When a lifetime of experience and passion finally meets some free time, there’s no limit to what people can accomplish. From protecting an endangered species, to replicating Berks County’s history in miniature, and writing a library full of books, these three local seniors are living their retirement to the fullest.
Gardener & Butterfly Conservator
Rosie DeBenedictis
These days The Highlands at Wyomissing is being lauded for its beautiful and creative gardens and has become somewhat of a sanctuary for the monarch butterfly, all thanks to resident Rosie DeBenedictis.
Horticulture as a Hobby
A retired infectious disease nurse, Rosie has a passion for helping people and bringing joy. “I’m still blessed with a great deal of energy, so I put it to good use in any way that I can,” she says. Since moving to The Highlands, she’s worked diligently to beautify the residents’ gardens – Courtyard 10. When she first arrived the courtyard was empty, but with the help of the facility’s master gardener, Rosie has brought it to life. Weather permitting, she’ll spend hours a day on her gardens, nurturing a passion she found at 12 years old working in the garden with her mother and grandmother.
“I love to make my flower gardens unique; I don’t like to plant the same old, same old,” Rosie notes. “I search all the different nurseries in Berks County.” She relies on a lifetime of studying plans to know just what will thrive, and what will bring the most joy to her neighbors. And she shares the love beyond her own gardens. It’s not unusual to spot Rosie helping the grounds crew with their gardening and landscaping or delivering their favorite baked goods.
Saving the Monarch
Her time in the gardens gives Rosie plenty of opportunity to enjoy her other favorite pastime – butterflying. “I’ve had the pleasure of designing the gardens, so I decided to make them nectar gardens for the birds and butterflies. One of my favorite butterflies is the monarch, which are becoming endangered, so I specifically designed the garden for them.”
Rosie uses her horticultural skills to create a sanctuary for them in the courtyard and beyond. Each summer she has the opportunity to witness the full 40-day cycle of her favorite butterflies, treating the gardens to keep the monarch’s more than 100 natural predators at bay. “I never thought I would have the chance to watch the process in person,” she says of the butterflies’ five stages of development. “I’ve seen it on film, but it’s been a wonderful experience to see it happen in my own garden.”
Her efforts are not only limited to helping her favorite butterfly grow; she’s also continually monitoring their progress and migratory patterns. Through her work with monarch.org, Rosie discovered weightless identification tags that she can place on each of her butterflies to watch their annual migration online.
Rosie’s passion for butterflies is proving to be contagious. Other Highlanders will often stop by and ask her questions, and she’s even presented hour-long sessions to residents on what she’s learned. “I’m hoping we can get more ladies interested. I’m trying to encourage everyone to at least plant flowers on their balconies or in their beds to give the butterflies another place to go. I want the The Highlands to become a monarch sanctuary.”
Model Train Extraordinaire
Ray lascomb
A decade-long construction apprenticeship under his father, a tour in the Air Force and a
life-long career in plumbing, heating and ventilation has turned Ray Lascomb into a pretty handy guy. “All my friends here call me every time something comes up because I usually know how to fix it. They call me MacGyver.”
Recreating History, To Scale
His moniker is well-earned. When Ray first moved to The Heritage at Green Hills, he decided to keep his hands busy by helping in The Heritage’s Train Room. Open to the public each year during the holidays, the train room has earned some esteem for the intricate and historically accurate models of local landmarks. In the past, the club has replicated the Reading Fairgrounds, 7th Street Station, the Fire Tower and the Pagoda. “Last year, we started working on a model of Pomeroy’s. The building was built and placed in the yard, but we couldn’t have anybody in, so now we have a little fire truck and we’re going to have Santa climbing up the ladder to the sixth floor like they used to do.”
When he’s not working on the holiday display, Ray is not sitting idle. One day he looked at their Model Z train – a train gauge so small the engine is the about the size of your pinky – and said, “That’s not exciting. We need to do something else.” With no room to work in the train room, he set up a platform on the washer and dryer in his apartment and went to work. He worked for six months transforming a single circular track into a two-by-four-foot masterpiece that has since been built back into The Heritage’s display.
the Battle of the Bulge
Ray’s efforts drew the attention of PA State Rep. Mark Gillen, who takes his five daughters to the display each Christmas. He wanted a to-scale diorama of the Battle of Bulge for the Mohnton Military Museum, and he knew just who to call. Ray, an avid history buff, and three of his fellow club members worked for 18 months on the 8-feet wide, 32-feet-long model. “We tried to replicate everything as well as we could, and to make everything look as real as we could,” Ray says.
The model includes two tanks, one at each end for the Americans and the Germans, connected by a bridge that was pivotal to the battle. He explains that if not for a strike on the bridge that cost the German army its oil supplies, they could have overrun the Americans in Bastogne. “We needed that bridge. It had to look authentic.” So, Ray spent 60 hours collecting and gluing individual stones to the structure. “I had a lot of burned fingers, but it looks absolutely real.”
And Rep. Gillen has again enlisted Ray’s help. Over the last two years he’s been creating drawings and plans for a proposed addition to the Mohnton Military Museum, plans that have been put on display and presented to other local dignitaries to secure funding. Now Ray is working with Rep. Gillen and his architects to create plans for all three floors of the new space, including a 72-person auditorium to host local students.
Professor and Prolific Author
Randall Fegley
Although Randall Fegley, a resident of The Heritage at Green Hills, is not yet retired, it’s clear that his passions and hobbies will keep him busy well into his golden years. “I’ve always had an interest in the world. I think it was sparked when I was 13 and my grandmother took me to Ireland and Britain,” he shares. His appetite for travel and discovering new places spawned a long and gratifying career as a history and government professor, prolific researcher and author, and world traveler.
Tenured Traveler
Randall earned his bachelor’s degree from Bloomsburg University before kicking off his life of adventure. He earned both his master’s degree and PhD in England, where he lived for nearly a decade before returning to the States. His studies focused on state and local government in Belgium, but he also took a great interest in Africa. So much so that between degrees he signed on to teach English at a girls’ high school
in Sudan. He nearly agreed to another four-year contract when two important things happened: the government in Sudan was overthrown, and he met his wife.
As Randall settled into family life, he began teaching African and European history and political science at Penn State Berks, where he has been teaching ever since. His depth of knowledge played an important role in bringing the four-year degree in Global Studies to Penn State. But sharing his passions with local students did not stop Randall from pursuing his beloved research further. Over the years he has traveled the globe studying the governmental structures of foreign countries. He’s authored 11 books and countless academic papers and even wrote a best-seller about Belgium in medieval times.
Adventures Await
Now in his 35th year of teaching, Randall is in the middle of a full schedule of courses. This fall, he is teaching Introduction to the Middle East, Modern Africa and Europe Since 1789 and is slated to present a paper at the Sudan Studies Association. Next semester, his roster will include Early Africa and Cotemporary History and World Issues. “By this time next year, I’ll probably be retired,” Randall admits. “But I’ve already put it off once.”
Although Randall is considering hanging up his professor’s hat, his research is never done. “In the past I studied the history of government structures, specifically in Belgium and Sudan. But for the last 10 years I’ve been traveling the world studying local communities that have suffered mass trauma – natural disasters, prolonged wars and human rights violations. My focus is to look at what local governments, organizations and people have done to recover.”
Randall admits to already having enough research to fill a few more books, but is still looking forward to having more time to travel with his wife. She has long accompanied him on his adventures, and they’re already looking to the next itinerary. He reveals, “Two areas that I really need to do research in are China and Japan. I have never set foot anywhere in Asia, and I already know what I want to do there.”
