Band
Name: Symphony Square
Width: 4.917"
Depth: 4.75"
Color: Black plus one
Comment: Good Life/Jewish Exponent
Ad Number: 00073336
Continued from Page 15
Better Living Your Way !
Symphony Square
Assisted Living & Memory Care
35 Old Lancaster Road • Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
(610) 660-6560
WWW.SYMPHONYSQ.COM Name: HCR Manor Care/Arden Court
Width: 4.917"
Depth: 4.75"
Color: Black plus one
Comment: The Good Life
Ad Number: 00073199
16 MAY 18, 2017
THE GOOD LIFE
upbeat as you can tell from the music, and
it’s a chance for us and a chance for them;
we interact with them. So it gives them joy
and it gives us joy.”
Jozef Bobik, 95, is the oldest member of
the group. The rest are “young whipper-
snappers,” he said with a laugh.
The violinist joined in as part of the
first seven members. Immigrating to
America in 1927 from Czechoslovakia, he
has played music all his life.
When he was a child, his grandparents
asked Bobik if he wanted to learn how to
play an instrument.
“I said, ‘Yes, trombone,’” Bobik
recalled. “So they went out with my father
and came home with a violin.”
He learned to play by ear and has since
picked up the harmonica, piano, clarinet
and saxophone. If he can hum a song or
sing it, he can play it, he said.
“I don’t know how to play the trom-
bone,” he laughed. “The one instrument I
wanted to learn how to play, I haven’t
learned how.
“Yet.” Playing with the Grateful Alive gives
him a chance to be around people who
love music as much as he does.
“It’s social. It’s camaraderie; you’re
friends. It gives you a chance to go out and
you’re doing what you love to do,” he said.
“If I’m not playing the violin, I’m whistling
or singing or humming. … I enjoy the
group, and I would encourage every
parent to have their children learn some
music. It’s the universal language.”
Carolyn Barker, 88, joined the original
group in the late ’80s after a friend wanted
her to meet some people.
She went to a coffeehouse and met one
of the men who started Grateful Alive.
“When he found out I played the
violin, he said, ‘You have to come to our
rehearsal.’ And I said, ‘You haven’t heard
me play yet!’” she laughed. “He said, ‘Just
come.’ So I did, and that’s how I got into
the group.”
The name of the band, she said, came
from one of the original violinists,
Virginia Love, who died in 2014. (“The
name gets everybody,” acknowledged
saxophonist Tom Chambers with a smile.)
The group has since grown from its
original five members, but the value in
what they do remains the same.
“I just love the music, and I love the
camaraderie of the group. We have a
wonderful band, we really do. We have
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
Name: Rydal Park c/o Universal Media
Width: 3.625"
Depth: 9.75"
Color: Black plus one
Comment: 5/18 The Good Life
Ad Number: 00073434
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ŕÇTļĹŕĹçTïę Rabbi Sue Greenberg and Mary Aldworth
Photo by Marissa Stern
fun,” she said. “I hope that [the audiences] just enjoy the music,
the rhythm of the music. We’ve seen it happen where somebody is
practically comatose and then when the music starts playing, they
get into it. It does revive people — maybe temporarily, but it’s nice.
I just hope that they — and I know they do — respond to us.”
For some in the group, like Chambers, the former mayor of
West Chester, playing with Grateful Alive gives them a chance to
revisit instruments they haven’t played in a long time.
When Chambers, 71, joined about two years ago, it was the
first time he picked up the saxophone in 58 years.
After Mary Aldworth “bugged” him for a while to join, he even-
tually gave in. A former Marine, he especially enjoys being able to
play for the VA hospital they frequently visit.
“Being able to see the satisfaction you get out of watching
people react to the music is just wonderful, and that’s why I like to
do it,” he said.
For other band members, the group allows them to play an
instrument they had wanted to for a long time.
“I told my husband [for] 50 years, ‘Someday I’m going to play
the accordion.’ Now that I’m this age and try to carry it around, it
ought to be a piccolo,” laughed Judy Wadsworth, 79.
She and Greenberg stood together after rehearsal was finished
and reflected that sometimes the performances are emotional.
They finish each gig with songs for the armed forces, always
ending with “God Bless America.”
The group has a good time doing what they do, Greenberg
added. “[The audiences] relate to us because we’re about the same
age,” she laughed.
Wadsworth pointed to their dedication to play.
“People don’t miss it if they can make it,” she said. “You don’t stay
home from Grateful Alive. It takes something important to keep us
away because it’s a big part of our lives.” l
As one of the area’s premier Life Plan
Communities, Rydal Park is more than a
place to live. It’s a place where people
62 and better can explore favorite
interests, form new friendships and feel
vibrantly alive. Come see why life at
Rydal Park is
ŖvĒĻËõîTààŘĹĮĒËĩËĻęĹ Exceptional. Without Exception.
1515 The Fairway, Rydal, PA 19046 | 215.376.6292
Find our fascinating events schedule
at RydalPark.org or RydalWaters.org.
Contact: mstern@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM THE GOOD LIFE
MAY 18, 2017
17