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ARDEN COURTS OFFERS
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Our specially trained Arden Courts memory care advisors would like to help you with your
memory care needs. Our staff who have been regularly tested for COVID-19 and follow all
CDC protocols and can either meet at your home or at another location of your choice to
discuss: • Planning for a crisis
• Safety home assessment
• Planning for a future with dementia • Memory assessment
• How to place in a memory care community during COVID-19
Help is just a phone call away. Call today to schedule your personalized home visit.

To arrange for your home visit, contact:
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215.957.5182 Arden Courts of Yardley
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For more information contact
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Kelliea@paulsrun.org PaulsRun.org/Save
WE ARE
VA C C IN A T E D !
Retirement Community
9896 Bustleton Avenue • Philadelphia, PA 19115
8 MAY 6, 2021
THE GOOD LIFE
r. Donald Stoltz, 85, is used to the
thrill of seeing his name in print.

Th e retired doctor and former
president of the Curtis Center Museum
of Norman Rockwell Art in Philadelphia
is also a prolifi c author who has published
22 books for children and adults over the
course of his life.

Th e Northeast Philadelphia resident
self-published his latest book, “It Could
Be Verse,” in April. Th e volume is a collec-
tion of poems written in the rhyming
style he used for many of the children’s
books he wrote and illustrated in his
younger years. Th e cover is illustrated
with a painting of his wife, Phyllis Stoltz.

Th e poems in the collection range
from lighthearted rhymes about birds
fl ying into museums to fi nal goodbyes
for a dying friend. Th ere are also poems
about Jewish holidays, from helping an
old man in need on Chanukah to staff at
a Catholic hospital celebrating Passover
with a patient while he recovers from
surgery. Stoltz grew up in Northeast Philadelphia,
and his parents were founding members of
what was then called Congregation Shaare
Shamayim. He knew he wanted to be a
doctor from a young age and attended
Central High School, Temple University
and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic
Medicine. Aft er he graduated from PCOM in
1961, he married and opened a family
medicine practice in his parents’ base-
ment. His initial base of patients was a
group of 50 or 60 families in the neighbor-
hood who invited him to their weddings
and bar mitzvahs.

When many young parents who went
to him for health care told him that their
children were struggling with toilet train-
ing, he started looking for a children’s
book that might help them.

“I looked all over, and I couldn’t fi nd
one about toilet training. So I decided to
write it, and I wrote ‘Th e Story of Tommy
Toilet,’” he said.

Th e book sold in local bookstores and
pharmacies, and Stoltz said it wasn’t long
before every house in the neighborhood
had a copy.

He discovered that he enjoyed writing
to help children learn about challenging
topics, so he decided to write more. Next
came a book about Nelson Needle, which
was written to help children scared of
getting shots. Th en came “Peter Th e Very
Poor Eater,” about picky eating.

One of his favorites was “How Dad
and Mother Made My Brother,” which
covered early sex education.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



“Th at was a very interesting book, not only to write, but to
illustrate,” he said.

Aft er 12 years, he joined a new practice with two other
doctors located on Roosevelt Boulevard. He went on to write
more books, including a book for older children called “Th e
Bubble Trip to Israel,” which he created with Al Weisner. Most of
them are available on Amazon.

He also compiled the “Norman Rockwell and the Saturday
Evening Post,” series, which analyzes every cover painting artist
Norman Rockwell did for the Saturday Evening Post.

He started the project aft er he received a book of Rockwell
artwork as a gift from his wife. His brother, Marshall Stoltz,
tracked down Rockwell’s phone number in the hopes of getting
it autographed.

To everyone’s surprise, Rockwell answered the phone. When
he heard that Donald Stoltz was a big fan, a doctor and a fellow
artist, he invited the family up to his studio in Stockbridge,
Massachusetts. For Stoltz, who saved every issue of the Saturday Evening Post
when his father had it delivered to his childhood home, it was a
dream come true. He became friendly with Rockwell and visited
him several times. During one of the visits, he asked Rockwell
if anyone had ever created a compilation of all his Saturday
Evening Post covers. When Rockwell said no, Stoltz off ered to
use his experience in writing and publishing to do it himself.

Over the course of a year, the Stoltz brothers organized and
wrote descriptions of every cover Rockwell ever illustrated.

The initial print run was 10,000 books. Stoltz said Simon &
Schuster later acquired the rights and ran a second printing of
See Poetry, Page 10
PLAN AHEAD FOR peace of mind.

W H E N YO U M A K E YO U R F I N A L A R R A N G E M E N TS I N A DVA N C E ,
you can plan a memorial that truly reflects your faith and passions.

Whether planning for yourself or a loved one, rely on your
Dignity Memorial professionals to help you design a memorial
that honors the customs and rituals you cherish.

When you’re ready to get started, we’re here to help.

® FOREST HILLS/SHALOM
ROOSEVELT HUNTINGDON VALLEY
TREVOSE 215-673-5800
215-673-7500 Memorial Park
Memorial Park
> DignityPennsylvania.com <
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM THE GOOD LIFE
MAY 6, 2021
9