Community Matters The Glen at Aberdeen Heights
May 2019
Liz Gibbons holds up her father’s Rose Bowl jersey and letter jacket, with her father, Bob Weddell.
February’s Resident in Focus: Bob Weddell
Dr. Donald Behrens created this family of sculptures.
Dr. Donald Behrens
February’s Resident in Focus was Bob Weddell. Bob, who grew up in Highland Park, Ill., played defensive tackle for the University of Illinois football team.
You may not know Dr. Donald Behrens, a resident of The Glen, but you have seen his sculptures around Aberdeen Heights.
His team made it to the 1952 Rose Bowl, which happened to be the first nationally televised college football game in the U.S. The team defeated Stanford 40-7.
Over the years, Donald created numerous sculptures, which can be seen around the Aberdeen community, at his family members’ homes and even at The City Museum. Two years ago, Donald requested some of these works be brought to Aberdeen Heights to be displayed.
Bob and his daughter, Liz Gibbons, told stories, showed residents football memorabilia, including a jersey, alumni magazine, pictures, and of course, his Rose Bowl ring. He particularly lit up when talking about his coach, Ray Eliot. If you see Bob, be sure to ask him about his football playing days.You may hear a good joke or two to make you smile throughout the day.
A retired surgeon, Donald took up metal sculpting and welding after retirement and taught night classes at John Burroughs High School, where all five of his children went to school.
Some of these sculptures need repairs. Knowing his affiliation with the high school, Bethany Holohan, life enrichment director for The Glen, contacted John Burroughs High School to see if a student would be interested in taking on this project. After discussions with faculty, student Grant Kirsch was suggested. Luckily for us, Grant was very interested. He met Bethany at Aberdeen to look at the sculptures and was introduced to the Behrens as well. He will weld, reassemble and repair the sculptures and they will be returned to us at the end of May. It is our hope to have a great open house reception for the family and Grant.
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Dance performance
Dancers chatted post-performance with Joan Murphy, Eleanor Long and Dottie Gray.
Dancers from The Big Muddy Dance Company put on a splendid performance in The Glen in early March. The dancing, costuming and music were top notch.
Army Veteran Nurse Mary Ann Hamlin lit up when talking to an Army clad dancer after the performance. Faye Prince was delighted by the dance as well.
Community Matters is published monthly for residents and friends of Aberdeen Heights by Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America Inc., a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Learn more at: PresbyterianManors.org. Lily Landy, health care administrator Rick Cumberland, executive director To submit or suggest articles for this publication, contact Bethany Holohan, life enrichment director, bholohan@pmma.org. Telephone: 314-909-6010 Address: 505 Couch Ave., Kirkwood, MO 63122 Our mission: We provide quality senior services guided by Christian values.
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Community Matters May 2019
Barb Jordan, Janice Smith, Richard Burr and Nelda Richardson with lifestyle assistants Stephanie Ameis and Allison Kelly.
Birthday post After an Aberdeen staff member told The Glen’s lifestyle department about a post she had read on Facebook mentioning a card drive for a resident in a North Carolina
senior living community turning 109 years old, residents of The Glen decided to write birthday well wishes to our own residents for meeting such a milestone. Like us on Facebook
Dot Ebeling and Bob Sextro are joined by their family. Bob and Dot have 16 children and more than 41 grandchildren, so they always have a crowd join them.
Janice Hovda-Grant got a visit from her son and his wife.
March family happy hour
Margaret McWilliams, her niece and her sister Ellen Painter enjoy Family Happy Hour.
Our March Family Happy Hour was March 31, and was full of sunshine, outside and in! Residents, family and friends attended and heard music from Acoustik Element featuring Quinten Coe on upright bass and Aaron Burlbaw on guitar.
Kirkwood tour
Recently, residents in assisted living and skilled nursing took a tour of historic Kirkwood with Amy Lowry, assistant city planner.
Joan Murphy and Amy Lowry, assistant city planner. Like us on Facebook
The residents really enjoyed this hour-long tour. Amy took us through historic neighborhoods, discussed city planning and zoning hot topics and we drove by some of the resident’s prior homes, including the home of Joan Murphy where she and her architect husband lived prior to moving to Aberdeen. They were backyard neighbors to Don and Mary Stewart, from The Stewart Family Band. The Glen at Aberdeen Heights
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Dotty Mill, Don Otto, Gerry Grossman and Joe and Rita Seiler enjoy the March birthday party.
March birthday celebrations We celebrated March Birthdays with music from Curt Landes. He played some lively jazz and big band tunes to the delight of our residents. Resident Gerry Grossman is particularly fond of jazz and gave Curt several requests. Our birthday cake was decorated with the March birth flower of daffodils and blue, for the aquamarine gemstone.
He was a wise and intuitive man. Mr. Einstein said about family and love: “Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life.” We had several family members visit the community for their loved one’s birthdays. For her birthday, Dotty Mill went to her son’s house in Kirkwood for a dinner, where he cooked and invited lots of friends and neighbors. Her daughter was also visiting from Dallas.
Albert Einstein celebrated a birthday in March, which we celebrated by Rita Seiler’s daughter from watching a documentary about his California visited, and Janice Smith’s life. daughter from Dallas paid a visit
in March for her mom’s birthday month. Joan Beck’s daughter from Seattle came into town as well. The mother and daughter went to the art museum for Art in Bloom and had a wonderful day.
Lonny Jay will play our piano at 11 a.m. on Thursdays. His piano playing is
top notch! Our hats are off to you Lonnie for volunteering to play for us. Pictured are Sue Davenport and her daughter Suzie enjoying Lonnie’s music. 4
Community Matters May 2019
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Small business day Our Small Business Day in March brought us John Frieda of Neels Pharmacy, one of the oldest pharmacies in St. Louis. John discussed the trials and rewards of owning a small business, emphasizing the great rewards of being part of a family business that has been in his family 84-plus years. The pharmacy is located in Crestwood. His mother is the lead pharmacist and his great grandfather founded the pharmacy. John is the fourth generation of his family to work at the pharmacy. “The first pebble of the foundation for Neels Pharmacy was laid by my
Dotty Mill, John Frieda, Barb Jordan, Don Otto, Linda Bynum, Eleanor Long, Bonnie Altrudo and Brayden Altrudo (daughter-in-law and grandson of Rita Napoli).
great-grandfather back in 1932, and it continues to send ripples throughout the St. Louis community today,” John said.
friendly competition, and how Neels has created a niche by doing compounding for pets and adults that other pharmacies can’t do.
John addressed some of the changes and needs in the pharmacy industry, specifically pointing out how he sees big pharmacies as
John addressed heart health as well, mentioning ways to eliminate stress for a healthier heart, a topic important to many.
St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations St. Patrick’s Day was especially festive at Aberdeen. Leading up to our parties, we made St. Patrick’s crafts, baked goods and watched documentaries on Ireland as well as virtual reality segments inspired by Ireland. Our St. Patrick’s Day weekend kicked off with an Irish-inspired music set list by Memories Times Two. John Ellis, one of the members, is resident Joyce Ellis’ son. They earned Don Otto’s praise as “the best singers in our entertainment at Aberdeen!” Memories Times Two will be back to perform in May. At our St. Patrick’s Day party, residents enjoyed shamrock cookies, drank Guinness and Bailey’s on the rocks and a few even tried a beer float, Irish Stout over ice cream. Like us on Facebook
Top left: Several guests and family members joined our party. Left: Richard Burr with his daughters Julia Burr and Amy Richards. Top right: Dotty Mill pictured with daughter Susan Mill, in town from Dallas. The Glen at Aberdeen Heights
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Pen pals Third graders at Keysor Elementary will be assigned pen pals in The Glen assisted living and skilled care. Molly Brockmeyer, a third grade teacher at Keysor Elementary approached the community with the idea. This will be a fun project! The residents will really enjoy seeing the students hand written letters, in yes … cursive writing. In turn, residents will write them back and share all the wisdom and interesting stories collected throughout the lives of our fascinating and well-traveled residents. Resident Joan Beck, a teacher who taught in the Kirkwood community for more than 30 years, remembers when she was in grade school during the war and having her teacher assign her class to pen pals in London. Rita Seiler in assisted living received her letter, and one for her husband Dr. Joe Seiler. She could not tell if her pen pal’s name was Jamie or Jane, so she is going to write a few penmanship tips to her new third grade friend. Rita, too, was a teacher. Once a teacher always a teacher!
Save the Dates May 12-18 is National Nursing Home Week. Follow the calendar as we will have themes of Route 66, Roaring 20s, Tropical Island and Country Days. The Aberdeen Choir will sing Monday, May 13, at 3 pm. in assisted living.
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Community Matters May 2019
Kate Grossman, daughter of Gerry Grossman, Jean Fogerty, John Schlafly, Dick Alfeld, Eleanor Long, and Don Otto Resident Dick Alfeld, pictured next to John. Schlafly, worked at Price Waterhouse and was invited to join. The two discussed some people they knew in common.
Important visitors Assisted living resident Eleanor Long’s son John Schlafly was in town from Atlanta recently. John’s career was as an International Tax Attorney for Coca Cola. The timing was great as tax season was upon us. For those who think international tax isn’t interesting, everyone who heard him would disagree. He is a great speaker and gave a great presentation.
A graduate of NYU, John was with Coca Cola for 26 years, spending a great deal of time in Tunisia, South Africa and Western Europe. He focused his talk on international business travel in foreign countries and also discussed Coke Zero, which is made with a natural sweetener that Coca Cola created, as well as other new product development. He even brought residents cans of it to try.
Congratulations! Our November Small Business Day featured Ryan and Lindsay Sherring of Six Mile Bridge, a new craft brewery in St. Louis. Not only did they provide samples, but they also shared with us that Lindsay was expecting a little girl in the spring. As Irish luck would have it, the Sherrings welcomed their baby girl on St. Patrick’s Day. Congratulations! Like us on Facebook
100 Dresses Project has taken off! Our 100 Dresses project is almost complete! Visiting students and groups of all ages have had fun making the dresses for our Art is Ageless® 100 Dress Showcase.
Dr. Donald Behrens chose this fabric and cut the design out. This dress is perfect for his granddaughter, Madeline.
Marian Thomas chose to do an allwhite summer dress this month. She had a very specific idea of what she wanted and accomplished it!
Resident Joan Murphy made a wonderful dress. She had a little help from a student from Moms Who Care, a group from Tillman Elementary. This is the second year the group has helped with our Art is Ageless project.
Jan Smith picks the fabric for her dress.
Welcome, Rick Cumberland! The Glen welcomed new Executive Director Rick Cumberland to Aberdeen Heights with a cake social and meet and greet.
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A grand gift Anna Louise Fischer, an assisted living resident who passed away in February, donated her baby grand piano to The Glen. It now graces the assisted living piano room. Anna was known for her forward thinking, interest in current events and engaging with guests of the community. Every entertainer who will play on it will be asked to play two of her favorites, “This Land is Your Land” and “Somewhere over the Rainbow.”
At a recent Happy Hour, resident Rita Seiler played Anna Louise Fischer’s baby grand piano with Aaron Burlbaw, solo guitarist and regular performer at The Glen. The two had a marvelous time and plan to play again soon. Rita had never played with another musician before. Later that month the musician brought chord charts, nd the two played together. The video of her playing was sent to her family.
The Glen at Aberdeen Heights
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Residents enjoy a Mardi Gras lunch. Nelda Richardson, Richard Burr, Janice Smith, Judy Young and Ed Brucker all dressed up for Miss Jubilee and the Mardi Gras party.
Mardi Gras celebrations galore We did several activities in The Glen to celebrate Mardi Gras. We made Mardi Gras sweet treats and various crafts all leading up to Fat Tuesday for our Mardi Gras parties. Miss Jubilee and her band the Humdingers performed. Miss Jubilee and her piano player entertained residents in skilled care, and then moved to the assisted
living dining room to perform with The Humdingers over lunch, which featured jambalaya and king cake. The group performs all over town, and at a popular New Orleans style bistro in Central West End. Miss Jubilee always dresses and looks like she walked right out of the 1930s with her flapper style hair and dress.
Stephanie Ameis and Alison Kelly, lifestyle assistants, look festive in Mardi Gras masks.
Honor the people who make our community great. Make a gift to the Employee Scholarship Program today. Stop by the front desk today for more information.
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Community Matters May 2019
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