Stella

In Europe Stella was a diva and she starred in a touring opera group.  The European 'Beyoncé' of her day. She sang in many of the leading operas and was well known by the opera aficionados in the cities that were on the troupe's itinerary... 

Opera in progress

 She married a well known impresario who taught music at a highly regarded music university and he conducted the orchestra for the major opera companies  in Europe. They played the leading opera palaces in Italy, France, the United Kingdom and around the world. Time went by and then more time went by and when retirement was in the offing they decided to come to the States. Why? How they landed on Miami Beach?  I don't know.
As a volunteer for the city of Miami Beach I ran a tennis program teaching kids to play tennis at North Shore Park,in Miami Beach.  That's how I met Stella because she was a tennis  player and their apartment was near North Shore Park. She sometimes played tennis during the day and almost every weekend.  Her husband gave piano lessons at a friend's home where they kept their giant sized Steinway Grand Piano.
 
Whenever there was a dispute at the tennis center Stella would represent the players at the park and appear at commission meetings. She was not bashful and indeed was a handsome lady with flaming red hair, and boy oh boy she made quite a figure when arguing her cause at the meetings. 
Time kept marching on and Stella and her husband arranged to move to and live in Miami in a retirement home for seniors.  She told me about it.  They had to assign all of their money to the home so that they would fit into a certain qualification category with the state.  One that paid a higher fee to the home for seniors who were without any resources.
Her husband's health had been deteriorating for several years, and at the home they were able to get a comfortable double room that was near a well staffed clinic on the premises. In the years at the home she was totally engaged with taking care of her husband. Then on a Friday night, he appeared to be in distress and to need a doctors attention.  But the doctors at the clinic were off for the weekend and therefore no doctor was available.
Stella didn't hesitate, she called 911. When the ambulance came and took him to an area hospital, Stella went inside the ambulance to be with her husband.
Officials at the clinic were not pleased at what Stella had done and after he returned to the clinic from the  hospital they made it difficult for her when she visited him. For example she wanted to stay overnight in the room with him, but they would not let her and were very officious with their refusal.. He passed away and all this stuff, that was happening now, was about a year later.  She had called me and asked me if I would come to an official meeting at the home which included a hearing to upgrade her health condition.  The home officials wanted to transfer her to a less expensive room in a recently built new ALF. But she didn't want to leave her apartment. Everyone in the complex knew her and she was available to help them with anything they wanted or needed. The home thought of her as a pain in the ass but residents in her complex considered her a friend and were very upset.

The meeting room was a normal sized conference room with a large rectangular table in the center.  It had high backed wooden chairs to seat ten.  Four on each side of the table and one at each end.  Stella sat alone on one side and there were three representatives from the facility sitting on the other side.
I went over to Stella got a hug and kiss and sat in the chair beside  her. I took her hand.  I knew the head of the facility because I have appeared with him at fund raisers. He was sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the table and chaired the meeting. 



Opera singer on tour in Europe

The meeting started and one by one items were taken care of til finally the Stella item came up, it was several pages worth. They were requesting an upgrade of Stella's health, blah, blah, blah.  At the end I requested an opportunity to speak and it was granted. I didn't say much but I did ask if it was 'usual for the facility to make such a request' regarding someone who was a resident for so many years. Turns out they had never done it before.  I spoke my piece adding a little drama and the meeting ended a short period later. The State representative nodded to me and called me over to where she was sitting. She told me they were not going to upgrade Stella because even tho she was in good health and qualified for the upgrade, her advanced age and other considerations qualified her for the accommodations she was already in.  I went over to Stella and told her, she kissed me and hugged me.  Stella, I said, how the hell do you keep your hair looking so beautiful?  She laughed and said that's a secret. I'm not even going to tell you.  Thank you Howard.  Thank you, you don't know how alone you are, how alone you feel, until you are sitting by yourself in a situation like this one.  For me that last hug said it all.