Groundbreaking!

We've begun!! The long-anticipated Phase II of Kendal construction was formally launched on Wednesday, July 20, with the official groundbreaking ceremony. The weather was sunny and hot for the outdoor event, but with the aid of spacious tents and a bit of a breeze, the overflow crowd could be accommodated relatively comfortably. The audience consisted of residents and staff; people who will be joining our community when the project is completed; local government officials who assisted us in the long planning process; bankers and financial advisers who helped us secure our financing; representatives of both the architectural firm that consulted with us in designing our plans and the contracting firm that will let us realize them; and officers from Kendal Corporation, whose oversight helped us every step of the way.

When the project is completed in about eighteen months, Kendal at Granville will have twenty-four new apartment units, a broadly expanded health center, and a Gathering Room large enough to host musical and theatrical events, large meetings, and all sorts of major social and business occasions. I won't pretend that all residents look forward to the construction noise and the disruptions of life which will inevitably attend this project. But everyone at Kendal acknowledges that we will be a stronger and healthier community when the work has been done. And so we'll look upon the coming year-and-a-half as an adventure.

As for the groundbreaking ceremony itself, it was appropriately celebratory. Five speakers addressed the project. Doug Helman, our Executive Director, thanked all those who had contributed to the realization of the ambition of planting a CCRC in Granville, including the pioneers who, back in the years when the Kendal at Granville project was but a dream of some local visionaries, had given time, imagination, and money to support the idea. John Diffey, President of Kendal Corporation, congratulated us on our achievement and situated the project within the wider conspectus of Kendal's goal of service. Tom Mills, President of the Kendal at Granville board of trustees, commended the board for its hard work. William Mason, Granville Township Trustee, spoke of the amicable and mutually supportive relationship of Kendal and the town of Granville. Harriett Stone, Kendal at Granville's first board president and first resident, directed the minds of the audience back to the groundbreaking of 2003, when Kendal at Granville was launched, and invited us all to believe that similar success will attend our current endeavor.

Everyone has seen the iconic photographs that mark a groundbreaking occasion. We contributed our own set of images for future historians to consult – shots of small lines of familiar and not-so-familiar faces, everyone beaming at the camera while sporting hard hats and brandishing shovels. (Thanks to the foresightedness of the Marketing department, the hats bore the inscription of Kendal at Granville, and the shovels were gilded.)

Unlike many ceremonies of this sort, Kendal's groundbreaking ended before the scheduled termination hour, and given the mounting heat of the late morning, few attendees can have been regretful. At that point we repaired to the lobby, where, in the coolness of the interior, a grand buffet meal awaited us. Everyone will have his or her own favorite dish from the meal, but the offerings that stirred the most enthusiastic commentary afterward were the stacks of clams and the sinfully chocolatey dirt puddings.

The meal was a memorable conclusion to a meaningful morning. Everyone now knew that Phase II – for so long the subject of discussions, analyses, worries, hopes, and predictions – was under way. So let the fun begin!

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Some weeks ago I was one of five residents who drove to Huntington Park to see a Columbus Clippers baseball game. The Clippers are the triple-A farm team of the Cleveland Indians, and if their play this season is indicative of what the Indians of the future will be like, Tribe followers should have smiles on their faces in the coming years – always assuming they can manage to keep the talent. But what drew us to the ballpark on this sunny day wasn't the success of the team but the prospect of watching minor league baseball in a fan-friendly arena. For Huntington Park, now in just its second year of operation, is widely acknowledged to be a model for successful minor league franchises in the changed world of the twenty-first century - open and clean, and with clear lines of sight, good food, lively inter-inning entertainment, and comfortable seats. Oh yes . . . it offers great baseball games too!

While driving into Columbus we shared tales of ball games attended in the past, of major league stadiums visited, of childhood team loyalties gratified and betrayed. As a son of New York, I had been a Yankee fan in my youth. Others had grown up cheering for less successful teams, suffering with and for such squads as the Reds and the Pirates. We all had our stories to swap. And of course we talked of much else too. If you get a bunch of gabby seniors together, shaped by lifetimes of challenges and joys, there's an agenda for conversation that extends far beyond the temporal confines of drives to and from the ballpark.

One thing we hadn't reckoned on when we bought the tickets in advance: the day turned out to be hot. Hot as hell, some might say. And our seats were in the sun. Why hadn't we chosen a night game?, we wondered. And so even though we had our headgear, our light clothing, and our sunscreen, many of us chose to spend some of game standing in the shade of a stadium overhang or seeking out the comfort of a food stand.

Which brings me to an important point. One thing that hasn't changed is the scrumptiousness of ballpark food. Hotdogs (I skip the mustard, but many don't), French fries, ice cream confections - wow! And I shouldn't forget the ballpark staple of beer, although actually, since I was driving, I passed up on suds for a Coke float on this day. Still, in either case, the satisfaction of feeling a cold drink flowing down a dry throat on a hot afternoon is intense and memorable.

An oddity of the day of our visit was that all the middle schools of the Columbus suburb of Dublin had sent their students on a field trip to a baseball game, and so there were what seemed like thousands of 12-to-14-year-olds doing their thing in the ballpark. Out in the left field stands, for example, a large group of junior high girls cheered on the Clippers with what were probably adapted football chants, while along the promenade that circles the stadium some of the kids ignored baseball completely and just kept strolling. One thing for sure: this is an age group that likes food and can pack it in. And, in what will pass as my only sociological observation, this is an age group that travels in large packs – packs moreover that are single-gender in character. That, we can only presume, will soon change. The sight of this school gang prompted us in the Kendal crowd to summon up childhood memories of the rather more uplifting and sober sort of school field trips in our youths – visits to such sites as museums, concerts, presidential homes, and wildlife preserves. I guess the change is a sign of the times.

What about the ball game?, you may by now be asking. Well, it was a good one. The visitors jumped off to a big lead, aided by some incredibly sloppy fielding by the home team. Then the good guys staged a comeback. But in the end it wasn't enough, and the Clippers went down to a rare defeat. We saw home runs, a double play, some gutsy base running, and several players who seemed destined for the Bigs. By the end, I think the Kendal gang was glad it was over, but even if we were all rather sweaty, we weren't wilted, and our conversation on the drive home was as lively as our earlier one. I suspect we all were looking forward to taking showers before dinner; and it's likely that when we next head off for a baseball game in Columbus, we'll choose a night game. But we'll do it again. For going to a baseball game is, in the final analysis, a very enjoyable experience and an occasion for generating memories. And we all treasure our memories.

A Teddy Bear's Picnic - Living Among the Young at Heart

The July first morning activities of the Gallery Committee turned out to be an example of what it means to "live among the young at heart." That morning we set up a new exhibit in our display cabinet. Its theme: A Teddy Bear's Picnic. Three factors led me to suggest this theme. The first was the indication by several residents that they had teddy bears available for our use. .The second was my quick association of the song "The Teddy Bear's Picnic" with any teddy bear activity. Thirdly I recalled the community picnic which is a part of the greater Granville huge Fourth of July annual celebration. What could be a better theme for an exhibit of teddy bears in July?

In April following my preliminary announcement of our intention to have a "Teddy Bear's Picnic" as the theme for our July-August exhibit I was surprised at how very soon I began to hear from the various persons wanting to bring me their bears. I had only asked at the time if anyone had a red checked tablecloth and/or fitted picnic basket we could borrow. I explained that I had no accommodations for teddy bears at my apartment. Each caller was advised that the anxious little bears would get written invitations in due time with all of the details as to the time and place to report.

Even so I continued to get calls from residents eager to give me the pedigree and personal backgrounds of their bears. Some wanted to let me know they had a Steiff or a Gund bear. Others told me about their bears hand made of fur, quilts, shirts, etc. Still others would be dressed in all sorts of outfits and some would just be bare bears. It became apparent that we would have wee bears, little bears, medium bears, and large bears. A surprising number told me they would bring their own chairs. There were bears who had helped their owners recover from surgery, bears who brought comfort, and bears who had been loved by several generations of children. Altogether the stories told by the owners revealed a rich variety of shared experiences.

As I listened to all of these stories I was struck by the manner in which the community had caught the spirit of the theme and were looking forward to their bear/s taking part in an event which they saw as fun. To me it is evidence of how young in heart they are in spirit although they may not be so young in calendar years.

At the appointed hour on July first the bears began to arrive. Once each one was tagged committee members found places for each of them along with the picnic items which incuded a basket with containers labeled peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and potato salad along with a couple of bags of potato chips. Setting on the red checked tablecloth was a container marked pink lemonade, a small basket of grapes, a jar of peanut butter and a jar of honey - a bear's favorite. Two ice coolers sat nearby.

As committee members worked residents kept stopping to ask questions and then staying to listen to the stories of the individual bears. Although it was work to get it all in place, it was the kind of work one enjoys because of the spirit that pervaded - a feeling that for at least awhile we were very young at heart as we joined the teddy bears at their picnic.

Voices of Love

One of my primary reasons for choosing to come to live at Kendal at Granville was the fact that I had come to know the reputation of Kendal communities for the quality of care. As a nurse who had taught geriatrics I had high expectations when I arrived. Now almost six years later I can say that I have not been disappointed. Largely this is due to what I think of as the many voices of love which exemplify the manner in which the underlying Quaker value of respect for others is shown here.


If anyone doubts that love still exists I would invite them to visit here and observe carefully the many ways in which love abounds. I not only see it and hear it in many ways every day, but I feel it as well. It is evident in the common ordinary actions of both staff and residents


It may be in the careful manner a young caregiver feeds a patient who needs help with eating. Often it's seen as a therapist walks slowly alongside a resident recovering from knee surgery. I felt it when the therapists turned some of our required exercises into games thus making them less tedious. Many times it is evident in the words of encouragement which keep us motivated when the going is rough. Other times I have detected it in the voice of one of our young aides coaxing a patient out of bed when they are reluctant to get up for needed exercise


I've observed it in the simple act of a friend nightly taking a cookie to a an old college buddy who is no longer able to come to the dining room for meals and staying with him for a brief visit. I've seen it reflected by a friend offering to shop for another resident who didn't feel quite up to par. Often it's demonstrated by a spouse pushing his/her life partner in a wheelchair so they can be together for activities


It can be heard in the voice of one resident reading to a another resident whose vision no longer allows her to read for herself. Or overheard when a husband or wife patiently explains once more what's offered on the menu when a spouse can't quite remember what's just been said.


It may be heard in the sound of familiar melodies being played on the piano after dinner by a talented residents willing to share her talent. One night as I went down the hall towards the mailboxes to get my mail I met first one person singing and then another humming the melody they had just heard in the lobby on their way back to their respective apartments having caught the spirit of that same music.

In the summer it may be evidenced by an able bodied resident going outside to pick a bouquet of flowers thus bringing inside a bit of the outside for a less able person. One person quietly shows her love for people by doing mending and alterations without accepting anything for her time and effort except a simple thank you.


Yes, this is a place full of love and loving deeds done quietly without fanfare - the kind of love that makes the world truly a better place to live - especially our world here at Kendal.

WELCOME DIVERSITY

The following quotation comes from Kendal's Values and Practices Booklet: "Kendal strives to create and support an environment for community members, board, staff, and volunteers that is welcoming to all cultures, backgrounds, and differences. Our commitment to diversity flows from Kendal's Quaker roots. We believe that a spirit of inclusion and culture of diversity enrich and strengthen our communities, people, and services."

Our Kendal at Granville is diverse in that we come from all over the United States, Europe, and Australia. However, we are all white and mostly Christian in culture if not religion. I remember at one of our membership meetings someone asked our director why we couldn't just be happy the way we are. The late Dr. Sylvester said that our lives would be so much richer in may ways, that we would learn from each other and have fuller and more interesting lives. Most of us agree that it is healthy and enriching but what do we do when we live in a homogeneous community like Granville, Ohio?

Three years ago Kendal Corporation asked that each community have a committee devoted to diversity and inclusion. Our Granville committee, made up of staff and residents, started meeting in April, 2008. The first few meetings resulted in this mission statement: The mission of the Diversity Committee is to assist in building community that celebrates and draws from the cultures, backgrounds and experiences of all Kendal residents and staff. We will work together to invite a diverse population and encourage inclusiveness among all community members."
So we planned speakers and events that expanded our knowledge and understanding.

So now, in December we celebrate Hanukka with the ceremonial lighting of the candles at sundown on each of the Hanukka nights. We do this in the lobby which has a big Christmas Tree and manger scenes as well as a Kwanza display. This coming holiday season we plan to learn more about Kwanza and properly celebrate this event. The other days we celebrate are Cinco de Mayo and International Day. We even celebrated the Chinese New Year with egg dishes and Chinese Lanterns. Black History Month, February, was celebrated with exciting African Dance brought to us by an African American Professor and his students from Denison's Dance Department. We plan to observe Gay Pride Month by having a couple come to speak to us who were welcomed as the first gay couple at another Kendal Community. Last fall a professor from Yemen talked to us about the experiences of Muslim families in America. Dr. Shiels, a Professor of Indian American Studies at OSU has made us aware of Indian Mounds near us and introduced us to Native Americans living in the area.

These programs have been very well attended and the comments afterward tell us we need to keep doing what we are doing. We did complete a Diversity Climate Survey, given to us by Kendal Corporation. The response indicated that most people, not all, are in agreement with Kendal's philosophy in this endeavor. So we will continue these interesting programs and enjoy as we learn.

College Kids at Kendal

Last Saturday afternoon Kendal was the site of a sparkling inter-generational confab, as a dozen or so eighteen-and-nineteen-year-olds joined an even larger number of residents, all of them easily half a century older than their young guests, in swapping good thoughts and happy memories. The exchange was a magnificent demonstration of Kendal’s grand fortune in being located so close to Denison University.

Here’s the background to the event. A Philosophy professor at Denison named Audrey – we’ll all go by first names in this entry – offered a freshman course this semester on the philosophy of aging. The major writing assignment asked students to interview senior citizens about their views and philosophies of life. Perhaps half of the students used their grandparents as subjects, but the rest, not having access to grandparents, were linked with Kendal residents. The interviews that followed were based upon a broad outline of questions prepared by the students. Basically they involved asking each senior to talk about his or her life. Last Saturday’s session was a celebration of the success of the project, the course, and the organizing idea that lay behind it.

We began by arranging the seats in the room into a big circle. Audrey then asked us all to introduce ourselves, explaining that the students might use their self-selected class names. Many did precisely that, and in that way the residents came to know such students as Ace, Kimpossible, Tiresias, Touchdown, and Trey. Audrey herself was Wondergirl. By the end of the introductions the residents were all wishing that they could be back in college, with teachers as imaginative as Wondergirl was.

In the ensuing discussion, energized by cookies and punctuated by laughter and applause, residents were encouraged to relate off-beat tales about themselves, and we wound up learning all sorts of interesting facts about one another. In his youth, for example, John commandeered a steamroller as a prank. Marie had once been the oldest student in a nursing Master’s program in the country. Cy interrogated North Korean prisoners. Larry once sang the alto part of the Brahms Requiem while standing next to a “ten-foot” tall singer (we gladly tolerated a bit of hyperbole on this festive occasion). Margaret’s grandmother barely escaped an abduction at the hands of a mounted Apache brave.

It is a well-attested truth that senior citizens enjoy associating with busy and bright young people. (I have to note that I find using these various age-group-specifying terms to be a bit awkward.) We are cheered, inspired and heartened by such encounters. They remind us of our own yesteryears, of course, but they also give us grounds for being optimistic about the future of our country and of humankind, and they reinforce the truth of one of the great lessons of life: that even as many things in the world about us are changing, many of the most important elements of life endure. On this occasion we were also warmed by the many assurances from the students that our participation in the project and the friendships that had emerged from the interviews had been instructive and – at least in some instances – deeply important to the students.

Two final quotes are worth noting.

When asked what important lessons of life the residents might give the students, John offered the following: “Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.”

When asked whether she had enjoyed her participation in the project, Larry responded with a question of her own: “Who wouldn’t like talking about yourself for a full hour?”

I agree with both remarks. Our thanks go out to Wondergirl and her terrific students.

Flower Art Show - Celebrating Spring

Looking toward the opposite end of the hall this is what you see as you stand at the entrance to the hall designated as our Art Gallery. More about what you see further on. Last fall when picking paintings from those done by our residents I suggested to fellow Gallery Committee members that we withhold any that were of flowers with the intent of creating an all flowal art show to be hung just when we couldn't tolerate one more bit of winter. By the arrival of spring due to the productivity of our artists throughout the long cold dreary winter we were pleased to find ourselves with a plentiful supply of paintings from which to choose for the anticipated flower art show.

As we made our selections we found that the pictures available to us were in deed lovely harbingers of spring. So lovely they inspired us to expand our opening reception into a celebration of spring at which time we would not only honor our artists but also the people in our community who have particularly enhanced our lives here by what they have done with flowers. Thus special invitations went to a couple who have for several years created a huge oval garden planted with a variety of beautiful annuals from which we were all allowed to pick flowers, the members of our Landscape Committee, and a lady who has become known for the number of small bouquets she distributes throughout our small village to those celebrating birthdays or anniversaries or who may need perking upfor one reason or another.

The weeks just before the show was hung my particular responsibilities kept me busy as I framed ten of the recently completed paintings, sent out invitations, made labels to identify the paintings and name tags for our honorees, created posters, and arranged for the reception including flowers for table decorations.

Now back to those pictures at the top - twelve beautiful paintings based on calendar illustrations which had as their inspiration Monet's garden. My job was to figure out an arrangement for hanging that would be more pleasing to the eye than in a long straight line. To do this I ended up taking all twelve pictures to my apartment, placing them on my floor and experimenting with assorted layouts until I had one that suited me. Actually it was thinking about that oval garden that gave me the idea. Since it's been up people seem to like it, so it was well worth the time and effort.

On the morning of April 4 our entire commitee was on hand to assist with hanging the fifty-five pictures we had chosen. We were pleased that the favorable comments began even as were hanging the pictures. It took us several hours to get all of them in place to our mutual satisfaction. When it was finished we had assembled a kaleidoscope of colors ranging from pale pastels to brilliant reds, greens, purples, and oranges with all of the shades in between.

They ran the gamut you would expect to find in a large flower show (the kind I was privileged to see when I lived in the Philadelphia area and could attend their fantastic internationally recognized annual flower show). We had the twelve bits from Monet's garden; we had a beautiful pink dogwood tree in bloom in a local church yard; we had a tiny clump of snow drops heralding the end of winter along with bouquets, both large and small; mixed and single blossom; as well as a number of single specimen blossoms of many vibrant colors. We also were privileged to have what you wouldn't find at an actual flower show: several paintings done by artists who shared with us their special vision that allows them to see more than the ordinary eye perceives when looking at flowers in a garden.

Since the show has been up we have had the usual fickel April weather here - lots of gray skies and rain. We have even had to cope with tornado warnings and a power outage lasting for almost twelve hours. So it's nice to know that spring has arrived and remains constant in at least one spot. Although Easter Sunday here dawned as a gray grungy day we had a lovely spot where we could walk with our many visitors without getting wet. I know that's where my family and I headed for a stroll after eating brunch in our dining room.