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[through the ages/Seniors]
Why ‘Yes I Can’
just isn’t enough for Evy
Story and photo by Liz Rabiner Lippoff
My interview with
Evelyn Hirsch (“Call me
Evy!”) took a while to
arrange because her new
play was opening, and
she was kind of busy. It
was a huge success, to
nobody’s surprise.
So were the previous
plays. As are the art
classes she helps teach
and the writing workshop
she’s a part of. She’s
on the Rose Schnitzer
Manor Resident Council
and the Director’s
Advisory Board. Oh, and she is Cedar Sinai Park’s Volunteer of
the Year.
Still, when she welcomed me into her beautiful apartment
at the Rose Schnitzer Manor, you’d think I was the only thing
on her mind. Dressed, coiffed and made up like a fashion
model, she gave me a tour, gliding in her wheelchair from travel
mementos and treasured family photos to paintings with her
own signature. Jackie Kennedy’s televised White House tour had
nothing on my visit with Evy.
Evy always wanted to be an artist, but she became a bookkeeper
and married Jack Hirsch. They had three children and
went into business together. She was active in the synagogue,
Hebrew shool and gift shop. Her art, however, wasn’t on hold.
She would pull out the easel when everyone was asleep and
paint in the kitchen. When she and Jack divorced in the late
1970s, Evy moved to Florida and started over, this time as a real
estate agent and broker.
Evy has the arts – and maybe a higher power – to thank for
her second husband and lifelong partner, Michael Mogell. Evy
was studying opera and gothic architecture at the community
college when she bumped into her ex-husband’s cousin. Shortly
after, the cousin’s ex-husband asked Evy to dinner.
“I always thought if God wants me to have someone,” says
Evy, “He’ll send him over with red roses, a bottle of wine and a
big smile.” When she answered the door on that first date, there
was Michael, complete with roses, wine and a smile. They went
on to enjoy 34 years together, sharing their love of art, writing
and teaching.
When it was time to move out of their house, Evy and Mike
wanted a residence home based on Jewish values where they
could continue the active lifestyle they had always enjoyed. With
her daughter Deborah Burchiel and her husband, Dr. Kim
Burchiel, in Portland and the Rose Schnitzer Manor offering
all they had hoped for and more, they relocated in 2009 and
jumped right into life at The Manor.
Mike’s heart condition became a serious problem, though,
and number one on his short bucket list was to finally become
a bar mitzvah. He “became a man” last summer in front of
150 friends and family in a lovely ceremony at Rose Schnitzer
Manor and passed away a month later. At that ceremony,
again at RSM, her daughter Susan read aloud a comedy Evy
had written about a time when Mike attended a party in drag.
“It was beautiful,” Evy says with a smile.
Today Evy reads the paper online every day, writes plays
and stories and, most important, shares her gifts with her
fellow residents. She is friendly and invites everyone to join in
the classes and activities that make her days so fulfilling. Her
personal mantra is “Yes I Can,” but she doesn’t stop there.
“I try to turn my ‘Yes I Can’ into ‘Yes You Can’ for my
friends and neighbors.”
“Evy is a wonderful member of our community,” says RSM
director David Kohnstamm. “She brings a great energy to
RSM and models for all of us how to add to what is offered
and not merely sit back and be passive. RSM is a better place
because of Evy Hirsch.”
Liz Rabiner Lippoff is a medical marketing consultant and a freelance
writer. She’s wondering if maybe now isn’t finally a good time to take an
art class. www.LizInk.biz.
Sometimes, all you need is a helping hand.
Let us help you to stay at home.
Sinai Family Home Services
503-542-0088
www.SinaiFamily.org
“The service was
tremendously helpful
in our time of need.”
-Rabbi Joshua Stampfer
OREGON JEWISH LIFE | JULY 2012 65