Banner Graphic, Volume 15, Number 128, Greencastle, Putnam County, 29 January 1985 — Page 1

Over-50 fathers

Age makes no difference in having a family; it's the love and concern that counts the most

c. 1985 N.Y. Times News Service NEW YORK becoming more common in New York City’s parks and supermarkets: balding, gray-haired men toting infants on their chests in Snuglis or earnestly conversing in baby talk with 2-year-olds clutching lollipops. At first glance, these over-50 men might seem to be grandfathers on an outing with their grandchildren. But in these days of physical fitness, improved nutrition, late marriages and May-December unions, they may well be the children’s fathers. “My kids are the best things that ever happened to me,’’ said Robert Rosenblum, 57 years old, a professor of fine arts at New York University who is the father of Sophie, 5, and Theodore, 1. His wife of seven years, Jane Kaplowitz, is a 35-year-old artist. Sitting in their art-filled apartment in Greenwich Village, Rosenblum explained why he was glad he had waited until he was in his 50s to become a father: “I’m at the height of my career, and all of the struggle is behind me,” he said. “So there’s no worry that I have to sacrifice my career because the wear and tear of having children is so great. I feel secure now in my professional life, and have enough room in my head and heart to deal with children in a more relaxed way.” He said he still did basically the things he did before the children were born, and added proudly that he had written "the most important weighty long book in my life” their births. Still, he said he worries that he might suddenly turn into an “aged grandparent” or die prematurely, before he and the children really get to know each other. He also worries about money and how he is going to keep everything afloat in the year 2000, “when everything costs 2,000 percent more.” At least he doesn’t have to worry about the costs of college: because he is a professor at N.Y.U., his children would be entitled to go there free, or at very little cost. These over-50 fathers, although highly visible in New York and other major urban centers, still aren’t numerous enough to make an impact on national statistics. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 18,408, or 0.6 percent, of the 3.7 million babies born in 1982 had fathers over 50. In this group, 11,702 of the fathers were between the ages of 50 and 54, and 6,706 were 55 and older. More recent figures are not available One of the reasons for the increased visibility of these fathers is that many are prominent in their careers. Some of the more recent over-50 fathers are Gabe Pressman, 60, the television reporter; Kurt Vonnegut Jr., 63, the writer; Kevin McCarthy, 69, the actor; Jules Feiffer, 56, the cartoonist and writer; Budd Schulberg, 70, the author; Steven J. Ross, 57, chairman of Warner Communications; Robert M. Morgenthau, 65, the Manhattan district attorney; Meshulam Riklis, 61, chairman of the Rapid-American Corporation; William M. Fine, 58, president of Dan River Home Fashions, and Marc Jaffe, 63, editorial director of Villard Books.

To provide aid in Africa

Peace Corps volunteers eager to join

new YORK (AF) Joe Carson was watching the evening news on his farm outside Troy Mills, lowa, when the Peace Corps appealed for volunteers to help fight famine in Africa. “I wrote the number down,” Carson said “I’ve been a farmer and a farm supplier for about all of my >ife. ... What I was mainly hoping for is to help somebody else with my experience.’ Carson. 59, was one of nearly 10,000 Americans to call in the two weeks since the Peace Corps began a special drive to recruit agriculture workers for piojecls in Africa The agency needs plant and animal experts, soil scientists, farm mechanics and engineers to fill 600 anticipated vacancies The response to this has been unprecedented, said Patricia Seaman, a spokeswoman for Peace Corps in

Banner Graphic Greencastle, Putnam County, Tuesday, January 29, 1985, Vol. 15 No. 128 25 Cents iS>I! CT MWIE

Jules Feiffer, holding his month-and-a-half-old daughter, Halley, is just one example of over-50 men, who are becoming fathers once more. With Feiffer is his wife, Jennifer Allen, 29. A divorce led Feiffer to his second marriage and second Some older fathers, like Rosenblum, married late in life at least partly because of the career scramble. But many others are divorced men with grown children who are raising new families with a second, probably much younger, wife. One of these is Feiffer, whose recent cartoons in The Village Voice showing a very pregnant woman complaining about her condit : <'n were based on his experiences with his wife, Jennifer Allen, a 29-year-old freelance writer. They are the parents of a daughter, Halley, now a month and a half old. He also has a daughter, Kate. 21, by a previous marriage. Asked why he decided to become a father at the age of 56, he replied: “I wanted what Jenny wanted. You can’t marry a woman of 28 and say, ‘You can’t have a

Washington. “Our feeling is that it has been even a bigger outpouring than in the magic days of the ’6os” when volunteers flocked to President Kennedy’s new program, she said. Peace Corps spokeswoman Sherrod Shim said Friday that more than 9,400 people had called since the appeal was made Jan. 10. “We’re behind, to say the least,” in getting formal application kits mailed to all those who inquired, Ms. Shim said. Past year, 160,000 such inquiries resulted in IH.tHM) formal applications, from which the corps chose 5,000 volunteers. Many of those responding to the African appeal are moved by news coverage of the famine in Ethiopia and nearby countries The Peace Corps ieft Ethiopia in 1977 when a Marxist military government took power, but it operates in 26 other African

start to a new family. Kate, his 21-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, was present for Halley's birth, helping her stepmother through nine hours of contractions at the hospital. (N.Y. Times News Service photo). child.’ ” He added that he had been "ambivalent” about having another child, but that he had gone into his marriage with Miss Allen fully realizing that she intended to become a mother. Some older fathers say they’ve encountered jealousy from their older children when a new baby arrives. Others say the children are very proud and act almost parental toward the new arrival. In Feiffer’s case, his daughter, Kate came to the hospital from Sarah Lawrence College, where she is a student, and spent nine hours walking up and down the halls with him and helping Miss Allen through her contractions. “It made an e.iormous difference to both of us,” Feiffer said. “It made the baby’s birth a real family event.”

nations where food production often is a pressing concern. “Obviously, they’re hurting for help and I felt that maybe* I could help,” said Thomas Taubert, 55, of Milwaukee, who says he’s spent most of his life around farms in northern Wisconsin. Before helping, however, those who are selecte*d will spend their first three months learning the language, culture and agricultural problems of the countries where they will work. “Even if you have been a farmer all your life, it can be different from being a far iner in Africa,” Ms. Seaman noted. There are about 2,500 Peace Corps volunteers serving in Africa. Each is paid a living allowance of SIOO to S6OO a month, pius a lump sun. of about $4,000 to help them adjust after their two years are up. “Volunteer teachers are paid what

Experts who were asked about the olderfather phenomenon cited such positive aspects as the fact that such fathers were probably more relaxed and settled than younger fathers, more financially secure and better able to decide their priorities. On the negative side, they mentioned decreasing stamina, the increased likelihood of illness and death and the fact that some people still look disapprovingly on older fathers. “It touches on one of the profound unsettled issues of biological difference between men and women,” said Dr. Donald A. Bloch, director of the Ackerman Institute for Family Therapy in Manhattan. “It tests the issues of envy and distress in both directions. Women live to be widows, but men are reproduc'd ve into their 60s and 70s and more.” Bloch, who is 62 and has an 8-year-old son from a second marriage, said older fathers were also sometimes stigmatized because their situation generally implies a second primary relationship and raises questions about people marrying forever Speaking of his own situation, he said, “It’s terrific.” But he said that for older men who have any reservations about fatherhood, such as whether they will have enough money to feed another mouth, or will have to give up a hobby, his advice is, “When in doubt, don’t.” The relationship between an older father and a child can be “splendid,” according to Dr Adele M Brodkin, clinical assistant professor of child psychiatry at the New Jersey Medical School in Newark, as long as the father loves the child for himself or herself and is not seeking to display the child as evidence of the father’s youthfulness and potency. “Whether the father is balding or graying,” she added, “the important thing is that he’s loving and committed to his children for themselves.” Many older fathers say one of the most difficult aspects of fatherhood is adapting to a new way of life that revolves around the child. The men say their sleeping habits change, they often gain a whole new circle of friends who also have young children, they go out less, they receive less attention from their wives, they probably do more household chores. “It’s not Nirvana it’s a heavy responsibility,” said Gabe Pressman, whose son, Michael, is 11 months old. “I don’t envy my wife at all, having to worry about him burning himself or putting his finger in the door.” Yet, to hear his 40-year-old wife, Vera, a social worker, tell it, this hard-bitten newsman becomes a pussycat around his son, sometimes breaking into tears when Michael does something new. “I have three older children, and I missed so much when they were growing up because I was a fanatic about my job, woi King 18 hours a day, 7 days a week,” he said. “Now I only work five days, so one of the nicest things about having Michael is thatl can watch him grow.” “Now that I’m older and wiser,” he added, “I realize immortality is the most important thing about life, and that you probably achieve it best through children.”

African teachers make," Ms. Seaman said. “Volunteer farmers are paid what African farmers are paid or make That makes for better understanding I n t he I wo decades since t he Peace Corps began, volunteers have gotten older and offer more specialized skills. The average age is now 28.5, compared with 25.5 in the 19605. Ms. Seaman said Alfred Ells, a retired officer in the Navy’s construction battalions, is one of a growing number of older Americans interested in the Peace Corps If he is selec ted, he said, his wife would stay home in Middleburg, Fla., near their grandchildren. “It’s a matter of people helping people." Elis said “They’re not as fortunate as we are. I’d like to pass on a little of this knowledge and give them a hand.”

REHEARSAL TIME: Director Randy Fleischer leads

Orchestra hits harmonious chord in local musical effort

By PAT BI.OKM Special to the Banner-Graphic GREENCASTLE-Cleveland Hickman, an ex-Greencastle resident, tells the story of a fire that broke out in his home when he was a teenager growing up here. A budding scientist, Cleveland was working in his big attic bedroom when some of his chemicals blew up. The fire spread rapidly. "It was really an inferno," Hickman says, “and I was lucky to get out." What did he grab from his room to rescue from the blaze? His saxophone. Although the keys were melting in his hand, burning him deeply, his sax was the one thing he wanted to save Other Greencastle residents would make the same choice in case of fire - to grab their violins or their trombones. They are the people who can be found, even on blustery cold Mon day nights, practicing with the Greencastle Chamber Orchestra (GCO). ORGANIZED IN 1977 when the Greencastle school system dropped its orchestra program, the original group consisted of 15 string players. Slowly the ensemble added more players, including woodwinds and brass, and now lists over 30 names on the roster. Although its first leaders were Herman and Patience Berg, many others - participants, conductors and interested townspeople - have been responsible for leading the orchestra from its humble and informal beginnings to its present state with a board of directors, a paid concertmaster and paid conductor. The conductor, Indiana University graduate student Randy Fleischer, thinks the variety of musicians makes this group unique. “We have a 12-year-old horn player and a 81-year-old violinist,” he says. Like many community orchestras, the GCO mixes unlikely combinations of people, from teenagers to senior citizens -- people who may have no more in common than the love of playing music and the fact that their mothers used egg timers to measure their practice sessions. BESIDES THE MIX OF AGES, the GCO musicians have a mix of abilities. “The best thing about the orchestra is the diversity," says Terry Shomaker, a cellist who hadn't played for ten years when someone lent her an unused cello from his attic. “People with very little experience are playing side by side with people who are professionals." Some members are junior high or high school students, the GCO making it possible

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for area students to learn a string in strurnent and play good repetoire. Other members of the orchestra, like Louis Reinecke, have been serious about their music for a long time. Reinecke has played her violin wherever she has lived, including Bagdad, where she played with the Bagdad Philharmonic. SUCH A VARIETY OF PEOPLE and abilities means, of course, a variety of visions of what the GCO can or should be. As in many organizations and groups in Greencastle, people disagree whether the orchestra should “revitalize" and become a more sophisticated group or whether its primary purpose is to provide fun for the players them- • selves. No one disagrees, however, that one strength of the group is that it unites town, university, and county people Currently, the orchestra serves the community in several ways. It brings string music to meetings of civic groups, to the public schools and to rest homes. The group entertained at the Gaelic Festival last fall. One extremely cold night in December, several of the musicians played Christmas music at City Hall for the lighting of the greens. Last year, the orchestra commissioned and premiered a new work by Pulitzer nominee. David Ott, a member of the music faculty qt DePauw University THE GROUP PLAYS THREE mail) concerts a year, the second of which will be Feb. 3 at 3 p.m. at Kresge Auditorium on the DePauw University campus. The program will include a Bach piece specially orchestrated by Fleischer, the conductor, and a piece by Kent Kennan featuring Pamalee Frank-Smith, a DePauw graduate and the principal flutist The orchestra will also play Brah ms’ “Hungarian Folk Dance." Dvorak’s “Slavonic Dance No 6,” and Ives’ “An Unanswered Question.” As at all their concerts, admission will be free. “We have very responsive audiences," says Margaret Keller, a violinist and retired music teacher, “and we’ll play really good quality music." There are other community orchestras closer to her Plainfield home, but she prefers to drive all the way to Greencastle for the GCO. When asked if she would run hack lor her violin if her house caught on fire, Keller said. "Sure would. I even have it insured."