Former teacher artfully prolonging passion

By MERLE ENGLISH

In the predawn hours of Jan. 28, 2005, unable to fall sleep, Lou DeCaro sat up in bed, pondering what to do with the rest of his life.

He would not be returning the next day to teaching, his passion of 33 years - 29 of them spent imparting literature, grammar and the art of writing to seniors at William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach.

When school began, the 125 students in his five daily classes would learn that DeCaro, then 54, was forced to give up his career because of progressively worsening symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

DeCaro was playing softball in July 2002 when he felt his left arm shaking. "It started suddenly," he said. He was diagnosed one week later.

Parkinson's involves a breakdown of nerve cells in the brain that control movement, according to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation. It affects 1 million people in the United States, among them retired boxer Muhammad Ali and actor Michael J. Fox. Symptoms can include shaking or trembling, stiff muscles, chronic fatigue and pain, and problems with balance or walking. The cause is unknown, and there is no cure.

"Once the nerve cells are destroyed, there is no regeneration," DeCaro said, "so as time goes on, more and more parts of the body are affected. There is a dull, low-grade pain that never leaves you, in the legs, the joints. I experience cramps and spasms throughout the day.

"I simply could not make it through the day teaching," DeCaro said. "The pain and fatigue made it difficult for me to reach my standards. You're constantly battling the urge to fall asleep. ...

"Mobility is a major problem," he added. "I may look fit and young on the outside, but my left arm and left foot are numb most of the time. They feel paralyzed. As time goes by, you walk more slowly. I fought the effects the best I could before going into the classroom. I left brokenhearted because I loved teaching, I loved my students. Teaching to me was a joy of life."

He found a way to prolong that joy. On that first day of his retirement, DeCaro looked through a window at his home in Wading River where he lives alone, taking in his garden with its pond containing goldfish and water lilies, and tame deer that visit his backyard. He thought, "What am I going to do with myself now?" Then, he had an idea. "Why not take up painting?" It was something he had wanted to do since he was a child.

Fulfilling a dream

"That very day, I went out and got supplies, and started reproducing art from get-well cards. Then I started doing my own thing, and it was like a wildfire spreading. It was a feeling of exuberance," he recalled.

In the last 3 1/2 years, without any tutoring, DeCaro produced more than 600 paintings inspired by the work of Renoir, Degas, Manet, Monet, Cézanne and van Gogh, masters of Impressionism, a style characterized by visible brush strokes and emphasis on light and movement that developed in 19th century France.

His newfound avocation recently gave DeCaro an opportunity to return to his first love, but his students were older adults with Parkinson's disease.

On Oct. 17, four residents at the Bristal Assisted Living Community in Massapequa who had never held a paintbrush sat down before easels for a class in painting organized by DeCaro and Bristal management.

For close to two hours, while demonstrating techniques for painting a landscape with acrylics on his own canvas, DeCaro moved back and forth among his students, helping each one create a work of art. "This has good benefits for us," he told them. "It's good hand, eye and muscle exercise."

"Very lightly, a feathering type of effect," he told Dorothy O'Connor, 86, as he made a few brush strokes on her canvas. You're doing fabulously."

"This is coming out very nice, because you can see the cloud contrast," he encouraged Marilyn Schult, 79.

Colorblind and seeing only gray, Kon Schera, 79, had help finding the colors from Judy Svendsen, Bristal's resident relations director, but he was concerned he wasn't doing well. "I think this is a perfect sky," DeCaro remarked. "For someone who can't see color, you're doing an excellent job."

"Very good. I like that," DeCaro told Connie Walsh, 82, as she added mountains. Some paint ran down O'Connor's canvas. "I'm messing it up," she said.

"There is no such thing as messing anything up," DeCaro reassured her. "It's your creation. This is more than I could have imagined."

The residents had been hesitant to participate, but quickly warmed to the new experience. "At first, I said no because I had never painted anything," Schult said later. "I didn't believe I could do it."

O'Connor said, "When I use my hands, my legs shake - part of the Parkinson's, I guess. I feel I made nothing much, but I created something."

"I think it's wonderful if you can participate," Schera commented. "I see very poorly, but it's a wonderful endeavor. I want to get canvas and do experimenting. When's your next class?" he asked DeCaro.

Judy Piazza, a spokeswoman for Bristal, handed out clean brushes and cheered on the residents. She persuaded them to try, noting DeCaro had Parkinson's and took an interest in art, although he never had a lesson. "They were a little leery," she said. "They said they were not painters. But they did a good job. I'm really amazed at what they did."

So was DeCaro. "One of the things I enjoyed most about being a high school teacher was seeing my students achieve beyond my expectations," he said. . "I apply the same principle with the Parkinson's patients. Some of the people here today just didn't know how they were going to lift up their hand and hold a brush, but they did just fine." He got choked up and teary-eyed as Walsh gave him credit for "the first painting I did in my life. I never knew I could do it," she said. "It makes up for everything that was taken away from me."

Psychic gratification

It was fulfillment for DeCaro, who never showed that he was in pain and battling fatigue throughout the session. "Being able to do this is a celebration of life," he said. "I turned a negative into a positive. Just because you have Parkinson's, doesn't mean your life is over."

He glanced at a blue elastic band on his wrist inscribed with the word "Courage." "The people that were here today - what courage they exhibited."

DeCaro has received offers for his work but won't sell them, he said, "because I was painting for my own pleasure." He donated 40 pieces, however, for a fundraising auction Bristal held Thursday, for the American Parkinson's Disease Association Long Island chapter. He raises funds for the association, which he served as president until last month. "My stamina has gotten so poor I had to step aside."

Richard Youngberg, Bristal's executive director, whose grandfather had Parkinson's, welcomed DeCaro's "healing influence that helps the residents want to try something else. ... the recognition that they can do something positive refuels who they are. ... It's a wonderful thing for them to have this opportunity."

DeCaro plans to conduct more painting classes at Bristal. "I could live another 50 years, I could live five," he said. "The time I have has to be spent doing something constructive. I do not have the energy to continue as president of an organization, but I do have the energy to still make a contribution in a way I enjoy the most."