from Edith E. Finke
Posted by admin on September 22nd, 2006 at 10:53 am (Memories)
September 22, 2006
The first time I met Evelyn and Everett was some time in the early sixties.
Neighbors on Carroll Street (where we had a brownstone which had been converted to a 10-apartment house), who were very interested in making
Park Slope the upscale neighborhood it had been and is once again, were holding a get-together with current and new residents.
I heard a long yawn behind my back and turned to see this enchanting couple, who smiled in embarrassment. I noticed that she was wearing
short white gloves — then, that both of them were spattered with fine dots
of white paint. The Ortners explained that they had just moved into their
brownstone, were stripping and painting — and exhausted.
I made a mental note that, were I ever to invite them to dinner, Everett was
surely a gourmet of the first order and I’d better cook something delicious
and extraordinary. As it turned out, I couldn’t have been more wrong: he
was almost a vegetarian and couldn’t eat anything with ‘a face’.
Evelyn and Everett gave the most wonderful dinner parties with always a
delightful mixture of interesting guests. As soon as they had moved to
Park Slope they set about putting it on the map. They organized walking
tours for prospective buyers, they corralled young couples they met on planes on their frequent visits to their beloved Italy, to come and see the
neighborhood and each and every one found a terrific house at terrifically
low prices.
I used to say jokingly that their beautifully furnished living room would, after their deaths, be transferred to the Brooklyn Museum, and exhibited as ‘The
Evelyn & Everett Ortner Living Room’, with a rope, of course.
They gave a supper before a Andres Segovia concert at BAM, inviting, again,
current residents and potential buyers, treating all of us to yet another de-lightful evening.
They were a devoted couple and my heart is breaking for Everett: to lose a wife and a partner after a 53-year marriage must be so very, very hard to
bear.
Although my mother sold the brownstone in 1976 and I moved to Manhattan
and now live on Long Island, I remember their delightful presence and their
activity on behalf of Park Slope, the Museum and Bam, their great dinner
parties and tours with the greatest affection.
Edith E. Finke, East Quogue, NY 11942
annual trips
