Marian and Leroy Jenkins are stars in a national advertising campaign for Linden Ponds’ parent company. (Photo by Scott Lowden)

Leroy and Marian Jenkins were accustomed to being household faces at Linden Ponds, but their national television debut this summer took their fame to a new level.

The Jenkins are featured in TV, print, and web advertisements as part of Erickson Living’s national campaign. The one-minute commercial features the Jenkins, regulars in the Linden Ponds TV studio (LPTV6), as part of a montage of Erickson residents from around the country. A longer video on the Erickson website tells the Jenkins’ story through interviews with the couple. “They basically just filmed us doing what we do, and that is enjoying our life here and being part of the community,” Mrs. Jenkins says of the three days they spent working with the camera crew for the commercial.

Mrs. Jenkins hosts Let’s Talk, in which she interviews people from Linden Ponds, and LPTV6’s weekday talk show Live from Linden Ponds. Mr. Jenkins created the station’s live sports show and is in the planning phases of a comedic talk show, which he will host to showcase the “lighter side of Linden Ponds,” he says. Despite his hosting talent, Mr. Jenkins spends most of his time behind the camera. “I call him my personal cameraman,” Mrs. Jenkins jokes. Neither one had previous experience in TV before moving to Linden Ponds from Randolph, Mass., five years ago.

While the Jenkins were naturals on camera, Mr. Jenkins says the commercial served as a learning experience. “I picked up a lot of things from the crew that was here,” he says. He took careful note of the camera angles they used. “I’m always looking for tips, and they were more than helpful—they showed me different tricks I could use.”

Linden Ponds’ Leroy Jenkins gets camera-ready with assistance from a makeup artist. (Photo by Zach Cheney)

Since the commercials began airing, the Jenkins have received tremendous feedback from friends and family around the country. “It’s been exciting for us, and I hope it makes [other people] say, ‘Why are they so happy?’” Mrs. Jenkins says. “We feel that Erickson Living is the way to live and we hope other people will see it and really want to experience it as we have.” She assures them, “It is indeed what we say it is.”

Franz Wolff helped incorporate speakers into the Jewish Community’s meetings. (Photo by Setarreh Massihzadegan)

This month’s Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, marks another opportunity for the Jewish Community at Linden Ponds to celebrate the renewed enthusiasm among existing group members and the steady influx of new participants.

One of three organized faith groups at Linden Ponds, the Jewish Community has been in existence for nearly six years, but it just recently expanded its event offerings and has grown to more than 80 people, making it an increasingly prominent spiritual group on campus.

Cochair Franz Wolff has played a part in the group’s growth. “It’s been a joy in many ways,” Wolff says of his role, which he took on earlier this year. “There are wonderful people, there’s lots to do, [and] I feel like I have the time and the commitment to do it.” Of the group he adds, “We’re on a somewhat improved path.”

The Jewish Community meets twice a month, once for a general meeting and once for a service led by Cantor Bruce Malin, who has been a beloved fixture in the group for the last two years. The services begin with an hour study group, followed by an hour service, and culminate in a meal at one of the Linden Ponds restaurants. Wolff recently introduced the idea of inviting a speaker to the monthly meetings, a well-received change.

Reverend Paul Sprecher of First Parish Church in Hingham was the first invited speaker. Sprecher, who voluntarily teaches two courses on varying topics of faith each year at Linden Ponds, spoke about the life and death of Jesus. Wolff says Sprecher’s talk introduced information that was new to many members of the group.

Celebrations and education

This month, the group will pick up with another special speaker in addition to the Rosh Hashanah service, which is longer and more somber than the typical Sabbath services.

“You’re making plans and promises for a new year of stimulation and being good and obedient and helpful to others and all the good things that a good citizen should be,” Wolff says.

The Jewish Community also celebrates special services each year for Yom Kippur and Passover. In addition, the group put on a multi-event program earlier this year led by Linden Ponds residents Norman and Renee Feingold, to memorialize the Holocaust.

The program included visits from local students who were studying the time period. Mr. Feingold explains, “This year instead of looking back and remembering the horrors, we would look ahead and see how the next generation of youth were studying and in some cases were even being more involvedthan the residents [of Linden Ponds].”

The Feingolds were also especially encouraged by the level of involvement in the program by those outside of the Jewish faith.

“I am personally so amazed by the warm reception as well as the participation,” Mr. Feingold says. “People are so eager to help us so we can get the message out, and it makes living at Linden Ponds an excitement.”

Members expect the focus of the Jewish Community to include “reaching out to those within our own community who need support and attention,” says Mrs. Feingold, referencing those who live at Linden Ponds’ extended-care neighborhood, Renaissance Gardens.

In July, the Jewish Community expanded its programming by conducting a Sabbath service for the Jewish residents of Renaissance Gardens and their family members in the Garden Room. Sandy Katz, who lives at Linden Ponds, led the service with assistance from his wife and former Jewish Community President Estelle Katz. Going forward, the group hopes to continue this offering.

Valuable heritage

As the Jewish Community continues to grow, Wolff dedicates his time to accommodating its needs. Members have the flexibility to choose their level of involvement, but Wolff says, “Some of the people who weren’t very active in the past are getting renewed interest, which is very nice is to see.”

Wolff was active in a temple where he lived previously in Florida but had not joined a new congregation when he moved back to the Boston area for his wife’s medical treatment. When he moved to Linden Ponds nearly three years ago, Wolff was immediately interested in its Jewish Community.

“I want to support the heritage,” he says. “It’s a valuable heritage and it’s something some people want a little of and some people want a lot of.”

Wolff is active at Linden Ponds not only in the Jewish Community, but also as a staff member of Life@Linden Ponds, the community’s emagazine; as a participant in Great Decisions, a discussion program developed by the Foreign Policy Association; and as a regular at the fitness center.

Of Linden Ponds as a whole, Wolff says, “It’s just a wonderful way to live. The humdrum of life is gone.”

Grace Ittleman stands beside the countertop she had custom-built in her Brighton-style apartment home at Brooksby Village. (Photo by Setarreh Massihzadegan)

Grace Ittleman has finally retired, but she admits it’s going to take effort.

After a long career in the business world, she could not become a homebody and turned instead to part-time work. Though she retired from that two years ago, she keeps up a busy schedule of volunteer work, research, and learning while settling into her new home at Brooksby Village. At the forefront of her decision to move from her Salem, Mass., condominium, she says matter-of-factly: “I just don’t like cooking.”

One meal each day is included in the cost of living at Brooksby, and many people who live there admit to scarcely using their kitchens for more than boiling water.

“The fact that I don’t have to cook gives me more time to do the things I like to do,” she says, things which include volunteering for the North Shore Physicians Group of Salem Hospital (NSPG), researching her family’s genealogy, and taking courses in history and opera through the nearby Explorers Lifelong Learning Institute, where she also served as treasurer.

At NSPG, Ittleman is “an integral part of our administrative office,” says Steven E. Kapfhammer, president of the group. Ittleman provides support for leadership council meetings and creates training materials for the Patient Safety and Quality department, but he adds, “Grace contributes more than just assistance on projects to NSPG’s office; the staff also enjoys hearing the stories of her experiences, travels, family, and new home at Brooksby Village.”

Finding a fit

Petite but larger-than-life with energy, Ittleman explains that the moves to and from her condo of 15 years were calculated ones. After her husband passed, she moved to Salem from Malden to be closer to her daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren in Swampscott. Another daughter lives in Springfield but Ittleman wanted to remain nearer to her extended family in the North Shore area.

In recent years, she got on Brooksby’s priority list, reserving herself a spot in line for an apartment home. “I decided I could make the move now while I have all my marbles and am in good health,” she says.

When her one-bedroom, Brighton-style apartment home became available late last year, Ittleman worked with Brooksby’s Personal Moving Consultant Ellen Meehan, who visited her in Salem and helped determine how the furniture there would fit into her Brooksby apartment home.

With Meehan’s assistance, Ittleman was able to arrange her new bedroom and living room exactly as they were in her condo. The only exception: Her desk would have to reside in the spot where her piano once stood.

Ittleman knew she wanted one large change to her apartment home that would mimic the layout of her condo. With help from Dot Harding of Brooksby’s Custom Interiors department, she had the wall dividing the kitchen and living room removed, making way for a narrow countertop filled with family photos and overlooking the brightly lit living area.

Rich family history

The wall upon entrance to Ittleman’s apartment home is lined with historical family photos and a large, framed aerial shot of the Mount of Olives Cemetery in Jerusalem where her grandmother, who arrived in Palestine in 1911, is buried.  Ittleman was born in Poland to a Jewish family.  Because she immigrated to the United States in 1930 at the age of 7, Ittleman, her sister, and her parents avoided becoming victims of the Holocaust.  Many of her father’s family members were killed during the Nazi invasion of Poland that marked the beginning of World War II. Fortunately, most of her mother’s family was able to escape from Poland and settled in the United States, Australia, and Israel.

Ittleman has since tracked down numerous family records dating back to the early 1800s, which help tell her family’s story. She reflects fondly on her numerous visits to Israel as she continues enthusiastically to pursue her interests in “the history of mankind and the pursuit of peace, which eludes civilization,” she says.

While she plans to keep up her busy schedule of outside activities, Ittleman also plans to do some more exploration into her Brooksby community. “The activities here are incredible.” Of her neighbors, she adds: “They’re coming and going all the time.”

Marcia Zubretsky takes two watercolor classes at Linden Ponds and uses her second bedroom for painting. (Photo by Setarreh Massihzadegan)

When Marcia Zubretsky arrived at Linden Ponds earlier this year, she dedicated some time to unpacking; but she spent most of her initial weeks immersed in her favorite activities.

“One of the first steps [in getting settled] was to pursue the things I like doing,” she says. For Zubretsky, that meant watercolor painting, memoir writing, golfing, and playing mah-jongg as part of community groups at Linden Ponds.

Making the decision

Zubretsky had much the same approach to making the move from her retirement home of 22 years on Cape Cod.

“Once you make that decision that you’re going to move, then it’s full speed ahead,” says Zubretsky, who hails from Brewster, Mass. “You make a commitment to yourself and you do it.”

Zubretsky had started to think about making a move when her husband was alive, but it wasn’t until last summer, a year and a half after her husband’s death, that she visited Linden Ponds. She came with a couple of friends and later brought her three daughters before making the decision that her family and friends agreed was best and would have made her husband happy.

In addition to the activities Linden Ponds offered, Zubretsky liked that it was self-contained and safe. She took comfort in the community aspect. “I just like to be with people and enjoy interacting,” she explains. “That’s a draw.” Knowing where things go

To make the move, Zubretsky had help from the staff at Linden Ponds, including Personal Moving Consultant Lynne Ford, who visited her house, did some measuring, and maderecommendations about what furniture would fit in her new two-bedroom apartment home. Ford also suggested a real estate agent. Zubretsky’s house went on the market that fall and sold in just two months.

Downsizing wasn’t easy for Zubretsky, but she donated many items to charities she knew and trusted like Habitat for Humanity and Lower Cape Outreach Council. “I knew where things went,” Zubretsky says. Other items went to family members, and professionals hauled away the remainder for trash and recycling.

“Everybody was wonderful. Once I got here, everybody was great. The residents are extremely friendly, from diverse backgrounds, which makes it very stimulating for me,” she says.

Comfort, community

Zubretsky enjoys the comfort of her neighbors, who welcomed her to the building and immediately invited her to join them for dinners.

“Everybody’s caring, everybody looks out for each other, and that is nice. Each one of the buildings is like a little community,” she says.

Zubretsky seems at home in her apartment, which is filled with family photos and her own watercolor paintings. Among her many activities, Zubretsky attends two watercolor painting classes taught by fellow Linden Ponds residents. This summer, she also reaped the first rewards from her garden patch, where she has planted flowers, vegetables, and a hummingbird feeder. In addition to her creative pursuits, Zubretsky, a retired nurse, is part of the community’s retired nurses group.

She often travels to see the Boston Symphony Orchestra, museums, and shows as part of the day and overnight trips organized by the staff at Linden Ponds.

“It seems as though I’m always going somewhere,” she remarks.

While weekends were difficult for her after her husband died, she says, “Now I can walk out my door and always find somebody to talk to.”

Loretta Tenaglia holds up the magazine in which she appeared as one of the North Shore’s 100 most influential people. (Photo by Setarreh Massihzadegan)

She is a familiar face at Brooksby Village, but one rarely seen sitting still. Fortunately, between jetting off to meetings of the Peabody Housing Authority, leading the ushers at the latest variety show, and organizing visits from high-profile politicians, Loretta Tenaglia found time to be honored as one of the North Shore’s 100 most influential people.

“It was a humbling experience for me because there are so many people who do so much,” Tenaglia says. “I see so many people giving so much time; I never expected to be chosen. I couldn’t think of myself as being one of the 100.”

Those selected by the North Shore Chamber of Commerce and The Salem News as the “North Shore 100” were featured in a special April 2010 publication and honored with a luncheon at the Danversport Yacht Club. Tenaglia was awed by her peers there, among them a youngwoman who had collected used prom dresses to distribute to those less fortunate.

Tenaglia was selected for her dedication to her community. As a member of the Peabody Housing Authority and its subcommittee on affordable housing, Tenaglia advocates for lower-income people in need of assisted living.

Tenaglia’s leadership and volunteerism have been lauded at Brooksby as well. She is called a Brooksby “pioneer” because she moved in just after it opened ten years ago, but the term pioneer takes on new meaning in light of her efforts there.

Brooksby’s activities are driven by the people who call the community home, and Tenaglia wasted no time organizing games like bingo and Crazy Whist, now institutions on campus.

“Loretta has so much energy and cares very deeply for Brooksby Village as a special place to live, work, volunteer, and give of our own special gifts to help others,” says Mary Landry, Brooksby’s community resources coordinator who has worked with Tenaglia on a number of the activities.

Always abreast of local politics, Tenaglia has chaired Brooksby’s Political Outreach Group for nearly ten years, bringing congressmen, governors, and senators to speak to audiences on campus.

Landry adds, “Her heart is always in the right place and she greatly values fairness and educating folks on all sides of political matters.”

Tenaglia’s list of accomplishments at Brooksby runs even longer. She helped found the Treasure Chest, Brooksby’s thrift store that benefits the community’s Benevolent Care Fund. The fund supports those who encounter financial hardship while living in the community. Tenaglia proudly points out that the store has made more than $250,000 to date and recently moved into a bigger location to support its growth.

Loretta Tenaglia sits on her patio at Brooksby Village, where she has been lauded for her leadership. (Photo by Setarreh Massihzadegan)

Giving back

As one of the North Shore’s most influential people, Tenaglia was given $500 to present to the charity of her choice. It was no question for her to give that money back to Brooksby’s Benevolent Care Fund.

“Naturally, because a lot of my family here may need that someday,” she says.

Tenaglia gained her new “family” after moving to Brooksby from Danvers, Mass., shortly after her husband died and following diligent research.

Before moving to Brooksby, she says, “What I saw was that people were so isolated. Isolation becomes the biggest problem, and I didn’t want that to happen to me.”

In the past ten years, Tenaglia has not only spearheaded organizations with her peers at Brooksby, but she has also welcomed about 3,000 visitors into her apartment home for a look at life on campus.

“I enjoy doing everything that I’ve done here,” Tenaglia says. “It’s filled a void in my life and I really appreciate being able to be in a community like this, because my parents and my grandparents didn’t have an opportunity like this.” She adds, “I feel blessed that I’ve been able to enjoy this quality of life.”

Tenaglia says she has her father to thank for the belief that she is fulfilling her obligation to use her talents, one she continues to this day.

“I want my years to count for something; I want to do something that is beneficial,” she says, adding, “Whenever there’s a call, if I’m needed, if I’m able, I’ll do whatever I can.”

Speaking specifically of her efforts at Brooksby, she reflects: “It’s been a really fast ten years. I thought I would retire and life would slow down and I would travel, but [at Brooksby] I got involved in so many things.”

“It certainly was groundbreaking; it was our first attempt under Lifelong Learning to have a bonus course like that which was open to the whole community,” says Joan Mahoney, cochair of the Lifelong Learning committee. “It was an experiment, and I think a highly successful one.”

Lifelong Learning courses are typically presented by Linden Ponds residents to program enrollees for $75, which includes two semesters annually. “Hot Topics in Oceanography” brought a handful of outside experts to Linden Ponds for lectures that were open to the entire community. The series was free for Lifelong Learning members; nonmembers paid $5 a lecture.

Eager students, teachers

The series was the idea of Jean Whelan, who lives at Linden Ponds and is an oceanographer emeritus at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a nonprofit responsible for ocean research and education. Last fall, she taught a Lifelong Learning course—“Oceanography and Me”—and brought in guest lecturer Peter Tyack, a famous marine biologist and son of a former Linden Ponds resident.

Whelan was taken by Tyack’s positive impressions of his Linden Ponds pupils and their high level of interest in the subject matter. Knowing that Linden Ponds has its own auditorium and that the researchers at Woods Hole don’t always have many chances to share their work with the public, she suggested a series of lectures.

Whelan expected to fill the series with experts from a variety of fields, but when she went to Woods Hole to ask around, she only got as far as its chemistry hallway, where she still has an office. “I wound up filling up the whole schedule just from the chemistry department,” she says. “They were all very excited about it.”

Complex science

From there, the Lifelong Learning committee took the lead on organizing the classes and promoting them within the community. Six Woods Hole experts visited Linden Ponds in April and May for lectures in the performing arts center. Each presentation drew between 70 and 125 attendees.

One of the most wellreceived lectures came from Margaret Tivey, Ph.D., senior scientist and director of the Deep Ocean Exploration Institute at Woods Hole. In “Burning Chimneys in Freezing Water,” Tivey explained hydrothermal vents and in doing so, demonstrated the difference between a regular Styrofoam cup and one that has been exposed to hydrostatic pressure in the depths of the ocean—it emerged about an inch tall.

William Jenkins, Ph.D., senior scientist in marine chemistry and geochemistry, also generated enthusiasm with his presentation, “A Breathtaking Perspective on the Ocean’s Role in the Global Environment.” Whelan says Jenkins is one of the foremost experts on the complicated subjects of ocean circulation and global warming.

“I think the residents appreciated that this guy was telling them the real story and not talking down to them,” Whelan says. “It’s a wonderful example of how smart our residents are.” The instructors were equally impressed with the caliber of students. Whelan says one researcher gave a lecture at Harvard University shortly after the Linden Ponds presentation and reported back, “the people at Linden Ponds asked better questions.”

Relevant topics

At the end of the last lecture in the series, Whelan addressed the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, an area in which she had done previous research. She showed a movie from the ocean floor in the Gulf, where she and her colleagues discovered years ago that gas and oil bubble up naturally.

In the film, all of the gas that bubbled up from the sea floor into a collection tube solidified, blocking areas of the tube. Whelan explains, “This occurred as a result of methane gas, which forms an ice-like solid called methane hydrate or gas hydrate, in the presence of water at the high pressures and low temperatures of the ocean floor.” When methane gas and water meet, what appear to be methane bubbles rapidly solidify and can clog any tubes or caps until the area is warmed and the hydrate goes back to being a gas and a liquid. “My theory is that BP didn’t anticipate the amount of gas” that would also be released in the dig, Whelan says. She believes that gas was responsible for the explosion of the well.

Since the Deepwater Horizon spill on April 20, Whelan has been involved in consulting engineers who are trying to get funding for related research. She says she may give a special lecture at Linden Ponds on her oil and gas work.

In the meantime, the number of people enrolled in the Lifelong Learning program at Linden Ponds has swelled from last year’s roster of 120 students to about 200.

This fall, another semester of approximately ten courses taught by Linden Ponds residents will commence, and Mahoney says there will definitely be another series featuring outside subject experts, possibly on art history.

“The horizon is widening for Lifelong Learning,” Mahoney says. “[This was] the first experiment going outside the standard schedule of internal teachers working with small groups. All of a sudden, we burst forth with a gift to members…we are certainly going to pursue it.”

“My love of community started there,” she says.

Many years and homes later, Webster’s appreciation for community drew her to Linden Ponds, which she first read about in the Erickson Tribune. She says the newspaper’s stories piqued her interest, while at the same time she had begun to sense that her home in Woods Hole, Mass., had become more of a summer community than a fulltime place to live.

“I practically picked up the paper and decided I wanted to come,” Webster says. She visited Linden Ponds for luncheons and tours and joined the priority list, which reserved her spot in line for an apartment home when she was ready.

“I just liked it from the start…Every time I came here, it was so friendly,” Webster says. “It was a matter of when and how.”

Last winter, she looked out on her Woods Hole property and found it particularly grim. It was then that she decided to make the move.

Creative priorities

Webster had looked at many apartment styles at Linden Ponds and found support from Retirement Counselor Marisa Kelley in making her decision. “She paid a lot of attention to my priorities,” Webster recalls.

When she saw the south-facing, seventhfloor Franklin apartment home, Webster imagined her own table in the kitchen corner. “I could just picture myself having tea with friends,” she says.

Webster chose that apartment knowing that one of the two bedrooms would serve as her creative workspace. A retired nurse and amateur biological illustrator who takes on design and decorating projects, Webster wanted a space in which to scatter her supplies and do as she pleased. She says she’d like to teach illustration at Linden Ponds eventually.

As she prepared for her move, Webster received a visit from Linden Ponds Personal Moving Consultant Lynne Ford, who helped her decide which items to bring to her new home.

“I appreciated having support, having somebody go through it with you,” says Webster. “Lynne was wonderful. She was very cheerful, very organized.”

Together, they devised a plan for Webster’s furniture, and based on that, Ford coordinated to switch the location of the phone and cable outlets in Webster’s new living room.

Linden Ponds’ Custom Interiors department also arranged to have a bookshelf built for Webster’s new apartment home.

Throughout the process, Ford advised Webster not to try to change her unique style, which featured a number of antique pieces. “She has a quick eye and a good perspective,” Webster says of Ford, who also explained that she wouldn’t need as much space as she anticipated because the community’s lounges and restaurants would also be part of her living area.

“In fact, I have more room here than I thought,” Webster says, sinking comfortably into one of the community couches.

Welcoming home

Webster found a welcome environment when she arrived at Linden Ponds this spring. “My neighbors were extraordinarily friendly; they came to my door, they brought me cookies, everyone said ‘hi,’” she recalls.

“All of the people here are people who have been out in the world, who are willing to be team players. They all bring enormous talents,” she says.

Not only has she begun to get acquainted with her new neighbors, but she’s diving into the community’s many activities, including yoga classes at the fitness center.

Just a couple of months after her move, Webster says, “My friends have told me I’m cheerful and listening better—I’m happier.”

Webster was eager to become part of her new community, where she says, “It’s like living in a university.”

Conjuring memories of her younger years near Harvard University’s campus, Webster says, “I’m making home here. This is the nicest place I’ve lived since I was 4 1/2.”

Helen Caldwell, who along with her seven siblings could hold the secret to longevity, works on her latest project at Linden Ponds: doll making. (Photo by Setarreh Massihzadegan)

The Long Life Family Study is still underway, but one early outcome has left Helen Caldwell and her family reeling:  fame.

Three years since she spotted a flyer calling for research participants, Caldwell has graced the pages of national and local publications alike, from TIME to Life@ Linden Ponds, the electronic magazine produced in her Hingham community.

Caldwell, whose maiden name is Hulburt, is one of eight siblings over the age of 80, making her family eligible for the Long Life Family Study. Aimed at unveiling the secrets of longevity, the project is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health. As contributors, the Hulburt clan members have answered questions about their lifestyles and overall health. They also continue to field questions from print and television reporters.

“It’s just amazing,” Caldwell says, still in disbelief months after the TIME magazine story ran on February 22, 2010. Her dining room table is blanketed with newspaper clippings that continue pouring in from various friends.

Family appreciation

In addition to fame, the study has left Caldwell with a renewed appreciation for her family.

“I knew I had a big family, but I never thought it was a big deal,” she says, adding, “I’ve met people here and they said, ‘Boy, you’re so lucky.’”

In her Linden Ponds apartment home one recent afternoon, Caldwell stood in front of her digital picture frame watching dozens of lively family photos play in slideshow fashion. Jovial action shots capture smiling faces of Caldwell’s clan, which in addition to her siblings includes her 7 children, 17 grandchildren, and 6 great-grandchildren.

Four of Caldwell’s siblings live close by, and the media frenzy has encouraged additional visits and communication, which she views as a benefit from the experience. The media coverage also caused the family to reconnect with a niece who had lost touch after her parents died.

“It has brought out a lot of good,” Caldwell says of the study and subsequent publicity. “It brings a lot of smiles to people’s faces.”

Independent, active spirit

As researchers begin to analyze the study’s findings— expected to be published next year—Caldwell remains perplexed by her family’s longevity. The middle of 11 children, Caldwell’s father died at 45, leaving their mother with her hands full until she died at 63. Nevertheless, she says, “We just sort of took care of ourselves…We did what we had to do.”

Caldwell married at age 20 and headed to Florida to follow her husband. She walked down the aisle at her wedding without a familiar face in the room. “I guess I must have been pretty independent,” she muses.

She brought that same spirit with her to Linden Ponds when she moved there from Braintree, Mass., five years ago. “I don’t miss it one bit,” she says of her previous neighborhood. “Things change, neighborhoods change, and it’s just as well that I’m not there.”

Caldwell continues to volunteer every week at the South Shore Hospital and at Linden Ponds’ Treasure Chest, the secondhand store that gives proceeds back to the community. She also makes handmade dolls with costumes emblematic of various time periods; her latest project is John and Abigail Adams dolls. And through it all, she generously makes time for the reporters who periodically check in to hear her story.

Beatrice Glass holds up a copy of her winning scratchoff ticket, which earned her $20,000. The ticket was her prize after a game of Team Trivia at Brooksby Village, where she lives. (Photo by Setarreh Massihzadegan)

Beatrice Glass wasn’t quite sure what to do with the scratchoff ticket she received as part of the winning group at Team Trivia earlier this year, so she asked a teammate to decipher the results.

Glass had won $20,000. “I couldn’t believe it,” says the Brooksby Village resident, still incredulous months later.

Glass became a regular at Team Trivia tables last fall, when a friend suggested she join the activity, in which groups of three or four contestants gather in Brooksby’s Fireside Lounge to rack their brains for answers to questions ranging from geography to celebrity.

“It’s amazing what you don’t remember,” she jokes. “We have a lot of fun; we have a lot of laughs.”

Glass recalls one instance during trivia when she and her teammate were convinced that the correct answer to the given geography question was Milwaukee, Wis. The answer was actually Minneapolis, Minn., but the two did not let the wrong answer change their mood.

“We were just hysterical,” says Glass, who is candid and quick with self-deprecating humor. “If you don’t have a sense of humor, you might as well quit.”

Generous winner

On the winning Saturday, Glass and her teammates had the highest number of points for correct answers at the end of the day, earning them an envelope of scratchoff lottery tickets. On game days, players pool $1 apiece toward the scratchoff tickets for first-, second-, and third-place teams. Glass came away with far higher winnings than her teammates, but she wouldn’t leave them empty-handed.

“She was fully entitled to keep everything she won. Instead, she gave everyone a substantial check, with no obligation on her part to do so,” says John Murphy, who lives at Brooksby and shares the role of trivia host with Irving Babner. “She also made up envelopes with more [scratchoff] tickets and gave [others on Team Trivia] an envelope. It was a joyous event.”

Glass explains: “I said, ‘Well, I can’t keep this money all for myself—everyone has an idea, and you put it together.’” She gave each teammate $1,000. She gave some to charity and made a point to take each member of her family out for a special dinner.

Great mind

A former teacher and speechlanguage pathologist, Glass moved to Brooksby from Cape Cod about six years ago. Since her move, she has picked up Whist, a card game she played often in college, and she remains a loyal visitor to the community’s fitness center.

“There is always something to do,” she says of Brooksby, adding, “It’s wonderful here; it’s very secure.”

Meanwhile, she continues to frequent Team Trivia, never forgetting her quick wit: “This is really good for the mind,” she says, “—whatever’s left of it.”

In addition to teaching lifelong learning courses at Brooksby Village, Elaine Antonakes finds time to practice her piano skills. (photo by Setarreh Massihzadegan

“There’s nothing like teaching adults,” says Elaine Antonakes, a teacher at Brooksby Village who typically receives applause following her presentations. “You never get a hand teaching elementary school!” she quips.

A teacher for 25 years in Lynn, Mass., who now resides at Brooksby, Antonakes earns her applause with spirited presentations covering topics from Nobel Peace Prize winners to famous events of the 20th century. “Together we explore new subjects and share our knowledge and experiences,” Antonakes says of the courses, which she teaches through the Explorers Lifelong Learning Institute of Salem State College.

Formed in 1992 by retired Salem State faculty members, Explorers offers people 50 years or older the opportunity to exercise their minds in two semesters of courses each year for an annual membership fee of about $200.

The Explorers courses were only held in Salem, Mass., when Antonakes— then president of the Explorers— thought about bringing the courses to Brooksby, a community she did not yet call home.

For the past five years, those who live at Brooksby have had the opportunity to attend Antonakes’ courses, taught as a series of four two-hour lectures for a total of $25.

Louise Collins and her husband, William, are among her students. The Collins had attended lifelong learning classes in Florida, where they spent winters before moving to Brooksby.

“We were absolutely thrilled to see that this program would be available right here on campus, thanks to the generous time given to us by people like Elaine,” Mrs. Collins says. She and her husband have attended all of the courses offered in the two years since they moved to Brooksby.

A former teacher as well, Mrs. Collins appreciates Antonakes’ dedication to her subject matter and the meticulous research she puts into each lecture. “She genuinely loves teaching and it shows,” says Mrs. Collins.

Antonakes captures the attention of her students with a 45-minute presentation followed by a relevant documentary. Each session culminates in group discussion. She chooses topics that she thinks will appeal to her students, often putting into context events that they lived through but may not have studied.

“She makes these characters come alive,” Mrs. Collins says. “You get a great appreciation for who these people were as real-life human beings,” she adds, reflecting on Antonakes’ lecture about Eleanor Roosevelt.

Though Antonakes spends hours thoughtfully preparing her lectures, her students have it easy: “No grades, no exams, and no papers,” she promises. “Just learning to enhance their personal development.”

Continued learning

The learning that begins in Antonakes’ classroom extends beyond the allotted class time, says Frank Dellapiana, an avid student since he moved to Brooksby last year.

“It gives us something to discuss when we bump into each other,” Dellapiana explains. “After each lecture, we try to sit with someone who went to the lectures and discuss it at lunch.”

Students agree the intimate classroom, set in their community, makes for a positive learning environment.

“It’s just more accessible and, knowing the instructor, it’s a friendly feeling of comfort—you know you’re going to have something wonderful,” Mrs. Collins says.

Antonakes and her husband, a retired Salem State professor, first became acquainted with Brooksby through Explorers students who had moved there. The couple felt ready for a move, and, when they arrived, some of her Brooksby students welcomed the couple with a dinner party.

In addition to teaching both at Brooksby and at the Explorers’ base in Salem, Mass., Antonakes has joined a book club at Brooksby and the board of the community’s Women’s Forum. She also assumes the role of student in Explorers classes and finds time to play the piano in her Brooksby apartment home—when she isn’t preparing for courses on the next topic.

This fall, Antonakes will teach “Turbulent Years, 1914-1918,” with lectures on World War I, the Armenian genocide, and the abdication of Nicholas II and the Russian Revolution.

“It seems like a long time now to wait until the fall,” Mrs. Collins says, adding that at Brooksby, “The education never stops, the learning never stops, and I hope Elaine never stops.”

Luckily for Mrs. Collins and others, Antonakes says she plans on teaching “until I can’t. This is good for me. I really believe in lifelong learning.”