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Presidents
Message
By the time
you see this
we will have
gotten
through most
of the winter
and can be
looking
forward to
spring
activities. I
doubt that
TMALRA has
ever been better set up to help us make
the most of the opportunities. The
group of Committee chairs is
outstanding and can provide any
leadership needed. They will need your
involvement and support; and I
encourage you to review the
information you have about all the
opportunities we have for fun and
enrichment. Study the calendars.
Certainly, there will be something
where you could contribute or learn
from.
There is an amazing array of life
experiences among our residents. How
often have you read an obituary and
been disappointed that you had not
known something about that person
which you would have loved to discuss
with them? That also means that there
is something about you that others
would love to know about and discuss
with you. I encourage you to not be too
shy about your experiences. Talking
about them will enrich the lives of
those who hear you. Using the
Uniquest app under Resident Directory
to list information about your life
THE FREE PRESS
The Moorings at Lewes Residents Association
Vol. 18, No. 1
February 2025
TV Channel 970
www.tmalra.org
Page 1
would be a good place to begin. I have
found participation in Hodge Podge dinners
to be enlightening and fun. Please give
serious consideration to being part of the
next one.
I hope you are as encouraged as I am about
efforts Moorings management has been
making to improve communications with us;
and I hope we can be as supportive as
possible as Theresa Kelly (TK) builds her
organization’s ability to serve us.
Ed Steiner
Problems worthy of attack will prove
their worth by hitting back.
Piet Hein
The Free Press needs a
cartoonist.
With all the new residents moving in, there
must be someone who would like to draw
cartoons for the newsletter. We are not
looking for Herblock, just someone who likes
to draw and observe the foibles of this little
village.
Franz Portman's
snow man sported
periodic costume
changes including
a bike helmet and
sunglasses.
Board of Directors
President Ed Steiner
Vice President Jim Keys
Treasurer Tom Reed
Asst. Treasurer Larry Myers
Secretary Jane Bretnall
Corresponding Secretary Carol Lader
Past President Don Smith
Area Representatives
Cottages Mildred Wiedmann
Carol Bishop
East Wing Mary Lou Poffenberger
Diane Bair
West Wing Peg Partlow
Linda Trzyzewski
Assisted Living Gil Kaufman
Committee Chairs
Activities Peg Partlow
By-Laws Jane Lord
Communication Tom Reed
Dining Franz Portman
Empl. Appreciation Larry Myers
Gift Shop Diane Bair
Library Judy Burgess
Nominating Jim McMullen
Program Rebecca Brenner
Wellness Gail Bourassa
Wood Shop Richard Thomas
TMALRA Free Press
(Printed Quarterly)
Editor Sandy Spence
Proofreader Dennis Gillespie
Layout David Bleil
Distribution Joanne Nichols
Board Mtgs 2nd Monday
General Mtgs 3rd Monday
Page 2
Who’s Who at The Moorings at
Lewes – Jim Keys TMALRA VP
James Gordon Keys,
better known as Jim,
was born in Hamlin,
West Virginia, and
grew up in nearby
South Charleston, a
suburb of the capital
of West Virginia
where his father was
a high school
teacher.
Jim was a leader
from the beginning,
holding a variety of posts through high
school, including membership in the National
Honor Society and serving as Vice President
of his Senior Class of 1961. He was also
active in the Methodist Church, being
Treasurer of the Youth Fellowship and
member of the Boys Choir. Jim went on to
college at West Virginia Wesleyan, graduating
in June 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts degree
with an English major and Business
Administration and German minors.
After graduation, Jim joined C&P Telephone,
in Charleston, part of the Bell system then
where his work on a new computerized
billing system led to movement to their Silver
Spring location and managerial duties on
computer operations. This later led to a
transfer to AT&T in Basking Ridge, NJ as
project manager for the development of a
proposed billing system to be deployed
nationally throughout the Bell System.
Jim spent 25 years with Bell, retiring upon the
breakup of the Bell system in January 1984,
but decided upon a new career taking him
back to college at Fairleigh-Dickinson
University where he was awarded a
certificate of paralegal studies with emphasis
on real estate matters. From 1990, Jim held
paralegal positions involving liquidation of
real estate assets for an insurance company in
bankruptcy, commercial and residential lease
preparation for a NJ real estate developer,
and supporting commercial mortgage lending
services at Met Life’s Real Estate Law
Department where he retired in 2011.
It was during his early Bell system years
that Jim met and became partners with
Paul J. Hopkins. They were able to marry
in 2015. Jim and Paul lived in Morristown,
NJ and had a beach home on Fire Island,
NY until moving to The Moorings in June
2022 thanks to recommendations from
friends. Jim was recently elected to the
vice presidency of TMALRA for the 2025-
2026 term. We are pleased to have Jim
Keys here with us at The Moorings.
Gil Kaufman
The Marauders Who Share My
Cottage
Recently catless when I moved to the
Moorings four years ago, I hastened to adopt
as soon as my place was in decent order.
Zora climbed into my lap at the Brandywine
shelter in Georgetown, 15 months old and
only 6 pounds. She had lived her first year in
a hoarding situation and, I surmised later, had
grown up scrounging for every bit of
nourishment she could find. Fast forward to
present, she is a hearty 13 pounder who
thinks she is still that starving kitten. The vet
advised me early on to measure out her food.
It became clear that after living among a
throng of cats, she was not suited to the
solitary life, so I found Liam, a 6 week old ball
of fur, at Brandywine’s Pet Smart satellite
location. Whatever his feline childhood
issues were, starvation was not one of them.
But he was very young, a blank slate as it
were, and Zora took seriously her mission to
teach him: “This is how to be a cat!”
Measuring their food was only the beginning.
Things were strangely quiet one afternoon,
and when I went to investigate, I found that
the two of
them had
worked as a
team to open
the
refrigerator.
They were
(quietly)
feasting on a
large salmon
filet. I
immediately
ordered the
first set of
child locks!
Thwarted from
getting to the
“good stuff” in the fridge, they learned how to
pry open the Tupperware bins holding their
kibble. More locks, now on the food cabinet,
and other places they went to nose around.
Then, a second set of child locks on the cat
food cabinet! I smugly thought to myself
Library Lines
The attention of Library Lines in this
newsletter is directed to our new DVD case
built by Dean Hoover and Bill Littell.
These shelves hold our ever-growing
collection of DVDs, including those shown
on Friday Nights at the Movies by the
Program Committee.
We have organized the DVDs into
categories including Fiction and Drama,
with an aqua sticker on its case, Comedy
with a pink sticker, Musicals with bright
yellow, and so on. Within each category,
the DVDs have been alphabetized. This
will make it easier for our Library
Committee members to return the discs
that have been borrowed.
If you have a DVD player, why not host a
party with three or four friends to show an
old favorite or something new to you?
Please come by the library to see our new
addition.
Judy Burgess
Page 3
"There’s class warfare, all right,
but it is my class, the rich class
that’s making war. And we are
winning.” Warren Buffett
“That should take care of it.”
Last summer, when I went into the
kitchen for their morning feeding, Liam
was signaling “something” at the kitchen
door to the garage, which, upon scrutiny,
was seen to be not quite closed. When I
opened it, there was Zora in the garage
(for how many hours?). She had
sufficient time to survey the contents,
and discover a large unopened bag of
kibble on a high shelf, which she opened
herself. The round door knob, which the
two of them must have worked as a team
to open, required a different kind of child
lock mechanism. The cats haven’t
cracked it yet, but it gives me trouble at
times.
A couple weeks ago, Zora was signaling
“something” at the food cabinet. I saw
that the lower child lock had been
flipped up, and the large lock linking the
door pulls seemed strangely loose. I
opened the still technically locked cabinet
and found Liam hunkered down inside,
noshing away next to the Tupperware
goldmine, which he had (of course!) pried
open. It must have been some squeeze
for him to get his head into the cabinet
from underneath the doors and wiggle
his 12 pound body in! I went to one of
the local home stores and purchased
some large glass jars to replace the
admittedly useless Tupperware, ruefully
thinking I should have taken that simple
step months ago.
Food aggression aside, my cats are
delightful! Constantly being a step
behind their thought processes keep me
humble, and I am proud of their
intelligence and their teamwork. My
neighbor and I were speculating what
might be next; I expect them to learn
how to order things on line. Floyd thinks
they’ll eventually be driving my car.
Rebecca Brenner (the “staff” to the cats
living in cottage 13)
Update: January 26th they opened a can
of beer. No kidding.
Page 4
Club 90 Memories
Searches of the Internet give us various
answers as to what percentage of the
population survives to age 90 and above. One
commonly quoted source indicates that of
people born between 1930 and 1946, 99% are
now dead, so those born before 1935 and aged
90 or more constitute an even smaller group,
well less than 1%. But the number reaching
age 90 is increasing rapidly and is predicted to
reach 10% by 2050.
Those of us in that before-1935 group can
perhaps remember a bit about life in the1930s.
It was a challenging time:
- The world was in a crushing depression. Jobs
were scarce in the early ‘30s, but by 1939 the
US was climbing out of it.
- We were watching war develop in Europe.
We did not want to get involved but those
Nazi looked pretty nasty.
- Television had not been invented, so news
was spread by radio and newspapers. You
may be able to remember your family sitting
around a big console radio and looking at it
as the latest bulletins were broadcast.
- You can probably remember milk being
delivered early every morning and placed in a
milk box on the porch of your home.
- You probably had an ice box, not a
refrigerator, in your kitchen, and a block of ice
was periodically delivered to your home for it.
- You probably had a coal-burning furnace in
the basement, and coal was periodically
delivered directly via a chute into the
basement where your father shoveled it into
that furnace.
- One penny was all you needed to get a treat
at your neighborhood candy store or grocery
store. You might have gotten a small wax
container shaped like a little bottle filled with
tasty syrup, and then after swallowing that
syrup chewing the wax itself.
- Your parents may not have had a car, so you
all relied heavily on trolleys to get around
when you could not walk.
normally as possible. TK Kelly staffed the
concierge desk for nerve-wracking hours to
open doors, as needed, answer the phone,
handle all the messages, coordinate the first
free dog walking service for all our faithful
friends, and many other unrecorded but
much needed deeds.
Gina models the dining staff's new short
sleeved black T-
shirts They are
happy to rid
themselves of the
old long sleeve
shirts which were
too warm for the
active staffers.
Sandy Spence
Storm brings free dog walking for
residents temporaily.
- You might even have
seen the first showing of
“The Wizard of Oz” in
the fall of 1939.
Then came the 40s, and
World War II. We
remember every bit of it!
Gil Kaufman
Page 5
After the roads were clear, snow blowers
were brought in to clear driveways,
porches and sidewalks.
Staffing for snow.
At the January 14 Afternoon Exchange,
Lauri Weeks recognized the entire
maintenance crew for their outstanding
efforts removing the historic snowfall
from the property, including those who
came in at 3 a.m. to ensure the ability of
emergency vehicles access to our homes.
Fortunately, that probably saved the life
of a resident who needed an ambulance
in the early hours that morning.
The crew continued their work
throughout the many hours of
continuing snow, sleeping over in the
auditorium to remain at work to ensure
safety for all of us. Others including
nurses and other health care workers,
kitchen and dining staff members who
kept us fed, and even Cheryle Messick
and Tammy Abele from the cleaning
staff spent at least one or two nights on
site to ensure all of us could enjoy life as
Bike Trail News
Page 6
Trail segment now, just gravel
along side tracks. To be graded
and paved.
Future trail with fence
beside tracks. Actual
segment from Georgetown
to Airport Road.
Construction to begin soon on the
remaining portion ofthe Lewes to
Georgetown Rail Trail
Federal funding has been secured to add to
DelDOT funding to complete the remaining
segment of the Lewes to Georgetown bike trail
from Airport Road to Cool Spring road which
will allow unrestricted off-road bike and
walking travel from Georgetown to Lewes and
on to Rehoboth Beach. Traffic control signals
will be installed at major road crossings
similar to the one at Sweet Briar crossing.
To avoid protected wetlands along the
route, an elevated 10 foot wide section of the
trail will be constructed similar to the section
of the Gordon's Pond trail over the dunes in
the State Park. Sections of the existing rail
line, still in use, will be relocated to
accommodate the trail. Trail should be open
by early 2026.
Connections
One of the gifts of moving to the
Moorings is the new friends we make.
But we are often pleased and surprised to
find and renew connections with those
from our previous lives. Sometimes we’re
aware of them before we move in and
sometimes afterward. Here are just a few
examples.
Cilla Ricker and Mary Lou Poffenberger
were in the same graduating class at
Woodrow Wilson High School in DC. A
top high school in the district at the time,
their classmates included some students
whose parents were members of
Congress. (Art Ricker graduated from
there as well, but a few years before the
ladies.) A mutual friend made the
connection and let them all know they’d
be here together!
June Sullivan and Irene Smith have been
friends since the 1960s. Both lived in DC
and found the Moorings independently.
How wonderful to already have a friend
on site for June when she moved in.
Rosemarie Portmann was a member of a
fitness club in Wilmington where our
fitness guru, Shirley Coleman, taught
classes. And Shirley knew the Portmann’s
daughter there as well.
In the 1980s and 90’s, Sherry Chappelle
taught at a small school north of New
York City.
Among the students she taught were our
water aerobics coach Dinah Reath’s two
sons and present daughter in law. Dinah
was also head of the parents’ council and
a big presence in the life of the school.
When Sherry first moved to Rehoboth
she and Dinah reconnected, and they are
delighted they can keep that connection
going at the Moorings.
In case you are unaware of the family
connections they are many. Sharon
Hoover and Gary Showers are siblings.
Millie Gillam is Karen Gillam’s mom.
Chris and Pat Vissering are sisters, as are
Letter to the
Editor
Special thank you to
the Activities
Committee for
sending donuts to the
Saturday morning
Water Volleyball
players. Your action helped recruit more
players like Peg Partlow!!
Page 7
Julie Myers and Marianne Jarvis.
Look for more of these connections in
upcoming newsletters. If you wish to add to
the list, send a note to Sherry Chappelle at
brucesher20@comcast.net or put a note in
cubby 46.
Sherry Chappell
The Moorings is Deficiency Free!
In recognition of accomplishments over the
past few years, Executive Director Annette
Moore, had a banner made and installed on
the outside fence f the community to celebrate
the residents and staff. It commemorates the
2024 Assisted Living Deficiency Free survey,
the 2024 Skilled Care Deficiency Free survey,
the Best Nursing Home Short-term Rehab
Department for 2021-2025, the 2023 and 2025
Best Doc, and the 5star (out of 5) CMS rating.
Great news for all of us as we face the
possibility of needing more care than we
currently appreciate!
Did you see it?
It looks like a shorebird—but in our
parking lot in January?
Yes, it’s a Killdeer, a part of the “ringed
plover” group. They are considered
shorebirds but aren’t found solely near
water. They favor a wide range of open
areas, including parking lots. These birds
love chowing down on everything from
beetles and earthworms to snails. While
foraging, it moves in a typical plover
pattern. It runs a few steps, halts, tilts its
head to look and listen for its prey
before moving on to the next meal.
A Killdeer nest is hard to spot. Known
as a scraper, it’s just a hollow depression
lined with pebbles. The eggs look just
like the pebbles. So, hiding in plain
sight. If a Predator comes close to the
nest, this crafty bird becomes an actor
and fakes a broken wing injury. It flaps
around on the ground looking injured to
draw the intruder away.
So if you see what looks like a bird in
need of help—just smile and move on.
Rebecca Rogers
Paper Crafts
2025 is here. Time to revive your
creativity with paper crafts. Have you
ever wanted to learn to scrapbook,
make cards, door hangings, origami,
calligraphy, transform cards into little
boxes? Come share your paper interests
with others Where: creative arts room,
second floor west. When: the first and
third Saturday each month. Time: 2-4.
Bring: ideas for projects. For more
information and suggestions -
psluddy238@gmail.com
January Art Exhibit
The January Exhibit in the
hallway to the East and
Health Care Wings
displayed the works of
Phyllis Zwarych, a cottage
resident since 2022. Not
only did this exhibit give
us the opportunity to enjoy Phyllis’ colorful
works, but she
generously donated
the proceeds from
numerous sales of
her art to the
Moorings residents
fund.
page 8
restaurants for several years. All told TK
has over 20 years of extensive experience
in the food service industry and not just
at The Moorings. She lives in Rehoboth
Beach and had a comment or two about
the tourist traffic.
Resident Services was a position she
observed from our dining area and when
the opportunity to pursue a new
challenge became available, she applied,
interviewed, and was selected. She views
Resident Services as a path to be more
involved with the Residents she has
gotten to know from Dining Services.
The door is
always open!!
Incorporating
her dining
experience
into Resident
Services, TK is
planning to
work with
Dining
Services to
continue Hodge Podge dinners and to
establish a community table to welcome
new residents. These dining events
support TK’s efforts to increase the sense
of “community” at The Moorings. We
talked about the negative impact the
COVID pandemic had on The Moorings’
social fabric. She plans to reinvigorate
the Resident Life Committee to promote a
more community life style, planning to
meet with new and current residents
giving TK insight into the whole
community’s pulse which will help her
better understand Resident expectations.
During her short time in the job there
have been several initiatives that gave
residents insight into how TK will
approach Residents. Just before
Thanksgiving, The Wobbler Walk saw
folks from all parts of The Moorings
getting in some steps on a beautiful
sunny Fall Day. Tee shirts were an added
treat. Prior to the event she painted the
A TK Profile
By an anonymous Cub Reporter
As we all should know by now, as
announced in mid-September by Annette
and Lauri and others, TK, or Theresa Kelly, is
our new Director of Resident Services which
includes all the Independent Living
residents, in the “Big House” east and west
sides, and the suburbs too. But TK’s
influence and support are campus wide. To
get to know this key staff member better,
the Free Press sent this inexperienced Cub
Reporter to interview TK. I am not sure
who did the interviewing, but we had a
good exchange of ideas and shared her
aspirations for her new positions. During
our time together, TK had a twinkle in her
eye, smiled a lot and clearly showed her
positive feelings about her new position.
Like many TK’s first exposure to the area
began through vacations and education at
Salisbury University. Moving permanently
to this area from Kensington, Maryland in
2001, she pursued the hospitality industry
working in kitchens and managing
Continued on page 10
Maurine
Hale,
Witness
to History
Part Two
(You can find
Part One in
the
November
2024 Free
Press.}
In college at the beginning of World War II,
Maurine was studying foreign affairs to
prepare herself for joining the Foreign
Service. The instructor of “four girls” in her
class burst her bubble when he advised
Maurine to take business courses so she
could learn shorthand and typing. This was
required if she wished to work in the State
Department “because women didn’t do jobs
that she had dreamed of”. She was sorely
disappointed.
But as a military wife during both WWII
and the Korean War, she witnessed history
second hand through her husband, Ivan,
who signed up for the Army Air Force (AAF)
shortly after Pearl Harbor engaged the U.S.
in The War. As described in Part One, the
AAF made a name for itself through its
heroic work in both the European and
Asian fronts.
By December 1943, the AAF had reached a
peak size of over 2.4 million men and
women in service and, by 1944, nearly
80,000 aircraft and 783 domestic bases. By
"V-E Day", the AAF had 1.25 million men
stationed overseas and operated from more
than 1,600 airfields worldwide. By the end
of World War II, the AAF had become
virtually an independent service although it
was a subordinate agency of the U.S.
Department of War by regulation and
executive order. Its independence was made
official by the National Security Act of July
26, 1946, and implemented as the United
States Air Force (USAF).on September 18,
Page 9
1947.
Meanwhile, Maurine’s husband had
accepted an appointment in Japan after
she agreed to join him there. While
there, President Harry Truman fired the
revered and highly praised World War II
hero General Douglas MacArthur on
April 25, 1951, because MacArthur had
overstepped his authority, defied direct
orders from the President and interfered
with Truman’s hope of ending the
Korean War quickly. At the time,
MacArthur was serving multiple roles
including Supreme Commander of Allied
Powers in the Far East based in Toyko,
where the Hales were stationed. He was
succeeded by General Matthew
Ridgeway. At a reception for the
incoming Commander with General
MacArthur present, our Maurine found
herself with her husband Ivan in a
receiving line.
One of the unnamed men at the
reception (who Dr. Google identified as
General Mark Clark) was in the receiving
line with his “trophy wife,” who Google
clarified was close to Clark’s own age but
was apparently quite good looking.
When Mrs. Clark eyed her name tag as
Maurine approached, the “trophy”
hugged our Maurine tightly, exclaiming
that she had never met anyone else with
her name spelled with the “ine.” The two
Maurines chatted until General
MacArthur chastised them for holding
up the line. (Our Maurine explains that
the “ine” version is French while the
“een” is Irish.)
Later, Maurine Doran Clark was to write
a book about her life as a military wife.
It’s available on Amazon: “Captain's
bride, general's lady; The memoirs of
Mrs. Mark W. Clark.” According to
Amazon, it is “filled with the hopes, the
joys, the hardships that every Army wife
must know.” Certainly, Maurine Hale
understood that as our Witness to
History.
See Part 3 in the next Free Press.
Sandy Spence
and are 86 a number some readers might be
familiar. TK is one of seven children with close
relationships with her five sisters and one
brother. Should you be curious, as I was, TK is
number six. She vacations three times a year
with family and friends. Her latest, just
completed, excursion was to Belize, the Central
American country which borders Mexico and
Guatemala. Checkout her tan! Her next
planned vacation will be to the Outer Banks of
North Carolina.
I will finish this article with a TK quote from
our interview, “Future Ideas are YOUR IDEAS!”
New Residents
Hugh & Kathleen Leathy Cottage 19
Krista Records Apt. #110
Ann Raymond Apt. #221
BethAnn Casella Apt. 214
Joe & Peggy Mauro Apt. 233
Tom & Elizabeth McNelis Apt 216
George & Cora Lynne O'Brien Apt. 103
Page 10
street with an orange path complete with
duck tracks to give us a direction to go.
We started after having a celebrity picture
taken by the Cape Gazette, then carefully
following path around the campus. A
detour toward the Health Center allowed
those from Assisted Living to join the
procession. This participating Cub
Reporter was personally passed by two-
wheel chairs down the home stretch -
rather humiliating. A second initiative is
clearly rooted in TK’s hospitality
experience. She engaged folk singer-
guitarist, Greg Ellington, to the Bistro on a
Sunday at dinner time allowing Residents
to eat and enjoy a truly fine musician.
Watch the
calendar
closely for
Greg’s
return
engagemen
t. In
addition to
all the
activities
detailed
earlier, TK
has
responsibilit
y for the
beauty salons, fitness and aquatic centers,
Resident activities, the Concierge, and the
Guestroom. Transportation is also one of
TK’s areas of responsibility which can
become easily overwhelmed. Currently
the busses can only accommodate and
transport a single resident with
wheelchairs. So, when the bus is
transporting a resident in a wheelchair it
can only be dedicated to that event with
room for seated passengers if stops
overlap. Early requests make
coordinating transportation easier.
TK will soon have a new assistant, Cece
Matrani who should arrive at the end of
January and reside in the recently
refreshed Craft Room.
Here is a little more personal info about
TK. Her parents live in North Carolina
From Page 8
In Memorium
Sheila Chlanda
Ann Chambers
