By Angela Marshall
Whether it's picking the perfect show, developing a new program or helping a widow grieve, Mark handled each challenge she faced as the deputy director of senior services over the last 17 years as a labor of love.
After years of working with retirees, Mark is going to be one herself next month. She and her husband plan to move to Florida.
It really is a tremendous loss for me professionally and personally, said Cyd Beth Charrow, director of senior services.
Charrow and Mark joined the village staff within a month of each other and soon became known by a number of nicknames: the dynamic duo, the heart and soul and sometimes even the Lucy and Ethel of the senior center.
We inspired each other, Charrow said.
And they balanced each other. While Charrow was often caught up in the administrative tasks required to run the center, Mark stayed focused on the seniors. What's wonderful about Lorraine is she always had the interest of the seniors at heart.
Charrow said all of the improvements made to the center, including its major expansion, were just as much Mark's accomplishments as hers. We did it all together, she said.
Ask seniors or staff at the Sandel Center to talk about Mark and you'd be hard pressed to get them to stop. They love her ever-present smile, penchant to dress up for all the theme parties she planned and her seemingly endless compassion.
She's always ready to put on a costume, said Dorothy Allen, president of the Sandel Senior Club. A wall of photos in Charrow's office attests to this. In one, Mark is wearing pointy devil ears, in another a sailor's hat.
Mark may know how to party, but she has also been there for the seniors in their times of need.
She had such compassion for us, said Viola Pellegrino.
Pellegrino's husband died recently and Mark didn't just send her condolences. She cried with me, Pellegrino said.
She cried with many of the seniors. Mary Brennan lost her husband as well. While he was still in the hospital, Mark came to sit with her. That was something I'll never, never forget.
Mark is good with smaller problems as well. Whenever Mary Kolenik has trouble getting a ride to the center, she calls Mark. Lorraine has been a wonderful, wonderful person, she said. You ask and she gets it for you. I don't know how she does it, but she does.
It's not just the seniors who will miss Mark.
I could probably write a book, said Helene Locke of the many good things she could say about her friend and co-worker of 16 years. Locke, supervisor of social work at Sandel, said Mark is positively devoted to the seniors and making sure they have fun, including planning trips to the theater.
Her devotion will live on long after she is gone into retirement. Locke said Mark has already booked a trip for the seniors to see Hairspray on Broadway in May.
