Touch of Gray - August / September 2004

Larry Barrus: A Man for All Seniors
Bright College Years

Larry Barrus: A Man for All Seniors
   "If I were to define what gives me pleasure," says Larry Barrus, "it would be to create organizations which seem to me worthwhile, and to so structure them that they will continue after I have departed."

   With quiet dignity, and a particular attention to the needs of others, he has done just that. The organizations generated and nurtured by 86-year-old Barrus have had a decided impact on the lives of people living at the Carolina Meadows Retirement Community in Chapel Hill, as well as residents at his previous home at Fearrington Village in Chatham County.

   Larry is known among his friends as a remarkably gentle and caring man. Only someone with a nature as tender as his, for instance, would spend time pampering orchids bequeathed to him by a devoted friend. And only someone with his warmth of spirit would work to enhance the pleasures and comforts of his fellow retirees.

   One of the most impressive of Larry's commitments is the Meadows Assistance Program (MAP) at Carolina Meadows. Ever since 1999, when the idea for a systematic volunteer program was first proposed by social workers at Carolina Meadows, MAP has been meeting the special needs of frail and dependent residents by tapping into a reservoir of support from among their neighbors and friends.

   MAP grew out of an initial need to provide some form of respite for care-taking spouses; those whose husbands or wives were confined to their homes because of illness or lack of mobility. The project now involves some ninety committed and eager volunteers who not only drive and/or escort patients to medical appointments, but also deliver a steady flow of comfort and relief to others through activities such as running errands, picking up mail, walking pets, watering plants, helping with paperwork, playing cards, reading to those who are visually impaired, or simply conversing. Of course, all of these activities do not run themselves. Larry chairs a five-member steering committee, which meets weekly to administer the enlarged program, and anticipate its changing needs.

   The entire effort is backed up by an advisory committee of residents, most of whom have a health care background. Bobby Gray, Director of Health Services for Carolina Meadows sits on the committee as well. "Coordinators match available volunteers to those needing help," says Gray. "They know, for instance, which volunteers can push wheelchairs or have been trained to administer oxygen."

   Through MAP, Carolina Meadows has recently introduced a new strategy for assisting its aging population. This involves utilizing a system of six care teams that vary in size from two or three to ten or more volunteers, four in independent Living, and two in Assisted Living {the Fairways). The teams offer an efficient way to reach people with ongoing needs, some of whom can't always rely on the proximity of family members to just drop in for a chat or a cup of tea. Three of the teams help residents who are visually impaired; one provides respite care for a couple in which one spouse has dementia; and another enables two residents who no longer drive to continue volunteering at the Botanical Gardens in Chapel Hill.

   "One of the nice things about the care team idea," says Larry, "is that over time people develop an affection for each other." And he remarks, with a smile of pleasure, "that sometimes leads people who were helped by MAP to want to give back by helping others."

   MAP isn't the only venture to which Larry has applied his tenacity and skills at organization. At the Fairways where he resides with Ginger, his wife of 63 years, he has been running, for the past four years, a monthly program called "Thoughtful People." Along with Ray Dawson, former Vice President of Academic Affairs at UNC, and other CM residents, he selects speakers for the program's informative non-medical lectures. Larry encourages people in independent living to attend the lectures as well, and he gently introduces each speaker in his soft Scottish voice. (He attended an English Public School and lived in Scotland for thirty years, where he organized and managed a subsidiary of Cleveland Twist Drill. Later, he founded and managed his own company, Prosper Engineering, from which he retired in 1986.)

   As if all these activities were not enough to occupy his time, Larry also leads a program at The Fairways called Living Room Learning, educational meetings which take place every Thursday at 7:15 p.m. The program is presented through a series of video lectures from an organization known as The Teaching Company.

   Earlier in his prolific career of helping others, as well as himself, to lead stimulating and inspired lives, Larry went on a number of Elderhostel trips, enrolled in several weekend Humanities Series at UNC, and took courses at the Duke Institute For Living in Retirement where, in addition to serving on the board, he organized and led groups of DILR participants on a number of trips to Scotland. Now he enjoys returning each summer to see former associates in Scotland. While there he enjoys fly fishing for trout in a loch in the moors west of Glasgow, accompanied by his friends.

   At Fearrington, he was co-founder of Stay Put For Now which enrolled volunteers to assist older residents with driving, delivering meals and simple maintenance. Later, he was cofounder and first President of the Home Care Connection, set up to organize and fund a Home Care Nurse with an office in the village. Today, these two organizations have joined forces to form Fearrington Cares.

   On December 15, 1995, upon his departure from Fearrington, Larry was honored with a special award for his accomplishments. The framed proclamation, titled MAN OF VISION, reads, "Because he saw the need and was steadfast in his dedication to the mission -- the dream of the nurse coordinator at Fearrington has become a reality." -- Carol Klein, Resident

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Bright College Years
    On the Carolina Meadows campus, many of us flaunt our college loyalties.

   It is not uncommon to see a neighbor wearing a Wellesley tee shirt as she gardens or a fellow resident laboring on a treadmill with "Michigan" displayed prominently on his shirt. Realizing that "you can take the girl or boy out of the college, but you can't take the college out of the girl or boy", we embarked on a survey of college degrees awarded to our residents by thumbing through their biographies, so nicely listed in the Carolina Meadows residents' directory. The results of this revealed an extraordinary range of institutions, over 260 in all, and a tabulation that was surprising in many respects.

   A southern college and university contingent included the following totals of diplomas received: UNC, 49; Duke, 21; UNC-G, 12; NC State, 7; Georgia State, 5; William and Mary, Goucher, LSU, University of Maryland and East Carolina, 4 each.

   The Ivies were well represented with Columbia leading the list with 34; Cornell, 17; Yale, 15; University of Pennsylvania, 11; Harvard, 9; and Princeton, 6.

   Other northeastern schools showed NYU, 12; Smith, 9; Hunter, 7; Syracuse, 7; Boston University, 6; Mt Holyoke, 6, University of Pittsburgh and University of West Virginia, 5; American, Johns Hopkins, Penn State, University of Rochester, Williams, and Wellesley with 4 each.

   The Midwest was also well represented with University of Michigan, 29; University of Illinois, 10; Ohio State, 10; University of Chicago, 9; University of Minnesota, 7; Purdue, 6, and Northwestern, 6.

   Other schools provided fewer than four diplomas and included almost every school one could think of and some that would not come to mind immediately.

   Diplomas from foreign schools included Oxford, University of London, McGill, University of Manitoba, University of Capetown, Witwatersrand, University of Edinburgh, Nightingale School of Nursing, Holland Naval Academy, Canal Zone College, Marguerite Bourgeoys College, and the University of Havana.

   Some of the numbers were particularly surprising. Columbia degrees were on more walls than any other school than UNC, Michigan degrees outnumbered those of Duke, which was fourth, followed by Cornell and Yale. There were far more degrees from northeastern and Midwestern schools than from the south.

   Interesting as this scanning may be in revealing the breadth of our educational experiences, it does not reveal their depth or their meaning. Each college or university attended generates strong memories of important epochs in our lives, - the "Bright college years with pleasures rife, the shortest sweetest years of life".

   Gert Gifford recalls attending Stanford in the class of '38 "when its campus was called 'the farm' --- and which it really looked like then". She has a map of the campus "in the olden days of my residence there". She is thinking about framing this, "putting it in the little room I call my office so that I can look at it now and then, smile a bit, thinking of those old days."

   These are sentiments similar to those many of us may feel about our schools.

   Vincent Freimarck obtained degrees from three of the top six universities represented at Carolina Meadows and recalls that "NYU commands my loyalty because of a fine education and lifelong friendships with several classmates; graduate study at Columbia made clear what path I would take. But I have the greatest respect for Cornell and its beautiful setting (as in "far above Cayuga's waters"), for there I learned how exhilarating serious scholarship could be."

   He later taught at several other universities, including SUNY (Binghampton) and considers his career "a great way to spend a life."

   The length of association with a particular school may accentuate the level of loyalty. There are many full-time academicians at the Meadows, some of whom have spent most of their lives contributing to a single school. One can only imagine the wealth of stories that can be told about these times. As expected, loyalty to and reminiscences of UNC prevail from the large contingent of UNC teachers who have logged many years in Chapel Hill.

   Bill Aycock leads this list of professors, having devoted nearly 40 years to the UNC Law School and having been Chancellor from 1957 to 1964 with his gracious first lady at his side. He describes his loyalties - "After being privileged to serve UNC, Grace and I were pleased to join the residents at Carolina Meadows in 1991. Thus, we not only continued to associate with our colleagues and friends already here, but also met new, talented, and distinguished residents, who came from near and afar. Grace received wonderful care before leaving us in 1996. Living among so many gentle and able residents enriched our lives in many ways. The combination of UNC and Carolina Meadows has in work and retirement been wonderful and beyond our fondest dreams."

   Others who may harbor similar sentiments and who have worked at UNC for nearly forty years include Tom Barnett, Ray Dawson, Sam Holton, Phil Manire, Arden Miller, Elmer Oetinger, Walter Rabb, Bill Straughan and Lloyd Yonce. About 20 other UNC teachers had worked there for over 20 years.

   Many others at the Meadows have had long affiliations with a wide variety of schools. Herb Bailey spent approximately 40 years with the Princeton University Press, Dick Maxwell had a thirty-year association with the UCLA law school and was its Dean. Will Cartwright was an historian, El Strowd was a major librarian, and Eugenia Saville a musician at Duke for over 30 years. Roy Proffitt was associated with the law school at the University of Michigan for a similar period and was its Associate Dean there. Carolyn Mann taught languages at the University of South Carolina for many years. Robert Rabb was an entomologist at NC State for about 30 years.

   Others who devoted most of their lives to one school include Robert Kozelka to Williams (mathematics), Merelyn Reeve to Dartmouth (Speech), David Saunders to the University of Colorado (Psychology), Hedga Leftwich to Lynchburg (modern languages), Elinor Massoglia to NC Central (Education) and Amos Hawley to Michigan (Sociology).

   Hawley also devoted considerable time as a professor at UNC and, since retirement, has written a delightful book on "Academic Affairs" (Chapel Hill Press), describing "some parodies of what actually happened in my experience and many tales that are pure inventions of what might have happened".

   Others may have divided loyalties since they labored long, but at different institutions. Frank Press was associated with Columbia, Cal. Tech, and MIT as a geophysicist (and was honored later as President of the National Academy of Scientists); Franklin Young as a religion scholar at Duke, Yale, and Princeton; Vincent Freimarck as an English Professor at SUNY, Carnegie Tech, and Wesleyan; Fred Kilgour as librarian at Yale, Ohio State and UNC; Sam Kaplan as a mathematician at Wayne State and Purdue; Anne Heckel, as an anthropologist at Hunter and the University of Mississippi; Judith Ferster, as an English professor at Colby, Brandeis and NC State.

   Other teachers who may possess divided loyalties because of work at two or more schools include Earl Brown, as an engineer at Auburn and Duke; Bob Dicks as an engineer at Penn, Texas A&M, University of Houston and University of Texas; Charles Kinnaird, as an English teacher at West Virginia, Farleigh Dickinson, Upsala and Patterson State; Elizabeth Ryan, as an historian at Florida State, Centenary and University of Houston; Trudy Couch, as a health educator at Ball State, Univ. of Illinois and Wayne State, Lucie Johnson, as a social worker at Virginia Commonwealth and Wayne State and Jane Connelly, as a public relations expert at George Washington and Georgetown.

   School loyalty is also prevalent among those who have taught for shorter periods, have been associated with aspects of University life other than teaching, or have moved in and out of academia to be involved with other positions or raising families.

   Some of us have devoted large segments of our lives to fostering our schools through crucial alumni activities. For example, Dick Ballard has been a leader in the Yale Alumni Association of Central North Carolina and has arranged for bringing several outstanding singing groups from Yale during winter or spring breaks. He recently has helped arrange for Yalies at the Meadows to attend a luncheon for Richard Levin (president of Yale) and Richard Broadhead (new President of Duke and former Dean at Yale). He states that " the Duke alumni residents of Carolina Meadows seem pleased by this new connection and the oft-repeated compliment labeling Duke, the 'Ivy League of the South.'"

   Baxter Patrick has been a loyal alumni secretary at Wesleyan and has made many pilgrimages to reunions there. Jean Harned served on both the alumni boards at Antioch and UNC.

   There is also an enormous wealth of experience at our place among those who taught at the secondary school level and even earlier school years. It is apparent that the fulltime college and university academicians do not have a lock on brainpower on this campus. The great diversity of academic experiences contributes to the ambience of a retirement community. Some of our past college activities carry over to our present campus life and even may transcend the nostalgia of our "Bright College Years". Now we are generally in a peer group going through (and into) a life passage. We eat communally, participate in lectures, seminars and musical events. We enjoy sports. Many of us have room-mates (whom most of us admit are more compatible than those in college). We argue over politics. We party a lot. We are searching for answers to difficult problems.

   From this review of our biographies it has become apparent that we have a treasure trove of different educational experiences from many of the nation's best schools. Displaying their colors is warranted. But we might wish to establish a Charter University of our own. We have the academicians and the "real-worlders" to comprise an excellent faculty. We should all have tenure. A University of Carolina Meadows could easily support from within an Undergraduate School, a Graduate School, a School of Law, and schools of Medicine, Social Work, Education, Engineering, Journalism, Public Health, Pharmacy, Nursing and perhaps others. -- Herb Harned, Resident

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