I love meeting interesting, active people for whom age is just a number. The three people in this article, the first of a two-part series, each has a passion for what they do that keeps them ageless and relevant and can give all of us ideas for living a full life.

Lillian Slutzker

The first example of a life well-lived is Lillian Slutzker. Many readers might know Lillian Slutzker and her late husband, Manny, from their many years as owners of “Manny’s,” a fixture on the Syracuse University campus for almost 50 years.

She worked all of her adult life in the store, taking over when Manny became ill. Ten years ago, she endowed the Syracuse University “Lillian and Emanuel Slutzker Center for International Services” and she recently received the Global Citizens Award from the International Center of Syracuse.

“I never thought the center would become such a big deal,” said Slutzker. “It just was important to me personally to do this for other people. I came to Syracuse as a refugee, having lost my whole family in the Holocaust. My mother and I had moved to Berlin from Hungary when I was 13 and at 21, I left Germany for England with a youth group; six months later the war broke out.

“I had to start my life over twice, once in England and then in America,” Slutzker said. “When I came to Syracuse, there was no one who reached out to me, and it was isolating and scary. In the hospital when I was having my son, the nurses couldn’t believe there was no one who came to visit me.”

She explained some of the reasons for starting the center at SU.

“I knew how important it was for other people new to our country to have a place to go to talk with others and, particularly, that it should be a nice place to congregate,” she said. “Ever since I was a little girl, it was my dream to go to university. Because of Hitler, even though I qualified, I couldn’t go. So another thing I do is speak to different groups and individuals about the Holocaust because so many people just don’t know about it.”

An all-around supporter of the university, she also funds scholarships for the men’s lacrosse program.

Not content to be “just” a benefactor, Slutzker taught conversational English at the center to international students to help ease their transition. She still goes there to meet with students and staff. A woman of action, her empathy for animals led to her being a founder of the Humane Society of Central New York.

She speaks three languages —Hungarian, German and English — and has a passion for travel that has taken her all over the world.

She is perhaps most proud of her son, Craig, a Yale graduate with a master’s degree from SU. Of his mother, Craig says, “She’s a gourmet cook and a connoisseur of cars. She loves fashion, gardens with an artists’ eye for flowers and landscaping, and is skilled at interior decorating. But with all her talents and accomplishments, she is still a very modest person.”

I met Slutzker at the gym and asked if she had always kept in shape?

“Yes, all my life. My mother was very keen that I exercise; when younger I was a long-distance runner and used to run in the woods. I still keep in shape and go to the gym twice a week,” she said.

Her secret indulgences are “French face creams and cooking, but because I do love to eat, I make it a healthy diet,” said Slutzker.

Lionel Logan

At the Dunbar Center, I caught up with Lionel Logan. Among his many civic activities, he works in the political arena for candidates in which he believes.

“I volunteer for Organizing for America in their phone bank. It is the organization that was at the heart of the Obama campaign,” explained Logan. “I also work with Citizen Action of  New York, an organization that conducts voter training.”

Logan said he feels strongly that everyone should be more politically involved.“The decision makers in power look at the people who vote, and if you don’t vote, you have no voice. It’s a question of ‘If you didn’t put me here, I don’t need to worry about you’, “ he said.

Another lifelong passion is education. “About 15 years ago, I started driving a legally blind teacher who taught [students with multiple handicaps] and had to visit three or four schools in one day,” he said. “I would go into the schools with her, and when I would see a student sitting in the office, I’d ask ‘What are you learning in the office, and why are you here?’ When children see that you are interested, they are mostly honest. When I would ask them if they would behave if I could get them back in class, the answer was always yes, so I would try.” If the teacher had two or more students at a school, Logan said he would volunteer to tutor and then he became a mentor.

“I discovered that city schools really don’t teach students about voting, even in civics or government classes. I called the [Syracuse City School District] Board of Education and told them I was with the NAACP and got permission to go into high schools yearly and register students to vote.”

“My daughter’s a teacher and when I went to her school one day, I ended up answering students’ questions for an hour. You never know what you may say that could change a child’s life. To this day, if I see children on a corner hanging out, I always ask why they’re not in school. If possible, I will try to get them back in, Logan said.”

Logan and his wife raised six children of their own and were foster parents to others. He worked for the federal government in military computerized communications, so he is a fan of computers and even has a Facebook page.

“I have grandkids and great grandkids, and they won’t let me not get into [Facebook]. But then again, I’m interested in just about everything. I’ve always been like that and I think that keeps me young.”

I asked what advice he had for other retirees? “Don’t be a couch potato. Find something that will get you up in the morning. People in nursing homes would love to have visitors,” he said. “You don’t have to worry about what to discuss with them; they just want to impart their knowledge to you and they often have no one else to talk to.”

What about diet and exercise?

“I’m reasonable about what I eat, even though I have no medical problems that would keep me on a strict diet. I do exercise, generally, some light weights along with aerobic exercise. But the most fun I have is golfing and bowling. I started bowling in my 20s and playing golf in my 50s. It’s the participation sports that I like.”

And his secret indulgence?

“I watch very little TV, mostly news and political shows, but I joined Netflix because it forces me to watch movies that I had always wanted to watch.”

Marie Felice

I have known Marie Felice for years, and she is so busy that it was almost impossible to tie her down for an interview.

As the wardrobe steward for IATSE (International Alliance of  Theatrical Stage Employees) Local 9, she does every professional show that comes into Syracuse.
“I call and arrange the wardrobe group of men and women needed for the shows. There are hairdressers, seamstresses, dressers, people who steam and iron, and people who work on shoes,” she explained.

“Many of the people who work for wardrobe have themselves been on stage, so they know how to treat the cast properly,” she said. “For instance, for Legally

Blonde they needed eight dressers, two hair people and one laundry person.”

Felice just finished a modern dance group and is now off to do a musical in the Famous Artists Series. In December, she did “The Nutcracker,” and in January, she did “Disney on Ice.”

I viewed the pages of spreadsheet notes that Felice uses to keep track of each show, and it was overwhelming.

“I [am] the treasurer of Festa Italiana, and I also hire the entertainment. I love working with all the people who work on the Festa and when it all comes together, it is just a great feeling,” she said.

She’s also a bookkeeper for two clients.“My passions are theater and my grandchildren,” she said. “I started in theater with Father Charles Borgognoni when I was 18, and I learned so much from him. He gave me the love for theater.”

Felice goes to sleep around 12:30 or 1 a.m. and gets up at 7:30 a.m. Other than that, she rarely stops moving.

“I have to work even when I watch TV,” she said. “I have to be busy. I cook for myself every day, and I make healthy food. My exercise is touching my toes when I get up in the morning and stretching to get the kinks out of my back [that were] caused by an accident years ago. I also run up and down the stairs all day long because my computer is downstairs.”

So what provides the most fun in her life?

“Cooking and baking, theater, my grandchildren and my kids,” she said.

A neat and well-organized person, Felice has every show bill from every production she’s ever worked on.

“My daughters are trying to make me throw out my check registers that I still have from when they were in college and my Mary Ann comes over every week to go through boxes and makes me throw things out,” she said.

Her secret indulgence?

Chocolate, of any kind!

Former artistic director at Syracuse Opera retired in 2006 but that’s hard to believe considering his current schedule

By Maggie Burns

In the old Cathedral School in downtown Syracuse, the hallways echoed with the sounds of opera as performers in “The Magic Flute” warbled their parts in the opera.

In another room sat Richard McKee, former artistic director of the Syracuse Opera. McKee retired in 2006, but he maintains his lifelong connection to the world of opera.

When he speaks, you can literally hear the music that has played such an important role in his life.

McKee has been hooked on opera since the age of 12, when he first saw operatic music performed in a movie.

“My parents took me to see a movie called ‘Tonight We Sing,’” he said. “In it was Enzio Pinza. In the movie he sang the ‘Serenade of Faust,’ ‘The Devil’s Serenade,’ and he’s twirling capes with demonic laughter and I thought that was the neatest thing. There was always good music and I started singing operatic music around the house.

“I think there’s always been a bit of the ham in me, so opera interested me more than recitals or concerts.”
Since those early days, McKee has made his passion for opera his life’s work.

“There was music in my life from the early days, and it was classical music. I never had that idea that many people have, that classical music is for sissies and that real men don’t listen to opera. So it was just a convergence between personality and what was out there,” he said.

At first, his decision to become a professional performer didn’t sit well with his father, who expected the young McKee to follow him into business. Eventually, all was forgiven and his father lived to see him perform with the late Beverly Sills at the New York City Opera.

Educated in a Connecticut prep school and later at Yale and the University of Illinois, McKee’s passion for the opera helped create a career that eventually led to a 20-year tenure with the New York City Opera.

Later on, it also led to his position as the artistic director of the Syracuse Opera. He has successfully bridged both worlds on either side of the footlights.

Michael Connor, currently Loretto director of public relations, has known McKee since the late ‘80s. He is quick to praise McKee’s talents . “The opera world is rather small and it quickly learns who’s a good colleague and who isn’t . Richard is one of the best.”

McKee’s reputation in the opera world has been extremely beneficial to Syracuse Opera. According to Connor, “Syracuse Opera was smart to bring Richard in.They were able to get talent that they really couldn’t afford because Richard asked them. He was able to call in favors from friends in the New York and metropolitan operas. We got a caliber of talent at reduced fees because of his professional relationships.”
Connor was first hired by Syracuse opera to work in public relations. It was in that capacity that he first formed his friendship with McKee. He says that McKee is “one of the smartest people I know. When we all worked together in the office, we all called him ‘Webster’’because he knows everything.”

Connor is also an opera singer and his friendship with McKee has opened doors for him. In 1996, Mc Kee as director offered Connor the chance to sing the role of “Ko-Ko” in the Mikado. “He gave me the weekend of my life and helped me to realize a dream of singing that role,” said Connor. “ I feel blessed that we went from being office colleagues to being co-performers and actors. My confidence , writing and singing all improved as a result of my relationship with him.”

As a performer, McKee has specialized in operatic comic roles. He says that his favorite role has been that of the servant Leperello in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.”

With self-deprecating humor, the other role McKee says he enjoyed playing was that of Falstaff in Verdi’s opera.

“Everyone said that Falstaff was fat, Falstaff was a great spirit and Falstaff was a dirty old man, so I was born to play the part,” he said.

His interest in directing opera arose from what he saw as a lack of faith in the performers.

“I always felt that a lot of us were pretty good actors and if we just worked on building up characters and realistic plots, we didn’t have to do a lot of the stuff that they do in Europe,” he said.

McKee also admits that one of the reasons he likes directing is that the director gets to make up the rehearsal schedule. But even as a director, he sometimes indulges his urge to perform by singing in small roles.

“If it’s too big a part, you really can’t expect to sit there and talk all day and then get up and sing well. I miss performing, but I really do love directing,” McKee noted.

When most people retire, they often never return to their work in their previous profession. And then there are people like McKee, whose passion for their work keeps drawing them back.

Said McKee, “To be able to do something I really loved doing and to be able to do it while I’m ‘retired,’ is really special. I know a lot of people when they retire from their job get the chance to do something they always wanted to do. For me, it’s just a continuation.”

Although he’s officially retired, the phone still rings with requests for his talents, most recently in “The Magic Flute.”

“I was asked if I could step in and assist with this show and help out with some of the dramatic, non-puppet elements, so I’ve been busy and I’ve obviously kept a close connection with the company so it’s not like I’ve been put out to pasture,” he said. Connor says that McKee continues to sing and do voice-overs.”He’s almost busier than ever even in his retirement.”

He’ll tell you that the decision to retire was a matter of finances. He realized that he could be “retired” but still be involved with opera and maintain a similar salary.

It was also the freedom of being “retired” that appealed to him. He has discovered as many retirees do that they want to stay involved with their passion but they don’t want the daily obligations of a full-time job.
“I’ve worked all my life on a freelance basis so I’m used to the idea that sometimes you can go three weeks without working,” he said.

“Now, I don’t have to go to the office everyday and deal with some of the things an artistic director has to deal with that aren’t as much fun as directing or singing,” he added. Mc Kee and Connor were both recently part of a full cast recording of “Fairest“a novel by Gail Carson Levine who also wrote “Enchanted“ the work that was the basis of the recent Disney film.

In some ways, one might think that McKee has the best of both worlds. He gets to do the things that he’s always loved without all of the daily schedules and responsibilities.

“It’s wonderful in rehearsals when someone comes up to me to ask a question like, ‘Richard, I have a question about my accommodations where I’m staying. I just keep saying, ‘It’s not my problem, it’s not my problem. I’m a guest artist just like you.’”

After “The Magic Flute” is over, he’s free for a while, until The Mikado is performed at Syracuse University in January.

“It comes and goes but it also means that I have Thanksgiving and Christmas free so I can spend a lot of time visiting my children and grandchildren, which is always nice,” he said.

“As with any life path, there are almost always choices to be made about the direction one chooses. It is a rare individual who can look back upon their life and know they did everything exactly the way they believed it should have been done.”

Sometimes circumstances provide the reason for life’s choices. McKee is no exception. When asked if there was anything he might have done differently, he cites the desire to be more fluent in Italian.

“I specialize in comic roles and people like at the Metropolitan Opera will pretty much only hire Italians to do Italian comic opera. They want someone to whom the language is native. I think I would have become much more proficient in Italian than I am and gotten into a small European or international house. But with a family, that was hard to do and it would have meant uprooting my family. But I’m not complaining.

“I was complaining a few years ago at a Yale reunion and I said that all those guys who were there were making money hand over fist who were more successful. This friend of mine said, ‘You’re successful. You may not be a huge international success, but you’ve made a living as a singer and there are an awful lot of people who can’t do that.’”

“Some of the people we’ve imported have to get time off from their jobs in order to make a living. When the artistic job opened up in 1990, I said, “It’s the perfect job, but it’s five years too soon.”

“I was still doing a fair amount of singing, but I knew that being an artistic director, planning and casting the operas and picking the designers of sets was something I wanted to do and these jobs don’t come along very often so I figured it was better to jump in five years too soon than never have it happen. I feel very fortunate.”

n the future, as might be expected, McKee plans to stay involved with opera.

“I hope to do a little more singing and I’d like to be directing. I sometimes get asked to do master classes. I don’t particularly want to go into teaching. I don’t want the regular schedule. A couple of years ago, I was asked to come to the University of Hartford and direct a couple of one-act operas. While I was there I did a master class for the voice students on choosing a repertoire, auditioning and stuff like that. The directing will keep on happening. In this business a lot happens because of who you know and how you audition as a director,” he said.

These days he admits that he doesn’t play as much golf as he used to. McKee says he’s also an avid collector of recordings.

“I have a huge library of singers and operas and I work on cataloging the collection. I’m particularly interested in acquiring live recordings,” he said.

He also cherishes his free time that allows him to spend more time with his family, who still live in Connecticut. He remembers fondly his retirement party where he was feted by the Syracuse Opera’s chorus, and received a proclamation from Senator John De Francisco.

But McKee is blessed. He may be officially retired, but his talents and passion are such that he can keep in his life the music he’s always loved.