A truly sad and non-political story

Wow.

What an opportunity for an epic novel -- written by someone other than myself, of course. Way beyond my scope and ability.

All money does is make you more of what you already are. Her millions simply alowed her to shut the world out.

We read in the papers all the time of strange old people who die alone in their homes with 40 cats and newspapers dating back to WWII stacked from floor to ceiling. Sometimes they have thousands of dollars in shoeboxes or under the mattress. We don't think of them as fascinating. We only shake our heads over how sad their lives were.

This is no different. The only thing that makes it unusual is the amount of money involved.

It is a very interesting story. Thank you for posting it.

I agree with NT, except I think the cat ladies are heartbreakingly fascinating, too.

I do notice (I think?) that they couldn't find out that she has nobody. They don't even know where she is.

I picture her getting it on with another resident My friend worked at a very wealthy-person's retirement place here (where bing Crosby's oscar lives, irrelevently). Folks have no idea how lively those places can be

Well, I know this is sad, curious and mysterious. But I have a feeling that this (minus the money and mansions) is more commonplace than one would think.

Interesting stuff, though.

I remember reading an earlier story on her and her deceased father a while back. I can't imagine isolating myself like that. There's too much in life to experience to hole up in a room. I suspect an undiagnosed and untreated mental illness which would be exceptionally sad because she has the means and resources to get the best care anywhere.

I'm confused. is she alive? it said she was 104 a decade ago? are they not sure? is anyone doing anything wrong (aside form the creepy accountant)?

and she seemed like she was maybe not all there. back in the nineteen tens they'd have just called her simple and ignored it or since they were wealthy pretend it never happened. maybe she never got educated or had a metal illness...

howard hughes was abused in much the same way by the vultures.

I does seem debatable whether she is still alive. Can't someone (police?) do a well-being check?

This story deeply jolts me because of how I watched my mother die last year.

Who protects that old lady?

Meanwhile, I am convinced that Social Servcies can and should intervene. Here in Massachusetts, we have the Council on Aging and the Deperment of Elder Affairs to protect the elderly from abuse by children, siblings, servants, or anyone at all who has contact with the lfie of an elderly person. Someone who operates as an advocate for the elderly SHOULD step in. Right now.

veinglory said:

I dopes seem debatable whether she is still alive. Can't someone (police?) do a well-being check?

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This is addressed Part Two of the article here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38733524/ns/business-local_business

I may be misunderstanding this, but it sounds like ANYONE who's concerned about this can report it and have her checked on. Then it's up to the courts to take it seriously or not.

See below (from Part Two):

Short of going to court, a specialist in adult welfare cases in New York City suggested an alternative. Anybody who is concerned about the financial or physical well-being of an elderly person, even if that person doesn't have direct evidence of wrongdoing, can contact Adult Protective Services. (Referral instructions are here. To complete the referral, one can use her address of record, her empty apartment in New York City, 907 Fifth Ave.)

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I'm not disagreeing that she seems a little different.

But she moved into a 'hospital' twenty-some years ago. She'd have been over 80 years old. It doesn't say that she doesn't own a whole wing of the hospital for her own use.

She may have been right that a hospital was a good place for her to live. There will always be people around her, to care for her, someone to talk to, etc.

I'm just not seeing it as necessarily unusually sad. She didn't move in when she was twenty. She may be a smart cookie (and aware that she's unusual), imho.

If it is debatable whether you are still alive the care is either very bad or very good.

That's true, but it sounds as if the remaining family is checking on that situation frequently. If they didn't sound interested in the bad possibilities, I'd be much more concerned.

With that amount of money on the line, I'm sure they know the legal drill.

There's even a link to the forms anyone who is concerned can fill out to have social services check on her.

Sad? Maybe to us, but if that's how she wanted to live, who are we to judge? Rich or poor, I wouldn't want people poking around in my personal business, though I can see where there should be some concern over the accountant and the lawyer. If she wasn't worth butt loads of money, we wouldn't have read about her, just like we don't read about the thousands of old crazy ladies who die alone every year.

I don't think it is unnecessarily or unusually sad. Just, it seems to me that her life experience being different from others, a lot of people might be able to learn from her.

rugcat said:

Wow.

What an opportunity for an epic novel -- written by someone other than myself, of course. Way beyond my scope and ability.

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I hope they consider taking this powerful story and turning it into a novel! Thanks for sharing. I love hearing stories like this one!

what is sad is that all that money and land is just going to be maintained until the money runs out. i wish she'd at least have set up a charitable trust. that seem mind-bogglingly wasteful. imagine the education, food, shelter, museums, arts, copper union workers, etc that could have been aided by that money that's going to dusting and counting and property taxes.

That is truly sad. opulent waste.

The compelling and even morally imperative questions are:

1) Is she alive? Or does there exist a vast web of flim-flammery lies from her lawyers and accountats whereby they simply want to eke a few more years of paychecks out of her estate, and so it's to their advantage to "pretend" she's atill alive and still paying them?

2) Is she so unwilling to see her extended family? Or is she being forcibly cut off from them --and even from the rst of the world-- by her lawyers because this degree of unbreached isolation is the only way they can assure complete control over her?

3) Is she in command of her own life, or is she a prisoner of some kind?

These questions MUST be answered.