Colorful lives of Clark House women to be chronicled

By Mary Carey
Staff Writer

Published on September 05, 2008

As Bette Davis once observed, "Old age is no place for sissies." One of the reasons, at least as far as older women seem to be concerned, is that they become invisible to strangers, according to Jeanette Miller.

Miller, an expert on American spirituals, a soprano and retired physical therapist, continues to lead an interesting life, but, she says, "I'm not treated that way at times."

She plans to write a book telling her story and those of some of the other women at the Clark House, downtown subsidized housing for elders, where she moved in October. People will probably be surprised at all they have done, she said.

"Some of them were high-powered women and had very interesting lives before coming here. But a lot of them felt that people kind of looked through them when they were on the street. They were just older women and they had no life before, no life now and no life after. You can't wear a sign saying, 'I was a famous violinist,' or 'I was an opera singer.' You're just this person pushing a walker or with a wheelchair or cane."

She thought about writing the story of the Clark House by chronicling the women's lives. "The men seem to get what's due them anyway. It's the women who don't have a chance," Miller said.

So far, she has posted a notice saying she would like to write about women's lives and has talked with some of the women informally. She said she hasn't decided on the format for the collected interviews.

"I really don't want to hurt anyone's feelings and I don't want to leave anyone out," she said.

Clark House residents Ruth Backes and Batya Bauman both agree with Miller's premise and applaud her idea.

"They don't appreciate us," Backes said about the way strangers view older women. "Since I'm one of the oldest," having just turned 90, "I can say that."

'Not valid'

Bauman said she feels the kind of invisibility Miller speaks of, especially when she is in mixed-age groups. "You're not recognized as a valid person with a history - oftentimes of important things."

Backes, for her part, worked for the YWCA in Baltimore and New Haven and for the YMCA in Connecticut, as well as with the USO during World War II, later buying a "big old falling-down house mansion" in Lenox and turning it into a weekend inn. It became a round-the-week inn and led her to meet some professors from the University of Massachusetts School of Education, which prompted her to pursue her doctorate of education in her late 50s.

Backes worked as a counselor for mid-life women in Amherst for 10 years before moving to Florida and then back to Amherst four years ago.

Came back to town

"I missed Amherst terribly, terribly, terribly, so I came back to the Clark House and I've been here ever since," she said.

Bauman has had "several lives." First, she was active in Jewish life and lived in a kibbutz in Israel for two years.

"When I came back to this country, I was in what I call Jewish civil service."

Then she got involved in the women's movement and came out as a lesbian in 1971, becoming involved in the gay liberation movement.

Bauman later became involved in the animal rights movement.

"And that's where I am now," she said. She founded an organization called Feminists for Animal Rights. "It's a whole different take on feminism and animal rights, on being objectified and exploited."

Like Backes, Bauman went back to school later in life, graduating from Fordham University's Excel program summa cum laude, when she was in her mid-40s. She never could have pulled that off when she was younger, she said. "It was a wonderful experience. I loved every minute of it."

Miller came to Amherst from Lexington by way of North Carolina, where she had moved to further immerse herself in American spirituals, created during the time of slavery. "(They're) this country's only true art form and greatest contribution to the world," she said.

"I thought I would learn a lot. I even felt funny going there. I thought, What would I have to tell people living there?' But I was wrong. Hardly anyone knew about them, and I taught them." She worked there as a physical therapist but found the pace was too slow for her, so she moved to Amherst to be with her children and a brother with Down's syndrome, of whom she was a guardian. He died two years ago.

Miller moved to the Clark House after living at Salem Place and on Tamarack Drive, because she wanted to be around people.

"I like being in the center of town," she said. "It reminds me of Paris at night. You can speak to people, even to say good evening."

At least one person is already interested in learning more about the women of the Clark House - Select Board member Stephanie O'Keeffe, who can be seen most weekdays at the Clark House delivering hot lunches from a shopping cart for the local meals program.

"I would love for this to happen," said O'Keeffe. "I'd be first in line to buy the book!"

Mary Carey can be reached at mary.carey@att.net.