Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/845037
10 July 6 • 2017 jn A centenarian and his "rescuer" — his cousin — live one day at a time, with humor and humanity. Love, Laugh — And Help Each Other B y any standard, Vicki Howard qualifies as a mentsh — "a person of integrity and honor." Vicki, 62, has cared for her 100-year-old second cousin, Manny (Emanuel) Silverman, in her Huntington Woods home for the past 10 years. She also took care of her mother when she had cancer and assists an elder- ly aunt and uncle. "We're running a senior center," she laughs of the home she shares with Devlin Burton, her partner of 36 years. "I've always been kind and sensitive to elders, but this has taught me how vital seniors are. It has taught me how they love unconditionally and how you can care for them more deeply than you expect." Vicki and Manny were close when she was growing up in Detroit. "I was the child he never had," she says. "He would read to me, and his wife, Babs, who was an artist, painted with me. He took me fishing," Vicki remembers Manny as kind and generous, to her and to others. He offered to send her to college. He and his wife would often visit residents of what was then the Jewish Old Folks Home. Manny owned Oak Park Tool & Die and also was an inventor. "He has done amazing things — inventing the synthetic ruby, the rear-screen projection for movie theaters. He was a scientist — SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER ABOVE: Manny and his care- taker, cousin Vicki Howard, have a special, playful bond. TOP: Manny Silverman turns 101 on July 15. profile jews d in the PHOTO BY BRETT MOUNTAIN PHOTO BY BRETT MOUNTAIN continued on page 12