Gary isn’t afraid of change. In fact, he embraces it. Since Gary became chair of LAH, he has devoted himself to ensuring that Lexington’s older residents have the best opportunity they can to live safely and independently in their own home. He has initiated or helped start efforts to expand access to transportation and hearing devices, and to close the generation gap. He has helped oversee a training and education project to make the board of directors’ leadership more effective, and he has led the group’s chapters with an emphasis on building greater community awareness and engagement.
He established online focus groups to start the process of overhauling the organization’s website to be a more useful tool for Lexington’s older residents, to better navigate life in town, while educating residents about LAH and its many initiatives and its members.
His story in Lexington begins in 1964, when he and his wife, Bebe, bought a house here. “We’ve seen a lot of turnover in our neighborhood, but enjoy our neighbors — and listening to the children playing outside in the summer,” he said. He and Bebe have two children, and each of them also has two, three of whom are in college and a fourth who has graduated. Gary, who is very close to his grandchildren, cares deeply that they have had their college experiences interrupted by COVID-19. He feeels that they are being deprived of college rituals that were so important when he was a student at MIT. Encouraged by a small group project in his Lexington at Home chapter, he started writing a first-person story for his grandkids, describing what his life was like when he was their age. He still hasn’t finished the memoire, after writing nearly100 pages!
After earning undergraduate and graduate degrees in chemical engineering at MIT, he worked in industry, joining a contract R&D company founded by the MIT professor who was his thesis advisor for both degrees. In 1971 he became head of marketing at Waters Corporation in Massachusetts, a leading provider of analytical chemistry lab equipment, supplies and software for scientists. He also participated in development and commercialization of laboratory robotics used in research and quality control. He crisscrossed the world for his job, and still enjoys leisure travel with Bebe.
After retiring in 2002, Gary volunteered with English at Large, a group providing free tutoring to immigrants wishing to improve their facility in English. He received training as a one-on-one tutor and was paired with an older gentleman from China who spoke limited English. After two years of working together, the man asked Gary to help him become a U.S. citizen. They reviewed U.S. history, government, and culture, and the student passed the citizenship test on his first try. In typical Gary fashion, they became good friends, and Gary and his wife attended the man’s “inspiring” citizenship ceremony, held in historic Faneuil Hall. Given his devotion to English at Large, Gary was asked to join the board of directors. He became board president during a time when funding was severely cut. With the help of a $100,000 grant from the Cummings Foundation, English at Large pulled through. Gary remained a member of the board for many years.
Throughout their 55-plus years in Lexington, Gary and Bebe have been devoted members of Temple Isaiah. Gary is a past president of the congregation and has also served as a member of the board several times. As one of the founders and coordinators of the Senior Adult Group Extraordinaire (SAGE) at the temple, Gary planned speakers and outings for the congregants for more than 10 years. When the need for transportation to the temple arose, Gary organized a voluntary ride service that helped members continue to take part regularly in worship. “He is always thinking about other people and making sure they are involved,” said Rabbi Howard Jaffe, who has watched Gary in action for more than 20 years. “He is someone you can count on to step up to fill a void.”
After he gave a talk about Lexington At Home to Minuteman Senior Services, Gary got to know Minuteman’s officers, and was asked to serve on its board, which he did for 12 years, three as vice president. Gary’s Minuteman Board work dovetailed nicely with the goals of Lexington at Home. Both groups exist to help elders live independently in their homes for as long as possible. Minuteman, a nonprofit agency, provides direct medical and mental health support to elders in 16 Massachusetts communities. LAH encourages the same goal for its members through social support, encouragement, and recommendations of resources. The purely volunteer nature of LAH and nominal dues ($30/member/year) differentiates it from the Village concept of aging-in-place that has taken root in the U.S. for more than 20 years.
Gary and Bebe were two of the early Lexington At Home members, invited to join by neighbors. When the group grew too big to hold meetings in each others’ homes, it established a chapter system, which has grown to five chapters. As chair of LAH, Gary has been a steady advocate for the elderly. He has represented LAH at meetings of the Council on Aging and other town departments and has mentored other towns in following the all-volunteer model of LAH. Recently, he developed rapport with Lexington High School students from the Lexington Intergenerational Outreach Club. He has helped with the students’ request to volunteer to do various tasks for LAH members, and to interview them for their website as part of a project called Project Wisdom. His extended Question and Answer interview with a student can be seen at LHSIntergenerationalOutreachClubWebsite
He still finds time to remain involved with his classmates from MIT. As class secretary of the Class of 1958 for more than 30 years, Gary has compiled information for the MIT alumni magazine every two months or so, keeping in touch with people all over the world. He is also a permanent member of his class reunion committee. He also manages to kick back, by indulging his love of fly fishing, which he does at the Old Res and other sites in Massachusetts and, for many years, in Idaho and Montana. The sport has also taken him to Alaska and Patagonia in Chile. He plays tennis, and Bridge, which he does with friends online, and belongs to a men’s book club. He is definitely a people-person, someone who cares about others, and works hard to make sure they are respected and cared for.
