Since retiring in 2019, I’ve been helping to deliver free meals to families in Pine Plains. That’s how I met Harry Holleufer.
I made my first delivery to Harry shortly after he had lost Ursula, his companion of 35 years, to Alzheimer’s. Her family had just reclaimed her car, and Harry was standing alone in his now-empty garage. He himself was recovering from surgery, and had a large scar across his scalp. I’ve only seen one other person look as lost as he did that day.
As the weeks went by, we got used to spending time in conversation, as I often did with some of my other customers. Harry would be sitting at his table and I would stand in his kitchen. Finally, as the conversations got longer, I sat down at the table with him. From then on, the conversations were open-ended. Harry was my last customer of the day. The only limiting factors were darkness, in the wintertime, or until Harry got hungry.
Harry has a knack for getting his name in print. A former signal operator for the German Army in World War II, he immigrated to the United States in the late 1950s and spent 25 years working for KLM airlines in New York. When he retired at 60, he designed and built a home on a 19-acre plot in Ancram. This story was featured in Main Street magazine in a piece on do-it-yourself homebuilders.
Later, Harry and his wife, Hildegard, divorced, and she got the Ancram house. (This detail didn’t make Main Street magazine.) Then he met Ursula, the woman he describes as “the love of his life.” They eventually settled down at the Town Centre housing community in Pine Plains and spent 10 happy years there. Both were members of a group of seniors known as the Young at Hearters.
Ursula passed away in 2019. In 2022, more bad news came when the management at Town Centre raised the rent, forcing fixed-income residents like Harry to dip into their savings. At 99, Harry once again found himself in print, on the front page of the Sunday Poughkeepsie Journal under the headline, “They Have to Throw Me Out.”
Harry has had a number of falls since I’ve known him. After one, it took him two days to get to the couch and his telephone to call for help. After that, I insisted he wear a medical alert device around his neck. The falls continued, and Harry has gone from intensive care to a hospital bed to, finally, a room at the Noble Horizons senior living community in Salisbury, Connecticut.
Although I no longer need to deliver him food, I continue to visit him at Noble Horizons. Harry remains mentally very sharp. On one recent visit, he was watching news coverage of Donald Trump’s indictment. On that day, his room was being changed – from short-term care to long-term. We parted with the usual fist bump.
Harry has often called me his best friend. I’m flattered. On my last birthday, he threw me a small surprise party. I’m looking forward to his birthday on July 11 when he turns 100. I wouldn’t be surprised if Harry outlives me. He has to – his driver’s license is good until 2025.
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As we commemorate the 200th anniversary of the town we all call home, the New Pine Plains Herald wants to hear from you!
Maybe you have a family story that stretches back through generations. Maybe you remember a favorite walk, friendship or pet. It could be the winning run in a baseball game, the birth of a calf or the crunch of autumn leaves. There’s simply no limit to what Pine Plains represents to each of the people who live here.
Throughout the Bicentennial year, the Herald will be publishing your stories, creating a portrait of the town through your memories and images. If you’ve got a story you’d like to share, please send 200 to 500 words and a single photograph mypineplains@newpineplainsherald.org or editor@newpineplainsherald.org.
Please include your name, brief biographical details and contact information so we can reach you with any questions or edits.
We look forward to hearing from you!