Adele has passed

Adele Siegel’s close friend Alice let us know today, that “Our dear friend Adele left us this morning. This beautiful, funny lady will be missed.“ She posted this photo of Adele, along with her announcement.

Her son Harvey arranged for her obituary to be posted by the Palm Beach Daily News: "Adele Siever Siegel, loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, and friend found her final peace on September 18, 2020 at the age of 96. She was a founding member of the Jacob Kravits Center and the Palm Beach Country Club alongside her loving husband, Mac Siegel, with whom she always found a ready and elegant dance partner until his passing in 1989. She became the chair of a Palm Beach American Heart Association gala/auction and actively worked to enhance their charitable legacy. Mrs. Siegel enjoyed golf, tennis, bridge, and telling a good, but decidedly rowdy joke. She loved to laugh and share her joys with all. She is recently predeceased by her longtime companion, Sumner Hushing. With her passing, an epoch of old Palm Beach also closes. Private Services will be held in New York City. In lieu of flowers, please send memorial donations in Adele's name to the American Heart Association"

Adele started dating my dad in the mid 1990s. Having a lot in common, they enjoyed each other's company, and traveling our country's highways together in the summers, visiting friends and family, playing golf and tennis, and enjoying the magnificent sights to be seen throughout the United States. We first met her at our home in San Diego, when they were taking a tennis clinic at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club.

 

She was a sweetheart - with that devious twinkle in her eye - and we welcomed her into our small family. We had so many lovely visits by her and Dad, and with them, and with her, as recently as this January, before the COVID-19 craziness started. This photo is from June 2015, after I began traveling again. She loved her home in Ballenisles, for good reason. We had just finished a delicious buffet breakfast at the Club, and went outside to enjoy their gorgeous view for a moment. She would graciously host us at her house, when we visited, and we loved walking through the surrounding neighborhoods, and enjoying the beautiful landscaping throughout the community.

 

I’ll miss her a lot.

Adele in Hospice

Some concerning news this morning, from Adele Siegel’s son Harvey: Adele went to Palm Beach Gardens hospital, with a broken hip from a fall at her rehab facility on August 31. She isn’t doing well, after the surgery to pin her hip back together. She already had some dementia earlier, but now the anesthesia and subsequent pain meds have her very disoriented. She‘s had problems swallowing for years, but it‘s worse now. They wanted to install a feeding tube, but she was having none of it. She’s unable to talk - pretty much out of it. Harvey is not optimistic about her recovery - they recently moved her to hospice. So sad we can’t call and talk with her. I asked Harvey about sending a card and flowers, and he said she's not capable of knowing or appreciating something like that. 

Update 9/17/2020: Adele’s good friend Alice says that "Adele is still with us, but she is unconscious, and feeling no pain."

We are holding her close in our hearts. I’m also very sad, that my dad couldn’t be there for her, during this difficult time. This photo is from our visit in January, before the COVID-19 concerns kept us from traveling to visit again.

She’s eating (a little)!

We enjoyed a pleasant visit from my niece today. It was nice to be able to enjoy a barbecued chicken dinner on the deck, especially since Jennefer was able to eat with us, for the first time since starting the radiation treatments on her throat, so many months ago! 

Here’s our last view of the sun from my quickly-cooling deck, before it gets too cool for comfort out here. Big weather shift forecast today, from a high of 90° to a low around 30° with possible snow tonight.

Colorado Air and Space Port

Caught me by surprise! I thought I was flying into Front Range Airport (KFTG) from Las Vegas in my (simulated) Daher TBM 930, but got frustrated when I couldn't find the official Airport and Approach charts. It turns out, they've renamed it to Colorado Air and Space Port, with a new identifier KCFO. I knew of the effort to become a landlocked spaceport, but not that they were going to officially rename the airport, and give it a new identifier.