Full Circle: a Love Story

By Robert E. Levinson, Zelda Luxenberg and Carol Clarke

The loss of loved ones and the toll of aging is a natural part of the golden years. This beautifully told and memorable story shows us how to face loss with courage and how to face change with grace and intelligence. Acting with foresight and good judgment, the sunset of our lives can be a stage of continued growth and development with delightful surprises along the way.

Rob and Stella meet at Harbors Edge, a life care retirement community, where they find good friends, new love and security from the worries of aging. The book could easily be a primer for how to live well into your 70s, 80s and beyond.

Full Circle is a must read for Baby Boomers who are coming of age, and for all who rejoice in the indomitable human spirit. Rob and Stellas story inspires and charms all who read it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Nov 18, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466903975

Robert E. Levinson

After completing three years in the U.S. Navy, Robert Levinson earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business from Miami University, Ohio. Following graduation, he joined his father and brother in their family business, Steelcraft Manufacturing Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company was the largest manufacturer of steel doors and frames in the country. Over the years, he became primary executive of 14 additional family businesses. In 1969, the company was sold to American Standard, Inc., where he became a Group Vice President in charge of 12 companies. During this time he developed, owned and operated three hotels in Broward and Palm Beach County’s, Florida. In 1974, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Miami University of Ohio. After 10 years with American Standard, Levinson joined Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida as Senior Development Officer.

Book preview

Full Circle

A Love Story

AS TOLD TO

CAROL CLARKE

BY

ROBERT E. LEVINSON AND ZELDA LUXENBERG

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© Copyright 2011 Robert E. Levinson, Zelda Luxenberg, Carol Clarke.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Printed in the United States of America.

isbn: 978-1-4669-0385-2 (sc)

isbn: 978-1-4669-0397-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011960294

Trafford rev. 11/14/2011

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Contents

Chapter 1

Stella

Chapter Two

Rob

Chapter Three

Stella

Chapter Four

Rob

Chapter Five

Harbor’s Edge

Chapter Six

Stella

Chapter Seven

Serendipity

Chapter Eight

Stella

Chapter Nine

Rob

Chapter Ten

Stella

Chapter 11

Rob and Stella

Chapter 12

Stella and Rob

Chapter 13

The Family

Chapter 14

Friends

Chapter 15

Finale

about Full Circle… a love story

The loss of loved ones and the toll of aging is a natural part of the ‘golden years.’ This beautifully told and memorable story shows us how to face loss with courage and how to face change with grace and intelligence. Acting with foresight and good judgment, the sunset of our lives can be a stage of continued growth and development with delightful surprises along the way.

Rob and Stella meet at Harbor’s Edge, a life care retirement community, where they find good friends, new love and security from the worries of aging. The book could easily be a primer for how to live well into your 70s, 80s and beyond.

Full Circle is a ‘must read’ for Baby Boomers who are ‘coming of age,’ and for all who rejoice in the indomitable human spirit. Rob and Stella’s story inspires and charms all who read it.

All characters are fictitious except for the Levinson and Luxenberg families, who have generously contributed events to our narrative.

We dedicate this book

to all of our family members

for their support and love

so that we are able to

complete our full circle.

Chapter 1

Stella

So this is how it ends, a comfortable ride of seven miles to a ‘Lifespace Community!’

As the limo continued its slow ride south on Federal Highway, Stella watched noon day Florida pedestrians going about their business. She couldn’t help feeling that mainstream life was fading from her reach with each succeeding mile. Tears brimmed as she thought, Too soon… too soon… I am not ready.

Mitch reached over and took her hand and put it into his jacket pocket, patting it gently. She wondered, without any real hope, if he remembered why he had started expressing this small act of affection.

Many years ago, when they were young marrieds full of plans for their future, they would lie in one another’s arms and each tell the other a story before going to sleep—a story of ‘before I met you.’

One story that Mitch loved to hear her tell was about her Dad, who when she was a little girl would take her on long walks in the cold winter landscapes of Rochester, Pennsylvania, where she grew up. Time alone with her Dad was special, since he had so little to spare after all the time he spent working in the clothing store for women and girls that he owned on Main Street. On those few and far between walks, he would reach out and take her mittened hand and place it into the deep pocket of his winter coat. Snug as a bug in her snowsuit, with the only sound being the scrunch that their boots made in the snow, Stella felt safe, secure and protected in a way that she seldom experienced.

She was the much loved only daughter from whom much was expected. She had to excel like her big brother Sidney, to be correct in dress and good manners like her beautiful mother, and to fit in with the friends from the neighborhood who were mostly Christian. ‘High Anxiety’ was her brother’s nickname for her, but on those walks with her Dad, she was a dreamer with a knowing smile. Whatever happens, I will have a great life!

Mitch loved the story and laughed his hardy guffaw, saying, Then you grew up, met me and lived happily ever after! Hand in the pocket became their private message: I will protect you. I will always feel safe with you.

The gesture was now only a reflex on Mitch’s part. Three years ago the symptoms had become undeniable and he had to forgo his law practice, the great passion of his life. After countless exams and unending pursuits of some treatment or, at best, some reason to hope, they had to accept the inevitable. Her loving, strong husband, whose intellectual brilliance was only outshined by his dignity and decency, would never get better. He had Alzheimer’s. He would continue to fade into a place without memory, without human connection, alone in a tortured and distorted reality. No amount of love and care could deter the onslaught of complete dependency.

Their two sons, Steve and Bob, finally convinced her that she could not continue to care for Mitch in their stately home in Hunter’s Run. Stella stood firm that she would not let her beloved go alone into that dark night that lay ahead of him, so their sons found a place where Stella and Mitch could live together while still having the support of professional caregivers on-site. The day of the ‘big move’ had come with inexorable speed. Stella felt as if she were as inconsequential and as fragile as a leaf on the wind. She had no sense of where she was going to land or how she was going to survive.

As the limo turned east onto Linton Boulevard, Stella tried vainly to stem her tears and prepare herself to ‘meet and greet.’ If you know how to meet the world with a bright smile and a warm heart, you shall meet no strangers. One of her mother’s bromides for a full and rich life still echoed through the layers of sadness.

The nameplate on a circular wall marking the entrance to ‘Harbour’s Edge—A Lifespace Community’ was tucked away in a rush of the flora of Florida: plumbago, jasmine, palm and ficus trees, ixora, bromeliads, bougainvillea along with a myriad of other lush vegetations, including breathtaking wild grasses. So subtle was the sign and so lush was the foliage flowing, one could easily miss the left turn before the Intracoastal bridge and instead be whisked across the bridge to A1A, with the incredible coastline of endless ocean and sandy beaches. The driver, however, deftly made the left turn, taking Stella into a much different world.

A small guardhouse sheltered a uniformed security officer, who checked the driver’s ID and then took note of their names.

Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Mitch Lojatin are expected. Please follow the curving road to the South Building.

Flashes of The Twilight Zone and Rod Sterling’s ominous tones made Stella smile, and she resolved to use her wit and charm to make the best of the situation. Still, she let one last grieving thought escape, So this is the way the end begins.

Chapter Two

Rob

Rob Lowery, early on, came close to being a lifelong Florida resident. When he was one year old, his father had moved the family from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Coral Gables, Florida, where the land was cheap and a builder could make a fortune. The hurricane of 1926 dashed those dreams and it was back to Cincinnati, where his father ‘dusted himself off and started all over again’ as a manufacturers’ representative for building products. Rob did not see Florida again until his ‘golden years.’

Rob’s brother, Charles, was twelve-and-a-half-years older than he was. As a result, Rob felt like an only child with three parents. Straight out of college with a degree in architecture, Charles joined their father in forming a small manufacturing company, ‘SteelCraft.’ It grew successful, eventually employing over one thousand