Home is where the heart is – and for one couple, St. Ann Center is where their hearts are. Specifically, the Veranda adult care unit at the Stein Campus.
Barry Kress and Francine Grant have forged family-like bonds with others on the Veranda, so naturally, this is where they plan celebrations to celebrate life milestones. Veranda has earned a reputation for celebrations of all kinds, with bountiful potlucks and desserts to mark various holidays – but these two have taken it to another level.
“I love it when people share their celebrations with us, so it’s important to us to also share our celebrations with them,” Barry said. “We have become a family.”
They regularly celebrate Jewish customs and holidays here, and are always eager to answer questions from other clients, staff and volunteers about those traditions. But Barry wasn’t always sure this sharing would be welcomed in a center named for the grandmother of Jesus, and associated with the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi.
“When I first came to St. Ann Center, I was actually looking for the nearest exit because I’m a Jewish guy and wasn’t sure if I’d be accepted,” Barry reflected. “But I was accepted. Sr. Edna made me feel welcome, like one of the crowd.” (See note below)
Barry and Francine held their engagement party with their Veranda family at St. Ann Center in December 2023, with Sr. Edna, friends, and staffers from throughout the center watching as they each proposed to one another.
“That was important to us, because we were the first Jewish couple here,” Francine said. Although they did not meet at St. Ann Center, the two reconnected later in life, and Francine joined him here as a client in 2022.
Francine eagerly shared a video from the couple’s wedding at a temple in October 2024, as well as information about Jewish wedding customs. For instance, the breaking of a glass, representing the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, reminds those celebrating that even in happy times, it’s important to recognize that pain and suffering exist in the world.
This past year at the Stein, Barry celebrated the 50th anniversary of his bar mitzvah, the Jewish coming-of-age ritual at age 13 that marks a boy’s transition to adulthood. Such anniversaries aren’t regularly marked; the party was Barry’s own idea.
For girls, the bat mitzvah is a comparable event at age 12, marking their transition to womanhood. Francine never had a bat mitzvah ceremony; she and Barry are now planning one for her.
They’ve also celebrated their birthdays at St. Ann Center; Francine’s birthday party last spring included ice cream sandwiches; Veranda client and close friend Vinnie Massalongo supplied cupcakes.
True to form, the couple are also planning another celebration – their one-year wedding anniversary party.
Note: While Barry and Francine are the first Jewish married couple here, the organization has always welcomed clients and children of a variety of faiths, as well as those who are not spiritual. St. Ann Center has long valued its connection with Martin Stein, the prominent Jewish philanthropist and businessman who recognized Sr. Edna’s vision for intergenerational care, and co-led the capital campaign to build it.
Their longtime friendship, rooted in similar values, is also evident in the life-sized statue of Marty Stein with a child, unveiled in the atrium after his death in 2006, at a ceremony naming the Stein Campus in his memory. Sr. Edna gave the eulogy at his funeral, and when the overnight respite care unit was opened the following year, both then-Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan and Rabbi Ronald Shapiro presided over the blessing ceremony. A mezuzah was installed at the doorpost of a room that was dedicated to Marty Stein.
St. Ann Center can be the perfect venue to host your next celebration, too! Spaces at both the Stein and Bucyrus campuses are available for event rentals. To learn more, contact Delma Vega (Stein) 414-977-5034 or Gloria Miller (Bucyrus) 414-210-2428.