metro » fe ature

Carol Rosenberg showed off her actor’s
panache at many JSL community events.

For Love
Of Seniors

Robin Schwartz | Contributing Writer

Carol Rosenberg
of Jewish Senior
Life to retire after
36 years of flair,
compassion and
success.

S

he has been known to
enter a room belting out
show tunes.
“Hello seniors/Well, hello
seniors/It’s so nice to have you here
where you belong” [to the tune
of “Hello Dolly”] is one of her
signature songs. Carol Rosenberg,
74, the longtime director of the
Jewish Senior Life Foundation, is
equal parts nurturing and theatri-
cal, a tireless and selfless advo-
cate for the Jewish community’s
thousands of older adults, and a
vibrant, energetic force of nature,
bringing joy and encouraging
active participation wherever she
goes.
“I made [the community] more
m
aware that old people matt
matter,”
Rosenberg says. “It’s not the
old folk’ s home anymore
anymore;
it’s doctors and lawyers and
home
social workers and homemak-
no
ers who come to live here now.
It’s the challenge of taking care of
needs ”
them and fulfilling their needs.
tha
Rosenberg has met that
challenge head on with her
Ove
own special flair. Over
the last 36 years, she
incorporat
has incorporated
theate
art and theater,
humor, fitne
fitness, a
resident dog
dog, bird
flow
aviaries, flower
arranging, e educa-
worksho
tional workshops,
hon
an exhibit honor-
ing Michigan
sur
Holocaust sur-
vivors, financi
financial
assistance pro
pro-
suppo
grams, support
m
services and so much
trai
more. She has trained

and mentored hundreds of staff
members and community volun-
teers who help run JSL’s five senior
apartment residences. And she’s
done it all with love, compassion
and pride.
“She is a great teacher; Carol
leads by example,” says Beth Tryon,
Rosenberg’s executive assistant for
nearly 19 years. “The vision she pos-
sesses and shares with staff, family
and community members is a cul-
mination of her own passion, expe-
riences through her long career and
her dedication to our community.”
Early on, Carol made a noticeable
impact. A 1982 Detroit Jewish News
article speaks glowingly about her
accomplishments, just two years
after she began working as program
director at what was then the Jewish
Home for Aged.
“Last summer, we took some
residents to see a baseball game at
Tiger Stadium,” the then 40-year-old
Carol is quoted as saying. “To see
these elderly men waving canes over
their shoulders yelling, ‘Go!’ — well,
it was wonderful. One man told me,
‘I never thought I’d live to smell the
air of this stadium again.’ I would
have carried him Downtown on my
shoulders so he could have had that
experience.”

MAKE A HOOPLA
It all started in 1980. Rosenberg,
who was born and raised in Detroit,
was working as a high school
English, theater and speech teacher
when budget cuts were made. Her
husband wasn’t working at the time
and they had three small children.
She needed a job. Carol was invited
to visit Borman Hall on 7 Mile Road
in Detroit to see if the program

n might
migh ht be a
director position
good fit.
“You’ll come in,
and you’ll just make a
calls being
b eing
hoopla,” she recalls
told. “Well, this s was
ey.
right up my alley.
nge
My first challenge
was to bring in a
ught
show, so I brought
Barnum from the
Fisher Theatre to
ause
the people because
ance
they were distance
uldn’t
limited and couldn’t
go anywhere. The
me in
whole cast came
and did that. We
ound
brought The Sound
of Music, too.”
ll,
Through it all,
yed many
Rosenberg played
n. At a volun-
roles of her own.
n party one
teer recognition
year, she came dressed from
head to toe in a Mother
e. Other
Goose costume.
er in a police
photos show her
m, a glit-
officer’s uniform,
ape, wearing
tery wizard’s cape,
nd a mink
retro glasses and
stole. At 5 feet 11 inches
ed hair and
with striking red
a husky voice, she can
dience just
captivate an audience
he room.
by walking in the
he-
“It was my the-
nd that
ater background
allowed me to begin
events with my y own
he says.
personality,” she
fe. This is
“This is my life.
my stage. And I direct-
ed it like the director.”
“And I’ll miss s it,” she adds,
ears.
fighting back tears.

continued
ued on page 12

10 October 6 • 2016

