Word: levenson
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From his home in nearby White River Junction, Vt., Levenson drives to Dartmouth-Hitchcock in his 1988 stick-shift Chevrolet Nova. He does all his murals--for which he charges only the cost of materials--in the oncology section because his mother and the first of his three wives died of cancer. "The patients' conversations feed me--they keep me alert," says Levenson, who places an empty chair next to his easel to invite kibitzing while he works...
...chief of radiation oncology at the cancer center. "His sheer presence and energy are inspiring to everyone. When you see someone his age having this tremendous mental agility and creativity, he becomes a role model, whether he wants to or not." Radiation oncology nurse Anita Concilio believes that Levenson "reminds patients that life goes on, even with a cancer diagnosis. That he is working into his mid-90s and has so much to offer gives us all hope...
...patient who was particularly inspired by Levenson was Janice Munro, a former nurse who had bilateral breast cancer. When Munro arrived for her first radiation session four years ago, she spotted Levenson in the corner, painting. "There was so much energy and life in those murals, and that's what I wanted back in my life," she recalls. "When I looked at his murals, I forgot about the cancer and felt healthy. He lives life to its fullest every single day, and I realized that's what I had to do too." Today Munro, 62, acts as Levenson's assistant...
...Levenson works quickly (and without eyeglasses, thanks to two cataract surgeries), making progress that patients can follow daily. He draws everything from memory, a skill he continually hones. While watching a boxing match on television at home, for instance, he will turn away and draw what he has seen. "I freeze it in my mind and make the sketches," he says. "It's what I call my roadwork." A stickler for historical accuracy, he researches his murals in libraries and specialized museums. For his Civil War mural, a member of the hospital staff who belongs to a Civil...
...Much of Levenson's work depicts old-fashioned working-class life--people felling trees, mining a granite quarry, repairing locomotives, working a farm. That reflects his own blue collar background in Danvers, Mass. His Russian-immigrant parents were poor, but his mother, a seamstress, and father, a tailor, bequeathed good genes to Levenson and his three younger sisters. Today two sisters are also in their 90s, and the "baby" will be 87 on Sept. 30. Levenson, who yearned to be an illustrator, was able to attend the Massachusetts College of Art but left during the Depression. The only work...