We were all set to leave for Texas and a lunch with friends and relatives who'd planned to gather at the Villa Montez in Tyler, TX where the rehearsal dinner for James and Sharesa's wedding would be held the following night. We had our plane and hotel reservations, and were mostly packed when we got the news that our dear friend, Bill Goldstein had passed away, and that the funeral service would be on the day of our planned departure. Oh, my.
So it was time to look into changing our plans. There was no way we would want to miss the funeral and the chance to share our memories about Bill with others who shared our grief.
The first thing I did was call American Airlines, with whom we had our reservations, back and forth, to DFW. As it turned out, changing our itinerary involved only giving up some more frequent flyer miles. We'd used up 50,000 miles for the original tickets, and would have to give up 25,000 more to make the change. So that's what we did without giving it a second thought. How better to use those miles? Now all we had to do was change our hotel reservations and we'd be all set to leave a day later than planned.
A bit about Bill Goldstein, 84 years old when he passed away. Bill and Bob had had connections way, way back. Bill's and Bob's families were close when Bob was growing up. As a young man, Bill established a music school, The Livingston School of Music, named after the street on which he lived. Bill recruited Bob, who was a college student at the time, to teach piano lessons for him. (At the funeral we met a man who had taught tuba for Bill). When our kids were learning to play the piano, Bob went to Bill for beginners' piano music for them.
Several years ago, when Bob and I went to Bill's house to pick up some piano music, Bill asked Bob, "Do you still play tennis?" At that time, the answer was, "No. Not recently." Bill told Bob about the group he was playing with, and Bob soon joined the group for tennis a couple of times a week. This led to lots more tennis for Bob, with other groups. But as time went on, and Bill's dexterity began to go downhill, Bob and Bill rarely played in the same groups. But they still stayed in touch.
When I learned, through Bob, that Bill was an opera buff, I asked him if he ever learned of unused tickets being offered for sale. That began my own connection with Bill. He told me about Joan Cohen's Opera Salon which he had been attending for years. On his suggestion I enrolled in the class, which met throughout the year to learn about operas through lectures, videos and, later on, DVDs. Bill always saved a seat for me near the front of the class. He needed to sit in the front because his hearing was beginning to go.
I'd always enjoyed opera, and had subscribed to the Met back in the 1980's, and attended Philly opera productions off and on since then. So I was very enthusiastic about the class -- and still am. Joan's most recent series features "Donizetti's Three Queens" -- "Anna Bolena", "Maria Stuarda" and "Roberto Devereux". These are seldom performed operas which I would not have known about if it were not for her class.
With the advent of the Met's HDTV productions, Joan has offered classes to prepare students for the operas that would be presented. One of the recent ones was "Boris Godunov".
The first hint that something had gone wrong with Bill's health was his absence one day from opera class. At first I thought perhaps he'd begun attending the Tuesday sessions instead of the Thursday ones where we'd always met. But then I realized that he certainly would have told me of the change. On further investigation, we learned that he'd passed out, and had been admitted to Elkins Park Hospital, and would be heading for rehab soon. When we went to visit him at rehab, we learned that he'd been sent back to the hospital. He never left the hospital. A couple of weeks later his condition had worsened, and he ultimately passed away there.
Bill's funeral was attended by the many members of his family, including several grandchildren. Many of our friends and acquaintances from both opera and tennis worlds were present as well. All remembered Bill's grandson Josh, who had suffered with Duchenne's Disease, a form of muscular dystrophy. Josh, who was mostly paralyzed the last time we saw him, had given lectures and had written a book, designed to inspire others who suffered with handicaps. Josh had passed away a couple of years before, after a long fight with the disease. Bill's son, in his remarks to the assembled congregation at the synagogue, expressed the hope that Bill and Josh would now be together, looking after one another.
We did get to Tyler and the rehearsal dinner the next day. We were even able to help decorate the chapel where the wedding ceremony would be held on Friday night. So it all worked out for the best.
Recollections of James and Sharesa's wedding and of the reconnections with friends and family will appear in the next post. Life goes on.
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