Resident’s restoration of Passavant gate brings flood of memories
Randy Hart’s whole family shares some kind of connection with the stone gate outside Lutheran SeniorLife’s Passavant Community, which stands on the grounds of an elder care home initially built in 1905.
His father spent the last years of his life at that site. His wife, Cynthia Hart, now a retired nurse, worked there as a teenager, and his mother volunteered there. His grandson works in the cafeteria there.
Randy Hart himself used to play as a child in fields now occupied by the present-day community’s buildings, having grown up across the street.
But it was the Harts who bought the plaque on the gateway’s entrance at a personal cost of $850.
“The Old Peoples’ Home,” it reads.
“We had a lot of discussion in regards to that name,” Hart said. “And I debated the issue of ‘that’s what it was called, so why would you not restore the plaque and leave that name on there?’ If you’re living in that facility, it’s highly likely that you’re collecting Social Security.”
Hart estimates that plaque described the site from its early 1900s origins to the 1970s.
Hart, who serves as a city planner and leader with the Zelienople Historic Society, noted that years of accumulated dirt and soot had turned the stone gate from a soft gray to a gritty brown. From Sept. 20 to Sept. 22, he oversaw the $7,000 restoration project that worked to bring the site back to its former glory.
The outcome of the effort proved rewarding.
“I actually had people call me and ask if we tore down the original gate or entry and built a new one, because that’s how well it turned out,” Hart said.
The remainder of the money needed for the project came from Lutheran SeniorLife, Hart said.
Charles Passavant Junior helped establish the original on-site elder care home, Hart said.
Passavant shares lineage with Baron Dettmar Basse, who founded Zelienople in 1802. It is his daughter, Zelie, who gave the town its name.
The Passavant family became known for different charitable projects undertaken on behalf of the U.S. Lutheran community. The Rev. William Passavant, Basse’s grandson, started several orphanages, including the Orphans’ Home and Farm School in Zelienople, now Glade Run Lutheran Services, and four hospitals, including Passavant Hospital in Pittsburgh, now UPMC Passavant.
“They were the original inhabitants of Zelienople,” Hart said. “The historical society house, that’s the original Passavant House.”
When Hart served as chairman of the planning commission 15 years ago, he worked with Laura Roy, who was then renovating the Passavant campus. Roy has served as executive director of the community for the last 22 years.
“We got a bid from several companies to do the sandblasting,” Hart said. “And then I got a bid to do the plaque, because those are two separate things. … So Laura Roy and I would sit down and go through the details in this regard.”
The crews who performed the renovations did wonderful work, he added.
“We’re blessed to be able to have a facility like that. For whenever the time comes that you can’t take care of yourself, and your spouse can’t take care of you — if your spouse is still surviving,” Hart said.
“They’ve been here a long, long time, and our community has really benefited from that.”
