Vic & Lee on the occasion of their 50th anniversary

Vic and Lee Blumenthal have changed addresses 14 times in their 58 years of marriage, and if you ask Vic where he has enjoyed living most, he likes to say, very wisely, "wherever my wife was." 

        Both grew up in the Boston area, (Natick and Everett respectively) and wherever they've roamed, they've always returned to the Bay State. They spend six months of the year in Florida but don't regard it as home. "When we leave for the winter," Lee says, "we talk about 'going to Florida.' But when we come back, we always say,'We're coming home.' "

        Vic's father was born in England but was brought to the United States as a four-year-old; Vic's mother was a Bostonian. He was one of five children in a family that, in the mid-1930s, was part of a very small Jewish community of perhaps 20 families in Natick. He attended public schools, initially in a one-room schoolhouse, and vividly recalls the disciplinary technique of his fifth grade teacher; she was given to firing rubber erasers at kids when they talked out of turn. An industrious boy, Vic milked cows, picked strawberries, mowed lawns, delivered furniture and performed other chores to earn money.

        After high school, Vic attended UMass in Amherst, graduating in 1955. And it was during his senior year at UMass that he met Lee Ullian, the young woman he would marry. Lee's mother was a homemaker and her dad was a doctor, who influenced her to pursue a career in physical therapy at Barnard College and Columbia University. Vic's mother had a friend whose daughter Sunny was also at Barnard. 

        A couple of blind dates in the spring of 1955 came to a head in the lobby of a Barnard dormitory. Sunny was out of the picture, co-opted by a new boyfriend, but two other girls had agreed to blind dates with Vic and his friend Bob. As the girls descended the lobby staircase, Vic spotted the one he wanted and was quicker off the mark than Bob. He grabbed her coat and went off for his first date with Lee. "I fell in love that night," he says, "but it took her a little longer."

        Vic worked for a year after graduating, but the draft was still in effect, so in June 1956 he enlisted in the Army and served for two years. In the middle of that stint, he and Lee married. At some point during their courtship, they discovered that both of their families had summer cottages in Onset, just half a mile from one another. Some things are meant to be.

        While in the Army, Vic worked with the Finance Corps and became familiar with the management of financial activities and data processing, which led to his 32-year career in financial and information technology management. Along the way, he has worked for Raytheon, Honeywell, California Blue Shield and a handful of other corporations. 

        When I asked about his most satisfying work experience, Vic said that came while working for Automatic Data Processing (ADP) in Waltham. The largest client in ADP's Hartford office, Friendly's, was moving its business elsewhere; Vic's assignment was to shut the resulting unprofitable operation down. Instead, he persuaded Friendly's to stay, found new clients and improved the use of technology. Over the course of ten years, he grew the business from $2.5 million/year to $20 million/year and saved the operation.

        After graduating from Columbia University in 1957, Lee used her physical therapy training for a year at Johns Hopkins Hospital, until her first child Linda arrived; two other children, Laura and Mark, followed by 1963. In the following years, Lee worked as a physical therapist for home health care agencies, as her family responsibilities allowed.

Vic & Lee on their boat, "Breezy Point"

One of the great pleasures that Vic and Lee enjoyed over the course of 25 years -- boating -- was sparked one day in 1979 while they drove from Framingham to Cape Cod. Stalled temporarily in traffic beside a vehicle hauling a small sailboat, Vic struck up a conversation with the driver, asking questions about boats and boating. When he returned from the Cape, he went to a boatyard, bought a 16' sailboat and named it "Shared Experience." In the decades that followed, in successively bigger boats named "Breezy Point" (echoing the name of their Onset cottage), they sailed the waters of New England and Long Island Sound. Vic and Lee have also enjoyed the pleasure of visiting much of the US and Canada and taking trips to Europe and Asia, Australia, South America and Israel. 

        But busy as they have been with work and family, both Vic and Lee have made time to volunteer. While in Florida, Lee volunteers at a Woman's Health Center, escorting patients who have come for a mammography. Vic volunteers, both here and also in Florida. His work in the Emergency Department of Falmouth Hospital was recognized last summer when he was named "Volunteer of the Month." His job in the ED is to meet patients as they arrive, escort them to triage and keep them informed while they wait for their appointments. He also takes patients to X-ray and brings visitors to the rooms of their family members. When things are slow, there are housekeeping chores to occupy his time. He also volunteers at the Mashpee Senior Center, driving people to doctor appointments. Colleagues at the Falmouth Hospital have described Vic as "committed, dependable, compassionate and the right person for the job." When I asked him why he spends so much time volunteering, he said simply, "I like people and I like to give back."

        The year 1996 was a year of big decisions for Lee and Vic. They sold their boat and moved from Hopkinton, MA to their summer home in North Falmouth. Vic began a five-year involvement with Business Networking International (BNI), purchasing a BNI franchise and growing the business to 40 chapters on the Cape and in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. BNI establishes highly structured local chapters of business people for the purpose of sharing referrals within the group and expanding access to one another's contacts. 

In a favorite photo taken some ten years ago,  the Blumenthal grandchildren pose on a Falmouth beach.  (L to R) Christa, Jessica, Alyson (in the rear), Emma, Scott and Alan

In 1996, Vic and Lee also began to spend their winters in Florida, eventually purchasing a condo in Boynton Beach. Since then, their life, more than ever, has focused on the changing lives of their three adult children and the activities of their six grandchildren. But traveling and volunteering have continued.

         Vic and Lee sold their North Falmouth house in 2009 and moved to Southport. (During the interview, we discovered that they and we, the Kapps, had offered to buy the same condo, but our bid prevailed.) Lee attends the Ladies Coffee, participates in water aerobics, works out in the cardio room and enjoys walking and playing cards. Vic has served on the Landscape Committee, exercises and enjoys riding his bike and playing golf twice a week. Both are avid sports fans, following the Patriots, Celtics, Bruins, and the Red Sox -- even if they're not winning. Lee refers to the Boston area as "Sports Heaven."

        After their beginnings in the Boston area, pursuing busy, productive lives, raising a family, moving from place to place and traveling the world, Vic and Lee have come full circle to a special place that holds many happy memories for them -- Cape Cod. It's good to have them as neighbors in Southport.