"Recommended
by N.R.T.A. and A.A.R.P."
AARP Leaders
New leaders took the helm the first of the
year for Hawthorne at Leesburg's AARP Chapter
1775 as immediate past president Earl Hadden
relinquished his responsibilities to Carl Curtis, new
president. Curtis presented Hadden a plaque of
appreciation from the club (left) and the new
officers and directors were photographed, below.
Seated, left to right, are Carl T. Curtis, president;
Rose Canner, recording secretary; Lee Thomas,
corresponding secretary; Mary Alice Rockwood,
Marjorie Hunter and Gwen Black, directors.
Standing,
left to right, are Earl Hadden,
immediate
past president;
William Ohme,
treasurer; Kermit Schultz, director; Arthur Kozlik,
first vice president; Rollin Collier, Jack Wetzel and
Paul Dillon, directors; and Bill Britton, second
vice president. Not pictured are Mary Hubbard,
treasurer; Ann Skelding, Lyn Stetser and Walter
Ward, directors.
How Can You
Uncap the Uncappable?
Dr. K's Korner
Why all of this ballyhoo about Founders'
Week? We hear about it on Channel 4. We read
about it in the Bulletin. We see special mention of
it in the Calendar. There is an article about it in
Penn Notes. What is it? Why is there so much tub
thumping and chest pounding?
Founders' Week is in celebration of the day
Hawthorne was officially dedicated as a new and
special approach
to retirement
living. This
occurred on a bright, warm day -- March 7 to be
exact, in 1974. There was a big celebration: a
band played at the bridge and led a parade of new
cycles beautifully decorated followed by a march
of happy people. A big red ribbon stayed traffic at
the bridge where dignitaries from Washington,
Philadelphia and New York mingled with local
leaders from Leesburg and our own Hawthornites.
We are so close to the days of Hawthorne's
birth that we can now remember little things that
will probably disappear as the eraser of time
passes over the chalkboard of memory . Today we
can remember how a committee of older persons
planned homes that would be easy to care for and
safe to live in. There are few, if any, hard to reach
spaces to catch dust. No thresholds are on the
floors to catch our heels and cause bad falls. No
one is isolated because each home provides a
signal when help is needed.
These planners envisioned Hawthorne as a
model community in the social sense as well.
They knew that loneliness actually kills, that
anomie is a dreaded
disease every bit as
dangerous as a tumor. So they provided that
facilities for a life-style featuring companionship
should be among the first structures completed.
They knew, too, that bricks and mortar do not
make even the most beautiful edifice functional
unless there is a plan and someone to manage it.
The open spaces between houses, the
unpaved roads, the still standing orange groves
which were so obvious on that first Founders'
Day are gone. We are now a complete town in
terms of structures.
We are becoming
a
community
complex
with social customs,
traditions, folkways and mores. Our dream is that
what has been started here will continue down
through the years and will be copied many times
over clear across the land. This explains the
ballyhoo about Founders' Week.
Tell me: what success - if any Do you have with bottle caps?
Do you find that there are many
That are hopeless booby traps?
Oh, I love
And
But when
With
to work on riddles on puzzles - any kind I attempt to twiddle
a cap, I lose my mind!
The directions I am reading:
Grasp the sides - press down - and turn But that bottle cap, unheeding,
Jabbings of my knife will spurn.
Maybe it's a jar of jelly,
With a lid that won't unscrew Or bottled pills to soothe my belly (Which I'll need before I'm through.)
But it doesn't seem to matter
If it's a bottle or a jar I can feel my nerves a-shatter
As I end up with a scar!
- © 1979 by Ruth Dallwig Campbell
Penn Notes Staff
Editor
Associate Editor
Photographers
Helen M. Gardner
Dr. Earl Kauffman
Don Comunale,
John Tienken
Staff
Margaret Albro,
Elnora Bolan, Ruth Campbell, Rollin Collier,
Joe Feo!, Clifford Hollister, Gladys Manolaros,
Ann Merlino, Marie Richardson & Chester Wood
Happy Fifth
Anniversary
Paul Gentry proudly holds the trophy he received as
first place winner in the consolation section of the statewide
double amateur
shuffleboard
tournament
recently in
Zephryhills. And Paul's double's partner? -- wife Wilma, of
course.
Lake County Fair
This year the Lake County Fair (March 1924) promises new and exciting things to do. There
will be the usual emphasis on the arts and crafts,
plus entertainment of all sorts but the "something
new" are the ethnic groups who will dress in their
native garb, feature their national dances, and sell
foods typical of that country.
Another new idea is "Heritage Square." In
this section of the fair grounds we can see the skills
of our pioneer fathers; the making of quilts,
operating an old sugar cane mill, and perhaps the
dipping of candles.
In addition to exhibits, Hawthorne
will
contribute
its share of entertainment.
The
Hawthorne Chorus, featuring all 75 members, will
sing and perhaps one of our square dancing
groups will perform under the leadership of a
caller from Lake Sumter Community College.
The Eustis High School Band will be featured and
Hawthorne's "Fun With Music" may participate.
Last year Hawthorne residents took many
prizes in the arts and crafts category and judging
from the elation and good cheer felt by those who
competed last year, it's a foregone conclusion that
Hawthorne will once again turn out BIG, and
come home lugging their trophies and ribbons.
The fair grounds are located just off State
Road 44, approximately one mile west of Eustis.
-Gladys Manolaros
For those who attended the Founders' Day
Dedication ceremony on March 7, 1974, it will
always be remembered
with great pride of
accomplishment. It represented the first milestone
in the continued growth of Hawthorne community.
It had been achieved through the combined efforts
of participants who shared in the creativity of this
unique retirement village.
NRT AI AARP sponsored and suggested gUide
lines for many security and safety features that
were initiated; Colonial Penn developed, financed
and engineered the physical surroundings; the
beautiful landscaping, the wide, paved streets, the
huge clubhouse, the swimming pool complex and
shuffleboard courts. However, it required people
to settle here and call it home, in order to make it
spring to life.
Colorful announcements in AARP's "Modern
Maturity" magazine lured several adventurous
pioneers to further explore the advantages offered
by Hawthorne. Those who came in the spring of
'73 found it still in the engineering process; But
that didn't discourage them from selecting their lot
and ordering the mobile home of their choice from
the models displayed at the Sales Office. As
promised, by late fali '73 the clubhouse was
completed, the bridge over the river had been
built and phase one was ready for occupancy, so
the charter residents could move in numbering
about 150.
Under Dr. Kauffman's
gUidance,
they
originated and organized an activity program
which now has expanded far beyond their most
ambitious vision. The Monthly Program Calendar
of today embraces just about every hobby, sport,
art or craft you could imagine.
Each succeeding rededication has brought
exciting innovations requiring a whole week to
cover the program. Some have been retained as
annual customs; the ribbon-cutting ceremony, the
bicycle parade, the 5 cent ice-cream cones, the
boat flotilla on the river and the Founders' Ball. All
have been included in this year's program, plus
many.surprisas. Ya'll come, you hear!
- Margaret Albro
Editor's Note: May we remind you that the first
issue of Penn Notes coincided with the original
Founders' Day, 1974, so we, too, are happy to be
celebrating our Fifth Anniversary.
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Spring
The Florida spring can be an intensification of
a mood occurring anytime after the full moon of
February. Then the higher rays of the sun sustain
the rising temperatures which master and melt the
frosts.
In the three zones of Florida, north, central
and south, spring is many things to many people.
Our country is as rich in various spring rituals as it
is in the wide patterns of its weather and climate.
But the Florida spring has its own unique blend of
mildness, charming natives, visitors and all who
come to enjoy this gentle season.
The gardener observes the Live Oaks, those
trees which shed their leaves and simultaneously
sprout new ones, thereby making clear their name
and fame. Nature's dormant period tapers off as
plants begin a new cycle of growth, producing
buds and blossoms. Peculiar to spring in Florida is
the decrease in rainfall. Nearly always elsewhere
spring brings heavy rain and floods from melting
snows. Migratory birds tell us it is spring in Florida
by leaving for northern climes.
By these subtle signs one season gives rise to
another. Thus we can say with Robert Browning
"The year's at spring All's right with the world."
This is how I pleasantly anticipate my first
spring at Hawthorne.
-Anna K. Merlino
Hawthorne employees of Colonial Penn Communities,
Inc .. gave their fair share to United Way this year contributing $2,030 to the Lake County drive. Colonial Penn Vice
President Dan Gorden (right) joins employee co-chairmen
for the drive, Annie Hatcher (second from right) and Patty
Coffey (left) presenting their check to Charles Johnson of
Hawthorne who served as United Way coordinator for all
mobile home parks in Lake County. Hawthorne residents
pledged nearly $12,000 to United Way this year, combining
with the employee's contribution for a total of $14,000 from
Hawthorne to Lake County's United Way.
Definition - Hawthorne
Micromic: A little world, miniature
universe, a community, a village regarded
as a miniature or epitome of the World.
-Melvin Morgan & Marjorie Hunter
Scenes from ArS6
Shuffleboard Comes of Age at Hawthorne
Hawthorne Shuffleboard activity, after a slow
start back in 1974, has indeed come a long way.
The courts were opened to the few players in
residence that summer, and before long a small
group was trying its luck in the Lake County
"Round Robin" League competition. That year
we won 17 games to 58 losses with a season
percentage of only .327, but Hawthorne was just
beginning!
Progress in the art of shuffling was slow and
the folks in the neighboring community clubs,
already in existence for several years, were
playing a very strong game.
A few years went by with very little outside
play. Yet Hawthorne's
own activity grew in
numbers until the club could boast more than 100
active players, whether in the weekly gettogethers or the bi-weekly "Red and Black"
matches to which players generally gravitated as
their skills improved.
Finally Hawthorne Shuffleboard seemed to
come into its own. The Lake County "Round
Robin" tournaments took on new meaning and by
the summer of 1977 as many as 12 teams signed
up to participate. That season 22 tournaments
were played throughout the county, a total of 329
games, with Hawthorne winning 159.5 of them
for a season percentage of .485 to place sixth.
It was a different story in 1978. In a similar
summer period 15 teams from Hawthorne were
entered (106 teams in the League from Clermont,
Eustis, Hawthorne, Leesburg, Mid-Florida Lakes,
Mt. Dora, Tavares and Umatilla); 390 games were
mic and
Old Lace
played with Hawthorne winning 224.5 for a
season percentage of .576. Hawthorne stood in
first place at the close!
And now, several couples ventured further
afield almost weekly to take part in the highly
competitive tournaments all around the State of
Florida. The 1976-1977
Florida Shuffleboard
Association's official publication lists Hawthorne
with seven wins in Lake County competition and
four in Northern District play. For Hawthorne
1977 -78 was a banner year, having taken 20 % of
the Lake County positions (a total of 16 out of
80), seven Northern District and four state-wide
events.
It's truly a challenging sport, shuffleboard -and fun to boot!
- Kay Richards
And,
Hawthorne Shufflers continue to win awards
and bring recognition to our community. Paul &
Wilma Gentry recently won first place in the
consolation section of the statewide any double
amateur tournament at Zephyrhills. One hundred
eleven double teams from all over Florida entered
this tournament. Play extended over three days.
This is one of the largest tournaments in the state.
Remember when Hawthorne was the doormat of
the shuffling world? Congratulations, Paul, Wilma
and all shufflers.
-Dr. Kauffman
Ole' for
Studying Spanish
The 25 or 30 Hawthornites who assemble in
the Craft Room every Monday evening find
themselves understanding what teaching -- and
learning -- in a one-room schoolhouse must be
like. While Spanish is the only subject in the
curriculum, the capable and imaginative teacher,
Janet Sharp, must deal with students of many
levels of proficiency in that subject; elementary,
intermediate, advanced and in-between.
Some class members
are busy writing
compositions, some are listening to and answering
tape-recorded
questions, and others are going
over new vocabulary or learning to tell (in
Spanish) time from a model clock. Workbooks are
in evidence as students correct "homework" by
consulting with one another. Class members
answer individually or in unison as Mrs. Sharp
poses questions to test reading comprehension on
various levels. Sometimes
she disgresses to
answer a question from someone or to explain
how Latin-American customs are reflected in the
language. And obvious in all these activities are
the spirited participation, the congeniality, and the
enthusiasm of the students.
.
Mrs. Sharp obtained her bachelor's degree
from the University of Indiana and a master's
degree in education from the same institution.
She has taught
locally
at Lake-Sumter
Community College and at Howey Academy and
has visited Colombia in South America. Her
teaching at Hawthorne is under the age is of the
Leesburg office of Lake County Adult Education.
Long-time residents of Spanish-speaking
countries wishing to keep current their knowledge
of Spanish, travelers who know little of the
language but are eager to speak everyday polite
phrases on their trips, and persons just interested
in the stimulation and plain fun of learning a
foreign language all enjoy Monday evening at the
Spanish one-room schoolhouse.
- Marie L. Richardson
Mind Expanding
The most pragmatic reason for improving
one's mind is that this is the place where one increasingly lives as cne grows older; as external
pleasures diminish with age, a sparsely furnished
mind becomes a prison cell, when it should be a
lounge, a library, and a balcony upon the world.
-Oscar Murphy
Charts of the heavens are familiar to Gerard Frison, a 43year teacher of astronomy, who currently conducts a class at
Hawthorne for all interested moon gazers.
Nun's Prayer
Lord, thou knowest better than I know myself
that I am growing older and will some day be old.
Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say
something
on every
subject and on every
occasion.
Release me from craving to straighten out
everybody's affairs. Make me thoughtful but not
moody; helpful but not bossy. With my vast store
of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all, but
Thou knowest Lord that I want a few friends at the
end.
Keep my mind free from the recital of endless
details; give me wings to get to the point. Seal my
lips on my aches and pains. They are increasing
and love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter
as the years go by. I dare not ask for grace enough
to enjoy the tales of others' pains, but help me to
endure them with patience.
I dare not ask for improved memory but for a
growing humility and a lessening cocksureness
when my memory seems to clash with the
memories of others.
Teach
me the gloriOUS lesson
that
occasionally I may be mistaken.
Keep me reasonably sweet; I do not want to
be a Saint -- some of them are so hard to live with
-- but a sour old person is one of the crowning
works of the devil. Give me the ability to see the
good things in unexpected places and talents in
unexpected people. And give me 0 Lord the
grace to tell them so ... Amen.
-Author Unknown
submitted by Jan Humbert
<><:><><::~~It'sA Small World~~~
It is a small, satisfying world we live in at
Hawthorne for it is a crossroads where friendships
of a bygone time, from faraway places, even
halfway around the world are often renewed. Our
friends of yore were the elite then. Now the
friends we thought had been lost forever are even
more precious, for there is so much ground to
cover filling in the space of those years of
separation. Here are a few "for instances. "
Al Bakeman was born in China. One year
ago, Loretta McClure moved to Hawthorne.
Bakeman remembered Loretta from their China
days. They'd met in Mokansan, a summer resort
for missionaries, and had attended the American
School in Shanghai together. Thus a lapse of 55
years after an old friendship was regained.
Bakeman had been in Hawthorne but a short
time when he met a man wearing the name tag
"Darrell Fadely." It turned out that Fadely and
Bakeman had attended Denison University, had
been in the same class and in the same fraternity,
48 years ago.
Ruth and Ed Smith attended a Christmas
dinner in the Great Hall in 1976 where they met
Kay and Joe Feol. It developed that the Smiths
and the Feols had lived in the same apartment
building in Tudor City in New York; had lived on
Long Island, were familiar with the same places in
South Jersey and to cap the coincidences, Smith
worked in the Federal Office Building just around
the corner from the editorial offices where Feol
worked.
Walden, New York, was a tiny village 40
years ago. It seems highly unlikely that anyone
here would ever know of Walden. But John
Tienken, who hails from Newburgh, N. Y., knows
most of the Feol's Walden friends. Another
coincidence -- Earl Hadden had been a school
principal at Pine Island, just a short distance from
Walden.
AI and Gladys Casano,
newcomers
to
Hawthorne, visited the Feols on Gardenia Way.
In the course of conversation, it developed that
the Feols and the Casanos came from the same
city, Passaic, New Jersey. Both had played
How is Grandma's life at home like her play
on the shuffleboard court?
She's always in the kitchen!
-Jonathan
Reed - age 10
football for the local high school and were
members of the track team in 1922-23. Casano
starred in the 100 and 220 yard sprints: Feol was
a mile runner, high jumper and shot putter. To
add to impossible coincidences: the Casanos were
closely associated with Joe Feol's cousin in the
development
of remote
controlled
model
airplanes.
If you have an instance or two of "it's a small
world," write it and give it to the Penn Notes
Editor.
From the Mailbox
Here's a little "did you know" for history
buffs:
Rural Mail .dehvery started in West Virginia
way back in 1896.
In fact, the
~~
first
official
wagon
was a
small white boxlike affair with a
pigeon-hole
rack in front of
the driver. Heat
to ward off the
chilly West Virginia
winters
was supplied by
a kerosene lantern.
Horses soon learned the route perfectly and
stopped at every box. As you can imagine, this
made them useless for other work once they were
"retired." The story goes that gypsies were the
only buyers.
They
would
sell them
to
unsuspecting customers elsewhere.
Considering
today's
mechanized
postal
system, "we've come a long way, baby."
• ••••
And for all who grumble each time you have
to pay 15 cents for a stamp, there may be a little
consolation in these facts:
If you lived in England, you'd be paying the
equivalent of 20.5 cents per ounce for postage. In
Japan, 19.5 cents; 20.5 cents in France; and 21.6
cents in Germany. And -- are you ready for this? a whopping 25 cents in Sweden!
Any consolation?
- Ref.: Letter Perfect
Boat Club To The Rescue
It was a dark, drizzly night December 23.
Commodore
Parry Owens received a frantic
phone call from a worried wife at 6:30 p.m. She
said her husband had left the marina in a boat at
3:30 and had not returned. Even though he was
not a boat club member, the call triggered the
organization of a search party. Lake County
Sheriff Department was notified and within 30
minutes boat club members Parry Owens, Carl
Curtis, George MacIntyre, Frank Svoboda and
Tommy
Thomas
manned
their
boats,
accompanied by Hap Nelson, Frank Walters, and
First Mates Martha Curtis and Glenna Thomas
and headed for Lake Harris.
Luck was with the search party. On the Palatlakaha River before coming to the lake, Tommy
Thomas in the lead picked up the returning boat
* * *
Award
for
Service
* * *
"Good morning, my name is Abby Lacy. I
live here and have come to welcome you to
Hawthorne and to ask if I may introduce you to
your new community over our own television
network. We ask this privilege of all newcomers
and we hope that you, too, will say 'yes'."
Abby began this program on September 5 in
1975 and has continued it ever since. She has
sometimes arrived while the moving van was still
at the front door. Occasionally she got there first.
It was most common for her to sit on packing
boxes or furniture still in wrappers, or on the floor,
while she visited with people who had come to
make their home with us at Hawthorne. In spite of
the trials and turmoil of moving she has always
been welcomed
most cordially. Many fine
friendships have had their beginning on "that
ay.:
dav."
On March 9, during the fifth anniversary of
the dedication of Hawthorne, Abby will introduce
the one thousandth person to appear on the
Welcome to Hawthorne program on Channel 4.
with his powerful search light and escorted it back
to the marina. Motor trouble was reported as the
cause of the late return.
Boat club members record trip information
on a log before departing. Commodore Owens
suggests that boaters who are not members of the
Boat Club use the buddy system when boating, or
tell a friend or neighbor of their boating plans. It is
like looking for a needle in a haystack when
searching for a boat at night on the 101 square
miles of water on our chain of lakes especially if
it is not known which lake to cover. Searchers
were glad that only motor trouble was responsible
for the late return. After all -- it could have been
an accident.
-Carl T. Curtis
We are proud of this program and proud of Abby
Lacy.
Abby has had fine helpers during the years
that she has been in charge of introducing
newcomers on Channel Four. Whenever anyone
talks with her about the miles she has pedalled her
cycle to find new residents, the hundreds of doors
she has knocked on, the mountains of cartons she
has surmounted,
she always replies, "but I
couldn't have done it except for my wonderful
helpers. If you thank me, you must thank them,
too."
So, Abby, the Cabinet in thanking you for
being Hawthorne's "Welcome Lady," does thank
your helpers. When you wear your pin, symbolic
of the Cabinet's award for continuous community
service for more than three years, we know that
you are wearing it for them as for yourself. The
whole community is proud of the "Welcome to
Hawthorne"
program and the leadership you
have given it.
Dedication to the Welcome to Hawthorne
program might have been predicted by reading
Abby's vita: the years she spent as a teacher and,
especially as a camp counselor,
were good
training for relating well to newcomers. So were
her years of service as an educational administrator and community leader. She once wrote that
she is a staunch backer of three children and a
husband. It was only natural, therefore, that this
devotion to her family be expanded to include the
Hawthorne Community.
Congratulations,
Abby, upon receiving the
Cabinet award. Thank you, Abby, for your contribution to our community.