12 | AUGUST 19 • 2021 

JCC LOCKER ROOM continued from page 6

I rode my favorite exercise 
bike next to Alan, who lived 
around the block from me in 
my early years, and we talked 
about our legendary days (in 
our own minds) as kids, playing 
baseball together at MacDowell 
Elementary in Detroit.
But the real highlights of my 
visits (as I look back on those 
many years) were the conver-
sations I had with my locker 
mates after our workouts. My 
good friend Larry joined the 
JCC, in large part, to meet 
me there and share the best 
post-workout whirlpool in 
the known world, when it was 
working.
I shared conversations 
with Larry and others in the 
dry sauna, while other folks 
shvitzed together in the wet 
sauna. And then, after a shower, 
I returned to my locker and 
took my time getting dressed, 
sharing seemingly frivolous 
and, only in retrospect, serious 
interactions with my neighbors. 

MANY CONVERSATIONS
One guy in my row was a big 
talker who I too often allowed 
to draw me into ridiculous 
political arguments. But even 
he showed his softer side, when 
he dressed in his veteran’s garb 
to attend the funeral of a fellow 
Jewish War vet. 
Sam was a retired attorney 
about 15 years older than I, who 
shared his philosophies and 
jokingly called me “my liberal 
friend” each time I showed up 
for my workout. Nathan always 
seemed to be at the Center, no 
matter when I came. He had 
grown up under the Soviets 
before emigrating to America 
and had a lot of stories to 
share. Not surprisingly, his 
view of American politics was 
fascinating. 

A few of the guys endured 
the loss of their wives during 
the time I knew them. I 
watched and listened as 
they stood by their partners 
through serious illnesses and 
then as they talked about how 
sad it felt to be left alone. 
Ken was a special guy, about 
8 years older than I, who talked 
with me about his many trips 
with his wife, not to impress me, 
but to encourage me to travel 
while I was still able. He also 
told me great jokes and stories.
He was kind enough to pur-
chase a children’s book I had 
written, and he made sure to 
tell me each time he read my 
book to his grandson, which 
he knew meant a lot to me. 
Ken passed away in the past 
year, and I made sure to send 
his wife a note of how much 
our locker room relationship 
meant to me. 
I spoke with many other 
guys whose lockers were in 
nearby rows. I recall talking 
with Jay at the time of my 
daughter’s wedding a few years 
ago. I told him I was very 
happy, but I couldn’t under-
stand my wife’s and daughter’s 
level of concern about the 
party. He smiled and suggested 
that both of them had been 
planning for that day since 
before my daughter was born! 
Danny never missed a 
chance to talk about how much 
we both loved the ’60s singing 
group, the Vogues. 
A retired psychiatrist nearby 
reached out to me during my 
own recent retirement from 
psychiatry and offered counsel 
and support. Marvin, about 10 
years older than I, encouraged 
me to keep doing my balance 
exercises, since he promised I 
would need them even more as 
I got older. 

FAMILY TIES
But I’ve saved the best for 
last … my cousin Leo. Leo, 
who was my mother’s first 
cousin, talked with me about 
growing up with my mom and 
my aunts. He shared with me 
how lucky he felt to still be 
alive and fairly healthy into 
his 90s. He talked about how 
he missed his brother who 
had died of complications of 
Alzheimer’s. 
 We laughed together at 
stories about our family. Leo 
talked about his two Bernices, 
the two women with the same 
name to whom he had been 
married, and how much he 
missed each of them when 
they passed away. 
I felt like Plato at the feet 
of Socrates, learning from my 
elder about what was truly 
important and what wasn’t. His 
smile, his laugh and the twin-
kle in his eyes will always be 
with me. And I watched at the 
end of his life when his daugh-
ter and son-in-law lovingly 
brought Leo to the Center, so 
he could see his friends at a 
familiar place which he clearly 
loved.
On some level, it was just 
a locker room. But to those 
of us who frequented “the 
Center,” it was so much more. 
I’m sure the dues we all paid 
couldn’t add up to enough to 
keep the JCC Health Club sol-
vent. So, when the powers that 
be finally decided they needed 
to shut it down, who am I to 
explain why it had been worth 
keeping it going all those 
years? 
Or perhaps I just did.
May the Center rest in peace. 
Amen. 

Dr. Jeff London is a retired child 

psychologist from Farmington Hills.

PURELY COMMENTARY

The empty men’s JCC Executive 
Locker Room after its final closing. 

PHOTOS BY DAVID SACHS

