Howard Shapiro of Lake Oswego found himself in the unexpected role of caregiver when his wife Beth suffered a stroke in 1991. The resulting aphasia and paralysis meant she would need full-time care, and Howard stepped up to the job. They had been married for 40 years, and he did not want to put her…
Renate Dollinger was a landscape painter with a small gallery in Palo Alto, CA, a husband, four children and lots of dogs when, in 1968, at the age of 44, she suddenly turned to painting life in a shtetl. “Cute,” her husband said when he saw the first painting. “Where did that come from?” “I don’t know,” she replied. Here’s what…
Hillary Clinton and Kimberly Fuson are referring to an entire generation, but they may just as well have been speaking specifically about Alice Lok Cahana. Alice is a Holocaust survivor who went on to become a rabbi’s wife, mother of three children, a published author and a world-renowned artist. Her survival story was featured in…
Ask 10 children – ask 50 – what they want to be when they grow up, and not one of them would pick Janet Kennedy Unitan’s profession. The flip side: ask 10 parents what job they wouldn’t take if you paid them, and I bet Janet’s job would be on the list. Yet, in Janet’s…
Sandi Scholnick was reduced to tears – again. Her 92-year-old mother, Pauline Lecker, had been living at the Rose Schnitzer Manor at Cedar Sinai Park for 5½ years, and, despite her encroaching Alzheimer’s, the situation had been ideal. Then her mother’s condition began to deteriorate day by day rather than month by month. It was…
Felicia Cohen was born in Maryland and raised in an Orthodox home in Hollywood, FL, where there was a large, thriving Jewish community. She went to Jewish day school and the family walked to their Sephardic synagogue. Oregon, never mind Grants Pass, was not on her radar screen. Felicia’s father was a businessman and mom…
by Liz Rabiner Lippoff “Taking the path less traveled by exploring your spirituality can lead to a clearer life purpose, better personal relationships and enhanced stress management skills.” Is that quote from a learned rabbi? Robert Frost? The Dalai Lama? It’s actually from the staff at the Mayo Clinic. (“Spirituality and Stress Relief: Make the…
Rachel Bloom was teaching special ed but she was troubled. She’d grown attached to her high school students and wondered what was next for them. She wanted them to have happy, productive lives, but when her students with developmental disabilities turned 18 and graduated, most faced a grim shortage of vocational and recreational options. She…
My interview with Evelyn Hirsch (“Call me Evy!”) took a while to arrange because her new play was opening, and she was kind of busy. It was a huge success, to nobody’s surprise. So were the previous plays. As are the art classes she helps teach and the writing workshop she’s a part of. She’s…
Mark Rosenberg, MD, is the director of the internal medicine residency program at Providence Portland. He is also a firm believer in the importance of volunteering your time to help others. He can do that with Providence, where a robust program allows medical residents to spend time working and learning in Kenya, Haiti and, soon,…
