A Message From Your Executive Director
Dear Residents and Families,
The Village continues to welcome new residents each month, which will continue as long as we have any apartments available. Did you know that we offer a resident referral incentive? If you refer someone to live here at The Village and they move in, you will earn a $1,000 credit on your rent for the following month.
I’m pleased to announce that I have hired a new Director of Life Enrichment. Deb Caravella will join us for orientation in a couple of weeks and then spend some time getting to know the community and the residents. Deb has several years of experience working in life enrichment in senior living communities and has some great ideas for programming at The Village. She was born and raised in the Upper Valley area and is thrilled to have the opportunity to work in White River Junction.
Our HVAC system has a leak and needs a major repair. We have put off the repair until late Spring because the entire system will need to be shut down for two days. That means that our heating and cooling will not work for those days. We planned to have it done during a temperate time of year in an effort to avoid extreme temperatures. The work will begin the morning of April 25th and should be done by end of day on April 26th. We will have plans in place to provide fans and/or portable heat as needed if throwing on an extra sweater is not enough. This work will NOT affect our water so there WILL BE hot water. I will keep you apprised if there are any changes to this plan.
Once again, we are offering residents the opportunity to make dinner for the Hixon House at the Haven this month. We will cook on Friday, April 28th from 2-4pm in Smith & Son’s Kitchen.
April showers bring May flowers!
Be well,
Nikki
Community Updates & Activities from Russell Hardeman
April Events 2023
Please see the attached calendar for April’s activities. We have added learning from Curiosity Stream every Monday afternoon, a TV series on Tuesday afternoons, and a TED Talk each Friday afternoon. This is in addition to our nightly movies. You will also see the addition of Cribbage Club Thursday mornings.
A few of you completed the Life Enrichment surveys that are at the front desk and offered some great suggestions. I encourage more of you to complete the survey so we have a bigger sample of participants.
Additionally, we look forward to new ideas that the next Director of Life Enrichment will bring to our community.
Resident Spotlight
Christopher Harris was born on June 7, 1933, in Plainfield, New Jersey, the second son of Maynard and Edith (Bushnell) Harris. He grew up in Concord and Acton, Massachusetts, attended public grammar schools there, and graduated from Middlesex School in Concord in 1951. He entered Yale and graduated in 1955 with a BA in American Studies and had been an Editor and cartoonist for the Yale Record humor magazine. Upon graduation he began his publishing career with Rand McNally in their book manufacturing plants in the Chicago area where he gained essential knowledge of how books were made.
In the fall of that year, he married Linda Robinson of Wayland, Massachusetts, after having known her since both were teenagers working summer jobs in New Hampshire. In 1957, living in Lansing, Illinois, their first child, Katherine, was born. The next year Rand McNally transferred them to New York where Chris worked in Rand’s Manhattan office. Their second child, Stephen, was born in 1958. In 1960, Chris joined The Viking Press, also in Manhattan, initially working on children’s books which allowed him to bring home copies regularly, a treasured perk for his children.
Chris was able to buy their first house in Riverside, Connecticut and he became production manager for Viking’s Studio Books division. There he worked closely with many renowned photographers such as Alfred Eisenstadt, David Plowden, Nancy Sirkis, and Inge Morath, and produced many large format books including the award-winning The Kennedy Years, Edmund Bacon’s Design of Cities, and Gloria Steinem’s The Beach Book. He designed the jacket for John Steinbeck’s America and the Americans, and designed and produced the spectacular The Shore Birds of North America by Peter Matthiessen with paintings by Robert Verity Clem.
In 1964, the family moved to Cos Cob, Connecticut, and in 1966 a daughter, Andrea, was born. In 1967, Chris arranged a year’s leave of absence from Viking, and in June the whole family sailed for Europe and Lausanne, Switzerland. Chris was able to work part time with a Swiss printer and a publisher he had known in New York, and to explore the area with his family. He boasted that he began to grow a beard in Zermat, in the shadow of the Matterhorn, which he kept for the rest of his life.
Four days before their twelfth anniversary in October 1967, Chris’s wife suddenly and inexplicably died, at age 31. Devastated, Chris and his three children returned home, and with the help of an imported Scottish housekeeper began again in Connecticut and eventually with Viking in New York.
After three years Chris found an affectionate relationship with a fellow Viking staffer, and they were married. Shortly thereafter Chris left Viking to partner with a small regional publisher (The Chatham Press) close to his Connecticut home and his children. Viking offered to distribute the venture’s books and the new enterprise began. Originally devoted to New England National Park guidebooks, Chris sought and published many more substantial books for children and adults: illustrated works on folklore, history, and natural history. One of his favorite books was a photobiography of Helen and Scott Nearing which he created from the Nearings’ own picture collection and some of his own, allowing him to know them well, right up until their deaths.
In 1977 Chris’s marriage dissolved. He left The Chatham Press, was elected President of the Connecticut Book Publishers Association and, at one of its meetings, met with Sally Sullivan, a widow whom he had first met in 1953 when she was a college classmate of his late first wife. Sally was a graphic designer at Yale University Press, and renewing his acquaintance, learned that the Yale Press might be looking for a new Production Manager. Pursuing that possibility, Chris was hired by the legendary Press Director, Chester Kerr, as Manager of Production and Design. Chris and his children moved to Madison, Connecticut and he, almost inevitably, married Sally Sullivan.
A new career began with shared professional interests. Chris and Sally also managed to have many travel adventures to Morocco, Norway, Ireland, England and Wales, Portugal, France, Italy, the Caribbean, and other sites. They retired from Yale in 1988 to Weathersfield, Vermont where Chris became involved in Vermont Democratic party politics, the local library, and conservation matters, and in developing their own handsome woods and fields while still producing many free-lance book projects with Sally, under the name of Summer Hill Books, for the university presses of Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, New England, Yale, and a large photographic volume for Dartmouth.
Chris suffered a debilitating stroke in 2019 and now resides with us here at The Village at White River Junction. Please make sure that you visit Chris’ art exhibit in Crockwell Gallery, showing during the months of May and June.
Staff Spotlight: Louis Fucci
At our March all-staff meeting we were pleased to announce Louis Fucci as our Employee of the Month. Louis joined our Concierge staff in December and has been a valued member of the team ever since. Louis regularly goes above and beyond for our residents, guests, and his peers. He has quickly formed relationships and bonds with so many of the folks who live here. In addition to his concierge duties, Louis has been an invaluable member of the kitchen staff recently, covering shifts as we work to hire cooks and servers.
When he is not working, Louis enjoys seafood, music, riding his bike, and volunteering. He has 2 grown children. Louis loves adventure and feels appreciated when he receives positive feedback.
Thank you, Louis, for all that you do!
Memory Care Minute
Our Memory Care residents had a busy March. We enjoyed live entertainment right on our floor from Jim Hollis. This was especially fun as everyone was able to attend. On March 17th, staff hosted a St. Patrick’s Day party complete with green beer, shamrock headbands, and Irish music playing. Additionally, our fabulous QLS team hosted a couple activities. Camden held a hockey party for our guys to watch the game between the Bruins and the Buffalo Sabers and April made paper flowers with the ladies. We love it when it comes together with our staff.
To keep our brains nimble, we have been working very hard on trivia and games. For physical exercise, we try to get moving each day. Kick ball is the favorite! As the weather improves, we are able to see new sights on scenic rides. While our bus is out for repairs, we have been able to go out but limited to 2 residents at a time. We look forward to our regular routine soon. There was finally some nice Spring weather and our residents were able to get out into the garden area to sit in the sun and to clean up our raised beds. They also have been able to get out to walk.
We held our second family/friend support group on March 23rd. This went very well, and we will meet monthly via Zoom on the 4th Thursday of the month. Please let me know if you have not received an invitation and wish to and I will add you to the list for our next meeting which will be held April 27th at 4:00pm.
In April Our Memory Care residents will be getting the garden ready for planting. We will be planting inside to get the plants ready to go outside. They will also be doing some additional arts and crafts and getting the floor ready for Spring.
Thank you.
Kathleen March
Director of Memory Care
COVID-19 In Our Community
We are committed to keeping you informed of how COVID-19 is impacting The Village at White River Junction. We continue our robust commitment to following the guidelines from both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health authorities by:
- Based on our current Phase and the positivity rate in our county, the following protocols for visitation are in place:
- Currently we do not allow guests to eat in the dining rooms.
- Core principles of COVID-19 infection prevention will be enforced. These include:
- Screening before each visit
- Hand hygiene
- Mask use for all visitors and staff; It is currently recommended that fully vaccinated visitors keep their mask on when in a private area, even with a fully vaccinated resident.
- Requiring all staff to wear surgical or procedural masks and adhere to screening processes
- Maintaining the frequency and rigor of cleaning and sanitizing all surfaces
- Reviewing our emergency preparedness and response program
- Coordinating best practices across our large partner network
- Group activities are held
Helpful Links
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html
- www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/index.html
LCS COVID-19 website
Local health department website
From the Governor
