In Their Element

IFS's Coville Apartments have carved
a niche of their own.

Ida Erstein enjoys her visitor.

Artist Minnie Silver

Rose Hershman pets Maxie.

A

mid the dozens of Minnie
Silver paintings on the wall
of her Southfield apartment
is one of three rock and roll
musicians jumping on stage.
"I saw them on television and
decided it might make a good paint-
ing," said the artist.
Silver is happily back in her paint-
ing groove. Last year she thought her
days as an artist had come to an end
last year when she had to move from
her 3-bedroom house in Farmington
Hills to the one bedroom in
Southfield. But what she found at the
Margot and Warren Coville
Apartments in the North Park Place

7/24
1998

24 Detroit Jewish News

apartment complex was something a
little different in the way of senior
housing.
For openers, it is a small program,
serving only 20 seniors.
The greatest number of elderly Jews
are housed in congregate living facili-
ties operated by Jewish Apartments
and Services. Jan Bayer, supervisor of
the Coville apartments, which are run
by Jewish Family Service, says they
meet a different need. "We fall in
between JAS and a nursing home," he
said.
The program began with two
apartments in 1979 as the Group
Apartment Program for the Elderly.

Last August, a $1 million gift from
Margot and Warren Coville allowed
the eighth apartment to open.
The Coville Apartment program
also differs from other senior living
options in the area because as many as
three residents live in an apartment,
creating new opportunities from
friendship. Silver's roommates, Rose
Herschman and Marion Moss,
encouraged her to paint again.
The 87-year-old Silver says her
inspiration comes from many places.
"I saw boats on the television set
and I painted these," she said point-
ing to the oil paintings of the mas-
sive yachts crashing through the

waves. Back in her bedroom, she
pulls up one of her recent paintings.r -'
of a porcelain sculpture on her dress-n
er. In Moss' room, she shows a
painting of a 16th Century house
she visited in Stratford-upon-Avon,
England.
The tour of apartment 218 ended
in her bedroom. While not large, she
uses the space as an art studio as
much as she does a place to sleep. Her
easel, supplies, unframed paintings
and her father's 100-years-old smock
take up the bulk of the room.
The key, according to Bayer, is for
the residents to be socializing with
each other. Regular programs are

