October 29, 2024 —Frank and Margaret have been residents at Kendal at Ithaca since 2015 and recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary! Ever the gentleman, their story began when Frank offered his seat to Margaret during their first day of a full art history class at Harvard.
Frank and Margaret’s journey has been enriched by their shared passion for art. Both pursued graduate degrees at Harvard, where Frank earned a PhD in Dutch Art History and learned to read and speak Dutch. Their career paths led them to academia and the museum sector. Margaret, an art historian specializing in nineteenth-century French painting, served as Director of the Wellesley College Museum and the Hunt-Cavanaugh Gallery at Providence College, and Assistant Director at the Smith College Museum and the Hopkins Center Art Galleries at Dartmouth. Frank, too, enjoyed a distinguished career, teaching art history at Wellesley and Dartmouth before becoming Museum Director at Williams College and the Rhode Island School of Design. Later, he retired after 19 memorable years as the Director of the Johnson Museum at Cornell. Frank shared, “It was great to have a fellow museum director as my wife—she understood exactly what I was doing, step by step, and could do it better!”
While at Cornell, Frank and Margaret participated in seven tours with Cornell’s Adult University, allowing Frank to lead museum tours in Europe and New York City—experiences he treasured. In retirement, Margaret dedicated her time to tutoring individuals with dyslexia, while Frank continued his involvement with various boards and organizations, including serving on the board of Cinemapolis.
Frank played an important role on the Kendal Art Display Committee, which has been instrumental in acquiring artwork for the community—both as long-term loans and permanent additions. Since its inception over twenty-five years ago, the committee has curated more than one hundred art exhibits on the Kendal at Ithaca campus. Staff and residents look forward to the exhibits and love having access to exceptional art.
When asked what influenced their move to Kendal at Ithaca, Frank praised “the community’s mutual respect between residents and staff, the welcoming atmosphere, dining selections, and views.” After experiencing other communities, Frank and Margaret “felt that the Kendal values and sense of community were highly evident while the other communities were perfectly nice, they simply did not have the same feel.”
As a creative individual, Frank writes poems and plays and tries to spend time writing daily. Frank says, “the people of the Kendal community are fascinating, and in fact, they have been an important inspiration in my writings.” Frank has published over three hundred poems, and he keeps writing and being fascinated by Kendal every day.