Key Biscayne Stories

Alejandro Servalli: 00:00

All right, welcome to another episode of Key Biscayne Stories where neighbors meet neighbors. Today we have Ed Stone, a Key Biscayne resident for fifty eight years. He's the president of the Ask Club, which is the Active Seniors of Key Biscayne. Before we dive into that, we have a quick message from our sponsors. Doctor.

Alejandro Servalli: 00:16

Dr Bocage has been in practice as an orthodontist for over a decade, helping to create beautiful smiles in the Key Biscayne community. She's inspired by her patients to do her job better every day and to continually learn new methods of treatment to improve the care she gives. Doctor. Dr Bocage enjoys using her knowledge of science and engineering to make a positive difference in the life of her patients. She built her career as an orthodontist on a foundation of quality education.

Alejandro Servalli: 00:42

She received her certificate of orthodontics and a master's degree in medical science from Harvard University. Doctor. Prakash is a member of the American Dental Association, the American Association of Orthodontics, and the Harvard Society for Advancements of Orthodontics, and is also a certified Invisalign provider. At Bokash Orthodontics, we provide the highest quality orthodontics treatment and Invisaligning for children and adults. We are conveniently located in the heart of Key Biscayne at 240 Crennan Boulevard, Suite 106.

Alejandro Servalli: 01:14

Ed, how are you doing today?

Ed Stone: 01:15

Well, you. Glad to be here.

Alejandro Servalli: 01:18

Thank you for coming on the show. Know we've been going back and forth for a while, so thank you for your patience, and I'm glad we can have you today.

Ed Stone: 01:24

Good. I'd like to share what we have.

Alejandro Servalli: 01:27

So before we dive into the Ask Club, which is an amazing club that provides a lot of services for seniors, Let's get to know you a little bit. You tell us a little bit about how you got I to the was

Ed Stone: 01:40

born in Port Chester, New York, 1942. My mother and father my mother was a history teacher in the high school. My dad was a banker and very involved in the community. My dad was a big volunteer in the Boy Scouts and the Red Cross and all that. So I've been feeling that.

Ed Stone: 01:58

Went to grammar school in town to a Catholic school. Then I went to a Catholic high school called Archbishop Stepanac, and then Fairfield University. I graduated in 'sixty four. And then I spent a year in the Jesuit lay missions in Jamaica, Above Rocks, Jamaica, which is outside of Kingston, up in the bush, they call it. And I taught there for a year.

Ed Stone: 02:20

Very, very pleasant. Came back, and the world started. I started working for Citicorp as a trainee, and I had an apartment at 212 East 48th Street, really pretty sharp life, and got drafted. So that ended that. In the meantime, I got married, and I went to officer training school, and ended up in Vietnam.

Ed Stone: 02:45

Got back in one piece, 'sixty nine. But in 1968, we bought our first house on Harbor Lane. November 11, as a matter of fact, the day Nixon got elected. It's a good story. Was married for twenty years, had four kids, and was involved in a lot of things.

Ed Stone: 03:09

The lighthouse run. I was the treasurer for the lighthouse run for many years. Then I got involved in the Chamber of Commerce. I was there, president a few years there. And then in, like, the early '90s, a group had started talking about the seniors leaving the Key.

Ed Stone: 03:29

Now, the real estate values were beginning to rise. So people were saying, I'll cash out and live happily ever after on the proceeds of my good investment on the Key. But we didn't want them to leave. They had too much to offer us. So there was a group.

Ed Stone: 03:45

It was Doctor. Mags, Doctor. Palmer, Father Libby, and Dick McGill were the leaders behind it. And then Glenn Van Hartz, myself, and Michelle Potivan were also involved. And this was a meeting.

Ed Stone: 04:02

We used to meet at the Grape Tree townhouse and kind of come up with ideas. And finally, in 2001, Dick McGill successfully hired Roxy Lujan, who's our director of services for the Key for the Seniors. And so she did a great she came right in. She was from New York. And she came right in and did a great job.

Ed Stone: 04:26

And then by 2008, you could tell she was overwhelmed. She was still doing a great job, but there was just no more time in the day for her to do anything. So a group of us got together and said, what are we going to do? Anne Tainter, Jean Wenzel, Sally Brody, Cliff Brody, and others. And we said, let's try something.

Ed Stone: 04:49

So since I was about to retire, I started reading, what do you do when you retire? The first book I read was by Mark Freeman. It was called the book was called Encore, which is what do you do when you retire? You've got talents that you're not using anymore. How can you push them into another environment?

Ed Stone: 05:09

So that was one section that we said, Okay, now we want to do something. Then the next trick was the Beacon Hill Boston had an organization that they had formed to keep their seniors in place. And they had a book, and we bought the book. And at this point, we now were involved with the Key Biscayne Community Foundation. And I think they bought the book for us, few $100.

Ed Stone: 05:34

But it was great. And this was neighbor helping neighbor. If you needed groceries, there'd be somebody that could take you grocery shopping, etcetera, etcetera. So we took all these things together, that the Beacon Hill program required total volunteers. And we knew from our experience with our neighbors and friends, they're not going to all volunteer.

Ed Stone: 05:56

So we have to find some other way to make this click. And that was through Roxy and other ways. So we put together a program called the ASK Club, A S K, capital letters, Club, capital letters, active seniors on the key. I was having lunch one day with Debbie De Leon, an architect at the yacht club. And she said I was talking to her about this program.

Ed Stone: 06:22

And she said, I think it's great, but you have to call it a club. You're not going to get the Latin population excited unless it's a club. So Debbie deserves a lot of credit by throwing club in there, we have a very strong Latin participation. So, the first thing we did was we got some grants. With the support of Max Rothman from Alliance for Aging, he introduced us to the Health Foundation, who had funds that they could help us with exercise programs.

Ed Stone: 06:52

So we had a five year grant from the Health Foundation, and we created the Enhanced Fitness Program for the more active seniors, and a Matter of Balance Program for the less agile seniors. And they're still in existence, but for five years, we had them funded through the foundation. And we even brought it to Miami Gardens and to Carl Gables

Alejandro Servalli: 07:15

with

Ed Stone: 07:16

our grant. So we were very proud of ourselves. And these programs are still in existence today. And in the meantime, we just realized that there's a lot of the big word that came to mind is inclusion. People need to be included.

Ed Stone: 07:33

And as you age, it's easy to walk away or just step aside. We found that the more we did, the more people would like to get involved. So we started having lunches. We decided to have lunches, and we had a group. And we were going to we had a bunch of servers, my my wife and Susan Brewster and Sally Brody, Anne Tainter, Jane Wenzel, Bobby Savage, Betty Sim, and Lois Greenberg, were volunteering.

Ed Stone: 08:06

And the first day we had expected 25 people for the lunch. 100 showed up. So we had to run to Winn Dixie and get the difference and get sandwiches and chop them up and give them it was very, very successful. From that point on, we've had a lunch every week with most of it's educational. And sometimes it's just pure fun, but it's catered now.

Ed Stone: 08:29

And the village has been extremely generous. And we have a we're very, very pleased with our success. We now have this is the program that I don't know if you can see this.

Alejandro Servalli: 08:43

Just bring it up a little bit more. Perfect.

Ed Stone: 08:46

This is the Bideli program. It's at the community center. They print it large because we can't see as well as we used to.

Alejandro Servalli: 08:51

That's June. That's just June right there. This is just the month of June. Amazing.

Ed Stone: 08:55

It's got a lot of activity. There's no reason that anybody can't find something that they would enjoy doing. So in reality, what we've created after eighteen years, by the way, should be our September 18. We've created an independent living environment within Key Biscayne with no additional cost, with the exception of paying your taxes. And I think the membership at the community center, which is very reasonable.

Ed Stone: 09:23

So, it's a real bargain, and it's a very, very loving, caring people. People are now beginning to realize how wonderful it is. We received donations through the Key Biscayne Community Foundation. People have given us monies, which go to our programming, because the village is very helpful, but they have limits as well. We have a very small budget from the village.

Ed Stone: 09:44

It's less than one third of 1% of the village budget, But it's very well utilized. And we have lunches at least once a week, if not twice. And it's just a lot of opportunity for people to get together, and a lot of good, interesting lectures. We have a big thing coming up now in Valentine's Day of next year. We're having a cruise, and it's called the Sisters, the Sister of the Village's Sisterhood or something.

Ed Stone: 10:14

I would like some more men to be involved. And Anita Sandler is doing a really great job on putting it together, and she loves to cruise. So she's really done pull out all the stops. It'll be a wonderful event. So it's a real bargain for those people who love cruising.

Ed Stone: 10:32

So we should really look into that. What else? The exercise programs are going on and on. We have now, every day, have at least one or two exercise programs. So there is something I have a little bug I would like to throw here.

Ed Stone: 10:48

I would like benches, more park benches so people can walk. The other day, I had to walk from Ocean Lane Plaza to the Yacht Club. There was no break. I felt I needed a break somewhere between the two. There's no chairs anywhere along the route.

Ed Stone: 11:04

So this is something I talked to Todd, and he's looking into it. So hopefully we can pursue it, put it on the budget. But this will keep people walking. If you knew you had a you know, every half mile or so, you'd have to take a break, you'd do more exercise, and that's good. That makes And that's a very, very important part of our existence, is the exercise.

Alejandro Servalli: 11:25

What about the dance? You guys do several shows throughout Oh, the

Ed Stone: 11:29

yeah, yeah.

Alejandro Servalli: 11:30

That I've seen online sometimes. You tell us a little bit about those shows?

Ed Stone: 11:35

Marilyn Miles.

Alejandro Servalli: 11:37

She's the

Ed Stone: 11:39

Marilyn Miles has been running the Enhance Fitness program since the beginning, and the people have really loved working with her, and she with them. And she's created a dance troupe that perform for us. And they have two or three at least three or four events a year of very well executed dance numbers. We've had the we have a Mother's Day show. We have a beach park show.

Ed Stone: 12:06

We're going to have another at the end of the summer. We're going to have the end of summer show. So it's it's a lot to look forward to. And this is all part of the lunches program on the Thursdays. But she's done a great job.

Ed Stone: 12:17

Again, it brings a lot of community, a lot of people together that wouldn't otherwise have an opportunity. So it's really very, very successful.

Alejandro Servalli: 12:27

What would you say are your favorite, your personally favorite activities of the ASKUP?

Ed Stone: 12:32

I like the art classes, I love the lectures. The lectures are great. We've Chris Biggers introduced us to the OLLI program at the University of Miami. We now have a lecturer, a gentleman who comes and lectures quite often. But many times, some of the other people from the come out, and it's a great opportunity for us to get very, very good quality education on art and other entertainments.

Ed Stone: 13:01

And some of our own people can help us. Ruth Rosenberg, who loved to travel to India. She used to give us lectures on that. She gave us a lecture recently on travel. People like to travel, and they just like to be together.

Ed Stone: 13:17

You know, we have we don't have we don't play the we don't have the cards per se, but there's canasta groups. I think there's bridge clubs that I'm not familiar with, but I think they exist. Yeah. And but it's just and I just get excited when I see this come out every month.

Alejandro Servalli: 13:34

There's so much going on. Mean

Ed Stone: 13:35

There really is.

Alejandro Servalli: 13:36

Now, I know the village has a bus.

Ed Stone: 13:39

Yes.

Alejandro Servalli: 13:40

And I think Todd may have mentioned to me that I could be wrong, correct me if I'm wrong but that part of the use of the bus is to take the seniors out on experiences.

Ed Stone: 13:50

Yes. They have usually there's two or three trips a month. You can find this on the calendar as well. They go to art galleries, and Bill Durham has done a wonderful job in working with the art community to find good opportunities for people to enjoy. And so that's it.

Ed Stone: 14:10

But they go down this next week, I believe, I saw that they're going down to Homestead for the day. Okay. It's just $5 to bus. They pay you for the bus, and then they bring you to a few orchard places, and then they go out to lunch and come home and have a great time. And then when there's they have plays.

Ed Stone: 14:29

Roxy has a good connection with getting good tickets for the Arts Center and other places. And it's just amazing. And Roxy's amazing. We're just so lucky to have her amongst us. And she's done a wonderful job.

Ed Stone: 14:43

But, you know, we have a board now. And this is a good group. It's Chris Biggers, Susan Sawyer, Myra Santa Maria, Iris Cooperman, Sharon Albright, Lourdes Hernandez, and Mariana McCroskey just left us. And today is flag day, which is Savage's birthday. She passed this year, which is very sad, but she was very instrumental.

Ed Stone: 15:12

So another project that we're looking to help is in this environment that we're doing, this non assisted living, this independent living, is neighbor helping neighbor. We need resources and your ideas. Come back to us. How you think we can help each other better. The foundation certainly does a lot of it.

Ed Stone: 15:38

It's complicated, we know, but it would be ideal. It would just be one more feather on our quill.

Alejandro Servalli: 15:44

Would you say that Key Biscayne is known now for a robust senior support and activities and really a good place to retire, to live? How would

Ed Stone: 16:00

We you believe describe that. Yes. A number of people who are coming down as winter folk, and they've given that up, and they live here now permanently. And they've all said it's just amazing for them, for they come from other communities, and they just we've got the best that they could possibly dream of. So, we've really we've done a good thing.

Ed Stone: 16:22

We're all very proud of it, and we're happy about it, too.

Alejandro Servalli: 16:26

A 100%. I mean, when people ask me, What do I do in Key Biscayne? I mean, depending on, of course, of what they are, if it's a family or if it's a couple visiting or a senior or whatever, I direct them to the community service and community center, sorry, and there's so much going on. You subscribe to all the newsletters and you go out and you go to the community center and you stay informed, there are so many things to do, which is fantastic. Doctor.

Alejandro Servalli: 16:57

Bocage has been in practice as an orthodontist for over a decade, helping to create beautiful smiles in the Key Biscayne community. She's inspired by her patients to do her job better every day and to continually learn new methods of treatment to improve the care she gives. Doctor. Bocage enjoys using her knowledge of science and engineering to make a positive difference in the life of her patients. She built her career as an orthodontist on a foundation of quality education.

Alejandro Servalli: 17:22

She received her certificate of orthodontics and a master's degree in medical science from Harvard University. Doctor. Bocage is a member of the American Dental Association, the American Association of Orthodontics, and the Harvard Society for Advancements of Orthodontics, and is also a certified Invisalign provider. At Bocage Orthodontics, we provide the highest quality orthodontics treatment and Invisaligning for children and adults. We are conveniently located in the heart of Key Biscayne at 240 Condon Boulevard, Suite 106.

Alejandro Servalli: 17:54

So what does it take what is the criteria to become a member of the Ask Club?

Ed Stone: 17:58

A member of the Ask Club is simply to indicate to the front desk that you wish to become a member. You should probably join the community center, because it's for whatever that fee is, 200 a year or thereabouts. That gives you free lunches at least once or twice a week, plus all the activities that happen. So that's one reason. And then we get your name and your email, and we barrage you with information about what's happening so you can't miss anything.

Ed Stone: 18:29

This calendar goes out once a month, but then it changes. And then every day we send you more about the book club, the bocce ball, etcetera. I mean, it's just amazing. We have art class, we have Tai Chi, We have water aerobics. I mean, it's just it goes on.

Ed Stone: 18:46

There's 25 or 30 items that we could go through. I didn't write them all down today because I'm so used to having them, but they keep you totally busy. I mean, there's no way that you cannot be extremely active by being involved in this. And active is great because it keeps your mind going. And that's very important that you keep going.

Ed Stone: 19:11

And that's what people do. And they see each other and they interact. And you can see friendships forming. It's really exciting to see that. And again, it's that inclusion trick that's just very, very important.

Alejandro Servalli: 19:23

Can you share a couple of other activities from the calendar?

Ed Stone: 19:27

Yeah, we on Thursday is a very busy day. Pickleball starts in the morning, and then you've got Judy doing her jewelry, and then we've got dance fitness, which is a new program that's been very exciting. And it's just a very good, strenuous exercise, but using dance music. Then there's a chair exercise, and then a strength and stretch with Laura. Then we have a lunch usually.

Ed Stone: 19:54

Then there's a movie, and now there's an ice cream social. And that's Friday. That's just Thursday, every Thursday. That's the activity. Then Tuesday's another busy day because we have bocce ball, Meijiang, more Tai Chi.

Ed Stone: 20:10

We have water fitness, chair exercise. Shine Medical comes and talks to you about your need for your Medicare, which really helps because that's really complicated today. So, the more we have And that's part of our connection with Max Rothberg from the Alliance for Aging. He's been very generous to bring his time. Then there's a driver's license renewal that day.

Ed Stone: 20:33

And early in the morning is a yoga. So that's Tuesday, Thursday. I mean, you're exhausted. You have Wednesday and Thursday, Wednesday and Friday off if you want. But there's still activities every day.

Alejandro Servalli: 20:45

Ed, that's awesome. What you guys are doing at the Ask Club is amazing. I've seen it. I witness, I hear about it all the time. So congratulations of how far you've come and the service that you provide, you know, for, and your group and your colleagues provide for the community.

Alejandro Servalli: 21:02

Very much needed and very much welcomed, of course. Now, at the beginning you mentioned a couple of things, but I didn't want to interrupt you, so we just went through into the ASK Club. But first you're a veteran. Yes. So I have to thank you for your service.

Ed Stone: 21:20

Okay.

Alejandro Servalli: 21:21

And I think I always like to do that. If I would have known, I would have mentioned it at the beginning, but again, in Vietnam, so I know that's I mean, all wars are tough, so thank you for your service and I'm glad that you made it back in one piece, as you mentioned. Jamaica. Mean, you know It

Ed Stone: 21:39

was cool.

Alejandro Servalli: 21:39

I have to ask you a little bit about that. Bob Marley, I mean, all this cool culture around Jamaica, one year teaching. So can you tell us a little bit about that? What were you teaching? Why Jamaica?

Alejandro Servalli: 21:52

All that kind of fun stuff.

Ed Stone: 21:53

Well, Fairfield University is a Jesuit school. And they have while I was there, I remember that there was an outreach program that they talked about their their lay missions that were available to us. It kind of like was like the a Peace Corps back then. If you remember, this was in the '60s now. So the Peace Corps was big.

Ed Stone: 22:14

It's a Peace Corps type program, and was at Above Rocks, Jamaica, which is North of Kingston, Jamaica, up the top of the mountain. They called it the bush. Back in those days, it was even a dirt road to get there. And it was a school run by the Jesuits that was on the top of a mountain. The church was on the top, and there were grammar school on one side and a high school, or I think that's what it was called, on the other side.

Ed Stone: 22:40

I was teaching in the high school, and there were six or seven of us from The States and other Jesuit colleges who were there. So that was nice. You had them as comfort. But then we were teaching. I was teaching history and geography and math, which was kind of shocking.

Ed Stone: 22:55

I got through the math okay. But it was very, very exciting. The people were beautiful. It was a boarding school, and it was a little bit of a rough group, but they calmed out quickly. And it had a bit of a reputation, but it really wasn't very real.

Ed Stone: 23:12

I think the school is still in existence. But now the road is much better. You could probably drive there in a day. It was a real long trip to get up and down the mountain. But being in Jamaica was a treat because we could get to go and see the Morlees and the other activities going on and get to the beaches and have a good life as well.

Ed Stone: 23:30

But we felt we were doing a good thing. So then that was pretty exciting.

Alejandro Servalli: 23:35

And where were you living during that time?

Ed Stone: 23:38

There was a compound within the The compound, there was a school dormitory the teachers and for the students as well. So it was like a boarding school, really.

Alejandro Servalli: 23:55

So you able you taught there, and then you were able to How far away were you from Kingston?

Ed Stone: 24:00

Probably 20 miles, maybe. But a huge mountain. I mean, just in a row.

Alejandro Servalli: 24:07

You have to go Oh, around the mountain?

Ed Stone: 24:09

Zig zag roads.

Alejandro Servalli: 24:10

Or zig zag? Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Ed Stone: 24:11

So But it was beautiful. I haven't been back, but it's near Bog Walk, for everybody who knows the geography. Okay? But it's beautiful. It's between Alturrios and Kingston.

Ed Stone: 24:21

So, it was a very interesting time in my life, and set my goals for volunteering going forward. I I knew that everybody needs some help, and they'll take it. And, you know, I've been I joined the yacht club when we got down here, and I've been a member of it for, I guess, fifty six years. And I used to do something called a friend's dinner, and that was talk about inclusion. I'd called everybody and say, let's get together for dinner.

Ed Stone: 24:52

We get forty, fifty, 60 people to come and have dinner at the Yacht Club. So, never gave me a break, but I think they were probably happy to have it. And the people who came enjoyed it. Again, the people are funny. They want to get together, but they needed a catalyst to push the get together.

Ed Stone: 25:12

And these are the people who helped get the S Club going, the same group that I worked with. My social life became my senior life as well.

Alejandro Servalli: 25:26

Well, know, I always say that in groups of friends, there's always one or two people that are always the ones that plan the activities, that bring people together and say, Hey, guys, let's meet up. And then people come. So, that's definitely you and your crew.

Ed Stone: 25:41

Sadly, we're losing some of them. So, glad we had our times together.

Alejandro Servalli: 25:46

Ed, thank you for coming on the show. But before we conclude, I do have one more question for you. What is your favorite part of Key Biscayne?

Ed Stone: 25:56

Going to the beach. How could I say, what else could we have? Go to the beach and sit and relax and walk if we can. Such a beautiful place. See a sunrise or a sunset, or both.

Alejandro Servalli: 26:09

Okay. I agree. I like it. Awesome. Ed, again, thank you again for your service.

Alejandro Servalli: 26:16

Thank you again for your contributions to the community with The Ask Club and for taking your time today on this Sunday to join me and tell your story and share your neighbors.

Ed Stone: 26:25

Thank you for having us. Just don't forget us.

Alejandro Servalli: 26:28

You got it. You got it. Thank you. Doctor Bocage has been in practice as an orthodontist for over a decade, helping to create

Alejandro Servalli: 26:35

beautiful smiles in the Key Biscayne community.

Alejandro Servalli: 26:38

She's inspired by her patients to do her job better every day and to continually learn new methods of treatment to improve the care she gives. Doctor Bocage enjoys using her knowledge of science and engineering to make a positive difference in the life of her patients. She built her career as an orthodontist on a foundation of quality education. She received her certificate of orthodontics and a master's degree in medical science from Harvard University.

Alejandro Servalli: 27:03

Dr Bocage is a member of the American Dental Association, the American Association of Orthodontics, and the Harvard Society for Advancements of Orthodontics, and is also a certified Invisalign provider. At Bocage Orthodontics, we provide the highest quality orthodontics treatment and Invisaligning for children and adults. We are conveniently located in the heart of Key Biscayne at 240 Crandon Boulevard, Suite 106.