Cathy in Houston

Episode 17. Lisa in Nashville
In this episode, I will be talking with Lisa in Nashville. She relocated to Nashville from New York City in late 2019 to help her dad as he recovered from a serious illness. Lisa lived in New York City on and off for over 10 years to be near her significant other, Ben. Ben was a MTA train conductor in New York City transit authority for 22 years and he passed away of COVID on April 28, 2020, just a day after his birthday. Ben was also just one of two Orthodox Jewish subway conductors in the MTA system. He was an active member of his Brooklyn community, his Jewish community and the world of train memorabilia and knowledge.
As Lisa tells their story, you understand their relationship, why she was in Nashville and how their devotion to the Jewish faith influenced the decisions they both made and how Lisa is working through Ben's loss. Like many of us, she and Ben were not together when he died.
For context on this interview and the ever-changing pandemic, we recorded this episode on December 2, 2021.
Below are just some of the online articles on Ben and the other MTA workers who have passed away. One memorial website includes a poem called Travels Far by Tracy K. Smith. It goes like this:
What you gave—
brief tokens of regard,
soft words uttered
barely heard,
the smile glimpsed
from a passing car.
Through stations
and years, through
the veined chambers
of a stranger’s heart—
what you gave
travels far.
Here is a link to that poem: https://new.mta.info/covid-memorial
Here is a selection of the news articles about Ben.
https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus/ny-coronavirus-veteran-mta-conductor-dies-20200429-ipwcbpl5lbc35htae7klbb4gta-story.html
https://brooklynreporter.com/2020/04/mta-conductor-ben-schaeffer-dies-from-covid-19/
http://www.twulocal100.org/story/conductor-ben-schaeffer-be-honored-ny-transit-museum-historical-program-tue

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Long Road Ahead by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.