16 North Shore Towers Courier n March 2014 Lorraine and Larry Elowsky: Friends Forever We’ve all seen T-shirts and cards proclaiming “Friends 4-ever,” usually purchased by teen-agers. But few of us know mature adults who truly remain friends forever. Lorraine and Larry Elowsky of Building Two have maintained a variety of friendships for more than three decades. Their story begins in Manhattan, where they each attended prestigious and very selective public high schools: Julia Richman for Lorraine (along with Pat Tulchin of Building One) and Stuyvesant for Larry. They met at the University of Michigan. Larry was an engineering major and Lorraine was prelaw but after they married, she left for NYU, where she graduated with a degree in social work and worked at the Bureau of Child Welfare. The wedding took place 62 years ago at the Riverside Plaza Hotel and the couple took off for their honeymoon in a borrowed 1951 De Soto. The trip was cut short when they ran out of money. Back home, Larry entered the family business, manufacturing springs and wire forms. Soon the family included two children, Mark and Sheri. They moved from a one room apartment in Brooklyn Heights to Kew Gardens and eventually to West Birchwood in Jericho. They enjoyed living there for 44 years and still attend services at the Jericho Jewish Center, in spite of the distance. Even though they sold their house in 2003, they meet every Monday night for dinner at a diner with 13 of their former neighbors. Both their children also graduated from the University of Michigan and their granddaughter will be graduating in May of this year – all are ardent followers of Michigan’s football and basketball teams. Before coming to North Shore Towers, Larry enjoyed his sailboat for 30 years. A seasoned sailor, Larry named their craft “Loosewire,” after the family wire business. The moniker also graced their auto license plates. Captain Larry weathered two storms and once safely brought the craft home after being struck by lightning and catching fire. “But, on a sunny, breezy day I still look at the sky and imagine what a good sailing day it is, even though I am not docked at the Sagamore Yacht Club in Oyster Bay anymore and someone else owns my boat,” he recalls. Lorraine tactfully recalls, “The boat was not one of my passions.” As time went by, Lorraine earned a Master’s at C.W. Post and for 20 years taught special education at Jericho High School. Golf, photography, and philanthropy became interests for Larry. They also enjoy travel and their winter place in Boynton Beach, Florida, where they live two houses away from Rita Pasternack of Building One. Both Elowskys became Bridge enthusiasts. Lorraine plays Bridge year round with the same women who live in Hunters Run, Florida and NST. Larry serves on the board of the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County. Interested in “giving back,” Lorraine was trained in Florida to become a Guardian Ad Litem, which is a court appointed guardian legally responsible for protecting the well-being of a minor. This enables her to investigate and mentor abused, neglected, and abandoned children. She then reports to the judge monitoring the case. When asked why she has done this heartbreaking volunteer work for nine years, Lorraine replies, “It is so satisfying to take an interest in children who have no one else to care about them and see progress in their development.” Their travels have taken them to Israel eleven times and their passports have imprints from Australia, New Zealand, China, Africa, Russia, and most of Europe. They’ve camped out on the Sinai in sleeping bags with travelers half their age. They don’t take organized tours, preferring to explore on their own. They were among the first Americans to visit Egypt, are still friendly with a couple they met there over 35 years ago and get together regularly in Florida. They are very close to a young Canadian couple who they met 30 years ago, even though this couple is the same age as the Elowsky children. This past January they left for two weeks in South America aboard the Celebrity Infiniti. No doubt another enduring friendship was forged afloat. By FRED CHERNOW Lorraine and Larry Elowsky
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