and his homewith it. Inthe aftermath,he became an
icon—theoldmanwhohadstayedinhishouse,takenhis
chances,andlivedlifeonhisowntermsinanerawhen
thatpossibilityseemedtohaveallbutdisappeared.The
peopleof nearbyCastlerockconstructed amemorial to
himatthetown’sentrancethatstillstands,andtherewas
a television movie starring Art Carney.
Alicewasn’tfacingavolcano,butshemightaswellhave
been.GivingupherhomeonGreencastleStreetmeant
givingupthelifeshehadbuiltforherselfoverdecades.
Thethings thatmade LongwoodHouse somuchsafer
andmoremanageablethanthehousewerepreciselywhat
madeithardforhertoendure.Herapartmentmighthave
been called “independent living,” but it involved the
impositionofmorestructureandsupervisionthanshe’d
everhad to deal with before.Aides watched her diet.
Nursesmonitoredherhealth.Theyobservedhergrowing
unsteadiness and made her use a walker. This was
reassuringforAlice’schildren,butshedidn’tlikebeing
nanniedorcontrolled.Andtheregulationofherlifeonly
increased withtime. Whenthestaff becameconcerned
that she was missing doses of her medications, they
informedherthat unlessshekepther medicationswith
thenursesandcamedowntotheirstationtwiceadayto
take themunder direct supervision, shewould haveto
move out of independent living to the nursing home
wing.JimandNanhiredapart-timeaidenamedMaryto
helpAlice comply,to giveher some company,and to
staveoffthedayshewouldhaveto transfer.Sheliked
Mary.Buthavingherhangingaroundtheapartmentfor
hours on end, often with little to do, only made the
situation more depressing.