If you haven’t already done so: Congratulate Bob Herrick, the new Supervisor of Maintenance and Security, who succeeds Peter Provenzano. Congratulate Jordan (“West”) Saunders, a new maintenance person to work with Bob Herrick and long-termer Chris Arnold.

Congratulate Chris-Ellen Furey on becoming the new Community Wellness Coordinator.

Congratulate Kristina Shallies, promoted from Community Wellness Coordinator to be Director of the Life Enrichment Program.

All these are f u l l - t i m e a p p o i n t -ments, and all except West S a u n d e r s ’s a re p romo-t i o n s f r o m w i t h i n , s o three of the four faces are familiar in the halls. 
Human Resources Director Amy Goodrich says their appointments also mark a new phase of openness in which the Administration will try to keep residents better informed about staff changes and activities. For good measure, the roster of appointments also includes two new CNAs (Certified Nursing Assistants): Maia Leslie in LEP and Molly Bussiere in Pine Hill.

And the search is still on for a computer person to replace Peter Provenzano, Amy says. (This Observer report extends only until mid-December.) There have been plenty of applications, Amy says. “The problem is that we are getting very high-level IT [information

technology] people,” more suitable for corporate positions, “and that’s not really what we’re looking for.” Ideally, she says, Kimball’s new tech person would be qualified to work on, and assist residents with, both PCs and Macs, plus cellphones and other technology. You’ve seen Bob Herrick, the new Supervisor of

Maintenance and Security, working full-time on construction within the buildings. Before coming to Kimball in May 2003, he was a self-employed remodeler and painter. A m o n g t h o s e w h o employed him was John Barry, a District Court Judge in Pittsfield and President of Hillcrest Hospital and Educational Centers. A Pittsfield boy,

Bob and his wife, Lori, now live in Dalton. He used to be a golfer but now, he says, “we’re homebodies.” They have two sons in their late 30s. West Saunders does not come from the West. He’s a Sheffield resident who goes by his middle name, West. Originally from Great Barrington, he spent 40 years in Maine, where his wife, Tatiana, was a veterinarian and he did maintenance work in the veterinary clinic. She’s back to work as a veterinarian in the Berkshires. Both have family here. “We came back to be around Great Barrington and everybody,” West explains. They have a 19-year-old daughter.

Chris Furey, an LPN and Dalton resident, had been working here alternate weekends as a nurse since August 2015.
 (continued on next page)

Look for Familiar Faces in New Roles

The Kimball Farms

ObserverVolume 29, Number 1 ’Snow Use Complainin’ January 2020

Bob and West

Chris

The Kimball Farms Observer January 20202

(Familiar Faces, continued from page 1)When Kristina Shallies stepped up to become LEP director last month, Amy Goodrich explains, “it just made sense” to make Chris the new Wellness Coordinator, “since she knows the ins and outs, and she knows the residents within the community.”

Chris graduated from Berkshire Community College as an LPN and worked at long-term care centers and Berkshire Medical Center 24 years before coming to Kimball. She and her husband, Rick, have two children and three grandchildren. “I love to cook,” she says, mentioning Chinese and Italian food among others. “That’s what I do as a hobby.” She also knits, crochets and, in summer, gardens. LPN Kristina Shallies c a m e t o K i m b a l l Farms in June 2018 as Community Wellness Nurse. Born and raised i n P i t t s f i e l d , s h e trained as a CNA at Ta c o n i c H i g h i n Pittsfield. Ten years of w o r k a s a C N A convinced her that she wanted to become a nurse and she went b a c k t o M c C a n n Technical School in North Adams for further training. She and her husband, Nick, live in Hinsdale. A former swimmer, she says she now spends most of her spare time with their five-year-old son.

That’s the new lineup. But Amy Goodrich wants “to raise awareness and welcome discussion” of new staff members. To that end, she has begun posting pictures of new hires in all staff positions, including kitchen, laundry and grounds, around the buildings; you can see the first crop on the Bridge bulletin board. You’ll also begin seeing pictures of monthly orientation classes and quarterly “milestone lunches” held for staff recognition.

P.S. The recognition lunches are held off-campus. Andy Pincus

State Your Hot Ideas in New Focus Groups

Kimball Farms residents are never reluctant to share their opinions, solicited or not, but Michelle Rosier, Director of Residential Services, is about to launch a series of focus groups for residents to share their concerns and wishes specifically about the activities programming for Independent Living residents. “We’re here for you,” Michelle says,” and we want to know what activities you’re interested in, or not.” “I’m very brave,” she asserts, “and I can take criticism. I really want to hear from everyone. We have many new residents with great ideas to share and we hope to hear from them, too.”

The focus groups will begin after the first of the year, with about ten residents per group. While the format for the groups is still to be decided, each one will “cover all the bases and topics,” according to Michelle. “We’ll ask about preferences for concerts, speakers and activities, the kind of programs we usually schedule, but I also hope there will be some outside-the-box ideas, too.”

Sign-ups for the focus groups will begin soon. Michelle cites the recent survey of users of the exercise equipment in both the Pine Hill and Lenox gyms as a good example of the benefits of asking for opinions. “We planned to buy a certain group of machines, but when we surveyed residents, we learned that they had other preferences, so we’ve revised the order to include, for instance, more NuStep machines, two for Pine Hill and one for the small Lenox gym.” A problem Michelle hopes to have groups discuss is this frustrating situation: the Trips Committee works hard to find interesting destinations and good restaurants, and makes appointments with tour guides or docents. They post a sign-up sheet. Many residents sign up for the trip, but by the time it actually takes place, so many people have crossed their names off the list that the trip is cancelled.

Start thinking about your great ideas now, so that you can be ready when it’s your turn to share your opinion.

Susan Dana

Kristina

January 2020 The Kimball Farms Observer 3

President’s Report: Let Us Connect

One question about fulfilling my role as President of the Residents’ Association was answered at our December meeting: I can be seen behind the podium. Whether I can adequately represent you is yet to be determined. My understanding of the responsibilities of this office stems from one word: “Connect.”

We are a disparate group but we form one community, and we are all a part of making it work in a congenial way. I will do my best to connect residents’ concerns and aspirations with the administration; to facilitate conversations that will promote cooperation, and to include as many individuals as possible in decisions that will impact residents. That can only happen with your cooperation. I will be guided by your suggestions: that means expressing your ideas in writing and placing them in the Suggestion Box found in our mail room. I promise such messages will be presented to Administration and R.A. officers. I cannot promise outcomes but can guarantee your written communications will be reviewed and responses provided. Early in the New Year, Sandy Shepard will schedule informal coffee hours with selected staff. This will be an opportunity for residents to offer their ideas for what works and what doesn’t; what they wish could be instituted. It’s also a way to get a better handle on the desires of residents you may not know too well. In order for Kimball to work at an optimal level, it matters that we connect, connect and then reconnect!

Also in the works, this time led by Michelle Rosier, is the establishment of focus groups, whose task will be to consider what new committees or programs residents would welcome; which existing ones have lived their lives and can end or be modified. The focus groups would not be permanent but offer input that may continue. Success of this effort relies upon residents’ ideas and participation. I hope for this monthly column to be short but do want to let you know of staff changes. We offer congratulations to Bob Herrick, Peter Provenzano’s successor as Superintendent of Maintenance and Security, and newcomer Jordan (West) Saunders, maintenance worker with Bob Herrick and Chris Arnold; Kristina Shallies has been promoted to Director of the Life Enrichment Program; Chris Ellen-Furey is now our full-time Community Wellness Coordinator. You’ll see pictures of new staff on the Bridge bulletin board, thanks to Amy Goodrich.

It’s not for lack of looking that we don’t yet have a competent IT person to provide computer assistance to residents. This is the Berkshires: there are more jobs than people to fill them, but Kimball is aware that there is a significant demand for the right individual and the search continues. Thank you for the confidence you have expressed in me.

Dorothea Nelson

The Kimball Farms Observer is printed and published by and for the residents of Kimball Farms EDITOR PRODUCTION
 Andy Pincus Ned Dana
 Michelle Rosier

EDITORIAL STAFF:
Stephanie Beling, Susan Dana, 


Ned Dana, Virginia Fletcher, John Gillespie, 
Bernie Handler, Loring Mandel, Dorothea Nelson,

Margot Yondorf PHOTOGRAPHS:


Ned Dana, Lily Wayne CONTRIBUTORS THIS MONTH:


Eileen Henle, Nelda McGraw, 
Patricia Moynahan

The gavel is passed

The Kimball Farms Observer January 20204

The radio report for the weekend was for warm, sunny weather. We packed the car with sleeping bags and picnic food and our two girls, aged eight and ten. We were excited to have a few days to camp out and listen to some of our favorite musicians in an outdoor concert. We had no idea we were on our way to participating in a rare historical event.

We met our good friends from the next town and hurried toward the campground in separate cars. It wasn’t until we were about ten miles from our destination that our journey came to a screeching halt. On the highway ahead, bumper-to-bumper cars were standing stock still for as far as we could see ahead of us, and soon, behind us as well. We sat for hours surrounded by young people h i t c h h i k i n g , running from car to car with water bottles, offering snacks and water t o e v e r y o n e along the way.

Natura l ly, we e n v i s i o n e d a h o r r i b l e c a r accident ahead and we began to fear that our weekend would be spent on the highway. The girls became more and more restless. Finally, a local radio station reported that people were pouring in from all over the country to attend the concert. Young people began climbing out of their cars, turning up their radios and dancing and singing. It was a national block party, a joyful gathering of strangers. The highway was alive with music, and peace and camaraderie. This was our introduction to Woodstock. We crept to our destination, concert tickets at the ready. When we arrived, there were no gatekeepers taking tickets and, indeed, there was no longer a gate or a fence in sight. Hordes of people were moving toward the huge stage and setting up small tents, placing sleeping bags and backpacks to make small camps on the hill overlooking the huge area. Safety

and practical announcements were broadcast now and again. Messages from individual concertgoers filled the airways. “Betsy Smith, please meet your group at the east side of the stage.” “A service organization is here to help with overdoses and can be contacted in the first aid tent.” “There is some BAD STUFF being circulated. Be sure you know where your ‘stuff’ comes from.” We found a spot that was large enough for our two cars and began making camp. We were quickly surrounded by other mostly young folks, so that we were soon boxed in with pup tents and handmade lean-tos. Announcements on sound systems gave directions to toilets and food tents. The

announcements grew as the numbers of folk in the audience grew. The realization that this was no usual gathering began to dawn on us, filling us with awe. At one point during the weekend there was a request for a doctor and later an announcement of the birth of a healthy baby boy. The hillside roared welcome to the newborn. There were frequent announcements of caution about a certain brand of drug, and directions to a group treating anyone with health problems. We put blankets out and focused as the huge stage lit up about ¼ mile below us. Helicopters began arriving as the performers were flown into the staging area. The long wait in the car was forgotten as we had a picnic and listened to the music coming from the stage. We were not a part of the cannabis generation and did not recognize the strong scent of weed wafting across the hills. 
 (continued on next page)

“Hey! A Family!” A Woodstock Saga

January 2020 The Kimball Farms Observer 5

(Woodstock, continued from page 4)The girls forgot all that had made them cross. The sights around us grew more and more entertaining. There were various fashion styles on display and, as the weekend progressed, some began to form a nudist colony. Young people walking past us on the hillside would point at us sitting on our pallets and say, ”Hey! A family!” We seemed to be an unexpected anomaly and brought joy to youngsters from afar. There were other families there, but very few as far as we could tell.

Friday evening was all we had hoped for. The music went on throughout the night and the next day brought more wonderful surprises than we had expected, as everyone in t h e m u s i c b u s i n e s s volunteered their time to perform at Woodstock. Performing there had become a badge of honor. We were introduced to live performances of Richard Havens, Santana, many others who became

icons that weekend. The ecstatic crowd sang, swayed along with the music and passed peace and love signs to everyone in sight. This unique “city of love” made us think there was still hope for peace in the world. The rain began as evening arrived on the second night. Gentle but steady, the rain soaked everything in sight. Sloshing through the mud was the only way t o g e t t o t h e toilets. The food tents ran out of food and, as the evening began to cool, people were wrapping plastic g a r b a g e b a g s a r o u n d themselves to try and keep dry. Others gave up and shed their clothes and joined the puddles. Fortunately, the children played with their

friends and became tired and fell asleep after a hectic day. The rain continued almost to dawn. My friend and I settled with the children, tucked snugly into our cars. Our husbands bravely slept in the tent. We listened to the performers until our eyes could not stay open. We had planned a two-night camping trip and had a powwow with our friends to talk over the reality of what we had stumbled into. After agonizing discussion of pros and cons, we decided we would stick to our plan to get back home on Sunday. Packing up began with distributing all the leftover food to the people around us. There had been no food drops since Saturday morning. The crowd was beginning to become very hungry. Our contributions were very welcomed by sleepy fellow campers.

My husband went to the tents and camp spots around us and told the people we needed to move our cars out of the park. Once again, we were amazed to find we were met with smiles. The young folks around us were polite and very accommodating. They moved their tents and gear to make a path for our cars to leave the park. In spite of our tired backs, damp clothing and need for a warm shower, we had a weekend never to be forgotten.

Needless to say, our naïve decision to go for what was to be an innocent camping concert created an instant reputation as “cool parents” when our girls entered junior high.

Nelda McGraw

New Year’s Resolution Is it too much to ask of yourself 
to pick up a pencil, 
a piece of paper, your sketch pad, 
your notebook — 
Sit down and begin to 
Write, draw, or compose? 
A poem, novel, essay or memoir begins 
With a single word. 
A landscape, portrait, or surreal abstraction 
Starts with a single stroke or even a dot 
A song or sonata needs that 
First note. 
Is it too much to ask 
of yourself to 
Just begin?

Stephanie Beling 


Jimi Hendrix

The Kimball Farms Observer January 20206

Roy Rogers Westerns Were Never Like This

(The assignment in Ruth Bass’ writers class 
was “Our Worst Vacation.” )

When I was a little girl, my sister and I spent many Saturday afternoons going to the movies. During those years, most of the movies we saw were Westerns. Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were our favorites. Later, John Wayne became the horseman we admired, as he rode his horse westward into the sunset, to a tune from Grofé’s The Grand Canyon Suite. Many years later, when I had little girls of my own, one of them, Janice, expressed a desire to take horseback riding lessons. Her best friend had already started on her own lessons. Arthur encouraged Janice, for he knew how to ride and had entertained visions of “father and daughter galloping along together on beautiful woodland mountain trails.” The time soon came for their sought-after horseback ride, when our family visited the trails along the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. My younger daughter and I Audrey and I were not enthusiastic about this adventure.

Neither Audrey nor I had ever even been near a horse. Just looking at those horses was terrifying. Mine was way too big, very tall and wide. No way was I going to get my legs spread wide enough to get them around that tremendous creature, but with a boost from our guide, and much effort and grunting on my part, I did.

The horses all lined up, Arthur and Janice in front, me next and Audrey last. We began to move, each one behind the other. Unfortunately, no one thought to instruct us on how to sit on a horse or how to steer it or get it to slow down or stop. Too bad, because my horse put her head down and stopped. She wouldn’t move. I tried talking to her. Maybe I said the wrong things, nudged her the wrong way, because she lifted her head, broke off the line and took off in another direction. We went every which way, under low-branched trees and high bushes that scratched my face and tore at my jeans as we passed them. My horse seemed to be picking up speed as I leaned forward, afraid I was going to fall off. That gesture just made the horse go faster. Then the bumping began in full force. One

hard bump after the other, up, down, up, down. Everything inside me jiggled. With every bounce, my eyeglasses slipped further down my nose, almost falling off. I needed one hand for the glasses and one hand for the reins. Not only was I worried about my own survival, but also about poor Audrey, her horse obediently following mine. Both of us were in tears and calling for help. Our guide, who was in the lead, turned around to see what all the commotion was about and immediately went into action. He quickly rode up to my horse, grabbed hold of the reins and got her under control, while chiding me all the time to“sit up straight.” Audrey’s horse followed suit and we continued our journey with our guide riding along beside me. When we finally dismounted, I found that I could hardy walk or sit. My entire bottom was sore. It took soaking in hot baths for two days for me to walk normally. I haven’t seen a Western movie for years. How did they do all that fancy riding? Stunt doubles, maybe. Too bad I didn’t think of doing that before my horseback-riding episode. Now, as I happily ride off into the sunset with Grofé’s On the Trail going through my head, I say “Giddyap,” not to my horse but to my Toyota Camry.

Eileen Henle

Vegetarian’s Lament Chicken and fish, 
Fish and chicken, 
Oh, how I wish
For another dish.

Ham and cheese, 
 Cheese and ham, 
 I ham what I ham, 
 I’ll have cheese, please. For ripe bananas 
 We sing hosannas, 
 But those with brown spots 
 Are eat-me-nots. Day-old cake
 Make tummy ache. 
 ` Say ice cream, please 
 Put belly at ease.

Al Kaseltzer

January 2020 The Kimball Farms Observer 7

Death of a Salesman: 
David Susskind

Little David Susskind, Shut up Please don’t talk, please don’t talk Little David Susskind, Me first Then you’ll talk

Allan Sherman

There was no mistaking him, and no escaping him. While hosting a television discussion program for almost 30 years, and during a time when the quality of television was skidding into weightlessness, he and his company produced prize-winning television dramas, motion pictures and Broadway plays, all of serious quality. He was, in his span that saw his hair turn from black to wavy silver gray, protean. He was big on TV, but he was physically short. So, too, was his brother Murray, who ran the offices of David’s company, Talent Associates. M o s t o f t h e e m p l o y e e s w e r e w o m e n , r o u g h l y divided into two groups: Talent and Secretaries. Talent included the women w h o s e r v e d a s Producers for many of the shows and films the company created, although these women were always credited as Associate Producers. The Secretaries were distinctive in that office for their tallness, their very long legs and their very short skirts.

I got to know David perhaps better than most, because I observed him at his worst and at his best, leaving me incapable of coming down on either side of a judgment. As an interviewer, he was dogged. As a phrasemaker, he was prosaic. But it seems fair to

say with confidence, David was, at heart, a salesman. And boy, was he good at it!

Here’s a good example. In 1966, he sold CBS on the idea of producing a big-budget TV version of Arthur Miller’s great play, Death of a Salesman, with the original Lee J. Cobb recreating his greatest performance. But before the rehearsals were to begin, David received a call from the President of CBS Entertainment, Michael Dann, who thought the play would be better if the Salesman didn’t die at the end. Dann, not a bad salesman himself, threatened to cancel the project if Susskind didn’t agree. David knew that his reputation would be forever diminished if he agreed to turn the play, as he told me, into The Illness of a Salesman. In fact, David did what was considered bad form: He went over Dann’s head to William Paley, who owned CBS, and Paley, a very wealthy man whose cultural pretensions sometimes took second place to profits, supported David. Thus the show went on with the original script. Incidental remark: I sat at the CBS table with Mike Dann at the 1967 Emmy Awards, where I won for a television play I’d written for Playhouse 90. Most of the top awards went to NBC that night, and Dann kept muttering under his breath, “Saved by a damn writer.”

Bad David. He would enter a meeting at which he would propose a new project. If the reaction was not quickly encouraging, he would reach into his attaché case, pull out a different proposal and abandon the first. Not great if it was your script. Here’s another one. H e p roduced an ambitious TV series, East Side, West Side, starring George C. Scott and featuring virtually every first rate actor in New Yo r k . A w r i t e r named Eddie Adler was both writer and technical advisor on the show. 
During that time, one of Susskind’s daughters had endeavored to write a script for a contest. (continued on next page)

The Kimball Farms Observer January 20208

(Susskind, continued from page 7)

David asked Eddie to rewrite the script. Eddie did so, and rejected any payment. “It was a favor,” he insisted. But when East Side, West Side failed to win a huge audience, Eddie became persona non grata to David. Many months later, Eddie met Susskind on the street, and David greeted him warmly. Eddie said, “I don’t know why I can’t sell my scripts to you any more.” David replied “I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you send me your resumé?”

Good David. In the days of the infamous blacklist, his Talent Associates refused to abide by it. David personally testified for a homespun radio commentator named John Henry Faulks, who sued for damages when CBS (William Paley again) summarily fired him when his name appeared in Red Channels.

Here’s another. Susskind was related to the Lears: Norman Lear was his cousin. In the book Heartsounds, Martha Weinman Lear tells of her husband, Dr. Harold Lear, dying in a New York City hospital, and that cousin David was the one who sat for hours with her outside the room, offering comfort. There are many stories of David’s cupidity and heroism, and I can’t find a place where to put the marker.

Let me leave you with this. I had flown to L.A. to present, with David, a pilot idea to CBS. We met at the Beverly Hilton for lunch prior to the presentation. While eating, David suddenly excused himself to go to the men’s room. He didn’t come back, and finally I went in search of him. He had come from the men’s room confused, sat down with strangers at another table and didn’t say anything. I rescued him, we went to CBS for the presentation, and David was almost incoherent. He went back to the hotel, I took the redeye home and called Andrew, David’s son, and told him. Andrew had already seen his father’s deteriorating behavior, and thanked me. David, divorced from his second wife, ended in a midtown New York City hotel, his company merged with the Hollywood megaliths, still having meetings but not selling to an industry that had gone inconsequential. He died alone at the age of 66.

Little David, play on your harp. Or whatever they have there. 


The Nerve of It All: Facing Neuropathy

The peripheral nervous system is the communication network that sends and receives signals between the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) and all other parts of the body. Damage to these nerves often causes weakness, numbness and pain. The hands and feet are commonly involved, but it can affect many other part of the body. Sensory nerves send information about what you are experiencing in the environment to the central nervous system (CNS), such as a message that your feet are cold or you are touching something hot. They can also malfunction to the point that there is an absence of pain and you are unaware of injuries taking place.

M o t o r n e r v e s c a r r y s i g n a l s f r o m t h e CNS to the rest of the body. These a r e t h e nerves that s e n d signals to

the muscles that tell them to contract, which is how we move. There are also nerves that help control everything over which we don’t have a direct say, such as our heart and blood vessels, digestion, bowel and bladder control and even our bones and immune system. The peripheral nerves are the conduit through which all information goes to and from headquarters (the central nervous system). When they malfunction, complex functions can grind to a halt.

Nerve signals can be disrupted in various ways. (continued on next page)

January 2020 The Kimball Farms Observer 9

(Neuropathy, continued from page 8)

Sometimes there is complete loss of a signal such as absence of pain when pain is needed to tell of an injury, or when the muscles needed for picking something up or buttoning a shirt or even walking are not receiving a signal to contract. Another malfunction is inappropriate signaling such as pain from a light touch or even from a bedsheet resting on your legs. There are also errors that distort the signal so that you are not sure of where your feet are and you become unable to maintain your balance. Symptoms can range from mild to disabling

The symptoms associated with sensory neuropathy include:

• Tingling and numbness, pins and needles, hypersensitivity

• Increased pain or absence of pain • Inability to detect changes in heat or cold • Loss of coordination or awareness of your

bodily position • Burning, stabbing or shooting pain, maybe

worse at night The symptoms associated with motor neuropathy include:

• Muscle weakness • Muscle wasting • Unsteadiness and difficulty with small

movements • Muscle twitches, cramps and spasms • Paralysis

When the autonomic nervous system is affected, there may be problems related to sweating, heat intolerance, indigestion, diarrhea or constipation, difficulty with urination, and changes with blood pressure control that can lead to dizziness and falls. Most neuropathies affect all three types to some degree.

Diabetes is the most common cause of peripheral neuropathy. Chronically elevated blood sugar damages the tiny blood vessels that provide oxygen and nutrients to the nerves resulting in damage. Controlling blood sugar may prevent further damage but does not cure the damage already done. Other conditions that damage nerves are chronic kidney disease because of the buildup of salts and metabolic

toxins; injuries such as broken bones and slipped discs that can compress nerves; infections such as shingles that can lead to chronic pain (post-herpetic neuralgia), and Lyme and other tick-borne diseases that can become chronic and cause severe nerve pain. Guillain-Barré syndrome triggered by an infection causes weakness and paralysis, and auto-immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus have a component of peripheral neuropathy. Other predisposing factors are smoking, excess alcohol consumption, chemotherapy, vitamin deficiencies, exposure to insecticides and certain cancers such as lymphoma and multiple myeloma.

The bewildering array and variability of symptoms that neuropathies can cause often makes diagnosis difficult. A diagnosis of neuropathy typically includes:

• Medical history including questions about symptoms, nutrition, home environment, exposure to toxins, alcohol use and past infectious diseases

• Physical exam looking for evidence of diseases that can cause nerve damage, such as diabetes, injury, arthritis, lupus and infections

• Blood tests. Various blood tests that can detect diabetes, vitamin deficiencies, liver or kidney dysfunction, other metabolic disorders, infections and signs of abnormal immune system activity.

• Nerve function tests, such as nerve conduction velocity, electromyography, and even nerve biopsy.

More about diagnosis and review of treatment options, including alternative therapies, next month. Stay tuned.

In Memoriam Evelyn Hand

October 12, 1935 to Nov. 24, 2019 Jared Emery

March 4, 1940 to Nov. 25, 2019

The Kimball Farms Observer January 202010

Four New Biographies Grace Our Shelves

Thanks to the work of our Library Committee, there have recently been a number of excellent new titles added to our collection. As examples, here are four new biographies of special note: Voted one of the best books of 2019, Samantha Power’s The Education of an Idealist is the autobiography of the Obama administration’s Ambassador to the United Nations. Raised in Ireland, she and her family migrated to America when she was nine. This account traces her triumphs and failures (both personal and public) from childhood to the present day.

Me is the only official autobiography of Elton John. He was born Reginald Dwight and started life as a shy boy from a London suburb who dreamed of becoming a rock superstar. His life was filled with both rejection and adulation and years of drug addiction that climaxed in conquering the habit. In later years, filled with both failures and successes, his life took a right turn when he married David Furnish and began raising a family. The subtitle of Sonia Purnell’s A Woman of No Importance is “The untold story of the American spy who helped win World War II.” It is an account of the life of Virginia Hall, a Baltimore socialite who established a vast spy network throughout France during the second World War and who managed to escape through a death-defying trek across the Pyrenees into Spain. Casey Cep’s Furious Hours was called by one critic “a compelling hybrid of a novel, at once a true-crime thriller, courtroom drama, and miniature biography of Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird. It tells of a murder rial in Alabama attended by Miss Lee who was hoping to collect material for a book that would rival Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood . This is a gripping portrait of the author and of mid-century Alabama. There are also a number of new thrillers written by masters of their craft that are now part of our collection. Here are three examples.

The 19th in the Women’s Murder Club series by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro has just been published. It is The 19th Christmas and its appearance is in keeping with the present holiday season. Crime is down in San Francisco and so Detective Lindsay Boxer and her followers should have cause to celebrate; then a fearsome criminal known as “Loman” grabs the headlines and plans a deadly surprise for Christmas morning. Another worthy addition to this popular series. Twenty-two years ago, a young black man was sent to prison for a murder he did not commit. Now a lawyer, who is also an Episcopal minister, sets out to find the real killer. Soon it becomes apparent that the wrongdoers will stop at nothing to hide the truth. This is the situation in John Grisham’s new bestseller, The Guardians. Time Magazine has called John Le Carré “the premier spy novelist of his time, perhaps of all time.” His latest, Agent Running in the Field, lives up to this reputation. It tells of a 47-year-old member of the British Secret Service named Nat who takes over a London section of an ill-equipped spy unit and of his friendship with a younger badminton player who proves to be unusually helpful. It is also the story of a mystery involving Brexit and some awesome skullduggery.

These are only a few of the great reading experiences available through our library. Happy holidays.

Birthdays 24 residents celebrate birthdays in January. There is a 23-year spread between the youngest and oldest celebrant. January birthdays belong to:

George Raymond, Jeanne Marie DeGiacomo, 
Leo Mahoney, Diana Feld, Ann Morgan, 


Judith Rosenthal, Marilyn Fiddes, Gwen Sears, Glenn Jorn, Katherine Stell, Leonard Allen, 


John “Mike” Brown, Robert Stein, 
Marilyn Simons, Edmund “Ned” Dana, 


Patricia Carlson, Nancy Steele, Sue Colker, Judith Levin, Laurel Meyerhofer, 


Albert Anderson, Vivian Wise, Audrey Salzmann & Julane Reed.

Happy Birthday to each of you!!


January 2020 The Kimball Farms Observer 11

A little NY humor

Lily Wayne caught this guy outside the main entrance of Grand Central Terminal in New York. He is artistic; check out his sign and

sneakers, both really well done. Girls were sitting on his lap and having their photo taken with him.

Just a NY moment.

Interlude (Our writers’ class assignment: find a quiet isolated place in Berkshire County, sit and observe for two hours. Write.) Re-entering my educational career – 40 years ago with four teenage sons and husband awaiting their daily dinner – I chose a course in creative writing which came with a dynamo female professor from New York City. In Lenox, Undermountain Road revealed a wooden stile over a small brook running downhill toward acres of open meadows and wetlands which helped feed the creatures at the nearby horse farm. The wooden crossbeam provided the setting from which to view this verdant vista. Wispy clouds cast ever-shifting shadows across the swaying grasses of the meadow.

This was the “quiet isolated place” of my assignment.

A breeze lightens the air crisping the sun-warmed shirt on my back. I breathe deeply of this Berkshire tonic, my shoulders relax. From the far woods, across the meadow, three specks emerge. As the first angles into the woods at left, I see that it is a deer. The other specks follow: two large dogs. The deer emerges, limping swiftly toward stage right. A dog howls. The deer disappears over the hill. The dogs emerge, sniffing the grass, and, noses to the turf, exit at center stage.

The horse neighs, the rooster crows. Silence returns. Forty years later, there are steel barriers along the road protecting vehicles from falling into the brook. Recently there have been many advances in preserving these lands; the furthest reaches are entitled Parsons Marsh.

Patricia Moynahan

Entertainment Monday Jan 6 7:30pm Berkshire Hillsmen Wednesday Jan 8 7:30pm Taconic Chamber Players

Monday Jan 13, :30pm
 Education Committee Program

Tuesday Jan 14 7:30pm
 Randy Hodgkinson W/Astrid Schween Recital

Friday Jan 17 7:30pm 
 Ampersand

Monday Jan 20 7:30pm
 Education Committee Program

Monday Jan 27 7:30pm 
 Education Committee Program Tuesday Jan 28 5:30pm
 Trivia Night W/Lenox NHS Students 
 (Sign-up required)

Movies: Wednesdays and Saturdays January 1, 4, 7(Tue), 11, 15, 18, 22, 25 & 29

The Kimball Farms Observer January 202012

As a lively, delightful 95-year-old, Jo (Josephine) Brunjes may be the oldest “young” newcomer to Kimball Farms. Born in New York City into a large family of Italian immigrants, she grew up in Yorkville, the upper East Side of Manhattan. The Metropolitan Museum of Art was for recreational and cultural activities, with Central Park her playground. She had five brothers and three sisters. During the Depression years, higher education was for the boys while the girls only graduated from high school. Jo became a secretary and learned much by working for different companies, including a newspaper representative advertising agency, a Scottish wool importer, American Armament and the Canadian Club Corp. of America. Being curious has motivated her throughout her life.

She was the last of the sisters to marry and so she b e c a m e t h e maiden aunt to her nieces and nephews. She met her husband, John Brunjes, at a l u n c h e o n , married, had two children – a boy and a girl – and a c q u i r e d a stepdaughter as well. When her h u s b a n d w a s approached by the Berkshire Life Insurance Company to work in real estate investments, the family moved to Pittsfield. She remembers a snowstorm on her first Mother's Day and wondering about the wisdom of leaving her beloved New York City for a snowy place in May! Pittsfield became home, however, and it was a good life. She was a stay-at-home mom, active in her children's schools, her church, the League of Women Voters, busy with friends, books, music, etc. She was always curious and, although Catholic, formed a bond with Knesset Israel, the Jewish synagogue, to expand her horizon.

While the children were young, the family took trips throughout the United States. Her husband, who died in 1995, was less interested in travel, having done his traveling during World War II while in the U.S. Army. They did, however, take some trips together in Europe and the U.S. After his death there were cruises, trips to Mexico, Europe and in this country. She took college trips and traveled courtesy of the U.S.O. as a service-related person. In Spain she visited the Black Madonna of Montserrat and enjoyed Gaudi’s architecture in Barcelona with an architect brother as a guide. A fond memory of many years ago was a voyage on the Queen Elizabeth to visit her sister in France and experiencing her first trip abroad. But the highlight of all her travels was being in Edinburgh for the Scottish Tattoos.

The children, of course, are grown up. Her daughter is chairman of the English Department at Bridgewater (Mass.) State College and has three daughters. Her son is an investment fund lawyer and lives with his wife and two children in Hartford, Conn. Her stepdaughter, retired from the public schools in the state of Washington, is on the board of the University of Washington, but the rest of the family lives close enough so she sees them often. Her brothers are deceased but two sisters are alive and she is close to her nieces and nephews as well.

Jo lived in the same big house in Pittsfield for 50 years and alone for almost 25 since her husband’s death. The family loved to visit, but the time had come for her to say goodbye to the house. Happily, her son wants it, so it will remain in the family. Jo is exploring Kimball Farms now and with her curiosity and zest for life, she will be at home and happy in Apartment 262.

Margot Yondorf

Talent Needed If you know of anyone who could give a talk, show a movie or do any other kind of educational presentation, the Education Committee would like to hear from you. Get in touch with Chairman Moe England at 7173. He’d also welcome other ideas for programs.

Is Jo the Oldest to Be the Youngest Newest?