August 2012 Forever Young Lifestyle Magazine

FOREVER YOUNGFOREVER YOUNGLifestyle Magazine Celebra t ing the 50-Plus Communi ty o f the Pa lm Beaches

A Town-Crier Publication

August 2012

InsidePreservation Activist Rosa Durando

Get Help From The Relief Center

Palm Beach Model Railroaders Club

Senior Moments With Deborah Welky

Royal PalmSenior Softball

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August 2012 • Forever Young Lifestyle Magazine • Page 3

Page 4 • Forever Young Lifestyle Magazine • August 2012


CONTENTSYOUR GUIDE TO THIS MONTH’S ISSUE

AUGUST 2012Published as a supplement to the

Aug. 17, 2012 edition of the Town-Crier

PublisherBarry S. Manning

Executive EditorJoshua I. Manning

Associate PublisherDawn Rivera

Project EditorChris Felker

Senior EditorsJason Budjinski

Ron Bukley

Art & Production ManagerStephanie Rodriguez

BookkeepingCarol Lieberman

Account ManagersBetty Buglio

Evie EdwardsWanda Glockson

ContributorsDenise Fleischman

Jessica GregoireLauren MiróJoe Nasuti

Abner PedrazaDeborah Welky

Forever Young Lifestyle Magazineis published by

Newspaper Publishers Inc.12794 W. Forest Hill Blvd., Suite 31

Wellington, FL 33414Phone: (561) 793-7606

Fax: (561) 793-1470www.foreveryounglifestylemagazine.com

Forever Young Lifestyle Magazine is publishedmonthly as a supplement to the Town-Crier news-paper. Copyright 2012, all rights reserved byNewspaper Publishers Inc. Contents may not bereproduced in any form without the written con-sent of the publisher. The publisher reserves theright to refuse advertising. The publisher acceptsno responsibility for advertisement errors beyondthe cost of the portion of the advertisement oc-cupied by the error within the advertisement it-self. The publisher accepts no responsibility forsubmitted materials. All submitted materials sub-ject to editing.

6Rosa Durando Fights For Land PreservationRosa Durando has been living in Heritage Farms since1959. An outspoken activist, Durando is a large partof the reason Heritage Farms has been able to staytrue to its Old Florida roots. She keeps an eye on thenews, and she is ready to pounce when her naturalFlorida habitat is threatened. BY DEBORAH WELKY

10Easier Hemorrhoid Treatment At Relief CenterThe Relief Center, located on the campus of Palms WestHospital in Loxahatchee Groves, specializes in a non-surgical, in-office hemorrhoid treatment without thedifficult recovery time needed in traditional treatments.

BY RON BUKLEY

14Camaraderie & More At Senior Softball LeagueRoyal Palm Beach Senior Softball, the Mike GaroneLeague, consists of five teams capped at 13 playerseach for a total of 65 guys, with games at 9:30 a.m.Mondays and Wednesdays on the diamonds at Semi-nole Palms Park, off Southern Blvd. behind Costco.

BY CHRIS FELKER

20Model Railroaders Club Keeps The Tradition AliveA giant model train exhibit was created at the SouthFlorida Fairgrounds in 1975, and it has been there eversince, maintained by members of the Palm Beach ModelRailroaders Club — men who never outgrew their fas-cination with model trains. BY CHRIS FELKER

On The CoverSenior softball player Mike Levit lines up a pitch. See Page 14

PHOTO BY LAUREN MIRÓ

‘Celebrating the 50-PlusCommunity of the Palm Beaches’

ColumnsRemembering The Beatles’ Landmark Appearance On ‘Ed Sullivan’

MEMORY LANE BY JOE NASUTI, PAGE 25

I Miss My Youthful Days, When Gravity & Metabolism Were On My SideSENIOR MOMENTS BY DEBORAH WELKY, PAGE 26


THERE’S A LOT OF TALK aboutcentral Palm Beach County “pioneers,”people who staked their claim in thearea early. In Wellington, a handfuldate back to the 1970s.

Those people can’t hold a candle toRosa Durando, who has been living inHeritage Farms ever since 1959. “I hadbeen working at Hialeah, and I movedhere because I didn’t want any part ofMiami. Back then, it was nothing butcows and more cows. I didn’t thinkMiami would trend up to Palm BeachCounty, but it did.”

An outspoken activist (the type youlove or hate, no “kinda-sortas” here),Durando is a large part of the reasonHeritage Farms has been able to staytrue to its Old Florida roots. From her10 acres, she keeps an eye on the newsvia TV, radio, newspapers and maga-zines (“I don’t have a computer,” sheasserted), and she is ready to pounceif she hears even the whisper of a ru-mor that her natural Florida habitat willbe threatened.

But Durando doesn’t act out of self-ishness. Except for preserving herlifestyle, she has little to gain person-ally from the hours upon hours shespends doing research and attendinggovernment meetings. Instead, she isa voice for those who have none oftheir own — birds, insects, reptiles,amphibians and other animals.

“Every single animal here would bedead if it wasn’t for me,” she stated.

In addition to the wildlife, the Du-

them but brings them past the BoyScout camp in Jupiter, and I hope he’stelling the truth.”

A recent bit of news that Palm BeachCounty might be taking over respon-sibility for the testing of sentinel chick-ens brought Durando to the countycourthouse.

“Of all the harebrained decisions,that would be the worst,” she said.“Someone from the state comes everyMonday, draws blood from about 10of the chickens and sends it to a lab inMiami. I don’t know any employee ofthe county that’s capable of drawingblood and getting it analyzed. I askedthe county commissioners, ‘Has anyone of you even held a chicken?’ Theydidn’t answer me.”

When talks started up about priva-tizing the prison in Belle Glade, thewarden called Durando to see if shecould take in approximately 60 catsthat he had been letting the prisonerskeep as pets.

“He said, ‘They keep the prisonershappy,’ and I couldn’t bear the thoughtof them being euthanized so I told himto bring them out here,” she remem-bered. “Within 48 hours, they had beenspayed or neutered and were on theirway. I said, ‘At least give them a dayto recuperate,’ but they were alreadyon the truck.”

An exhausted little black ponyturned in to Heritage Farms after gal-loping north on State Road 7 for miles.

“He ducked in screaming and hol-

Outspoken Activist Rosa Durando HasSpent Years Fighting For Preservation

rando mini-ranch is a haven for twoabandoned horses, 60 cats and dozensof chickens.

“I don’t know how they hear of meor find me, but they do,” she laughed.“I had someone call and ask, ‘Can Ibring a horse over right away?’ and,within the hour, she was here with amagnificent chestnut horse named MyMan Puff, a direct descendant of theTriple Crown winner Secretariat. Ihave his foal registration, and it match-es the tattooed number inside his up-per lip. The woman said she justcouldn’t manage him anymore.”

The hens and roosters started arriv-ing in 1989, when the state’s healthdepartment needed somewhere toplace the sentinel chickens it routine-ly tests for encephalitis, West Nile vi-rus and, now, dengue virus. The statebuilt four 6-foot-tall coops for Duran-do and continues to drop off a sack offeed whenever she says the supply isrunning low. Durando gets a new batchof chickens every year, “lots and lots”of eggs, and, best of all, the chickensaren’t barbecued when their service tothe community ends. They stay on un-til they die a natural death — or theraccoons get them.

“Raccoons are great at breaking in.They get up under the rafters and thenwreak havoc,” Durando said. “I final-ly made an arrangement with a localtrapper who’s caught at least six rac-coons and several opossums in the lastsix weeks. He claims he doesn’t kill

BY DEBORAH WELKY | Forever Young Staff Report

FOREVER YOUNG PROFILE

‘My landscape is more of a jungle. I have cypress trees and red maple and a lot of pines,’preservation activist Rosa Durando said. ‘I have two lignum vitae trees that I got from a

botany professor before they were classified as endangered and protected. Young people whocome out here tell me they have never felt such a sense of peace as they do on my place.’


Rosa Durando with thehealth department’ssentinel chickens that shekeeps on her property.

PHOTO BY RON BUKLEY/FYLM STAFF


FY

FOREVER YOUNG PROFILElering; he was scared to death,” Durando said. “I took himand put him in a stall and called the authorities. ‘He’s jetblack from ear to ear and is obviously somebody’s pony,’ Isaid. They checked every stable for miles around and no-body reported him lost, so they said if I wanted him, hewas mine. Now I have a nice companion pony.”

A “cast-off dog” is the latest addition to Durando’s unof-ficial animal retreat.

“Heritage Farms is the last undeveloped tract of land outhere,” Durando said. “It has been a long battle to keep itthat way, and I’m still part of it. I live on 10 acres, but Ihave vacant acres all around me. There are a lot of horti-cultural people out here, and they work hard and we getalong. My landscape is more of a jungle. I have cypresstrees and red maple and a lot of pines. I have two lignumvitae trees that I got from a botany professor before theywere classified as endangered and protected. Young peo-ple who come out here tell me they have never felt such asense of peace as they do on my place. I’m happy here. It’sa beautiful spot.”

Durando’s grown children have followed in her footsteps— to a point. Daughter Mary is a horse veterinarian in Penn-sylvania, and son Joe farms 35 acres in Alachua County,near High Springs and Gainesville.

Durando said: “Joe tells me, ‘Mom, you’re going to fight’til you drop dead, and, in the end, you’re going to loseanyway’” — but she just laughs off the comment.

When you feel as strongly as Durando does about pre-serving Florida’s natural environment, it’s a fight that mustbe fought.

Durando with My Man Puff, a descendant of Secretariat.PHOTO BY RON BUKLEY/FYLM STAFF



THE RELIEF CENTER specializes ina non-surgical, in-office hemorrhoidtreatment without the difficult recov-ery time needed in traditional treat-ments.

The process is painless, and the pa-tient can return to their daily life im-mediately, according to Nurse Practi-tioner Sheri Grisso, who has workedwith Dr. Robert S. Cutler for almosttwo decades at the Relief Center, lo-cated on the campus of Palms WestHospital in Loxahatchee Groves.

“Dr. Cutler and I have been doingthis for the last 18 years, so we’ve got-ten a pretty good handle on what caus-es certain things,” Grisso said. “Overthe last five or six years, we have may-be had to send 10 patients for a tradi-tional hemorrhoidectomy, which is apainful procedure followed by a longrecovery.”

The traditional procedure also risksdangerous complications, such as pa-tients developing infections and be-coming septic.

Instead, the Relief Center uses infra-red coagulation right in the office.“Many people don’t know about it, butit’s so effective, and we’ve been doingit for 18 years,” she said. “I’m actual-ly the only female provider from Mi-ami to Vero that performs this proce-dure.”

The procedure, known as IRC, isdone with far fewer complicationsfrom infections or bleeding. There isno recovery time; patients can go right

blood vessels in the rectal lining thatpeople cannot see or feel. “It’s whenthey cause bleeding or pain, they causeitching, they start protruding on theoutside,” Grisso explained. “Those arecomplicated hemorrhoids. If we treatthem before they become symptomat-ic, that’s our ideal situation.”

Although enlarged hemorrhoids oc-cur most often in patients over 50, theyare not uncommon in younger patients,even infants. “It’s anatomy,” Grissosaid. “Sometimes you push or strain,and it just protrudes out. We start see-ing patients at the age of 16 and up.For the most part, our patients are over50, and they don’t know about a lot ofthe modalities that are available.”

The office also does rubber bandtreatment if necessary. “Rubber band-ing is often a little more painful thanthe IRC, so sometimes we’ll do a littlebit of both, depending on what type ofsymptoms or what type of disease thepatient has,” Grisso said. “The signif-icance of the IRC is that we can treatall the way around the rectum, where-as where we do a rubber band ligation,it just takes care of one area.”

Both the rubber band and IRC re-quire multiple treatments to be effec-tive. “I think the IRC is a much bettertechnique,” she said.

The procedure uses a small scope tovisualize internal hemorrhoids, thenthe IRC is used to treat them. The treat-ment creates a small scab that willbreak away in a week or so.

Relief Center Offers Patients A Non-Surgical Treatment For Hemorrhoids

about their daily activities immediate-ly after the procedure; and there’s lit-tle preparation beforehand.

The Relief Center uses holistic treat-ments for a multitude of rectal issuesthat are often associated with hemor-rhoids. These can cause there to be lessspace to pass a bowel movement andcan create fissures, or tears, in the skin.If the rectum is too narrow, it can causeproctospasms, spasms in the rectumsimilar to a back spasm, which can betreated with medication such as mus-cle relaxers.

Baths often help, such as aminobaths and oatmeal preparations to soakin, and that often helps to reduce thespasm. “Patients often come to us withpain,” Grisso said. “They come to uswith spasms, even with itching. Itch-ing is actually a low-grade form ofpain, so hemorrhoids can create itch-ing, but so can fissures and spasms.”

The office is set up where conversa-tions are confidential and patients cantalk about anything. “They can talkabout bowel movements,” she said. “Itmakes people feel more comfortabletalking about some of their daily ac-tivities. Sometimes patients come inand it’s really not about their hemor-rhoids. There’s something else goingon in their life, and by alleviating someof their stress and talking about someof their issues, that helps the hemor-rhoids get better because you’re de-creasing stress.”

Normal hemorrhoids are internal

FOREVER YOUNG FEATURE

BY RON BUKLEY | Forever Young Staff Report

Instead, the Relief Center uses infrared coagulation right in the office.‘Many people don’t know about it, but it’s so effective, and we’ve been doing

it for 18 years,’ Nurse Practitioner Sheri Grisso said. ‘I’m actually the onlyfemale provider from Miami to Vero that performs this procedure.’


Nurse Practitioner Sheri Grisso explainshow the infrared coagulation procedureworks to treat hemorrhoids.

PHOTO BY RON BUKLEY/FYLM STAFF


FOREVER YOUNG FEATURE“There will be new tissue, and the hemorrhoid will be

getting smaller and smaller,” she said, noting that a smallamount of blood is common. “It’s usually just a small

amount, and we give patients plenty of things to preventthat from happening.”

Although fasting and enemas are not necessary, the Re-lief Center advises patients to avoid inflammatory foodseight days before their procedure, which decreases the riskof bleeding.

“We have a diet that we have them follow; avoiding spicyfoods, anything that you would put on a hot dog, you avoid,too — so pickles, relish, garlic, even ketchup can some-times irritate it,” Grisso said. “And it’s not just for treat-ment. We’ll tell them to change their diet and add a fibersupplement. Fiber helps with the hemorrhoids. It’s some-thing they can stay on forever and always, so fiber is theone thing that I always educate our patients on.”

Maintaining a proper diet of 30 to 35 grams of fiber dai-ly is difficult in the age of fast food, Grisso said. “Fiber isnot a number-one priority, so adding a supplement is oftenvery helpful, and they’re not going to overdose on fiber,”she said.

The Relief Center is located on the campus of Palms WestHospital in Medical Mall One at 13005 Southern Blvd.,Suite 122. There are also Relief Center offices in PalmBeach Gardens and Port St. Lucie. For more information,call (561) 842-5050 or visit www.myproctologist.net. FY

Patient liaisons Adriana Infante and Brianna Vaquera withNurse Practitioner Sheri Grisso at the Relief Center officeon the campus of Palms West Hospital.

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JUST ABOUT EVERY little boy inAmerica grew up with a dream of mak-ing it to the big leagues of baseball.Some kids find out they can’t play welland set it aside; others play in schooland keep aspiring but fall short; and aselect few advance to play pro ball.

Mike Garone was one of those luckykids who got to earn a check to playthe game he loved. Back in his 20s,Garone was a hard-hitting outfielderfor several minor league teams from1948 to 1954, including the OrlandoSenators of the Florida State League,and sported a .281 batting average anda .399 slugging percentage over thosesix seasons.

And now there’s a large group ofthose former youthful dreamers whoplay softball in Royal Palm Beach aspart of a league bearing Garone’sname.

“Mike Garone is 84 years old. Hewas playing in our league, but now he’sin the Okeeheelee league. He’s just aperson that we all admire and respectbecause he played very competitivelyup until 82, 83 years of age,” said JackBrownson, a board member of RoyalPalm Beach Senior Softball, the MikeGarone League.

Consisting of five teams capped at13 players each for a total of 65 guys,this league for those older than 55 andplays two seasons a year, winter (No-vember through April) and summer(May through October), with games at9:30 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdayson the diamonds at Seminole Palms

Channel 5 anchorman Jim Sackett, anavid softball warrior. He’s the leaguesecretary, keeping track of board meet-ings.

Sackett said he plays second base,mostly. “I can hit the ball, too. I hit atleast .500. I’ve just enjoyed it,” he said.“I love the game and play as much as Ican.”

On the afternoon we talked, he wasleaving for Orlando to play in a tour-nament there. “I play on a 60s travel-ing team,” he said. “Once a month wego to a different city in the state,through an organization called Flori-da Half Century, for senior softballplayers 50 and up.”

Sackett said he plays at least twodays a week, the games in Royal PalmBeach and sometimes in south county.“I’m also a replacement player fordown in Boca if they need a player forTuesday or Thursday,” he said.

Sackett said that for him, the allureof being involved in a league arisesfrom “a couple of things; number one,it’s exercise but in short bursts — youget outside in the fresh air, and havefun; and number two, the people whoplay in the leagues are just great. It’s alot of fun.”

Brownson agreed. “One of the bestthings about it, and what I love themost, is the camaraderie that we haveand the friends that we develop at thisstage of our lives,” he said. “We haveso many new friends because we haveall this in common and we’re playingball all the time.”

Camaraderie And A Great Workout AtRoyal Palm’s Senior Softball League

Park, off Southern Blvd. behind Cost-co.

“This league has been together aboutfive years,” Brownson said. “Rob Sto-thard and Cesar Jimenez were twoguys who really started to form theleague. They’d been playing in theBoca league, and there was a need for[one] in this area, so they started put-ting guys together. We used to playpickup games Wednesday and Fridayjust down the street from where weplay now. There was a group thatplayed there, and that was kind of theheart of what started our league inRoyal Palm.”

Brownson explained that they playabout 24 games during the summer,with four teams in action every playdate and one having a bye, and around28, sometimes more, during the win-ter. After the regular schedule is com-plete, the double-elimination playoffsbegin.

“We have a regular season winner,and that team becomes the number oneseed in the playoffs. And the playoffwinning team is quite often a differentteam — not always the regular seasonwinner,” Brownson said. “We’re verycompetitive, very well-balanced, sothings can change drastically in theplayoffs. Then we have a playoffchampionship, and basically it’s forbragging rights. You get a hat or t-shirt;we’re not giving out rings or any-thing.”

Perhaps the league’s most prominentplayer is recently retired WPTV News-


BY CHRIS FELKER | Forever Young Staff Report

‘One of the best things about it, and what I love the most, is the camaraderie that we have andthe friends that we develop at this stage of our lives,’ Jack Brownson said. ‘We have so many

new friends because we have all this in common and we’re playing ball all the time.’


Jack Brownson and JimSackett of Royal PalmBeach Senior Softball.

PHOTO BY LAUREN MIRÓ/FYLM STAFF




This is a group that takes softballseriously. “We’re all absolutely soft-ball nuts,” Brownson said. “I mean,softball is an extremely important partof all of our lives. A lot of our guys,probably half, play in Boca, too, sothey’re playing four days a week in ourleagues, and then some guys play pick-ups.”

Brownson said the league plays un-der Amateur Softball Association rulesand has its own supplemental rules.Some are geared toward trying to keepplayers injury-free.

“We actually use a pitching screenso the pitcher can duck, that’s a pro-tection; we use an alternate home plate,which is 8 feet from the regular home

(Left) Members of the Royal PalmBeach Senior Softball Board ofDirectors.(Right) Jay Paldin runs for home.

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FOREVER YOUNG FEATUREplate, so the runner has to touch thescoring plate and the catcher can makea play like they do at first base; thistakes away the chance of any collisionat home plate,” he explained.

The league has more paying spon-sors than it has teams, he said, so theteams are just numbered and the play-ers try to support their backers by giv-ing them their business and also wearshirts that feature the logos of all thebusinesses.

Sackett summed up the motto ofmost of the players: “You always wantto win; but, you win some, you losesome, and some are rained out; butthere’s always the next game.”

Last year, at its annual awards lun-cheon in March, the league awardedWayne Lotoza, an avid sportsman whodoes web sites for three different soft-ball leagues in the county, an awardproclaiming him the league’s “PowerHitter” and “Go-To Guy.” FY

Those interested will find informa-tion on the web site he maintains, in-cluding standings, scores and statisticsas well as a running record of its ac-tivities for the past few years. To seeit, visit the Royal Palm Beach SeniorSoftball League’s blog at www.rpbssl.blogspot.com. The site also has linksto the other active softball leagues inPalm Beach County, plus it’s wherenew residents interested in softball canfill out the application to join.

Royal Palm Beach Senior Softball playerBarry Kaplan heads for first base.

PHOTO BY LAUREN MIRÓ/FYLM STAFF



IF IT WASN’T A SPORT that captureda growing boy’s imagination in yearspast, it might have been a loud, huff-ing, puffing symbol of American great-ness: the railroad train.

Guys of a certain age will rememberwhen, as boys, their big question aboutwhat would be under the Christmastree was, “Did Santa bring me a newtrain set?!” Family members wouldwonder out loud, while the excited 6-year-old was tearing off the wrappingsof a huge box labeled “Lionel,” may-be, just maybe, dad bought this partic-ular gift so he’d have the hands-onpleasure of putting the set together withhis boy.

Some sons never outgrow that spe-cial feeling of throwing the switch tosee their entire unique creation comealive with lights, puffs of steam, en-gine chugging and whistle sounds, andmini-factories, warehouses, stores, sa-loons, farms, ranches, streams, moun-tains and woods lining the track.

Some of those once-young kids puttogether a grand version of this diver-sion at the South Florida Fairgroundsin 1975, and it has been there eversince, updated and maintained bymembers of the Palm Beach ModelRailroaders Club. These are the guyswho never outgrew their fascinationwith model trains.

Most are over 50, but the group’scurrent president is an example of itsongoing outreach toward youth. Ken-neth Deli is 31 and has been a member

The larger trains made popular manydecades ago, often battery-operated,looked like and actually were toys,whereas the smaller size allows forauthentic-looking rail cars and realis-tic scenic layouts. “When we buildscenery, we want to make it as realis-tic as possible,” Fussell said.

Their setting depicts a wide varietyof scenes, from an “oil spill” in amurky industrial harbor to current andlocal settings, such as Royall Wall inOkeechobee, which shows workerslaying out precast concrete forms.“From scratch, we built our cementplant from their plan,” Fussell said.

One prominent part of the layout isa model Ferris wheel the club boughtfrom a German company. It was refur-bished and festooned with 360 LEDlights in four colors by a former vicepresident of the club, George Himich,72, a retired electronic technician fromWellington.

The club’s members, who normallymeet every Tuesday night at the fair-grounds, are in the middle of a hugeproject. “We also do Wednesday nightsnow because we have a lot of projectsgoing on,” Deli said. “The biggestthing is the Ferris wheel. The one thatGeorge put all the lighting on ceasedto function” toward the end of the 2012South Florida Fair. “We took one thatwasn’t really good to begin with andmodified it best we could to work,” hesaid. “Most of these models aren’t de-signed to be run under the strenuous

Model Railroaders Club Keeps A SouthFlorida Fair Tradition Alive And Well

of the model railroaders group sincehe was 13. He said they have about 20members right now but usually aver-age between 25 and 30, including sev-eral developmentally challenged kidswho have shown an interest in modeltrains while attending the South Flori-da Fair.

“They get all excited about the mod-el railroad,” said Lyman Fussell, 64, amember from Wellington. “So we telltheir parents to bring them back dur-ing a club night and see if there’s someinterest in it, and the fathers usuallyjoin in and the kids come on board, atno cost to themselves, so it becomes amutual thing that they do together.”

He is very proud of this program.“We have gotten them concentratingon doing things with their hands, andit changed the dynamic of the family— the fathers work with the sons,” saidFussell, who builds scenery for the dis-play. “There are other guys who spe-cialize in electronics. Others are his-torians. Each has his specialty.”

In the club’s permanent display at thefairgrounds’ Heritage Hall Building 8,the HO gauge electric trains — basedon “half of O,” the original size ofmodel trains — run through elaboratescenic layouts. Many toy train manu-facturers started focusing on the small-er size in the 1950s, the era in whichthe local model railroaders’ exhibit isset. The rail cars measure in a ratio ofone-eighth inch to each foot of actualsize.


BY CHRIS FELKER | Forever Young Staff Report

Their setting depicts a wide variety of scenes, from an ‘oil spill’ in a murky industrial harborto current and local settings, such as Royall Wall in Okeechobee, which shows workers

laying out precast concrete forms. ‘From scratch, we built our cement plant from their plan,’Lyman Fussell said. ‘When we build scenery, we want to make it as realistic as possible.’


Brooks Black displays the model Ferris wheel he’s working on for the Palm Beach Model Railroaders’display at the South Florida Fairgrounds as Vinnie Cuomo, a three-year member, looks on.

PHOTO BY CHRIS FELKER/FYLM STAFF

(Above) The club is meticulous in creation of the scenes that arepart of the display. (Left) A sign directing fairgoers to the exhibit.

WELLINGTON THE MAGAZINE FILE PHOTO BY SUSAN LERNER



conditions we put them in during thefair.”

So after the 2012 fair closed, “theguys literally tore the entire table out,and we built a new structural base forit,” Deli said. “Everything with theexception of a couple pieces is nowbrand-new, lit-up; it’s going to be realfancy. They’ve been working on itsince the beginning of this year.”

The new Ferris wheel is about halfdone. “A lot of what we’ve done is stuffthat can’t be seen by people unless youcome in and look under the table, likeelectrical, like all the electronics anddigital systems that control the trains,”Deli said.

Himich brings his skills as a formertechnician for Motorola, Pratt & Whit-ney and RCA to his labors for the club.“Everything I learned, I apply to mod-els,” he said.

The project even brings participationby members’ wives. “He’s been in itfor 30-some years now, so I guess you

do get involved,” said Himich’s wifeElaine.

Brooks Black, 68, of PompanoBeach is playing a big role in theproject to rebuild the table and the Fer-ris wheel and add new amenities.

“We got rid of all the old stuff, re-placed the wood in the table, got a newflooring for it, a new base, all newrides, and we’re going to have a cus-tom-built parade that we’re designingourselves. We’re going to have anoverhead gondola ride, this large Fer-ris wheel, a power tower, a lot of newlittle food stands and game stands. It’sgoing to be a big improvement overwhat we had. What was there beforewas over 15 years old,” Black said.

One of the best parts is the view thenew setup will provide. “We have anengine that has a small TV camera thatshoots through the headlight hole andbroadcasts the picture to a viewingscreen, so that people can watch, andit looks like you are the engineer run-

ning the train through the railroadyard,” Black said. “It’s a really goodcrowd-pleaser. We have another car, aboxcar with another camera that’smounted to look to the back, so on theother track we put that car, and that onegoes to a second screen.”

The club recently doubled its duesafter charging only $5 a month formany years. But, Black said, “youcan’t have four nights’ a month fun forthat much anywhere else, except for adeal like this.”

Dues are $10 now, partly to pay fora full membership for the whole groupin the National Model Railroad Asso-ciation. New members are welcomed,and participants start arriving about6:45 p.m. every Tuesday to make it inbefore the gates are locked.

More information about the club ison its web site, www.palmbeachmodelrailroaders. org. Call Deli at (561) 452-1222 to sign up. Learn about modelrailroading at www.nmra.org. FY

(Left to right) Dr. George Nimberg, George Himich and Lyman Fussell in front of the fairgrounds display.WELLINGTON THE MAGAZINE FILE PHOTO BY SUSAN LERNER


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DO YOU remember whenthe Beatles first appeared onThe Ed Sullivan Show at 8p.m., Sunday, Feb. 9, 1964(48 years ago)? Actually,when you think about it, thatshow would seem to havebeen one of the least likelyTV shows for them to maketheir first appearance on. Ithappened because a fewweeks earlier, Ed Sullivan’splane had been forced to cir-cle London’s Heathrow Air-port in the middle of thenight in order to permit aplane carrying a groupcalled the Beatles to landfirst so that they could betransported safely throughthe thousands of screamingfans. He decided then andthere to sign them for histelevision show.

The Beatles left the Unit-ed Kingdom on Feb. 7,1964, with an estimated4,000 fans gathered atHeathrow, waving andscreaming as the aircraft

another strong receptionduring two shows at Carne-gie Hall. The band then flewto Florida and appeared onthe weekly Ed SullivanShow a second time, beforeanother 70 million viewers,before returning to the U.K.on Feb. 22, 1964 … and therest is musical history neverto be duplicated!

The Beatles formed inLiverpool in 1960, becom-ing one of the most commer-cially successful and criti-cally acclaimed acts in thehistory of popular music.The band’s best-known line-up consisted of John Lennon(rhythm guitar/vocals), PaulMcCartney (bass guitar/vo-cals), George Harrison (leadguitar/vocals) and RingoStarr (drums/vocals). Theygained popularity in theUnited Kingdom after theirfirst single, Love Me Do,became a modest hit in late1962. They acquired thenickname the “Fab Four” asBeatlemania grew in Britainover the following year, andby early 1964 they had be-

Remembering The Beatles’ LandmarkAppearance On ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’

took off. At New York’sJohn F. Kennedy Interna-tional Airport, they weregreeted by another uproari-ous crowd, estimated at3,000. They gave their firstlive television performancein the United States two dayslater on The Ed SullivanShow, which was watchedby approximately 73 millionviewers in more than 23 mil-lion households, or 34 per-cent of the American popu-lation. According to theNielsen rating service, it was“the largest audience thathad ever been recorded foran American television pro-gram.”

Question: The Beatlesperformed five songs ontheir Ed Sullivan Show livedebut. Do you rememberwhich they sang? (Answerat the end of the column.)

By the way, Ed Sullivan’sother guests that night wereGeorgia Brown and OliverKidds, Frank Gorshin andTessie O’Shea.

The next morning, criticalconsensus in the U.S. wasgenerally against the group;in fact, I can remember WIPRadio 610-AM, the No. 1station in Philadelphia, pro-claiming that they wouldnever play a Beatles song ontheir station. Wow, did theirratings drop as listenerssurfed the dial to hear theBeatles! A day later, howev-er, their first U.S. concertsaw Beatlemania erupt atWashington Coliseum.

Back in New York the fol-lowing day, they met with

MEMORY LANE BY JOE NASUTI

FY

Joe Nasuti is an entertain-ment columnist for theTown-Crier newspaper. Hismonthly Memory Lane col-umns feature memories frombygone days.

come international stars,leading the “British Inva-sion” of the United Statespop market.

After their breakup in1970, the ex-Beatles eachfound success in individualmusical careers. John Len-non was murdered in 1980,and George Harrison died ofcancer in 2001, but Sir PaulMcCartney and Ringo Starrare still making great music!

Wow, can you compre-hend what great musicwould have been made ifthey only had stayed togeth-er?

Answer: On that first ap-pearance, the Beatles sangAll My Loving, Till ThereWas You, She Loves You, ISaw Her Standing There andI Want To Hold Your Hand.

Well, that takes care of thismonth’s stroll down Memo-ry Lane. I hope it joggedyour memory and brought asmile to your face. Untilnext time, remember: Wecan’t help growing older, butwe don’t have to grow up …so stay Forever Young!

The Beatles arrive in the United States.

SENIOR MOMENTS BY DEBORAH WELKY

I Miss My Youthful Days, When GravityAnd Metabolism Were Still On My Side


Deborah Welky’s humor column The Sonic Boomer ispublished weekly in the Town-Crier. Follow her on Twitterat www.twitter.com/TheSonicBoomer and visit The SonicBoomer page on Facebook. FY

THERE WERE CAR KEYS, art projects and favoritebooks, but, of all the things I’ve lost over the years, I missmy metabolism the most.

I was a skinny kid, a wiry teen, a svelte young woman —and now this.

It crept up on me slowly, and it continues to do so. Iwake up in the morning feeling straight and tall. I glance inthe mirror, and I look pretty good. I congratulate myself onforgoing that second scoop of ice cream the night before,and then it hits — gravity.

By noon I have wrinkles and a pot belly. By 5 p.m., I amswearing off dinner forever. And by bedtime, I am refusingto look in a mirror ever again.

If I go out of my house at all any-more, I follow these helpful tips,honed to an art by seemingly attrac-tive women for centuries. I wear red(to get some color reflected up ontomy face). I avoid harsh lights (greenlights are entirely out of the ques-tion). And I sit with my back to thewindow (to avoid spotlighting thewrinkles).

Things were so much easier justa few short years ago. With metab-olism on my side (and gravity as yetundiscovered), I wore any color Iwanted. I never scanned the ceilingto assess bulb wattage. And I oftenpositioned myself so I could lookright out of a window at scenery orpassers-by. Ah, youth! Whoeversaid it was wasted on the young wasso right.

When I was thin, I could wearanything. I didn’t have a lot of mon-ey, but I always looked fashionable.This is what young women don’tunderstand. They moan about be-ing too broke to buy haute couture,but they don’t need it — they lookwonderful in flour sacks. No mat-

ter what the fashion industry dictates, thin will never beout of style.

We “mature women” (man, do I hate that phrase) have tospend the bulk of our fashion budget on expensive body-sculpting undergarments that we’d just as soon no one sees.Taking a lover is laughable. And we’ve come to terms withthe fact that we will never be walking the Victoria’s Secretangel-wing runway. I mean, can you see it?

“ … Taking the stage next is Angel Debbie, in a form-flattering high-necked corset, varicose vein-hiding graystockings, and sensible flats.”

I can hear the sponsors pulling their ads as we speak.But it’s not all doom and gloom and darkened rooms for

women “of a certain age.” There’san advantage to having gravity tugat our heels. We’re grounded.We’re sensible. We’ve joined thelegions of The Wise.

Or so they think.I like to have fun with that.“Excuse me, ma’am,” is how it

starts. “Could you tell me how toget to Carnegie Hall?”

“Practice!” I chortle. Even a jokeas old as that is new to some peo-ple.

Speaking of metabolism and howit has abandoned me, exactly wheredoes fleeing metabolism go? Iknow I lost some if it during child-birth. The energy I had went rightout of me and right into my kid. Itook one look at that squalling in-fant, and I suddenly felt tired. I felteven more tired when I realized Ihad 18 years to go, 20 if you counther brother.

I think my remaining metabolismtook off the day I realized the kidshad actually grown up. Its absencetold me, “Your job here is done,”and I got to sit down for the firsttime in 20 years.

Sitting was nice.Unfortunately, an appreciation of sitting is what got me

to where I am today — fat and wrinkled.I need to raise another baby.

Things were much easier just a fewshort years ago. With metabolism onmy side (and gravity undiscovered),

I wore any color I wanted.

Documents

August 2012 Forever Young Lifestyle Magazine