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Board of Managers member Linda Stoner: A resourceful friend to Homeland residents

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Linda conducting a craft activity via Zoom

Linda Stoner had an idea. She had taken a techno-leap of faith by hosting a Zoom call craft-making session with friends, and she wondered if she could do the same for Homeland Center’s residents. With the staff’s cooperation, she made the monthly sessions happen.

“There were four ladies and one man, Patrick” she says. “He said, ‘I was just walking down the hall, and they grabbed me and pulled me into this room.’ So, there were four crafters and one hostage in the room.”

Linda is a newer member of Homeland’s Board of Managers, the unique group of women responsible for sustaining Homeland’s renowned, home-like feel. The Board of Managers is a Homeland mainstay, decorating public spaces and hosting lively seasonal parties, from picnics to casino nights.

She joined the board in September 2020 at the height of the pandemic. But like all Board of Managers members, she has been resourceful in her quest to keep the residents comfortable, engaged, and active.

Born in Pittsburgh, Linda grew up in various towns in Pennsylvania and New Jersey as her father pursued his career with Bell Telephone and AT&T. After double-majoring in elementary education and library science at Shippensburg University, she taught preschool and kindergarten at a Mechanicsburg-area private school.

For the second half of her career, she served as a children’s librarian for 21 years at Cumberland County Library System’s Simpson Library in Mechanicsburg, retiring in 2016. She welcomed the invitation to join the Board of Managers and the opportunity to help keep the residents comfortable and active.

COVID-19 limited many activities, but the board persisted in finding ways to keep residents engaged. They also wrote notes thanking the staff for going above and beyond: “We wanted to let them know we appreciate the way they give of themselves while caring for the ladies and gentlemen who live here at Homeland.”

Linda’s Zoom craft sessions originated with her own virtual get-togethers during the pandemic. An avid crafter who paints furniture and sews, she felt blue about not hosting her friends for crafting sessions at her home. Someone suggested virtual get-togethers.

Working with the Homeland Activities Department, Linda creates samples of each month’s craft and drops off the materials at Homeland. She aims for seasonal and useful items that residents can make – felt tulips in the spring, a summery bookmark for May.

“We’re going to make butterfly bookmarks, except for Patrick,” says Linda. “Patrick likes airplanes, so I made a special pattern for an airplane bookmark.”

“I hope they look forward to getting together and talking,” she says. “They seem to like what they’re making.”

Linda recently traveled to California, driving up the coast to San Francisco on a visit with her son, a Los Angeles resident, and daughter, who lives in the Denver area. Her grandpuppy, Tilly, “looks like Rin Tin Tin, with really long ears.” Her parents and two sisters all reside in central Pennsylvania.

She looks forward to finally meeting many of her Board of Managers colleagues in person and, when the time is right, helping to plan and decorate the board’s elaborate seasonal parties. She is impressed by her fellow members’ upbeat attitudes, which create a cheerful atmosphere for residents.

“Everybody is smiling,” she says. “Everybody is pleasant. Everybody is happy and helpful.”

Board of Managers member Deborah Brinser McDivitt: A place called home for generations of moms

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Deb and Mom, Jean (left side, seated) enjoying Elvis

The last big gathering at Homeland Center before COVID-19 changed everything was a sock hop featuring a performance from the lively Elvis Presley tribute artist Dennis Heckard. He recognized resident Jean Brinser, a neighbor from Newport, and lavished her with attention.

Jean’s daughter, Deborah Brinser McDivitt, said her mother was delighted.

“She told me that if she knew he was going to be so nice to her, she’d have worn her wig!” Deb says with a laugh.

The story of Deb Brinser McDivitt is a Mother’s Day tale of three generations finding security and fulfillment at Homeland. Deb’s grandmother was a Homeland resident in her final years, and today, her mother lives in Homeland’s skilled care.

Deb serves on the Homeland Center Board of Managers, the unique group whose roots date to the 18 women who founded Homeland as a haven for widows and orphans in post-Civil War Harrisburg. Today, the all-volunteer, all-female Board of Managers retains Homeland’s renowned home-like feel by maintaining the elegant décor and hosting parties, including the Elvis-themed bash and an equally popular Casino Night.

Deb’s acquaintance with Homeland started when her grandmother was 94 and required nursing care after a fall. Visiting local facilities, Deb saw places where care was lacking. But at Homeland, she was impressed. She also knew that her very particular neighbors had loved ones in Homeland and were happy with the attention they received.

For the next two years, Deb witnessed the Homeland staff interacting as a team and responding to the needs of residents. Her grandmother loved the food – and more.

“She said to me that it feels like home,” says Deb. “They were so kind and so loving but always respectful.”

In 2014, Deb retired from her position as director of finance for the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts. Later, she mentioned to a member of the Board of Managers that her bucket list included helping Homeland, an organization that impressed her.

The invitation to join the Board of Managers felt like fate. Deb’s career background included time as a CPA and about 10 years with the former Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare in a financial capacity, so she feels comfortable discussing the issues surrounding Medicare, Medicaid, and finances critical to assuring Homeland’s quality of care. She sits on the board’s long-range planning committee and chaired the nominating committee.

“You learn how to work with people,” she says. “You learn how to head up projects. You learn how to communicate.”

As she winds down her second of two three-year terms, Deb looks back on the Board of Managers’ bazaars, bake sales, and legendary spring and summer parties. All designed to uplift residents and sustain the atmosphere that Deb’s grandmother loved and that her mother now enjoys.

“I never doubted my mother would receive excellent care at Homeland,” she says. “They’ve treated her so well. I couldn’t ask for better care. It’s a five-star facility. That’s the reason I wanted her here. Everyone has gone out of their way to make sure she’s comfortable.”

Deb and her husband of 35 years, J. Gary McDivitt, are seasoned travelers who have been around the United States and Europe. They have cruised the Rhine and Danube rivers, toured Ireland and taken a trip to Prague, Vienna, and Budapest.

Around 2007, they built a beach house in Lewes, Delaware, that Deb’s mother liked as well. Jean Brinser was a woman ahead of her time – fiercely independent and a groundbreaking high school business teacher.

“She loved going to the beach,” Deb says. “She liked to go out to eat. It was a nice little getaway for her.”

Today, Deb loves visiting her mother at Homeland and, as a Board of Managers member, talking to all the residents.

“They have such interesting stories,” she says. “You hear about their lifestyles and what their lives have been like and their experiences. People come in from different places. It’s been a terrific experience, as a board member and as somebody who has a family member there.”

Long-time supporter Jackie Young experienced Homeland’s quality first-hand

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For Jackie Young, the six months she spent in Homeland Center rehabilitating from leg surgery was a time for healing, physical therapy, and reconnecting with old acquaintances.

“The people were very nice,” she says. “One aide worked evenings, and she also had taken care of my mother a few years ago at another nursing facility. She recognized me and was very caring.’’

Jackie has a long history with Homeland. For 12 years, she served diligently on the Board of Managers, the unique group charged with maintaining Homeland’s homelike feel. She also applied her expertise as a nurse and nursing manager in discussions about creating a hospice service. Homeland Hospice, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2019, has established itself as central Pennsylvania’s premier provider for end-of-life care.

Jackie says she knew as a child she wanted to be a nurse, following her mother and aunt’s footsteps.

She looked up to her mother, who shared her talents as a sort of neighborhood medical provider.

“I had three younger brothers, and with all the kids in the neighborhood, there was always somebody that needed to be fixed,” Jackie says.

Jackie grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and studied nursing at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital. After working a year in the Penn operating room, she returned to northeast Pennsylvania to study nursing education at Wilkes College. She worked at the University of Colorado for a year and then returned to a hospital in Scranton.

Then fate intervened to bring her to central Pennsylvania.

“I had a day off, and a friend had an interview with the OR supervisor at Polyclinic Hospital in Harrisburg. She asked if I would drive down with her. I took the job, and she didn’t.”

That was in 1960. Jackie stayed at Polyclinic and the health care system it merged with — PinnacleHealth — for 40 years. She started in the nursing school and, by the time she retired in 2000, was director of utilization review for the system’s three hospitals.

Jackie liked Harrisburg. It was close to home, where her father was active in business and civic affairs.

“Harrisburg was just far enough away that I could be completely on my own,’’ she says. “Everybody in Scranton knew my father. Everywhere I went, people would say, ‘You’re John Young’s daughter.’”

Harrisburg also was close enough to New York City for regular trips with friends and travel clubs to see Broadway shows.

Jackie joined Homeland’s Board of Managers when a friend of her parents, the late Homeland resident Doris Coyne, and a member of the Board of Managers, suggested that it might be a good fit for her talents.

“I was impressed with Doris and what she told me,” Jackie says. “When I got there and saw the place, I realized that the atmosphere was totally different than other nursing homes. The people are very caring.”

Jackie served on the Board of Managers 2006 through 2018, during which she served on the House and Grounds Committee and a term as board chair. As the board worked to maintain a welcoming, comfortable feel throughout Homeland, members redecorated resident rooms and the Main Gathering Room.

In August 2020, Jackie had surgery on her leg and went to Homeland. An immobilizer initially meant to be on her leg for four or five weeks had to stay on for three months. As a resident in Homeland’s skilled care, she regained her strength and mobility with dedicated help from Homeland’s rehabilitation services.

After six months, Jackie returned to her Harrisburg-area home. Her ties to Homeland continue through services from Homeland HomeHealth, part of the Homeland at Home continuum, which includes Homeland HomeCare and Homeland Hospice. Together, Homeland at Home extends Homeland’s excellence in medical and independent living services to people in their homes.

“The people in physical therapy and occupational therapy were marvelous,” she says. “They really pushed and got me to the point where I could come home.”

Board of Managers member Julie Wilhite finds joy in service and friendship

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Julie Wilhite

Homeland Center Board of Manager, Julie Wilhite

When Julie Wilhite’s mother arrived at Homeland Center, the family continued a tradition of Wednesday night get-togethers. The first time they were setting up for dinner in the Homeland solarium, a group of residents and their visiting daughters said hello and offered a table.

“I already knew Homeland was a good place, and I knew my mom would be taken care of, but at that point, I thought, ‘These families are so welcoming,’” Julie says.

So, when Homeland approached her about serving on the Board of Managers, Julie’s response was an enthusiastic yes.

Julie always knew about Homeland’s reputation as central Pennsylvania’s premier continuing care retirement community. Her mom’s move to Homeland in December 2018 confirmed that belief, reinforced by Homeland’s active efforts to shield residents from COVID-19 while also keeping them active and engaged.

Though Homeland has had to restrict in-person visits because of the pandemic, every day Julie and her sister, Jan, call their mother and talk about her latest activities. Whether it’s morning devotions with Pastor Dann Caldwell or a socially distanced round of Bingo, Julie and Jan always have plenty to talk about with their mom.

“The activities group has done an incredible job,” she says. “The nursing staff is wonderful.”

Julie joined the Board of Managers in September 2019; she serves on the Nominating and Bylaws Committee and helps plan events. Just before the quarantine, she helped present the lively and colorful sock-hop themed winter party, complete with Elvis Presley impersonator and Homeland staffers wearing poodle skirts.

“It warms your heart to see the smiles on the faces of the residents and how much fun the staff has interacting with them,” she says. “It brings such joy to everyone.”

The Board of Managers is one half of Homeland’s unique dual governance structure. While the Board of Trustees guides policy and financial affairs, the Board of Managers offers the touches that give Homeland its renowned home-like feel.

Volunteering has a special place in Julie’s life. For 31 years, she has volunteered for the Ronald McDonald House, the home-away-from-home for families of patients at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital in Hershey. Julie loves the support that families offer each other and the respite the house provides for families who are, at the end of the day, “exhausted mentally and physically.

She likes that volunteering for Homeland connects her with the other end of the age spectrum. Julie joined the Board of Managers, in part, because she has always believed that the elderly are special people.

“I enjoy engaging in conversation with the residents,” she says. “We become friends.”
Members of the Board of Managers “are very dedicated and hardworking,” she adds. “They want a lot of good things for the residents of Homeland.”

While they can’t enter the building during the quarantine, they have found ways to support residents and staff. They arrange fresh flowers for residents’ rooms, send birthday cards to residents, and provide snacks and write notes of support to staffers.

“We keep positive,” says Julie. “My motto is, ‘Better days ahead.’”

Julie is a retired dental assistant who hasn’t let retirement slow her down. In 2002, she and her husband founded All-American Supply House, a business selling specialty advertising, promotional items and printed apparel. She also was such a good customer of Annabel’s, a Susquehanna Township boutique, that the owner offered her a job. Working there part-time is her “feel-good job.”

“People always feel better when they’re wearing something new and look awesome in it,” she says.
Julie was first married at age 21. Her husband, Kevin Smith, died from cancer in 1995.

“Through faith, family and friends, you get through the hardest times of your life,” she says. “I was blessed to find love again. I married Ted Wilhite 17 years ago.”

Together, they travel to visit his kids, and they entertain.

“Getting together with family and friends is as good as it gets,” Julie believes. And since her mother moved to Homeland and she joined the Board of Managers, her extended family has grown to include Homeland’s residents and their loved ones.

“You become family,” she says. “The family here becomes your family, also. It’s a good thing.”

Homeland Center trustee Keith A. Clark relishes a challenge

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With a long legal career behind him, Keith Clark has been narrowing his civic causes to those that present new challenges or learning opportunities. The offer to serve on the Homeland Board of Trustees intrigued him.

“Health care is an area with a great deal of moving parts right now,” he says. “This is of interest to me because it offers a new intellectual challenge. I’m also learning about the issue on the side because my mother is in a nursing home. Those two things came together.”

Keith accepted the offer and joined the Homeland Board of Trustees, bringing his considerable experience and methodical mind to the finance and strategic planning committees.

Keith is the chairman of the well-known Harrisburg law firm Shumaker Williams, P.C., where he clerked while earning his Juris Doctorate from Dickinson School of Law. He also served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force and received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Rutgers College.

Keith dove into community causes and networking “the day I  started practicing law because that’s one way I could get to know people.”

“Harrisburg in the early ‘70s was a pretty closed town, as far as breaking into society,” says Keith, who in 1972 became a shareholder in his firm and its manager. “I had to develop my own path and my own veracity in the community.”

Keith has chaired a variety of significant organizations and initiatives, including Envision Capital Region, Capital Region Economic Development Corporation (CREDC), and the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission.

“I’ve said to young people in my firm over the years that if you’re going to get involved in boards, treat it like a client,” he says. “When you say you’re going to do something, you do it. You do it in a timely fashion and bring your skill set to that board.”

As a board member, he draws on his experience with banking, general business and corporate law, commercial real estate, mergers and acquisitions, trade associations, business planning, governance, and government relations.

That kind of wide-ranging knowledge feeds his need to be “creatively challenged” in the problem-solving realm. His varied dealings stand in contrast to today’s legal environment, where the complexities of specific areas force attorneys to specialize.

“I’m always looking for a new challenge in a new area,” he says. “When the Payment Protection Program came out recently, I determined that one of my associates and I would learn that backward and forwards because it was a new practice area.”

He joined Homeland Center’s board in September 2019, embarking on “a listening process” to learn about the organization, its rich history, and its future. During a meeting in December, he stressed the need to make strategic planning a constant effort, flexible and subject to revision as circumstances change.

“It isn’t a cast-in-stone document anymore,” he says. “It’s something you have to make into a living, breathing document as challenges arise.”

In particular, strategic planning should always consider unintended consequences.

“People want to quickly get to the answer and move on,’’ he says. “But you have to look at how your decisions interact strategically with your plans.’’

Keith’s wife, Linda Clark, is an underwriter for WITF, the Harrisburg-area public media outlet. In fact, that’s how they met. She was his firm’s WITF sales representative, but they’d only communicated by phone until mutual friends brought them together. Married 22 years, they have a son who is in his junior year at the University of Colorado, where he is a biochemistry major.

They enjoy going out to eat, something he rarely got to do as a kid in Reading. They also love attending live theater in New York and locally. COVID-19 curtailed both pursuits, so they’ve been streaming political dramas and catching up on “Masterpiece” series that they missed.

“She likes horror movies,” he says. “I don’t. She can watch those on her own.”

What he has seen of Homeland so far is “really great.” Its leadership is strong. So is its reputation.

“There is a lot of positive feeling about the organization, internally and externally by third parties,’’ he says. “I mention that I’m on the Homeland board, and people recognize the name.”

Board of Managers member Carol McCall gives back to Homeland

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Carol McCall was sitting in Homeland Center’s Chet Henry Memorial Pavilion helping the Board of Managers prepare fresh flower arrangements when two residents walked up.

The next thing Carol knew, one resident was talking about his time in the Air Force, and the other was talking about his Navy service.

“I enjoy talking to the residents and hearing what they have to share,” Carol says. “That’s what I like about the way Homeland gets to know the residents and hears their stories because it is important to listen to everyone.’’

The Board of Managers is Homeland’s unique, all-female board responsible for maintaining Homeland’s renowned homelike feel. Although Carol is relatively new to the board, she has deep ties to Homeland through family and church.

Carol became acquainted with Homeland in 1998, when she and her sister were scrambling to find a nursing home capable of providing skilled care for their mother and personal care for their father. Homeland “just seemed to be the right place.” Their decision was confirmed when their trusted family physician said, “You girls did the right thing.”

“He could see the level of care his patients were receiving,” Carol says.

After they came to Homeland, Carol’s mother lived for one year, and her father “flourished for two years.”

“He was so happy with his suite,” she says. “He had everything he needed right there. And he just loved the food. He was constantly praising it. He even called one of his buddies who lived in a facility on the West Shore and said, ‘Eddie, you ought to move here. The food is so good.’”

Carol’s dad made good friends and was under the care of a nurse knowledgeable about his medications. He was an electronics whiz who built the family’s first television and repaired radios and radar on Army helicopters at New Cumberland Army Depot. He participated in history discussion groups. When poetry activities were coming up, Carol – who kept a poetry file from her college days – would get a call.

“Carol, I need a poem for Veterans Day,” he would say. Or, “I need a poem for this weather.”

“We were very thankful for the care and the quality of the people that were at Homeland,” Carol says now. “Some of them are still here.”

Carol’s dad also enjoyed excursions around town, and now, Carol has come full circle. As a Board of Managers volunteer, she sometimes joined residents on their outings (pre-pandemic) for lunch or shopping. On a holiday trip to a shopping mall, Santa Claus waved at the group, and everyone marveled at the decorations.

“The men weren’t there to shop very much,” she says. “They went to the optometrist to get their glasses adjusted.”

Carol lives in South Hanover Township, outside of Hershey. She grew up in Harrisburg’s Colonial Park area and spent her career happily teaching first and third graders in Central Dauphin School District, where she had attended school. She still hears from former students. One grew up to be an award-winning teacher at Dauphin County Technical School.

Several of Carol’s church friends had served on the Homeland Board of Managers, and Carol would often visit church friends who were residents. She once turned down an invitation to serve on the Board of Managers because the time was not right, but when the opportunity came again in fall 2019, she accepted.

She enjoys flower arranging, which during normal times perks up the dining room tables and now, with the pandemic limitations, individual arrangements brighten up residents’ rooms. In retrospect, she is pleased that residents were able to enjoy the Board of Managers’ winter party just before protections against COVID-19 put an end to large gatherings and outside visitors. That “Homeland Sock Hop” featured staff wearing poodle skirts, specially made cookies, and an Elvis impersonator making the ladies swoon.

“The idea of going to the party, gathering, and getting ready is something the residents look forward to,” Carol says.

Carol and her husband, George McCall, enjoyed attending concerts at Mt. Gretna. They also travel when they can, sometimes taking short boat trips along coastal sites.Carol appreciates Homeland’s unwavering commitment to excellence. In regular times, that meant training staff to sustain high levels of care. During the pandemic, she says the staff has

“I see Homeland as such a positive place,” she says. “It’s a nice, clean, happy, well-run home.”