SO MUCH to CHOOSE FROM! Sweetheart’S Day Songs and Sweet Treats – Feb
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FOR RESIDENTS OF THE JEWISH HOME OF SAN FRANCISCO FEBRUARY 2016 SWEETHEARTS, SUPER BOWL, SPECIAL SESSIONS … SO MUCH TO CHOOSE FROM! Sweetheart’s Day songs and sweet treats – Feb. 14, 2:00 p.m., F1 coffee bar Super Bowl kick-off – Feb. 7, 3:30 p.m., F1 Jewish New York Travelogue and History – Feb. 11, 2:00 p.m., Frank Family Lounge CONTENTS FEBRUARY 2016 2 MEMORIES 14 BRAVO! Tricycles and table manners Employees of the month ~ January & Rudy Hooremans February 3 FAMILY BARBECUES 16 A KING OF COMEDY Ellen Marks-Hinkle A biographical sketch of the late Alan King 3 A LOVING LETTER FROM ELLEN 18 COUNCIL OF RESIDENTS MARKS-HINKLE TO BERNICE HUNOLD, December & January meeting minutes OF BLESSED MEMORY 19 IN MEMORY 4 SPECIAL MEMORIES OF YESTERYEAR Francine Hament 20 WIT & HUMOR Seeing the funny (Jewish) side of life 5 REACHING FOR “THE REACHER” Francine Hament 21 A SMALL ASSORTMENT OF TINY TRIVIA 5 QUOTES TO LIVE BY 22 RESIDENTS’ BIRTHDAYS Courtesy of Phyllis Wolf February celebrants 6 “WE’VE GOT RHYTHM” Chanukah show 2015 captures characters, chanteuse, chorus, and chortles 13 LEARNING AND LOGIC Submitted by Edie Sadewitz AT HOME contents are for the benefit of residents SUBMIT TO AT HOME! of the Jewish Home. At Home is based on the E-mail submissions by the 15th: tradition of free expression; submissions made Ilana Glaun: [email protected] by residents should be viewed as not necessarily representing the opinion, position or policies of HANDWRITTEN SUBMISSIONS to staff or the Home. switchboard by the 15th, or ask recreation staff for assistance. EDITING without approval of the author is a staff editor: Ilana Glaun reserved right, due to space and time constraints. designer: Michael Wickler Only content written or submitted by those connected with the Home will be accepted. JEWISH HOME 1 SAN FRANCISCO RESIDENTS WRITE ADAPTED FROM MEMORIES By Rudy Hooremans Rudy Hooremans TRICYLES AND Table manners were drilled into me from the TABLE MANNERS moment I managed to hold a spoon. Right hand for I certainly wasn’t a pushy kid, not exactly the fork and, before I was old enough to use a knife, shy, but definitely timid. Among other toys, a schuivertje, a pusher (it had a non-cutting blade I had a tricycle which I liked to take outside perpendicular to the handle) to assist my left hand and ride back and forth on the sidewalk. in getting the food onto the fork. Elbows close to The other kids on the block also liked to your side, not sticking out horizontally, and never, ride the tricycle, so Willie Korn, the eldest ever on the table. I was well taught! daughter of our upstairs neighbors (and Moeder’s best friend was Jopie Bierman. She lived landlord), being the oldest of the group, in Amsterdam with her mother, Oma Bierman. Every organized the riding order. She would once in a while Tante Jopie would come visit us in make us stand in line and wait our turn. The Hague. She loved me and invariably wanted to Somehow, timid me constantly found take me home with her. I had no objection to going himself at the end of the line. After a while, I with Tante Jopie, nor to visiting her mother, because would go back inside, sans tricycle, but our I would get thoroughly spoiled. Candy, cake, all the maid, Anna, would take me right back out things I loved and wouldn’t always get at home, and again, and firmly set Willie and the others when it came to dinner, if there was something I straight. Nobody dared argue with her! didn’t care for, of course I didn’t have to eat it, like at home. Oma Bierman would always have something Manners were something my parents considered more to my taste. Tante Jopie would drag me to be of the utmost importance (as did society as a around to all her relatives to show off me and my whole in the early part of the 20th century). In those head full of light brown curls, and to brag about my days, in company, children were to be seen but not exemplary table manners. heard. When answering an adult, you used two words, either “Ja” or “Nee, Meneer/Mevrouw” (“Yes” Read more of Rudy’s memories in next month’s or “No, Sir/Ma’am”). Friends of the family could never issue of AtHome. be addressed by just their name, but were always Tante (Aunt) or Oom (Uncle) so-and-so. AT HOME 2 FEBRUARY 2016 A LOVING LETTER FROM ELLEN MARKS-HINKLE TO BERNICE Ellen Marks-Hinkle HUNOLD, OF BLESSED MEMORY FAMILY BARBECUES By Ellen Marks-Hinkle No matter what the weather, our family always got together for a barbecue. We went to Mt. Tamalpais, where my dad would put hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill. It was such a thrill! It was usually in the fog, but that didn’t bother us; Bernice Hunold Photo by Ray Hunold we never made a fuss. My dearest Bernice, My mom made the most delicious potato salad. (In fact, it was better than a John Denver ballad!) I am so happy that we were such close friends for We also had homemade orangeade, also made by a few years. We talked on the phone and made my mother. each other break into hearty laughter. We were also very serious and knew everything about each We were steadfast San Franciscans, and my father other, including the most personal and intimate was forever making decisions for finding coastal things imaginable. I always looked forward to parks where we could not make a spark. reading your stories in At Home, and loved looking at the beautiful photo taken of you by your late We went to Gerstle Park in San Rafael, where the husband, Ray. terrain was a little hilly. My older brother John and I acted a little bit silly. Some of the pathways were Bernice, you are one of the two women I know who covered with tree branches and greens, which are positively brilliant. I treasure the four paintings looked just like a chuppah. you did that hang in my room. We also loved driving through Muir Woods, Stinson I will really miss you, dear friend. In fact, words are Beach, and Bolinas. We ended the day close to not adequate to convey just how much. Tomales Bay. Love, Ellen These coastal towns were part of where I had my first job as a speech and language pathologist. JEWISH HOME 3 SAN FRANCISCO RESIDENTS WRITE Francine Hament Home, we have many elders in that age group, who SPECIAL MEMORIES are busy painting, singing, and enjoying the variety OF YESTERYEAR of activities offered. By Francine Hament Never assume anything about anybody. Many silent people are there in some sense – remembering, It just hit me one day last week of the reliving, foot tapping to some music of the heart. many years (like 30!) that I taught living history classes in many Marin nursing People sometimes forget who you are and what homes, sponsored by the College of Marin, you’ve said minutes after you’ve said it, but they live where I was an adult education instructor. in the moment, and these moments string together to form memories of the heart. One of our Jewish Home residents reminded me of a lovely woman in her nineties, who sat quietly Each person has a story to tell, a life they have in my class, week after week, never participating lived and shared with loved ones. They were once verbally. Later, she told me she learned just by people of stature, and if you take the time to listen listening and that she especially enjoyed the origins and observe, you might see they are still people of of things – such as the development of the safety stature to the best of their present-day abilities. pin, or the history of canned food, and why it took 50 years between canned food’s inception and the These wonderful people of yesteryear remain with invention of the can opener. (What did people use?) me (obviously!) and fill my life here at the Jewish Home with rich memories. This woman’s decision not to join the conversation was because she learned just by listening, and I learned that not everyone needs to share verbally. This wonderful woman was kind enough to call me a treasure (what a compliment!) and I called her a 90’s woman. In those days, being 90-anything was quite a feat. (Only later did I learn that she had been the principal of a high school for 45 years.) Do you remember that our president at that time, FDR, would mail you a congratulatory award on reaching the age of 100? Well, here at our Jewish AT HOME 4 FEBRUARY 2016 REACHING FOR “THE REACHER” By Francine Hament How many of you readers have ever had this experience? I hope I’m not the only one. Phyllis Wolf One day, in the not so distant past, I was reaching for a dropped-on-the-floor object with my reacher when that, too, dropped on the floor. So there I QUOTES TO LIVE BY was, without my reacher – or, to be clearer, I was Courtesy of Phyllis Wolf “reacherless.” “If you are depressed, then you What to do? We, here at the Jewish Home, are allotted only one reacher. are living in the past. If you are anxious, then you Desperation was setting in at this point because are living in the future.