Archive for year: 2020

Despite being raised in Brooklyn, one of Lee Spitalny’s fondest memories is riding horses when she was a girl.

“There was a bridle path in one area,” Lee says. “My friend and I would take a bus dressed in our jodhpurs and boots, feeling very ‘la-di-da.’ We would ride around the area. Those horses knew; they would stop at a red light. We thought we were pretty fancy.”

Now a Homeland rehabilitation resident, Lee keeps moving. She receives physical therapy as part of the comprehensive range of services Homeland offers through partner Genesis Rehab Services.

“Their therapists are wonderful,” she says. “I feel so safe here. I’m being taken care of.”

Attending Lafayette High School in Brooklyn, Lee enjoyed acting in plays but not in musicals.

“I cannot carry a note if my life depended on it,” she says.

However, that talent gap led to one memorable moment. Famous singer Vic Damone had attended Lafayette and returned to lead a music class. Sitting at the piano, he noticed that Lee wasn’t singing, so he invited her to sit with him.

“I thought I died and went to heaven,” Lee says. “I was glad at that point that I couldn’t sing.”

Lee’s mother was a buyer for Wanamaker’s department store. Lee herself worked at Gimbel’s, selling girls’ rabbit-fur muffs and hats, which shed white fuzz all over her clothes.

“When I walked into the house, my mother said, ‘What have you got all over you?’ It was bunny fur.” Lee laughs about the memory, but her mother “didn’t think it was funny at the time.”

Howard and Lee Spitalny – up close!

Lee continued acting while attending Upsala College in New Jersey. While in college, she met Howard Spitalny, and they married in her junior year. She graduated with an education degree but went to work for an advertising agency.

“The day after I found out I was pregnant, I retired,” she says. “It was a short-lived career.”

Once again, department stores played a big role in Lee’s life. Her husband’s career as Pomeroy’s corporate merchandising manager brought him to Harrisburg.
They grew to love the area, raising their three children from their home in Susquehanna Township.

She remembers when the cartoon character Quick Draw McGraw came to Pomeroy’s, and she and her kids had a chance to ride around in a convertible around town with the costumed horse gunslinger.

“In my heart of hearts, I’m still a New Yorker,” she says. “I loved the theater. I loved the restaurants. I guess I loved the vitality of New York, but
I love Harrisburg now. It’s a warm and wonderful place to live.”

Lee put her education degree to use teaching comparative religion at Susquehanna Township High School.

“I would have ministers and rabbis and priests come to class,” she says. “I once had a voodoo priest talk to my students. I think they got a lot out of it. I didn’t care if they remembered dates, but as long as they left with respect for another person’s faith and religion, that was the important thing.”

Even though Lee had no business experience, a lifetime’s immersion in retail prepared her for the day when a friend suggested that the area needed an upscale bridal gift shop. She opened and ran The Proper Setting in New Cumberland for about 10 years.

“We had wonderful brides registered and met a lot of lovely, lovely people,” she says.

In retirement, Lee volunteers to read to young children at her synagogue.

“They sit all around on the floor,’’ she says. “Being the ham that I am, I love it. They seem to love it, too.”

Lee also served on Homeland’s Board of Managers; the unique board charged with maintaining Homeland’s home-like feel.

She volunteers for Homeland Hospice, spending time with families in mourning. “Everybody grieves so differently, but I hope I can help,” she notes. Lee shares thoughts from her own experience of losing her son Stephen 20 years ago and her husband just three years later.

“Life goes on,” she believes. “It’s so important to remember to have good memories.”

Lee loves to cook – maybe as a creative outlet to compensate for her lack of singing abilities – and she hopes to return to the kitchen after she goes home to her condo and its wonderful neighbors.

In the meantime, she is diligent about physical therapy, walking the hallways with her therapists. She wants to participate in Homeland’s morning exercise classes – “not that I have ever been an exerciser, believe me.” She reads a lot, currently enjoying Rita Mae Brown’s “Sneaky Pie Brown” mystery series. She keeps in touch with friends by phone.

Lee appreciates the sense of security she feels at Homeland, especially given the COVID-19 crisis.

“Homeland is very well run,” she says. “The people who are residents here feel safe, particularly now. The therapists are wonderful. They’re taking excellent care of me, and everybody who’s in here.”

Susan and Bill Gaylor still enjoying Valentines Day through 59 years of marriage.

The helicopter engine-fault light came on, and Crew Chief Bill Gaylor directed the pilot to land. A vast field opened up below. But when the craft hit the ground, a frantic U.S. Park Ranger drove up, insisting that they couldn’t land there.

“The hell I won’t,” said Bill. And that was how he came to make an emergency landing at Gettysburg National Military Park, on the hallowed ground of Pickett’s charge.

Homeland resident Bill Gaylor has lived a colorful life, driven by a talent for mechanics and a love of country and his fellow veterans. It follows a line from the 38th parallel during the Korean War, to crewing helicopter flights, to ensuring that every Dauphin County veteran gets a funeral with military honors.

Bill and his wife, Susan, will celebrate 59 years of marriage and a loving family that includes three children, eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Susan, who does not live at Homeland, said she appreciates the care her husband receives.

“Homeland is well-kept,” says Susan. “Everything’s always clean. I feel he’s well taken care of.”

“I like the people,” adds Bill.

Born in Hazelton, Bill joined the Army after graduating from high school in 1954 and served in Korea, where he initially drove a truck and then chauffeured officials engaged in the peace talks at Panmunjom. One admiral treated him like a son.

“He wanted to go in style, so they gave him a new car,” Bill recalls. “I’m driving a new car, and I’m thinking, ‘I’m in heaven, driving a brand-new Chevy.’ I mean, I’m still a kid.”

One night, the MPs detained Bill for speeding when the admiral wasn’t in the back seat. When the admiral learned the next morning, he issued an ultimatum.

“If he isn’t out here within two minutes,” the admiral barked, “all of you are going to be in there, and he’s going to be out here laughing at you.”

After three years of Army service, Bill worked at a shop in Lebanon. He soon noticed a pretty young woman who often sat on the front porch of a nearby home. Susan was only 16 and he was 21 when they first met, but Bill won over her skeptical parents and they married after she graduated from high school.

After they married, the couple moved around as Bill worked for business machine companies. Then, at age 40, he took advantage of the military’s call for experienced personnel. He served two years in the Navy Reserve before transferring to the Army National Guard, which led to his going to Fort Indiantown Gap and learning to repair helicopters.

Progressing to in-flight crew chief, he was responsible for ensuring the helicopter was in working order and that loads were evenly distributed.

Bill’s helicopter missions included lowering air conditioning units onto the roof of the Pentagon and lifting lighthouses off eroding Great Lakes beaches.

The mission that ended with the Gettysburg emergency landing started as a test of air defenses for the president’s retreat at Camp David. Luckily, the helicopter was quickly repaired.

Bill had to retire from duty at 60, but that was not the end of his service. He recruited other veterans to form a volunteer honor guard that provides military ceremonies at about 100 funerals a year.

Members buy their own uniforms and give their time traveling throughout Dauphin County. Any donations go toward supplies such as matching overcoats. Though others took on Bill’s organizing duties recently, he is still considered commander.

“Families would come up to us after funerals and thank us so much,” says Bill. “We’d be hugged and kissed. They were so happy to see that somebody cared that their loved one served.”

Update:  Bill and Susan continue to visit using FaceTime during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are part of an expanding group of loved ones able to visit through FaceTime, Zoom, and Skype. These visits are coordinated by our Activities and Social Work teams and are making a difference!