LINUS PROJECT Woman continues to impact many lives

Rosalia Penner and her friends knit blankets for hospitalized children.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR HEALTH WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- At 99, Rosalia Penner is a woman for the ages, and for all ages.
She is a prodigious letter writer, keeping in regular touch with her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and nieces and nephews around the country.
However, even as she looks forward to her 100th birthday on July 22, Rosalia, the daughter of Jacob and Martha Newman, is not one to live in the past, exchanging messages almost daily with a friend in Las Vegas via e-mail.
She lives at the Heritage Manor Jewish Home for the Aged, but her ideas and activities are young at heart.
One of her favorite pastimes is knitting security afghan blankets, which are distributed by the Mahoning Chapter of the Linus Project to children who are patients at Northside Health Center and in hospice care.
Found helpers
She recruited -- translate, twisted their arms -- Florence Mirkin of Liberty, Clara Segall of Boardman and Benita Penner of Liberty, her daughter-in-law, to help knit strips that she sews together to make the afghans, at least a hundred so far.
Penner doesn't crochet, so she "conned" Jan Walker, a longtime employee at Heritage Manor, to edge the blankets.
Asked why she knits blankets, she said: "Didn't your children like to drag a blanket around? My kids [she has two sons, David of Liberty and Stephen of Tucson, Ariz.] dragged teddy bears around."
Also, volunteering is part of who she is.
After graduating from Ohio State University in 1926, she taught in Youngstown schools for a few years until she married Myron Penner in Cleveland.
She said she quit teaching because "married women weren't allowed to teach in those days."
However, she said with a smile, "some of the girls [teachers] went to Cleveland on the weekends to be with their husbands."
Became a volunteer
She did not work in her husband's business, Penner Furniture, which had stores in the Uptown area of Market Street and on Bridge Street in Struthers.
So she filled her time with her children, and following in the footsteps of her mother, began a lifetime of volunteer service.
She worked for many Youngstown area organizations, including the library, American Red Cross, and the Fresh Air Camp for children from low-income families. She was also a volunteer for many years at the Heritage Manor before she became a resident there about five years ago.
Her son David, of Liberty, describes his mother as a "women's libber from the '20s" who is very adventurous, independent and practical. He might have added witty and caring.
Adventurous, because after graduation from OSU, she and three friends took off and toured Europe.
Independent and practical, Penner made the decision herself to leave her home and live at Heritage Manor, saying she couldn't take care of herself anymore.
She has hearing aids and uses a walker for balance, but other than that does not have major medical problems. But, because her vocal chords "froze," she has a tracheotomy that requires nursing care.
Other projects
In addition to knitting blankets for kids, she has taken ownership of the home's greenhouse, said Bobbi Berkowitz, activities director.
Penner had been a member of several garden clubs in past years, and said the greenhouse "has been great fun."
She also enjoys reading "anything I pick up," and is greatly involved with her family, pictures of which cover all the walls of her room. She is a member of Congregation Rodef Sholom and its Sisterhood, and Hadassah.
Asked about her plans, she said she hadn't thought about it. However, she said her philosophy of life has always been to take one day at a time.
While she has a few physical problems, there is nothing wrong with her sense of humor or her hands.
Looking to the future, her son David asked her if he should plan a big party for her 100th birthday.
She said go ahead, but to not put too big a deposit on the hall.
David said her story about how she met her husband varied.
When she was cold sober, she said they met while horseback riding. If she had a few drinks, she met dad in a speak-easy, he said with a laugh.
Penner said she was taught to knit when she was 5 years old by her grandmother, Lena Lippman. Over the years, she said she knitted sweaters and afghans and even knitted socks for her sons when they were young.
Blankets for children
She guessed she and her friends have made at least 100 blankets over the last four or five years for the Linus Project, but has never seen the reaction of the children when they receive the blankets and has no idea what becomes of them.
Skillful at using the needle in more ways than one, Penner said she has received thank-you notes from the Linus Project, but wonders why she has never heard from the hospital where the blankets are distributed.
Stella Dikun of Girard, who recruits knitters and collects the blankets for the Linus Project, said 4,000 blankets are needed locally each year.
An important part of her life now, Penner said she has no plans to retire from the Linus Project.
"I'm lucky. My hands are still good. As long as my hands work, I will do the blankets."
alcorn@vindy.com