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Nurturing Spirit

Retirement Home Fosters Mindful Life

By Julie Marshall, Camera Staff Writer

Lynda Chavez has no doubt it was the ghost of Sister Mary Theodore O'Connor who made the padlocked door rattle. It was the spring of 1998, weeks before the Mount Saint Gertrude Academy in Boulder would open as The Academy retirement home, and Chavez was taking a break from a day of early tours. She sat on the carpeted stairs leading up to the chapel when she heard the noise.

"Sister Mary really likes the Academy building," says Chavez, who is the facility's marketing director. "She's all over. We once had a cook that saw her in the kitchen."

The spirit of Sister Mary is alive and well at The Academy retirement home, whether or not one believes in the supernatural. The historic structure was built in 1892 as a Catholic girls' boarding school, which catered to youth and to nuns suffering from tuberculosis. The story of what became of St. Gertrude's is a rich and compelling tale of debt and fires, neighborhood squabbles and apparitions. While the town surrounding St Gertrude's, which is located on more than three acres of land in the University Hill neighborhood, has dramatically changed, the site and its mission has remained true to its founder's vision, Academy staff members say.

"Sister Mary wanted to help people who were frail of body, and feed their minds and nurture their spirits," Chavez says. Regrettably, the nun died of TB before her school was completed. But the nuns of her order kept her dream alive.

"I find it extremely interesting that more than 100 years later, we're doing the same thing but focusing on people who are on the other end of the age spectrum."

The Academy at 970Aurora is a 52-home independent and assisted living community for people older than the age of 62. Living arrangements range from 720-square-foot studio apartments to 2,000-square-foot bungalows. Monthly rent averages between $3,600 to $6,400, not including a one-time membership fee of $60,000 for individuals or $75,000 per couple. Staff members point out that rent covers meals, housekeeping and a chauffeur-driven, cranberry Volvo for getting around town. The facility includes an art studio, fitness room and wellness center with massage and acupuncture therapy.

"I don't think of the Academy as a retirement community," says Dining Services Manager John Butera. "It's more like the Ritz Carlton. I run my kitchen like it's a four-star establishment in a hotel."

Chefs include Arnie Schmollinger, co-ownerand chef of a former local favorite, Nancy's Restaurant, which used to be on Ninth and Walnut streets.

Stanley and Pat Ruttenberg, who are in their 70s, chose to spend their retirement years at the Academy because they wanted a small-sized, more personal retirement community.

"We wanted to downsize, to simplify our life," says Pat, a retired computer programmer. She and her husband came to Boulder in 1964. Stanley, a physicist, worked for NCAR for 30 years.

Most residents here have longtime community ties.The Academy is home to a retired state senator, former university professors and other active people who want to know that help is available in the future. They no longer have to mow the lawn or shovel the walk.

The Ruttenbergs' mustard yellow, two-bedroom craftsmen-style home blends into the historic neighborhood. Built-in bookshelves, walk-in closets and abundant storage space is typical in Academy homes. So is a great view.

The couple's dining room window overlooks many of the original structures of St. Gertrude's: The 3-foot perimeter wall made of round river rock and a stone grotto that once sheltered a statue of a Catholic saint. According to the school blueprint, a chicken coop and tennis court were likely in the area.

"Sister Mary was very progressive for her time," Chavez says. She envisioned a school that provided the right climate, sunshine, clean air and food to help its residents recover from tuberculosis.

The Ruttenbergs' basement has been converted into a home office for Stanley, who is president of Boulder's annual winter MahlerFest. He's in the process of building a prized cellar to house his 400 bottles of wine dating back to 1959.

As Stanley burns CDs of past concerts, he is treated to a view of a white pergola decorated with early spring growth of climbing roses and clematis.

It's a far cry from the days when St. Gertrude's was an empty building, boarded up and surrounded by chain-link fence. A little more than a decade ago, the building was an infamous spot for bonfires, transients and vandals. It was also a raccoon haven, Chavez says.

According to historic accounts and documents, St. Gertrude's Academy went into debt and shut down in 1969. The university bought the property but its plans for it were put on hold after devastating fires in 1980 and 1981. The roof on the third floor was destroyed and the building remained vacant for more than a decade.

The university leased the land to the Academy Group,despite objections from some neighbors who feared they might lose market value on their homes. Construction began in 1996, the same year the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Restoring architectural integrity became a mission, says Chavez, who was there for the beginning of the remodeling. The school had 206 types of wood trim catalogued. "We worked with the historical society to choose six that would keep close to history," she says, pointing to white-painted rosettes in the upper comers of a doorway.

Original wood and a mosaic floor were restored, along with six stained-glass windows in the chapel.The belltower was reconstructed. A confessional in the chapel is now a quiet place to use a private phone.

Century-old architecture is something that appealed to residents Ed and Alice Hardy.

"She got tired of cooking," says Ed, a retired engineer. Alice served for 20 years on the board of the Doorways English School for International Women, a place for women who come to town with husbands who are researchers for the university or work for corporations.

The Academy rents out garages for $75 per month. Ed uses his as a woodworking studio. He's got a table and band saw, drill press. sander, grinder and vice - all he needs to fill requests from residents to repair their chairs and make new picture frames.

"l feel everyone here is part of our farmily," Alice says.

The couple moved to The Academy after selling their home on SugarloafM ountain. They miss the views, but the trade off is good, Ed says.

"I like the fact I can walk down to a CU basketball game," he says. The couple has no family in town."We figure The Academy will take care of us."

The Hardys and other residents remark on the peace and quiet found at the Academy. Peaches the squirrel and her son, Fred, are always eager to welcome visitors into the Colorado Garden that surrounds the outdoor patio. The Academy grounds are lined with juniper and pinion trees that have been reaching toward the sky since the days before these apartments were school-girl dorms.

All pets are welcome,administrators say. Unlike many retirement homes, there is no size restriction. Georgina, a black lab, is often seen roaming the grounds with her guardian, Peggy Hughes.

Long ago, coyotes howled in the night around St, Gertrude's.

According to a historic account, "The Price of Our Heritage, Vol. II," written by Jane Coogan of the Sisters of Charity Blessed Virgin Mary order, the scene was grim as Sister Mary was near death from tuberculosis. It was September 1892, and St. Gertrude's was not yet completed. But the kind-hearted nun was eager to see her school and asked that the other nuns bring her to into the building.

"It was an eerie experience, the dying woman in the bare, three-story structure, open to the winds which whistled through it, rattling windows and banging loose boards," Coogan writes.

Look close and visitors will see Sister Mary's legacy, Chavez says. The masonry work at the entryway facing north on Aurora Avenue is etched in design, such as waving prairie grasses. "She wanted to reflect her environment," Chavez says.

At the center of an archway over the main doors is the shape of a heart.

"To me, her message is that they were a community of heart and soul," Chavez says. "And we still are."

Caption 1: Members of the Boulder Philharmonic rehearse in The Academy's chapel for a Mother's Day performance.

Caption 2: Peggy Hughes, a resident of The Academy, walks her dog, Georgina, outside the original entrance of the former girls' school.

Caption 3: Mount Saint Gertrude Academy stands along in the days before Chautauqua was built. New structures have been added to the site as part of The Academy's creation of a retirement home.