Name/Title
Reutlinger - Rita R. Goldman - Courage 2019Description
Rita R. Goldman
"Courage”
The Reutlinger Community
It's easy to spot Rita in the halls of Reutlinger. Known as the "Flower Girl," she'll be wearing a colorful flower in her hair that matches her clothes and her personality. But her life hasn't been as bright as she is.
Eighty-five-year-old Rita grew up in Washington D.C. in a family permeated by her Polish mother's losses during the Holocaust. Her early hopes to become a counterculture artist were quickly dashed by a Corcoran Gallery art teacher, who told her she'd never be an artist. But
she managed to write poems for the local Jewish paper, and eventually became a school psychologist, married and had four children.
At the age of 49, Rita suffered a devastating stroke that left her wheelchair-bound, paralyzed on her right side and blind in one eye. Even after her stroke she finished a Ph.D., did volunteer work, including counseling and tutoring in the temple, and endured the tragic loss of her 33-year-old son, Shalom.
Now, painting with her left hand, the art program is "a shining light" for her. "I feel like my disability was an opportunity to do good deeds and learn," she says.
ART WITH ELDERS
2019 27th Annual Art With Elders Exhibit
