the Deaf to adapt to the world, Brookdale Chestnut Lane has created a world adapted to the Deaf. It is one of only two Assisted Living communities in the U.S. that exclusively

accommodates the needs of deaf residents. Chestnut Lane offers an “immersive” American Sign Language (ASL) environment, where communication is often expressed in ASL. Many of the staff, from caregivers and chefs to the beauty salon stylist and executive director, sign fluently.

In the dining room, if residents want an entrée seasoned a certain way, they sign their preferences to the wait staff. In a physical therapy session, the therapist signs instructions to the patient. When residents visit with a nurse, they describe their symptoms with ASL.

Brookdale Chestnut Lane is an Assisted Living community for the Deaf.

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Many of the associates who work there are deaf themselves, making Brookdale Chestnut Lane one of Oregon’s largest employers of the Deaf. Some of those associates are willing to commute for more than an hour because of their desire to work

in this one-of-a-kind environment, and residents move from cities all over the country to be part of this unique family.

When you describe people who easily understand you and share your same desires, preferences and values, you might use the common expression, “They speak my language.” At Chestnut Lane, that saying is more than a figure of speech. It is literal.

Designed by the Deaf for the Deaf

This unique community didn’t fall into place by random chance. Brookdale Chestnut Lane was designed by a deaf architect and built in 2003 with features specifically crafted to enhance communication for deaf residents. The spacious open common areas are free from visibility obstructions, allowing people to sign to each other from across the room. This campus was also designed for private communication, with alcoves in the hallways that allow residents to engage in confidential signing conversations.

Many of the associates who work there are deaf themselves.

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No Impairments

Brookdale Chestnut Lane has crafted a world where silence is not a deprivation and deafness is not an impairment. In this special place, neighbors join to experience all the other sensations of a life lived to the fullest. They listen with their eyes and speak with their hands. This world that has no sounds, has no bounds.

Julie Heard About Chestnut Lane No Place to Fit InWhile growing up, Julie Novick didn’t feel like she belonged in

the hearing world but did her best to adapt while she was “mainstreamed” in the public school system. She learned how to read lips but often found that task frustrating when meeting new people who didn’t face her directly, because they didn’t know she was deaf. Julie explains, “Deafness is a hidden condition. No one knows you are deaf unless they happen to see you signing.”

In those days, Julie also didn’t feel she belonged in the Deaf world, because she wasn’t well-versed in American Sign Language. Although her mother and sister were deaf, and her mother knew ASL, communication within their family took a different direction as they made up their own vocabulary of signs that eventually evolved into a unique sign language known only to them.

Julie faces the additional challenges of Cerebral Palsy, which confines her to a wheelchair. Yet she didn’t feel she belonged in “the CP world” either, because she was deaf.

Struggling Alone

In adulthood, Julie’s life took a downturn after a traumatically difficult divorce. She spent two years in hiding from her ex-husband, living alone in an apartment in Arizona with no one to help her. Her solitary confinement and accumulated stress took a toll on Julie’s health. She had to escape that isolation.

While staying with relatives in Utah, one of her friends there told her about the Deaf community at Chestnut Lane and asked the executive director to send Julie a DVD tour of the community.

Julie was impressed by Chestnut Lane’s attractive four-story building, their hotel-style amenities, and the beautiful view, but she had misgivings. “I was nervous about moving to a strange new city where I knew no one,” she signed.

Her Utah friends and relatives encouraged her to make that bold move. So with a mix of anxiety and bravery, Julie took the leap.

A New Woman

In the seven years that have passed since Julie first wheeled through the entrance of Brookdale Chestnut Lane, she has blossomed.

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Julie is no longer a fearful, stressed, lonely, and sickly woman hidden from the world. She has transformed into a vibrant and active member of her community, competent and popular enough to be elected Resident Council President.

Reflecting on her dramatic changes, Julie signs, “Now, I truly feel safe. I have all the assistance I need to cope and stay healthy. Chestnut Lane has given me a life I never knew before. This is a special place where there is no such thing as a hearing impediment. Here, the Deaf can do anything.”

Pollai Heard About Chestnut LaneFrom Tahiti to Oregon

Do you know how to get from Tahiti to Oregon? Pollai Parsons can help you plot a course. However, before you follow her route, you need to know that her 91-year journey took her on an indirect route around the globe, with stops in European, South American, and African countries, plus China, Japan, India, Thailand, Australia, and Syria.

Although she was officially named Hester at birth (her mother and grandmother’s first name), her parents decided to call her by a less

formal nickname, “Polly.” However, during her childhood at the Berkeley School for the Deaf, Polly didn’t like sharing a nickname with the “Polly want a cracker” parrot.

Designed by the Deaf for the Deaf

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When Polly turned 12, her mother, a high school teacher, moved her family to Tahiti. Polly and her twin

sister traveled on a British ship with their mother across the Pacific to that exotic Polynesian island. For six years her family lived in a shack covered by grass and palm leaves near the beach. There, Polly’s mother tutored the girls at home. Her mother also taught Polly how to successfully socialize with those around her.

When she was 15-years-old, Polly took a trip with her family to Bora Bora on a schooner. At dinnertime, a Chinese waiter who took their menu orders misspelled Polly’s name on the receipt as “Pollai.” She recalls, “I liked the unusual spelling of my name, so I decided to change it to Pollai.”

In adulthood, her work as a housewife was followed by a stint as a data card keypunch operator at a bank. But that job was not an ideal fit for her personality.

Instead, Pollai found her perfect calling in a career that tapped into her love of socializing and turned her hearing impairment into an asset. Like her mother, she became a teacher, but chose the specialized field of Adult Education for the Deaf. For the rest of her work life, a strong demand for her rare skills enabled Pollai to find positions wherever she moved across the country, eventually leading her back to the South Pacific to take a teaching job in Hawaii.

The teaching profession gave Pollai the additional benefit of a large block of vacation time each year, which she took full advantage of by visiting countries on every continent of the globe. At home and abroad, her life was rich, filled during school semesters with daily social connections to people just like her, and punctuated each summer by discoveries of foreign lands, which she could relish with all her other senses. Life in a BoxFast-forward to 2003. At age 79, Pollai found herself living in a double-wide manufactured home with her daughter in Eugene, Oregon. Her life that was once as wide as the earth had become confined to a wood and fiberglass box in a small town.

The only other person in her world was her daughter. With none of her friends nearby, Pollai had no social life, and nothing to fill her days except watching TV. She felt isolated and lonely while 11 years passed.

Eventually, encroaching health problems made it more difficult for Pollai to carry on. She couldn’t put on her stockings without assistance, and she could no longer cook. It became clear to Pollai she was unable to care for herself without some daily help.

However, a mainstream Assisted Living community was out of the question. Pollai signed, “I didn’t want to be the only deaf person there.”

Designed by the Deaf for the Deaf

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A World Tailored for Pollai

A friend of hers previously moved to the Brookdale Chestnut Lane community. During several visits there, Pollai had a glimpse of how different her life could be, surrounded by people just like her in a world tailored for the Deaf. She wanted to escape to this new life.

Now, a year and a half since she moved to her new home at Chestnut Lane, Pollai is constantly socializing at activities and parties in the living room, on the patio, or in the game room where she is a master with cards. “Nine-Square is my game,” she explained. “It helps keep you alert and maintain your critical thinking.”

Pollai also joins group excursions to museums, art galleries, and coffee houses, plus day trips to destinations like Astoria Beach, Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, Tulip Farms, the Tillamook Cheese Factory, and Multnomah Falls.

Her neighbors and the associates at Chestnut Lane are her family. “No matter what, they are stuck with me here,” she signs with a smile.

Pollai’s life was once big enough to stretch from Tahiti to the four corners of the Earth, then it shrank to a box of four walls.

Now, her world has opened up once again. From the fourth floor of Brookdale Chestnut Lane Gresham, she can see the clear vista of a wider world. Whenever she goes to Astoria Beach with her neighbors, Pollai can once again dip her feet in Pacific waters that reach far beyond the horizon to lap along the sandy shores of Polynesian isles.

She has transformed into a vibrant and active member of her community.

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46 | OPTIMUM LIFE

Twelve Japanese Mitsubishi “Betty” torpedo bombers were flying an attack course toward the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Enterprise. When they saw the ship’s oncoming squadron of

F4 Wildcat fighters, the Bettys turned away and instead targeted the U.S.S. Chicago. The American fighters intercepted and shot down some of the Japanese attackers, but the remainder of the enemy squadron still managed to torpedo the Chicago.

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8,610As the Bettys moved on to threaten a ring of U.S. destroyers, Edward “Whitey” Feightner arrived on the scene in his Wildcat after a delay of engine trouble and immediately joined his squadron in combat. Feightner, who had only been with his Enterprise team for three months, proceeded to shoot down, one, two, then three Japanese bombers in one day.

His brave headlong plunge into battle earned Ed the Distinguished Flying Cross. That risk-taking day was one of many in which Ed chose to fly with danger.

COMBAT IN THE PACIFIC

After enlisting and completing naval aviator training, Ed’s first orders were to join the fighter squadron on the U.S.S. Yorktown, but before he arrived, that carrier was sunk at the battle of Midway. He was reassigned to the squadron based at the Naval Air Station in Maui, Hawaii where his commanding officer was the Navy’s first fighter ace, “Butch” O’Hare (for whom the Chicago airport is named). He gave Ed the nickname “Whitey” because of Feightner’s inability to tan.

A few months later, Ed was assigned to the U.S.S. Enterprise to join the “Grim Reapers” squadron. Ten days out of Pearl Harbor, Whitey shot down his first enemy aircraft at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, earning him an Air Medal. Next came the Battle of Rennell Island, where he downed three enemy planes.

Ed was given a new F6 Hellcat when he was transferred to the carrier U.S.S. Bunker Hill and became an ace when he shot down a fifth Japanese plane over Peleliu.

In the South Pacific, the Battle of Rennell Island was in its second day on the morning of January 30, 1943.

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Ashoot-down over the island of Truk brought his total to six, and during the battle of Formosa, Ed once again shot

down three enemy planes in a single day, raising his combat total to nine.

In most aerial battles, Japanese planes outnumbered American fighters 15-to-1, and Ed’s Hellcat was hit by enemy rounds many times. In one dogfight, his bullet-riddled engine caught fire and exploded. In another encounter, the leading edge of his entire left wing was shot off, along with the left wheel. That mangled wing then caught on fire.

Whitey recalls three occasions when, “I closed my eyes and waited for the end. But it never came.”

His crippled Hellcat always made it back home to his carrier.

Before Ed flew on a reconnaissance mission over enemy-held islands, the guns were removed from his wings and replaced with cameras. Whenever a Japanese plane got on the tail of his unarmed Hellcat, Ed would go into a nose dive and rev his engine to top speed, drawing his attacker to follow him down.

He had learned that whenever a Japanese Zero fighter dove faster than 300 knots, the sheer force of air pressure made it impossible to move the hinged horizontal “elevator” panels along the back edge of the tail that controls the plane’s angle. Whitey pulled up from his dive at the last moment and the Japanese attacker

slammed into the water. Years after the war ended, Ed’s experiences in those well-engineered Hellcats that flew in spite of punishment by bullets and G-forces would inspire his career in plane development.

“WHITEY” FEIGHTNER IS AN ANGEL

In peacetime, the Navy set its sights on a new adversary – the Air Force.

The two service branches were now in ongoing competition for a greater share of a shrinking defense budget. In response, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz ordered the formation of a flight demonstration team to help generate public and political support for the Navy. Ed “Whitey” Feightner was selected to join and fly the lead position on this new team that performed at air shows in propeller-driven Hellcats and Bearcats. They flew without a name for four months before finally selecting one. Ed explained – “It was back when I was with a squadron attached to the carrier Essex. The night before we left port, we were in New York at a nightclub called The Blue Angel.”

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SOMEONE’S GOT TO DO IT

Ed became a test pilot, joining an elite cadre that author Tom Wolfe’s book title praised for having “The Right Stuff.” In that book, Wolfe compared that era’s 23 percent death rate for pilots in general to the 53 percent casualty rate among test pilots.

On one hand, test pilots got to be first to fly new aircraft with the attraction of sleek designs and the latest technology, often classified. The speed and capabilities of these new planes enabled pilots like Whitey to “do things no one has ever done before,” he explained.

On the other hand, these experimental aircraft were using untried aerodynamics, mechanical parts, and electronics. Every plane had hidden flaws that would not be revealed until a test flight, suddenly surprising the pilot with problems that required split-second life or death responses.

Ed remembered how good it felt to fly a rugged Hellcat that could not be broken by the sharpest turn or steepest dive. “It did whatever you wanted. It was so dependable, you could fly it unconsciously without worry,” he recalled. Ed knew that building a new plane worthy of that

high level of trust would require repeated testing and improvement. If no one gets in the cockpit to discover the weaknesses of a new machine, faulty planes will be produced and deployed in large numbers that kill many rank and file pilots.

One example of Ed’s service was demonstrated in the new F7 Cutlass jet fighter. The futuristic design with swept-back wings looked impressive, but the Cutlass engines were prone to explosions and fire, and the forward landing gear often collapsed. In the first version of that plane, Whitey was the only pilot who could launch and land the Cutlass on a carrier.

During a test of a new catapult system conducted on an airfield, one of the Cutlass engines exploded and caught fire on takeoff. In the cockpit, Ed knew he was too low to eject but managed to turn the jet around and land on the runway where firefighters rushed to put out the flames.

More than 25 percent of the Cutlasses were destroyed in accidents, killing four test pilots and 21 Navy pilots.

A FALLING ANGEL

Navy brass wanted to present a positive image of the Cutlass to the public. So they made plans to switch the Blue Angels flight team from their Panther jets to the Cutlass and asked Ed to take command.

After two years as a Blue Angel, Ed was offered a new assignment in which he would fly with danger once again.

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n response, Ed quit on the spot. Had they even looked at any of the scathing reports he had written on Cutlass flaws and failures?

That jet could not be trusted in close formation flying.

Ed was eventually persuaded to accept a compromise in which two Cutlasses would be used as solo acts. He would fly a Cutlass, and fellow ace pilot Butch Voris would come back to fly lead position for the primary team.

On a spring day in 1952, as thousands of spectators gathered for the air show at Saufley Field Naval Air Station near Pensacola, they were unaware that The Blue Angels ground crew was dealing with fuel control problems that grounded their mainstay Panther jets. For this show, the two Cutlasses would need to fill the starring roles. Ed began by giving the crowd the impressive roar and flame of a full afterburner takeoff into a steep climb. But then, the unreliable hydraulic control system failed, and once again, Whitey was too low to eject. His jet clipped trees at the end of the runway, causing the left engine to flame out. The Cutlass had a backup mechanical control system, but due to a design flaw, there was always an

11-second delay before it kicked in. With hydraulic fluid streaming behind the Cutlass in bright flames, Ed was finally able to make a hard turn back to the runway and land. The crowd applauded this unexpected life or death drama.

More in-flight emergencies and near fatal accidents finally purged the Cutlass from The Blue Angels.

FEIGHTNER TAKES COMMAND

After serving as a combat pilot, a test pilot, and a Blue Angel,

Ed moved into leadership roles in the fourth chapter of his career. During the next two decades, Whitey Feightner commanded the “Red Rippers” fighter squadron, was the air wing commander of Carrier Group Ten, served two tours as captain of the U.S.S. Chikaskia and the U.S.S. Okinawa, and was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral.

Ed also served in a variety of aircraft development roles, including project officer for the F4 Phantom II, the head of Navy Fighter Design at the Bureau of Naval Weapons, and Director of the Naval Aviation Weapons Systems Analysis Group.

He retired in 1974 after 33 years of service.

Ed later commented that during those 11 seconds

without control, “You’re just a passenger.”

Why would Whitey voluntarily fly planes with a high risk for crashes? His explanation was best summarized,

“Somebody’s got to do it.”

I

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THE RESULTS OF RISKS

Now at 96 years of age, Ed is the only surviving member of the original Blue Angels.

In May 2015, more than 70 years since he became an ace fighter pilot, Whitey traveled from his home at Brookdale Mount Vernon in Ohio to the U.S. Capitol to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroics at the World War II Battle of Rennell Island. But he had done so much more.

The 8,610 flight hours that Feightner logged over his career represent the risks he took on behalf of sailors and pilots whose numbers are far greater.

Because he flew full-throttle into danger, how many ships under his squadron’s protection were not hit by Japanese torpedoes?

After he tested jets with engines that caught fire or suddenly shut down their controls in mid-air, how many thousands of pilots were not killed because those new planes were scrapped or redesigned?

How many improved jets routinely glided to perfectly uneventful deck landings? How many Navy wives did not become widows? How many children did not lose their fathers? How many Blue Angels air show tragedies did not happen?

Ed took those risks because, “someone had to do it.” As a result,

there are now thousands of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of sailors and pilots who came home safely decades ago. Their generations now scattered across the country are Ed’s legacy.

They can laugh, love, work, play, and slumber in their beds at night because Ed “Whitey” Feightner chose to fly with danger.

Whitey Feightner’s biography is available in hardcover and Kindle editions, having earned a five-Star rating from readers on Amazon.com and a stellar review from astronaut John Glenn.

Author Peter B. Mersky is a retired US Navy Commander and author of dozens of books on military aviation.

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When Naida Webster moved into her new home at the Brookdale Allenmore retirement community in Tacoma, Washington, she thought she was entering the last chapter of her life. She had no idea she was about to write a sequel.

Naida’s Sequel

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held outdated views of senior living communities as places “where people go to die.” Furthermore, Richard didn’t want to park his Harley outside, exposed to weather or theft. Would a senior community let him park his Harley in the lobby? No, they wouldn’t.

After Richard passed away, their daughters knew Naida couldn’t live alone. They helped her pick a com-munity and plan a move.

A 25-Story Apartment On moving day at Brookdale Allenmore, there was a special box among the containers of dishware, linens and knick-knacks carried into her apartment. It held manuscripts of 25 unpublished novels Naida had written.

Throughout her adult life, writing was this retired schoolteacher’s favorite pastime. Attempts to find an interested publisher were unsuccessful, and her dream of becoming an author passed her by. Although that box just took up space, it held a lifetime of work she couldn’t bear to part with.

A few months after her arrival, Naida was writing for the Brookdale Allenmore newsletter when she met with new resi dent Alichia Moreano to talk about an article interview. Later when Alichia’s daughter-in-law Sondra came

The Reluctant Resident Naida felt like she was being moved against her will. Her two daughters, Angie and Sybil, would not have been surprised if their mother began intro-ducing them as “my evil daughters.”

Naida rarely cried. Raised on a ranch, she was a tough girl who learned how to drive a truck, ride horseback and herd cattle at a young age, but she cried during her first tour of that Brookdale community.

When her daughters asked why, Naida explained, “I’m just so overwhelmed with everything that’s going on now.” She still felt the trauma of unexpectedly losing her husband Richard, who died from complications of a traffic accident. Then sorting through her possessions to decide what to give up recalled memories associated with each item. In the midst of all that upheaval was the pressure of knowing there was only one apartment available in the style she wanted, and she had to make a decision right away or lose it.

Naida was already familiar with retirement communities because one of her daughters, Angie, was the executive director at nearby Brookdale Puyallup. On several occasions, Angie had invited her parents to social events to see what senior living was like.

But retired truck driver Richard was not the bingo and bridge type. He was a leather-jacketed motorcycle rider with a Harley-Davidson tattoo. He still

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on to a dance hall, Naida became irritated with one of the men, Richard Webster. He ignored her, didn’t ask her to dance until the 2 a.m. closing time loomed near, and he threatened to cause a scene unless she relented. As they tested each other’s will, Naida became intrigued by Richard’s strong personality — and in an all too common twist, she found his “bad boy” volatility appealing.

After the dance hall shut down for the night, Richard and his buddy needed a ride alternative to their inebriated boss, so Naida invited them to come with Twila to her apartment where she made them a 3 a.m. breakfast.

At 4 a.m. Richard enlivened the kitchen table conversation by asking Naida, “Why don’t you and I get married?” Shocked, she replied, “I don’t even know you.”

to visit and joined both of them at breakfast, Alichia announced, “Naida is a writer.” Sondra showed interest and asked to see her work.

At her apartment Naida showed Sondra her box of 25 handwritten manuscripts, plus a novel she had recently trans cribed on her computer. All those stories, written over many decades, had never been printed or read by book lovers on trains, planes or sandy beaches. They were treasures waiting to be discovered.

Her Real-Life Romance NovelIn many ways, Naida’s own life story was more colorful than all the charac-ters in that box of manuscripts.

Naida and her sister Twila began a Saturday evening in 1968 at a piano bar where they met two single men who came with their boss and became too drunk to drive. After everyone moved

A romance that blossomed

on a Sunday drive to Reno became a

lifelong relation ship on wheels.

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Their happy marriage of 44 years proved their spontaneous match was meant to be. A romance that blossomed on a Sunday drive to Reno became a lifelong relationship on wheels. Richard attached a side car to his Harley motorcycle for her.

After they had kids, they ended each school year by loading up the family in Richard’s big rig to spend their summer on the road. The large, double-sleeper compartment behind the front seat gave everyone plenty of room to travel in comfort. Richard could earn a pay-check while his family got to see the sights across America.

After they retired, the Websters sold their home, bought an RV and began a permanent vacation, traveling from coast to coast to see new attractions and family.

Naida’s Unstoppable PenNaida has been writing ever since she was 13 years old. She had plenty of time to work on her novels while Richard was on the road for weeks at a time. She sent her mysteries, adventures and romances to publishers who sent back form letter rejections, but Naida always moved on to begin her next novel. Even if her stories were never published, her family

Naida then asked his buddy, “Does he always propose to women he meets?” Richard’s friend replied, “No. He never gets serious about anyone.”Instead of being the voice of reason, Twila egged her on, saying “Go for it. You’re in your 30s and single. So is he. What have you got to lose?” Naida thought about their age. People in their 30s have a better sense of what they want in a relation ship and less time to wait. She couldn’t believe she heard herself say, “Ok. Yes.”

At 6 a.m. Sunday morning, seven hours after they met, Naida and Richard headed south on Interstate 5 to get mar-ried in Reno. They had not yet kissed.

Richard suggested that she drive. “That way, if you change your mind, you can just turn the car around, and we can head back,” he said. Nadia questioned herself during that 12-hour trip.

Richard wasn’t feeling any doubts. He knew he wanted to marry Naida just one hour after they met. During that drive, he bolstered Naida’s decision by telling her about how he was raised, his mistakes and faults, his service in the military, the month-long battle of Heartbreak Ridge in Korea where he was wounded, and the resulting nightmares.

By 8:30 that evening, less than 21 hours after they met, Naida and Richard were married in Reno by a Justice of the Peace with a hook prosthesis on his arm. Thereafter, Nadia told people that Captain Hook officiated their wedding.

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students. Suspi ciously, each student had a history of poor scholastic performance that was pulling the school’s overall test scores down.

When Naida finally held that first printed book with her name on the cover, she felt the deep satisfaction of a mission accomplished. “It was a dream come true. I just wish my husband and my mother had lived long enough to see and hold my book in their hands,” she said.

Naida would still like to find a major pub-lisher, but she isn’t waiting. She presents “Book Talks” at other retire ment com-munities in the Tacoma area where she tells her story and sells copies of her first two novels to people who would rather buy from a person than order online.

At 82, Naida is now preparing her third novel for publication. In addition, the reactions from people who’ve heard how she married a man she met only a few hours earlier are making her think there might be enough interest to justify an autobiography.

and friends enjoyed reading them, and writing was a therapeutic outlet.

Going to PressIn Naida’s apartment at Brookdale Allenmore, Alichia’s daughter-in-law Sondra read the first chapter of the novel displayed on the computer screen. Sondra was interested, because she works with new authors, helping them self-publish. She uses software to format the text of a book and design a cover, then transmits the computer files to a

printer who produces copies in small quantities for the

author to sell.

Sondra also helps place new books on

Amazon.com. Sondra looked up from Naida’s

com pu ter and said, “Your stories need to be shared with the

world.” They went to work right away. Naida picked her favorite story, The Phantom of Kenton High. In the style of a classic Nancy Drew mystery, it follows Cady Ryan as she investigates the recent accidental deaths of several fellow

When Naida finally held her first printed book

with her name on the cover, she felt the deep

satisfaction of a mission accomplished.

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A Life SequelAlthough Naida initially felt forced into a retirement community, that step led to the fulfillment of her lifelong dream. She is now enjoying a sequel to her life and taking credit for her reluctant move, saying, “It’s the best decision I ever made.” Since she doesn’t have to cook, clean or manage a house, she has time to type her handwritten manuscripts.

Naida takes a break whenever her daughter Angie comes over to join her at community movie nights. At bedtime after a movie night, Naida’s thoughts occa sion ally keep her awake as she lies in the dark, wondering how her stories could be made into a movie. She asks herself: Who could play Cady? (the student investigator in her book The Phantom of Kenton High) I like Julia Roberts, but she’s too old now. What we really need is a teenage version of Meg Ryan.

The movie could be filmed at a real high school, when it’s empty during

the summer. (When she wrote the book, Naida imagined a setting much like her alma mater, Goldendale High School.)

There’s an idea. What if we actually shot it at Goldendale? Wouldn’t that be a hoot? Then, Naida has a crazier idea: What if the script included a proper and sensible schoolteacher, who met a man at a dance hall, then drove with him to Reno to get married? No, that would be too farfetched for readers and audiences to believe.

This last thought brings an amused smile to her face as she drifts off to sleep and dreams of a Sunday drive down a long desert highway and her first sight of the Reno skyline at sunset.

Naida is now enjoying a sequel to her life and taking

credit for her reluctant move, saying, “It’s the best

decision I ever made.”

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Eighteen residents at Brookdale’s Freedom Plaza retirement community in

Peoria, Arizona, volunteered to participate in a special program.

Their prescribed treatment has already yielded remarkable results, including enhanced cognitive function, increased energy levels, improved sleep/wake cycles, elevated mood and enhanced socialization.

The prescription credited with these positive results is a combination of linseed oil, minerals, aluminum stearate and horse hair. It may seem incredulous, but the ingredients commonly found in a tube of oil paint and a paint brush are responsible for dramatic transformations witnessed by associates, friends and family members. The therapeutic effects of creating art can even be measured in a medical lab.

Most of these novice artists-in-residence who experienced “awakenings” never picked up a paintbrush before they metLi

vin

g C

olo

rful

ly

MICHAEL THOMAS.

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Michael’s Suits

Michael Thomas can’t keep his suits clean. He is the administrator of the Plaza del Rio Skilled Nursing Center on the Freedom Plaza campus (best known locally for resort-style Independent Living homes). Michael is also the art teacher there and can’t avoid the occasional paint splatter.

During his 32-year career in skilled nursing, art was just a hobby he took up 11 years ago while living in Wisconsin to cope with the long hard winters.

After Michael moved to Arizona for the climate, he discovered benefits to his chosen pastime. Like Peoria, Scottsdale is a suburb of Phoenix but infused with its own upscale culture exhibited in art galleries. Michael’s aunt is an artist there who helped him plug into the local art scene.

When a Plaza del Rio resident saw one of Michael’s paintings in his office, she asked if he would teach her. He agreed, and what began as a tutoring session became a regular Thursday afternoon class for 18 skilled nursing residents.

When Michael discovered his Life Enrichment Director Rachel McDonell had taken art classes in college, he recruited her to help.

Brian’s Awakening

New artist Brian Morin now loves to paint. This 40-year-old resident recently completed work on a large canvas for his mother that features colors that coordinate all the furnishings and décor in her living room.

When the community art class was first announced he could have easily ignored the invitation. He had a good excuse. Brian is blind. Shot in the face in his early 30s, Brian lost his sight in both eyes. Later a stroke that followed one of his surgeries left him paralyzed from the waist down. His mind is sharp, and his memories of sight give him a reference for colors and shapes. Michael prepared a round palette for him on which twelve colors of paint are always placed in the same numbered positions of a clock face.

“This class has helped residents improve their quality of life. It has given them a purpose … a reason to get out of bed,” he says. “Many of them have displayed their own unique awakenings.”

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At their first art show in May, student paintings were displayed at a wine and cheese exhibition atPlaza del Rio. When Brian’s mothersaw his impressive work hanging onthe wall she stood there before the canvas crying.

Lana’s Awakening

Lana Cahill was another unlikely art class participant. Paralyzed from the neck down, she was only able to move her head.

Her paralysis, coupled with the problems of aging, left her depressed and withdrawn. “I felt my life was over,” she recalled.

To enable Lana’s participation in the class, Michael fabricated a brush holder from a kitchen spatula that she could grip with her teeth. He also adapted an easel and palette mounted above the armrests of her wheelchair.

Over time Lana created abstract works that expressed her re-emerging colorful personality. “These art projects have given me a breath of new life,” she said.

Lana’s husband, who visited her most every day, witnessed her progress as each piece she created was her best yet. While her mind and talent thrived, her body fell victim to the inevitable health complications associated with total paralysis.

When out-of-town family members traveled to Peoria to say their final goodbyes to Lana, her husband showed off her work tearfully proud to possess her last, best painting.

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Priscilla’s Awakening

Over time, retired nurse Priscilla Wenskunas became the most enthusiastic art participant. After her struggle with diabetes required a hospital stay to amputate three of her fingers, she was eager to get back to Plaza del Rio. On the day of her return she was back in class working with bandaged hands. She explained, “What else am I going to do? Sit in my room and cry?”

Priscilla began work on a painting that recreated a scene of ice skaters in a park that she saw on the cover of New York magazine.

When her painting was exhibited at the Plaza del Rio art show, the placard beside it displayed the title, What Else Could I Do? Priscilla wasn’t alone in experiencing the therapeutic effects of art creation. In the article, Art in Senior Living, published on the Assisted Living Federation of America website, we find this recommendation: “Art therapy is useful in promoting awareness and self-expression, relieving anxiety, and coping with transition, confusion, illness, or discomfort.” Since Priscilla’s recent passing, the works of art she left behind have become treasured mementos for her family and friends. Her paintings display her positive attitude and a heartfelt desire to add beauty to the world.

Delores Thompson seldom left her room. She was depressed about living in a skilled nursing center and often felt there was no reason to get out of bed. Although her mood may have looked and sounded like grouchiness, it was actually profound sadness.

After Michael engaged her in several conversations, Delores decided to show him a series of Thanksgiving-themed children’s poems she had written featuring the character, “Tom Turkey.” Michael looked them over and said, “I think you have a children’s book here. You should join our art class, and we can come up with illustrations for it.”

In the Thursday classes Delores demonstrated a good eye for drawing cartoon-style illustrations. Other students helped by turning those drawings into paintings and the Tom Turkey children’s book became a class project.

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Whether they were painting for a loved one’s home or a friend’s children’s book, a project with a specific goal gave participants a sense of purpose.

This retired 87-year-old elementary school teacher had a new infusion of energy. Delores said, “This has shown me I can still teach, even from here. I was feeling alone and cast aside. Now I feel like a teacher again.”

Her daughter proudly posted updates on the progress of Delores’ children’s book on Facebook. In response, many of the adults Delores once taught as children posted messages of tribute to the teacher they fondly remembered. When the text and illustrations for Delores’ children’s book were completed, Michael used a self-publishing software program to convert their work into pages of a hardcover book printed in a small quantity. They are now using those copies in attempts to find a publisher. In the meantime, Delores is working on her second book, Mices and Mice, teaching children basic lessons about grammar.

More Are Joining In

Publicity from a newspaper article on the Plaza del Rio art class drew interest from people who wanted to help.

An art supply store donated supplies, a local professional artist volunteered to help teach the class, and artists in nearby Independent Living homes on the Freedom Plaza campus offered to assist.

Since the art class originated from Michael’s hobby, he encouraged his associates to think of ways they could turn their own hobbies into classes for their residents. As a result, an associate who sings has started a choir. A juggler, a scrapbooker and an inventor are now teaching their skills.

The associates on that Brookdale campus see a role for themselves that goes beyond taking care of their residents’ physical needs. They know that a resident’s heart and spirit can be awakened by engaging in a pursuit that gives them a sense of purpose.

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Painting a Prescription

Painting is something more than a “warm—fuzzy,” feel-good activity. Art therapy provides measurable medical benefits to participants.

In an article in Today’s Geriatric Medicine, Dr. Barbara Bagan writes, “Neurological research shows that making art can improve cognitive functions by producing new neural pathways. Making art causes the brain to continue to reshape, adapt, and restructure, thus expanding brain reserve capacity.”

In the AARP website article Lively Arts, Dr. Gene Cohen of George Washington University’s Center on Aging contends that creative activities like painting, writing, drama, singing and storytelling raise self-esteem, increase enthusiasm for life and result in

fewer doctor visits. Cohen’s ongoing study tracked approximately 300 senior men and women who participated in arts programs. They scheduled fewer doctor appointments and used fewer medications than members of a control group not involved in the arts.

While we often treat health maladies with a pill from a bottle, we can supplement pharmaceutical cures by prescribing paint from a tube.

Things They Leave Behind

In our mind’s eye we can envision a future scene where a woman in the fervor of spring cleaning lifts a painted canvas from the wall of her den to give the wooden frame an overdue dusting and polishing. She pauses for a moment and remembers the artist, her grandmother. The hands that stroked her hair, tied her shoelaces and generously spread frosting on her favorite cake also held a paintbrush that caressed this canvas.

It’s a simple landscape with a white frame house on the edge of a meadow beneath a distant mountain range. Was this a real place her grandmother visited in her youth, or was it a place she imagined? No one knows. In the bottom right hand corner her grandmother signed her name and the year 2015.

A few inches above it there’s a mistake … a thumbprint her grandmother accidentally left in the paint when she picked up the canvas before it dried.

That’s her favorite part of the painting.

CARL PURCELL

DURING HIS ENTIRE ADULT LIFE, CARL PURCELL NEVER DROVE A DAILY MORNING COMMUTE TO AN OFFICE JOB. HE NEVER PUNCHED A TIME CLOCK IN A FACTORY. HE NEVER SPENT EIGHT-HOUR DAYS AND 40-HOUR WEEKS WORKING AT A DESK.

PICTURE THE WORLD

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THE ADDRESS HE HAS LIVED AT LONGEST IS HIS CURRENT HOME AT BROOKDALE MICHIGAN CITY IN INDIANA.

Carl is the first to admit he’s been quite lucky during his 68-year career as a renowned international photographer. Many photographers don’t earn a full-time income in their chosen field, and Carl is among the very few who also enjoyed paid year-round travel around the world.

PHOTOGRAPHY FOR A CAUSE

Carl Purcell’s luck began at Indiana University where he studied under the tutelage of Henry Holmes Smith, widely regarded as the greatest instructor of photography who ever lived, because so many of his students went on to achieve critical acclaim.

After Carl graduated with a degree in fine arts education and a minor in journalism, he went to work for the National Education Association (NEA) and was sent around the country to take candid photos of teachers and their students for use in public relations. He documented the contrast between classroom experiences in affluent neighborhoods versus conditions in impoverished communities. During his travels for the NEA, he met Martin Luther King Jr. and volunteered to help Dr. King’s campaign on his own time. When the NEA learned that Carl had made a connection with King’s civil rights

organization (which shared their goals of equal education), they sponsored Carl to join the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march and photograph the event. He was often only a few feet from Dr. King during the march, and in a New York Times front page photo that week, Carl could be seen behind King in the second row.

PICTURING GOOD DEEDS

The Peace Corps recruited Carl for a new position that opened the focus of his lens to an even larger worldwide cause. His first day on the job, he boarded a plane to join the Peace Corps director on a trip around the globe. During those years, Carl captured images of volunteers inspired by the call of John F. Kennedy to take leave from their lives of comfort at home to engage in hands-on work, helping the less fortunate in foreign lands.

From remote villages in Africa to islands in the South Pacific, Carl’s camera recorded more than one million images of idealistic Peace

Carl is a Marco Polo member of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW).

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Corps workers, the people they helped and the stark conditions that surrounded them. His photos helped build public and political support for the Peace Corps, enhance international relations and inspire volunteer recruitment.

The visual power of Purcell’s photojournalism led to his recruitment by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). That organization engages in an even broader worldwide mission that includes fighting poverty, aiding agriculture, building water and sanitation systems, improving public health and helping endangered civilians in war zones.

ONCE AGAIN, CARL DOCUMENTED THE EFFORTS OF AID WORKERS AND THE RESULTS OF THEIR ENDEAVORS.

In the Philippines, Carl accompanied USAID workers to one of many small villages where farmers were given seeds to plant what came to be called miracle rice. This new naturally bred hybrid grain grew faster with sturdier stalks that would not die if submerged in a flood. Most dramatically, the farmers who used these seeds enjoyed a tenfold increase in harvest production.

While covering this project, Carl lived with a Filipino farming family and later recalled the experience as very educational. For years, this particular farmer used an ox to pull a plow on

his farmland. At the end of each day, he took the ox to a nearby pond to be washed. When USAID gave him a tractor, he was able to plow and harvest more acres with greater speed. But at the end of each day, he continued his familiar habit by driving the tractor to the pond to be washed.

AN EMOTIONAL TOLL

In addition to happy success stories, photojournalist Carl Purcell had the sad duty of documenting USAID responses to monumental tragedies. The worst of these disasters was in Bangladesh, a region of eastern Pakistan ravaged by atrocities and genocide in a war for independence, that was only interrupted by the Bhola cyclone and a resulting tidal wave that killed more than 350,000 people. Carl flew into Bangladesh on a cargo plane with no seats, where he situated himself between giant bags of tapioca.

“Bangladesh was the poorest place I ever visited,” he later recalled. There, Carl captured images of massive destruction as well as portraits of the injured, sick, starving and dying.

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Shooting these photos was a necessary task that had to be done.

Those horrific images would shock and motivate politicians and their constituents back home to mount a stronger response. But the empathy Carl felt for his subjects made his job more difficult, “particularly on occasions when I knew that the person I was photographing would be dead by the next day,” he said.

GOING SOLO

After years of documentary work, Carl finally left images of struggle and heartache behind and struck out on his own to become a freelance travel journalist. He was able to earn a living and pay his own travel expenses through a combination of work projects.

Carl wrote a monthly column for Popular Photography magazine for 17 years. Another column, The Traveling Camera, was picked up in syndication to appear regularly in most every major newspaper in North America.

CARL SHOT STOCK PHOTOS FOR COMMERCIAL USE AS WELL AS COMMISSIONED TRAVEL PHOTOS, SOME OF WHICH WERE BOUGHT AND PUBLISHED IN THE MAGAZINES LIFE, LOOK, PARADE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, PARIS MATCH AND STERN.

Many of those images are still sold today for advertising and magazine usage from Corbis, owned by Bill Gates. (Gates has displayed images from Carl’s portfolio in his home.)

The website, FineArtAmerica.com displays and sells 7,142 photos by Carl Purcell to the general public in any size and any frame.

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CARL PURCELL LED CAMERA SAFARIS IN AFRICA, TAKING CUSTOMERS ON WILD GAME RUNS IN LAND ROVERS.

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Perusing through the pages of his portfolio stimulates and satisfies curiosity about other people in other places. You can study photos that portray a couple in close conversation in a Paris café, farm workers pausing for lunch in the middle of a green field in India, a bikini-clad girl on a beach in Monaco, African children in loin cloths, or a wrinkled, gray-bearded street vendor in Pakistan. Through these images, you can imagine the experience of life in their shoes.

Carl captures the unique atmosphere of diverse foreign places, from an ancient Irish castle to a mud hut on the edge of the Sahara. He places you in these faraway settings by honing in on small architectural details, like a weathered wrought iron lamp post, an ornate brass door knocker or a row of curved terra cotta roof tiles.

He delivers real-world authenticity by avoiding commercialized attractions overrun by tourists, instead venturing out to see where and how people in other lands actually live. Carl says when you see the world through other people’s eyes, you gain “a global perspective.”

FOLLOWING HEMINGWAY

During his travels, Carl discovered he was inadvertently following in the footsteps of journalist and author Ernest Hemingway. In Spain he walked the streets of cities where Hemingway covered the Spanish civil war. In the cafes of Paris, he discovered Hemingway met there with other esteemed figures such as Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Pablo Picasso. In East Africa, Carl photographed Mount Kilimanjaro from the very spot where Hemingway set up camp. Carl became a Hemingway fan, reading his books and appreciating “the clarity of his writing.” During his career as a freelance photojournalist, Carl did something you might expect from a modern Hemingway – he bought a house in Spain, about the same size as his current Brookdale apartment, in the coastal town of Marbella.

ALTHOUGH HIS WORKING LIFE WAS MUCH LIKE A VACATION, THERE WERE A FEW WEEKS EACH YEAR IN WHICH HE TRULY TOOK TIME OFF AT HIS SPANISH VACATION HOME.

HIS CAMERA BROUGHT THE WORLD TO US AND BROUGHT US TO THE WORLD.

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A LIFE RECORDED

Most people leave behind a scant record of their existence, consisting of a few possessions, some photos, the memories held by their loved ones, and the stories their friends and family tell. But Carl Purcell is building an archive of his life that is much larger.

Now retired at his Brookdale home, he has time to add the finishing touches to his career and work on his legacy. As in many of the hotels he has lived, housekeeping is taken care of and meals are provided in a restaurant-style dining room that displays one of Carl’s favorite scenes from Paris. The chef often features dishes that originated from countries he has visited. Carl reports, “I am very comfortable here.”

In an environment that caters to his everyday needs, he is free to concentrate on reviewing and selecting photos from more than 5 million he shot in 100 countries around the world. Carl has now cataloged and uploaded 7,000 of his best images to websites that display and sell them to businesses and individuals.

He has also been working on his autobiography, titled “I Never Met Hemingway.” He recently completed a first draft and is now seeking a publisher.

Carl saw many wonders of the world, great and small, through a camera lens. When we view his spectacular vistas or his soulful portraits of ordinary people, we see the world through his eyes.

FROM A CONTINENT FAR AWAY, WE CAN WITNESS HOW OTHER PEOPLE IN FOREIGN LANDS LIVE, WORK, STRUGGLE, SURVIVE, LAUGH AND LOVE.

Carl ventured out where many of us cannot go, on a grim mission to bring back scenes of inequality, persecution, devastation, suffering and death. Those stark images that could not be ignored spurred a response. That response enabled Carl to engage in a hopeful mission – capturing scenes of ordinary Americans who traveled to the far side of the earth to personally help those in need to build, plant and heal.

From the rice fields of the Philippines to the coast of Bangladesh, there are families who now eat from full plates and sleep in sturdy homes, because Carl’s photos drew neighbors from our global village together.

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A Housewarming Gift*On the very first day in their Brookdale community, new residents savor a taste of the catered, luxury lifestyle that will deliver pleasure and ease for each day to come. As new residents meet a diverse collection of talented associates who will attend to their comfort and health, the dining services leader is often the person that comes to the door of their new home on move-in day. The dining services leader and executive director welcomes new residents with a special housewarming gift – a warm Brookdale signature welcome pie with a scent that rises to tempt immediate indulgence, regardless of the time of day.

A Housewarming Experience*The dining services leader delivers another gift, large enough to fill a dining room table: an invitation to a private, complimentary housewarming experience for the new resident’s family and friends, with an extravagant menu of recipes crafted and taste-approved by the faculty of Brookdale’s Culinary Arts Institute.

Brookdale Culinary TeamServing Up A Delicious Welcome

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The meal will begin with a glass of wine and an “amuse,” such as smoked paprika and chive deviled eggs with candied Applewood smoked bacon.

Salad selections might include a Caprese Salad with vine-ripened tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, balsamic reduction, and basil. Or perhaps an Anjou pear salad with arugula, aged gorgonzola, and caramelized pecans would be preferred.

For the main course, some guests would eagerly choose one of the four entree duos, such as medallions of beef paired with coconut-crusted shrimp with Brookdale signature chili mango sauce.

The meal will finish with a flourish of dessert choices that satisfy the sweet tooth. Some guests would choose to indulge in the decadently rich taste of a flourless chocolate cake with crème anglaise and raspberry coulis, while others might prefer the guiltless pleasure of an angel food bundt cake with a sweet berry mélange. Or perhaps they’ll choose a refreshing raspberry sorbet with fresh berries and a buttery Pirouette garnish. As a parting gift, the resident’s guests will receive a box of Grand Marnier truffles and a full-color step by step instruction guide and recipe book that reveals the secrets of the culinary team’s innovative creations that turn a meal into a special occasion.

While settling into their new home, the resident sets a date, makes a guest list, and chooses four courses for this private event.

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For each resident, the parade of gourmet delights begins on Day 1.

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“I was a master of the stovetop and lord of the oven. I broiled pork chops, roasted chicken, fried fish, and grilled steaks with flair. My biscuits were flaky, my meats were tender enough to cut with a fork, and my fruit pies were equally sweet and tart. But for the last few years, it’s been hard to walk those endlessly long aisles at the grocery store.

It was a struggle to carry those sacks from the car to my kitchen, and a challenge to put everything up on the shelves. And I was no longer able to stand at the sink, kitchen counter, or stovetop for very long. My doctor and my daughter kept telling me eating right would be good for my health. But often, all I could do was just pour a bowl of cereal or microwave a TV dinner. It’s time for me to hand over the spatula.” - Brookdale Resident

The First Day of Retirement From The KitchenFor many residents, fine dining service is not just an extravagant luxury. It’s a necessity – their most valuable assistance for daily living. One of the main reasons people move to a senior living community is their desire to retire from the kitchen. They realize they have earned their turn to be served. The easiest recipe of all is to let someone else cook.

Secretly Healthy DishesBrookdale’s Optimum Life menu items deliver taste sensations that seem impossible for healthy ingredients. Yet day after day, residents on special diets enjoy meals that are customized to satisfy their medical needs and please their palates. In a Brookdale community, great hospitality lives here every day.

They frequently share the same story of how their relationship with the kitchen has changed:

*Availability of this program varies by community.

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That survey, titled “Rewiring Aging,” was conducted by Kelton, a leading global research firm in collaboration with The Stanford Center on Longevity, which provided guidance on the survey design and analysis of results. It’s the first in-depth study of how online social networks and other technology-based activities can improve quality of life among America’s oldest and fastest-growing demographic segment. The survey was underwritten by Brookdale, the nation’s largest provider of senior living solutions, operating approximately 1,135 communities in 47 states.

The summary that follows highlights the most significant findings revealed in the “Rewiring Aging” study.

OUR ELDEST SENIORS DON’T WANT TO BE LEFT OUT Among those surveyed, 58% don’t want to be excluded from the digital world. They want to join in, believing that technology could enhance and increase their communication with loved ones. They yearn for an electronic presence in the lives of their children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and old friends.

That 58% majority represents a large number of seniors. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are approximately nine million people age 80-plus in the United States.

DigitaL SeniorsA RECENT SURVEY SHOWS THAT A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF SENIORS AGE 80 AND OLDER WHO USE SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY ARE HAPPIER AND HEALTHIER THAN THOSE WHO DO NOT.

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The United Nations reports that in most countries, the age 80 and older population is growing more rapidly than any other segment. Globally, that category is increasing twice as fast as the broader 60-plus demographic.

Significantly, only 5% of survey respondents said they were completely opposed to using new technology.

SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY IS GOOD FOR YOU Seniors who interact with friends and family through social technology report they enjoy greater life satisfaction and better health than those who do not make those electronic connections.

According to Brookdale’s Chief Medical Officer, Kevin O’Neil, MD, “Human connection is crucial for people at all ages, but especially so for seniors.” Dr. O’Neil, a board-certified internist and geriatrician, elaborated. “Loneliness in this age group is associated with shorter life spans, chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, depression and even dementia.”

The negative impact of isolation on seniors who are unable to leave their homes and go out into the world due to physical or mental conditions is already well-known. Now, the “Rewiring Aging” survey reveals similar suffering among those who are “virtual shut-ins.”

Seniors age 80-plus who do not use technology to link with the outside world report lower overall life satisfaction, poorer physical health and greater loneliness than their digitally connected peers..

DigitaL Seniors A new survey of seniors highlights the benefits of electronic connections with family and friends.

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MOST SENIORS AREN’T USING SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY Although a majority of seniors want electronic connections with loved ones, very few in the 80-plus age bracket actually use social technology. Only one-third of the age 80 and older demographic segment use a personal computer at least once a month. Fewer than one in five utilizes text messaging.

Among the seniors surveyed, 27% use no technological devices, apps or programs whatsoever.

MOST SENIORS NEED TECHNOLOGICAL ASSISTANCE A primary reason seniors choose to avoid technology is the perceived difficulty of using it. Nearly half of survey respondents said it would take too long to learn and keep pace with digital technology.

A third of those surveyed said they would like to be able to text or videochat with family and friends. More than 25% would be interested in taking group classes to learn how.

“That’s why engaging seniors with others is a focus of our communities. Helping those in their 80s and above connect through technology is an opportunity to enhance their well-being even further,” said Dr. O’Neil.

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Brookdale associates help residents learn to use Skype and social networks on the senior-friendly InTouch computer systems designed for ease of use in their communities. The company is also developing an iPad mentor program.

“We find that most are very receptive and that it quickly becomes an important part of their lives. It brings wonderful emotional benefits that complement the focus on relationships and connection that is central to our mission,” Sara added.

SENIORS CAN PRESERVE THEIR PRESENCE IN THE LIVES OF LOVED ONESSilicon chips, flash drives, LEDs, circuit boards, and millions of software code bytes are components of technology that may seem cold and robotic.

However, these digital tools can foster connections that are warm and human.

For elders far and near, electronics can deliver special moments from the lives of their loved ones such as a video message from a grandson at his overseas military base, photos of a niece’s new house, sights and sounds of a baby granddaughter’s first coos, a live view of a grandson’s performance in a school play, or a text chat with a long-lost friend from decades past. Invisible Wi-Fi signals and miles of fiber optic cable can carry our love far beyond the horizon and tie our hearts to those we hold dear.

This study puts data to what we have been seeing on a daily basis across our organization as we help our residents connect through technology,” said Sara Terry, Brookdale’s Vice President of Resident and Family Engagement.

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Mark BrooksChanged the Future

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You can blame Mark Brooks or thank him.

Every time your call to a retailer, doctor’s office, or credit card company is answered by a machine that gives you a long list of menu options, you can blame Mark.

Or you can thank Mark for all the occasions when voicemail allowed you the freedom to leave your home or office without the worry of missing an important phone call you anxiously awaited.

You can also thank Mark for his pivotal role in the expansion of the worldwide web. If it weren’t for Mark, it’s possible that the electronics and computer revolution might have been delayed by decades.

Yet Mark does not enjoy the wealth and notoriety of Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. This resident at Brookdale North Euclid in the Los Angeles suburban town of Ontario changed the future back in 1969.

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It’s Time to Think BiggerIn 1969, Mark launched his enterprise in an 800-square-foot loft in Redondo Beach. He knew he had a product with great potential. The PhoneMate was simple to manufacture and easy to operate. The price was affordable enough for Mark to take the PhoneMate beyond the commercial market and sell it to a vast pool of residential customers numbering in the millions.

Unfortunately, Mark’s marketing did not operate on such a vast scale. “For the first few years, I ran ads on local radio stations, then went out and sold to the leads the ads generated, one machine at a time,” he said. Sales were barely sufficient to keep the company afloat. One of his best friends since college, Bill Shaphren, had the sales and marketing expertise to see Mark’s problem and understand the PhoneMate’s potential. He offered to join Mark’s company. In very little time, Bill managed to place the PhoneMate in every major depart ment store in the U.S., and sales boomed.

The PhoneMate Lands in His LapDuring much of the 1960s, Mark worked for NovaTech, the company that invented the first answering machine, called the PhoneMate.

When an investment group made a buyout offer, Mark’s boss couldn’t refuse; the owner sold the company and retired to the Florida coast.Fortunately, Mark also owned a small stake in NovaTech. With proceeds from the sale, he had an opportunity to start a company of his own.

Mark’s luck continued when he learned that the new owners had no interest in manufacturing and selling NovaTech’s commercial and industrial equipment, much less a small consumer retail product like the PhoneMate. These investment speculators “were only interested in making a stock play,” he said. Mark could take the PhoneMate with him.

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AT&T is a BullyAt the time, AT&T was the only telephone company in the country. They owned all components of the entire telecommunications system, from routing stations and phone lines all the way to the phone jacks and Bell telephones in people’s homes.

In addition to exercising absolute ironclad control over the telecommunications system, AT&T sought to extend their monopoly by claiming the right to control anything connected to their network. They took the position that plugging any non-AT&T device like the PhoneMate into their system was prohibited.

Mark’s company ignored the AT&T rule, as did PhoneMate customers who bought and plugged their new answering machines into the AT&T phone jacks in their homes.

AT&T likewise ignored PhoneMate as long as answering machine sales remained relatively small. But when PhoneMate sales climbed to $1 million, then $2 million per month, AT&T noticed and threatened to sue.

The telecom giant also sent out millions of statement stuffers inside their phone bills warning customers that if they choose to buy a PhoneMate, they are not allowed to plug it directly into their line, but must instead use a special unit that connects between the answering machine and the phone jack.

(That special unit was a fiction that did not exist.) Mark saw the statement stuffers as an attempt to intimidate PhoneMate sales.

PhoneMate retained a Washington DC law firm and countersued, arguing that AT&T prohibitions against connecting a device to the telephone system constituted restraint of trade. Surprisingly, PhoneMate won it’s case.

The ruling handed down by the federal court judge read in part: “Anything that is privately beneficial without being publicly detrimental shall be allowed to be connected to the phone system.”

The Other GoliathsFor seven years, PhoneMate was the only answering machine on the market. Electronics giants like Panasonic, Sony, and GE could have designed their own versions and flooded the market, but they didn’t. They had no desire to take on AT&T as an adversary, engaging in costly court battles over the device connection rule.

However, after PhoneMate’s David and Goliath battle, the other Goliaths saw it was now safe for them to come out and enter the market. PhoneMate had already done all the hard work and heavy lifting.

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A Ready-Made WebMark’s legal victory led to another kind of global transformation that was much larger than the proliferation of answering machines. The court ruling he won permitted connection of ANY device to the telephone network. The most important device that could ever take advantage of that legal decision was the computer.

In that decade of the 1970s, there was no such thing as a personal computer. Very few computers were linked together, mostly in university campus research labs.

A future in which millions of personal computers could connect to a nationwide network would require building a vast web of cables, wiring into millions of homes and businesses. Such a monumental task could take decades.

However, AT&T already had a nationwide network of phone lines leading into most every house and building across the country. Those phone lines could serve as a ready-made web for computer dial-up connections. The PhoneMate court case made it possible for computers to plug in to that network.

What If Mark Kept Quiet?What, if PhoneMate never challenged AT&Ts device connection policy and stayed on the sidelines like everyone else? What if AT&T had been allowed to reserve the nationwide network of phone lines exclusively for their phones? Would we have an Internet?

They invented the answering machine, stimulated consumer interest, and broke down AT&T’s brick wall around their phone jacks. PhoneMate paved the way.

In short order, every major electronics company began manufacturing their own answering machines in greater quantities at cheaper prices with distribution to much larger networks of retailers. Profiting from PhoneMate’s work, the giants quickly dominated the market. PhoneMate was crushed.

Mark Brooks is philosophical about his marketplace venture. “We won the battle and lost the war. But my, what a beautiful run we had.”

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In that alternate future, would some other corporation invest in stringing miles and miles of computer cable across the country?

Or would Congress authorize the use of tax funds to fulfill that task? Would cities set up public utilities to provide computer wiring?

How long would it take to build a national infrastructure of computer lines from scratch? How many years would that delay the emergence of the Internet we have today? Ten years later? Twenty years later? In that different future, how many fewer people would have access to the worldwide web? How much more would that access cost us and who in our society would be able to afford it?

Mark reflects, “At the time, I didn’t fully appreciate the ripple effect of the PhoneMate court decision. It became staggering.” He thinks of how the Internet has spurred billions of dollars in personal computer and software sales for Apple and Microsoft. The worldwide web has fueled billions in online retail product sales, and made billions of pages of information available to students. “As I look back now, years later, it’s a legacy I can be proud of,” he says.

Mark feels no ill will toward the major electronics brands that sold millions of their own answering machines. Nor does he hold a grudge against AT&T. In fact, he selected ATT.net as his email provider.

New Connections in a New NetworkMark came to the Brookdale North Euclid community directly from a hospital recovery center. “I was not a happy camper,” he admits. “But the associates were so delightful, efficient, and caring that I soon became an enthusiastic fan.”

Much of Mark’s career was determined by making connections between electronic devices. Now, he is rewarded by warm connections made between hearts.

At Mark’s retirement community, he is now dialed-in to a network of care, where his connections are strong, conversations are clear, and he never has to talk to a machine.

At the time, I didn’t fully appreciate the ripple effect of the PhoneMate court decision. It became staggering.

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“Every day I feel blessed to work at Brookdale with my

seniors — my family.”

Roger D., Resident Programs Director

“This is heartfelt. Its real. There are no actors; this is the real deal.”

Don SchneiderExecutive Creative Advisor – The Buntin Group

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“I feel like memory care chose me. I started volunteering when

I was in high school.”Elizabeth B., Clare Bridge Program Coordinator

“What we’re seeing through these stories of the associates is that these residents have a purpose, and that’s a reason to keep going. That’s a reason to live at Brookdale.”

Will ClarkSVP, Strategy & Brand – Brookdale Senior Living

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Patricia is now a resident at Brookdale Highlands Ranch on the outskirts of Denver. That senior living community has recently expanded its campus to offer a new level of service called “Crossings” to their Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care programs. Crossings is ideal for residents like Patricia, who don’t require a great deal of physical assistance but can benefit from activi-ties designed to maintain cognitive abilities and slow the progression of dementia.

At times, it seemed Patricia’s recollec-tion of her adult life in Grant’s Pass was lost forever, but a recent trip down memory lane revealed it’s still there beneath the fog.

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REMEMBERING GRANT’S PASS

WHEN DAMP AIR from the Pacific drifts into Rogue Valley to meet the colder temperatures that cascade down from British Columbia, it’s not uncommon to see a blanket of clouds and fog covering that part of south western Oregon.Patricia Wilson

Look out a window of your plane as it swings into a circular approach to the Rogue Valley airport on such a day, and you won’t be able to see the town of Grant’s Pass beneath the clouds.

Although it’s hidden, Grant’s Pass is still there, waiting for the day when a warm sun dissipates the clouds and fog.

KEEPING A PLACE IN MIND

Grant’s Pass can also be found beneath the clouds that come and go in Patricia Wilson’s mind. Sometimes she can remember her hometown, and some-times she can’t, but Grant’s Pass is always there.

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REMEMBERING GRANT’S PASS

managed their home and helped raise their three children. Patricia also volun-teered for their school, church and the philanthropic organization P.E.O. Interna-tional (which fosters the advancement of women through scholarships and mentoring). In all these roles, Patricia represented KAJO to the community with even greater visibility than her husband. Grant’s Pass was a place where everyone knew her name.

THE CHILDREN BECOME CAREGIVERS

Patricia’s son Carl took over the family broad casting business and added FM station KLDR to their portfolio.

Patricia’s daughter Sarah took on the role of looking after her mother’s needs. As those needs became greater, Patricia had to leave Grant’s Pass to move to an Independent Living retirement community near her daughter, and eventually, moved in with Sarah and her family in their Denver home.

AT THE CENTER OF GRANT’S PASS

If life in Grant’s Pass was the script of a stage play, Patricia Wilson would find herself cast in the female lead role.

In 1957, her husband Jim provided a valuable service to that community by creating a radio station. Starting from scratch, he built a building, bought the studio equipment and transmission tower, obtained an FCC license and hired staff. KAJO AM began broadcasting music and local news to listeners in Grant’s Pass, Medford, Cave Junction and surrounding areas. They played a music mix of Big Band classics, featuring artists such as Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman, as well as current hits of that day from performers like the Rat Pack’s Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, and Dean Martin.

In many ways, Patricia was the force behind Jim Wilson, equipping and en-abling him to run the station. In addi tion to answering the phones there, she

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Sarah noticed her mother’s occasional forgetfulness and her struggles to think of a name but attributed these lapses to the natural aging process. But they worsened and became signs of something Sarah “didn’t want to see,” she recalled. One night, Sarah woke to sounds coming from down the hall and looked to find her mother wandering about the house. Patricia asked her daughter, “Where are we?”

As Patricia’s symptoms progressed, Sarah discovered that her mother was losing pieces of her history, including her adult life in Grant’s Pass. After Sarah researched the symptoms of dementia online, a doctor’s visit confirmed that diagnosis. But he also gave her a ray of hope when he recommended Brookdale’s Clare Bridge program.

PATRICIA SENDING WELL-WISHES TO FRIENDS IN HER HOMETOWN — FROM HER FAMILY’S KAJO RADIO STUDIO IN GRANT’S PASS.

A SPA FOR THE MIND

Sarah wanted her mother to have “as normal a life as possible. I don’t want her in anything like a nursing home.” Sarah was impressed by the design of Brookdale Highlands Ranch, with a layout much like a standard apart-ment community, each furnished and decorated “just like home,” she said.

But the most attractive feature of the community was Brookdale’s Clare Bridge programming. Since Patricia has moved in, Sarah can testify that residents “are not left to languish. Every day is filled with activities.” Easy tasks give participants daily moments of confidence-building success.

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CREATING ART HELPS MAINTAIN NEURAL PATHWAYS IN THE BRAIN. FIELD TRIPS STIMULATE THE SENSES. CHAIR EXERCISES BUILD STRENGTH AND CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH, WHICH IMPROVES COGNITIVE FUNCTION.

As a result, Patricia now enjoys a much greater quality of life. Sarah reports, “She is quite happy.”

YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN

When the Crossings campus expansion was completed, Brookdale rewarded the Highlands Ranch community by offering a special wish granted for one of their residents. During the last five years, Brookdale has partnered with the Wish of a Lifetime organization to fulfill the lifelong dreams of more than 600 seniors.

Carmen Scott, the Resident Programs Manager at Brookdale Highlands Ranch, asked herself, (Who among our residents would be sufficiently functional and lucid to really enjoy a special venture?) She thought of Patricia and remembered an occasion when they talked about how her husband started a radio station in Oregon. That gave Carmen an idea.

A few weeks later, Patricia and Sarah were invited to Carmen’s office to see a special message. There, via video conference, Wish of a Lifetime CEO Jeremy Bloom awarded them with a homecoming trip to Grant’s Pass to see family, visit the radio station and speak to her friends in her old hometown on the air.

THE FOG CLEARS

Patricia and Sarah saw familiar land marks on the drive from the airport into Grant’s Pass – the views of Rogue River along the highway, the grocery stores, schools, churches, Tom Pearce Park, and finally, the KAJO studios. Her daughter could see the fog that hid Patricia’s memories clearing away. “Everything came flooding back,” Sarah said.

There was a family reunion in the lobby of the radio station’s new building where Patricia’s sons, Carl and Matt, were there with her grandchildren waiting to greet her. A photo of her husband displayed prominently on the wall caught Patricia’s eye.

“I remember when we took that picture. I just loved your dad so much. He was so wonderful with the people around him,” she said.

After tears, laughter and catching up with the latest news in the lives of her family, Patricia was led to a broadcasting studio.

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Patricia didn’t know who they were, but as the conversation went on, she began calling each one by name with no need to be prompted with reminders.

SCENES FROM HER LIFE

Out of sight, out of mind. For Patricia Wilson and many like her, that cliché is literal. Since returning to her home at Brookdale Highlands Ranch in Denver, the fog periodically returns to her mind and hides her memories, but it eventually dissipates to reveal that her past still lives inside. Sometimes, all she needs is a cue.

There will be mornings in which Patricia wakes with no apparent trace of Grant’s Pass in her mind. After breakfast, she might walk past the living room where she may hear a familiar tune. She wonders, “Where have I heard it before?”

It’s a Big Band song playing in the background of an old movie “Hollywood Hotel” that her friends are watching on TBS.

She sat in the on-air guest’s chair, while at the DJ desk, Carl announced his mother’s return to Grant’s Pass to the KAJO listeners in the community who remembered her fondly. He interviewed his mother, asking about the early days of building a new station from scratch. Carl asked her to describe Grant’s Pass of the ‘50s and ‘60s and what it was like to see her hometown again.

Immersed in the place where most of her adult life took place, Patricia’s awakened mind was clear. She reminisced about those first few years at the station and expressed her gratitude for the community support their enterprise received in those days from listeners and advertisers. “I just love being back here. It’s so nice to be with family and friends again,” she said.

After Patricia’s interview, they stepped out of the new facility to walk over to the old original radio station building, now used for storage. She noticed the familiar rosebushes in front, still alive and blooming 50 years later. Patricia asked to pick a rose to take with her and said, “I remember when I planted these.”

Later during lunch at a downtown restaurant, several of Patricia’s friends dropped by to visit. At first, it seemed

WHEN PATRICIA CLOSES HER EYES, IT COMES TO HER - THAT’S BENNY GOODMAN, PLAYING “LET THAT BE A LESSON TO YOU.”

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*Alzheimer’s Association,® 2015 Alzheimers Disease Facts and Figures

In 2014, 15.7 million caregivers provided an estimated 17.9 billion hours of unpaid care valued at more than $217 billion.

Alzheimer’s disease is the 6th leading cause of death in the United States.

In 2015, Alzheimer’s and dementia cost the nation $226 billion. These costs could rise as high as $1.1 trillion by 2050.

In 2015, nearly half a million Americans age 65 and older will develop Alzheimer’s.

More than 60 percent of Alzheimer’s and dementia caregivers are women, and 34% of whom are age of 65 or older.

Approximately 32 percent of seniors using adult day services have Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia accounting for 60% to 80% of cases.

$5.5 MILLION dollars have been raised by Brookdale since 2008 to benefit the Alzheimer’s Association ($1.5 MILLION YTD 2015)

More than 550 Brookdale communities provide Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care.

More than 12,000 Brookdale residents receive our Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care services.

A L Z H E I M E R ’ S D I S EA S E : FAC T S & F I G U R ES*

A good, healthy diet with unprocessed foods and exercise has been shown to reduce the symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

She takes a seat in one of the armchairs, not to watch, but to listen.

When Patricia closes her eyes, it comes to her. That’s Benny Goodman, playing “Let That Be a Lesson to You.”

That kind of Big Band music on radio station KAJO was the soundtrack of Patricia’s life. The fog dissipates and her mind’s eye displays scenes from Grant’s Pass. She sees an image of her husband Jim at the studio with a full head of thick wavy brown hair, then another image with thick wavy gray hair. She remembers young Carl playing with the turntable at the broadcast desk. She recalls a scene in which she

was driving 12-year-old Sarah along Redwood Highway, back when it only had two lanes. Then, an image of 5-year-old Matt, dressed for Easter Sunday comes to mind. Patricia will enjoy reliving these moments from her old hometown until the fog returns.

Whenever Grant’s Pass disappears from Patricia’s view once again, it is not gone forever, but only hidden. The day will come when an old photo, a scent, a familiar voice or the notes of Benny Goodman’s clarinet will part the clouds that cover Grant’s Pass, bringing Patricia’s cherished memories back out into the sunlight.

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HATCHING AN IDEA IN THE VAN Friendships begin, gossip is shared, and stories are told on the community van at Brookdale Cave Spring in Roanoke, Virginia. Sometimes, the van takes residents on a scenic drive to interesting destinations like a sheep ranch, just in time for shearing. In the fall, they may visit a pumpkin farm. Over the holidays, a Christmas lights tour is always on the calendar. But on most weekdays, van trips are less ambitious with destinations like the grocery store, the library, or a Dollar Store.

One day on the way to Walmart, residents’ conversation turned to all the depressing news stories about ISIS atrocities, the California drought, wildfires, and name-calling

politicians. Everyone in the van expressed the same sentiment — “I’m so tired of hearing nothing but bad news. I wish someone would talk about the good news that can be found around us.” Resident Programs Coordinator Theresa Netzel gave her riders an idea.

STORIES IN VIRGINIA

Reporters

Uncover Brookdale

Several freelance reporters recently published a series of stories from inside a Brookdale retirement community in Virginia that were not covered by any other print or broadcast news outlet.

“If no one else out there will do it, you could publicize good news yourselves by writing a newsletter. If you and some of our other residents write the stories, I’ll do the layout, and we’ll print copies for our community, friends, and families.”

Ther

esa

Netz

el

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Brookdale Cave Spring in Roanoke, Virginia. ISSUE 1

STORIES IN VIRGINIA

RESIDENTS BECOME WRITERS Theresa and the van riders spread the word to their neighbors – “If you write an article, we will print it.”

As stories came in, Theresa typed them into an easy-to-use template she selected from Microsoft Publisher.

The first issue of the newsletter Brookdale Bright Spots began with a simple statement of purpose:

“Are you tired of all the bad news that comes across the television, radio, and in print? We are! While we do not want to be ostriches sticking our heads in the sand when it comes to local, state, and national news, we do want to hear about the many ‘bright spots’ happening all around us.”

NOT ALONE ON A WINTER NIGHT Bill Bowman wrote a story for the newsletter about his mother Mable’s last days and nights there. As the end of her life drew near, she was moved from the apartment she shared with a roommate to a private suite where she could be alone with family.

Bill came to stay with his mother on a cold winter night that brought a mix of snow and ice into the area. He dozed off to sleep in a chair but was awakened at midnight when an associate named Jessica walked in the room.

He said, “I thought you weren’t scheduled to come in tonight.” She replied, “You’re right. I’m not working this evening. I was thinking about your mother and came back, because I didn’t want her to be alone tonight.”

Jessica didn’t know that Bill would be there when she left her family and her warm bed to brave the weather.

She only knew she didn’t want a lady she cared for to spend what could be her last night alone. That evening, Jessica was not an employee on the clock, but a friend acting out of love.

Story Continued on next Page.

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After his mother passed away, Bill told the associates at Brookdale Cave Spring he would still come back for lunch from time to time to visit. Many adult children of late residents make that same promise, but none ever return … except Bill.

VICKIE MAKES A SHERIFF CRYOne day, as Theresa was passing out activity calendars from room to room, she was surprised when one of her new residents Vickie Newton said, “I want to write something for the Words of Wisdom column in the newsletter.”

Vickie’s short message published a few weeks later seemed unusual, coming from a wheelchair-bound woman who had lost so much in her life to Multiple Sclerosis.

She wrote:If you’ve lost something, don’t be sad. Be happy you had it. This is from someone who has lost so much: my independence, my health, my job of 16 years that I loved, and my home … BUT, I am so grateful to have had them.

Vickie set aside 30 copies of that newsletter to send to friends, relatives, former co-workers, and long-lost high school classmates. Some never knew about her MS diagnosis or were unaware of how much the disease had progressed since those days when she handled computer services at the Lewis-Glade Clinic and enjoyed bluegrass dancing on weekends.

Since Vickie had relocated over the past year from her home to a hospital, then to a rehabilitation center before settling down in her Brookdale community, she wanted to let everyone know where she was now.

Along with the newsletters, she included a note and a group photo of herself with friends and associates at Brookdale Cave Spring.

In the weeks that followed, Vickie received many heartfelt responses including a letter from Teresa, one of her oldest hometown friends, and her husband, a retired deputy sheriff.

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Brookdale Cave Spring in Roanoke, Virginia. ISSUE 1

That letter included these lines:Your newsletter could not have come at a better time on a better day. If we ever needed to hear what you said, it was at that moment we came home after losing a court case that ended our five-year malpractice suit against the doctor who damaged my leg. My husband and I both burst into tears when we read it. Considering everything that’s happened to you, your words gave us inspiration.

When Vickie shows that response letter to friends, she says, “I can’t believe I made a sheriff cry.”

DORIS REPORTS UNEXPECTED GUESTS Doris Quarles’ apartment has a large double window that gives her a wide view to spot unannounced visitors at her Brookdale community.

She wrote about them in her recent article, “Unexpected Guests,” revealing everything she saw them do. Doris is not a gossiping busybody, and the guests she writes about are not human.

Against a backdrop of nearby mountains, she can watch an assortment of forest creatures who venture from the

wilderness area on the edge of her community back yard.

From her vantage point, she has logged visits from a red fox, flocks of black crows or cardinals, six deer, including two fawns with legs that look too thin to support their weight, a groundhog “who comes snoodling around,” a yellow butterfly she named “Miss Buttercup,” and a swarm of lightning bugs (she has not named) that flash tiny streaks in the night air.

For the next newsletter, Doris is writing an article about her first impressions when she moved to Brookdale Cave Spring.

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THANK-YOUNOTES

The Bright Spots newsletter also publishes thank-you notes that associates receive from families of residents, such as the one excerpted below:

Transferring my mother Vera to Brookdale was absolutely the right move.

My wife and I are so glad that her needs are met by people who genuinely care for her. Even though she has significant mental and physical challenges, we always get the impression from Brookdale associates that mother is a blessing, not a burden. We’re also happy that when our dog Lee comes in, he enjoys being treated like a celebrity.

Thanks Brookdale,

Dennis and Yew Bee Woodson

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TURNING DARKNESS INTO LIGHT Doing what you can to make a better world is part of living an Optimum Life.

The residents at Brookdale Cave Spring cannot change the kinds of stories that continue to fill local and national newspapers, magazines, and TV news broadcasts, but anyone there who wishes to do so can become a reporter that tells the other stories no one else will.

Readers inside and outside their community can turn the pages of each new issue of Brookdale Bright Spots to read about people who shine a light to counter the darkness of our world.

Instead of focusing on the latest tragedy, these writers spotlight tales of victory against seemingly insurmountable odds. To counter stories of inhuman cruelty, they uncover stories of compassionate kindness. Instead of digging up stories of selfish greed, they reveal stories of self-sacrifice. Brookdale Bright Spots illustrates how much better life can be when we anticipate turning the page to begin a new story in the next chapter of life.

Brookdale Cave Spring in Roanoke, Virginia. ISSUE 1

DCORP-P9-1015-ROP12 LMB Brookdale® is a trademark of Brookdale Senior Living Inc., Nashville, TN, USA.

brookdale.com/newlife

new lifeBringing

to senior living

Excellence. Professionalism. Love. You’ll find them living here inside the hearts of Brookdale associates. As residents and their families know, it’s our way of connecting that truly sets us apart.

Meet more of our associates like Shane. Call 1-855-LIVE (5483).

Call Brookdale today at 1-855-336-LIVE (5483)

“I will tell my friends I have one of the most amazing

jobs in the world.”Shane R., Transportation Services