In the fall of 2009 Maris Gordon was appointed the Guardian of Mary Lewin, an Incapacitated Person. Mrs. Lewin was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease and was a resident of a state owned nursing home on Randall’s Island. The case seemed to be an ordinary no assets nursing home guardianship.
Every time Mrs. Gordon visited Mary Lewin, she asked her to bring her to the fifth floor to visit her husband Harold. Mrs. Gordon asked the staff if her husband was there. They said that they thought she was a widow and explained that looking for a deceased spouse was typical of her disease.
Yet, there was something about the way Mary was looking for Harold that nagged at Mrs. Gordon. She had experience with Alzheimer’s Disease, but felt that Mary’s request should be looked into. So, she decided to trace the path of Mary’s admission to the facility and found that Harold was indeed alive.
Several months before, APS found Harold and Mary unconscious in the apartment in Jackson Heights. They were both admitted to Elmhurst Hospital. But since they had no family or friends to help them, and they both suffered from different ailments, they were discharged to different facilities for long term care.
When Mrs. Gordon met with Harold, who was alert but confined to a wheelchair, she asked him if he knew Mary and wanted to be reunited with her. Immediately tears rolled down his face and he asked “Is she alive?”. He thought she had died in the hospital and he was sent to the nursing home to live by himself.
Mrs. Gordon made the necessary applications to the Court to reunite the couple. She found them a room to share in an upscale nursing home and they lived happily there for the next 7 years.
THE STORY CONTINUES:
After Mrs. Gordon located Harold, she located their apartment and assets. She discovered that they had an estimated $2 million in savings. However, she also found out that approximately another million dollars was stolen from them.
An officer at Chase Bank befriended Harold and offered to assist him with errands. Harold began to trust this man. Unfortunately, this man had Harold complete and sign a withdrawal slip in the amount of $880,800.00 from Harold’s account at HSBC. The paper trail found an immediate deposit into into the friends account.
When Mrs. Gordon asked Harold about this withdrawal, he knew nothing about it. And when the Chase Bank officer was questioned, he said Harold gave him a gift.
Quick Action, Final Years in Peace
Maris was quickly able to freeze the couple’s bank accounts. With the assistance of Peter Gordon, lawsuits were initiated. They recovered $350,000 of the stolen money from the thief, and got the remainder from HSBC Bank.
Harold and Mary Lewins lived comfortably in Ozanam Hall of Queens for the rest of their lives. When asked if they liked it, they said they couldn’t ask for a nicer place to live. They shared a room and had a private aide attend to their needs.
As expected with long true loves, they died within a few weeks of each other.