Sayre Shulman

Sayre Roger Shulman was born February 18, 1948 in New York City to proud parents David Byron (Doc) Shulman and Leah (Jill) Sugarman Shulman of Hickory Valley Farm, Stroudsburg, Pa. The parents were older and both had well earned their place in the world. Doc as a NY cardiologist, owner of a meat packing company and restaurateur, Jill, born in London England as the woman being responsible for the first ambulance being sent to Africa when the allies were fighting Rommel during WWII as a result of her poetry and dramatic narratives. Her work is in the library of congress and she was in Who's Who of American Women. While both doted on their son it was difficult from the beginning for Sayre to walk in "Little Napoleon"'s (as Doc was sometimes called) shoes. But Doc always had only the best in his heart for his son and Jillie's pure gold spirit treasured her "Sayrzie".

Sayre was brilliant with photographic memory. He was bored to distraction with school, but loved sports and was devastated when his pitching arm was destroyed by an accident at home and Doc had to place stitches with no anaesthetic fom elbow to wrist. At an early age Sayre found the rhythm in his soul... music. While both Jillie and Sayre's beloved second mother Francis (Jill's sister) both loved music and cavorting around the piano, Aunt Franc as she was called by him, broke more copies of Little Richard's "Good Golly Miss Molly" than he could count. He and some friends started a band together (The Harmonicats?) and they drew the girls to them in droves. While he enjoyed most of the oldies his favorite became Doo-Wop. If he was given the name of a song or artist he could tell you not only every label the song had been produced on but the number of minutes and seconds as well as any other variation.

Although his family divided it's time between Pa and Fl., Sayre's favorite years were spent in Golden Beach, Florida (between Hallendale and Miami). Their black housekeeper Eve (or Eva) would be sure to bake 2 Hawaii Chocolate pies and dust off the record player (and in later years the scotch bottle) when she found out he was coming. He loved dancing with her and stayed in touch whenever he went to Florida until her passing. In his teen years he attended Pinecrest Prep School to which Doc frequently made substantial contibutions to keep Sayre enrolled. Sayre often wondered if he still held his record for most detentions. He loved telling stories of escapades with friends Harry, Irving and Ivan and others. Although he never wanted for anything, his parents spent a good deal of time cutting him off at the pass before he could get into any great mishaps. He was mortified once when after he had slipped away with friends to attend a party he had been forbidden to go to over an hour from home, one of his friends pointed out the window and told him his folks were marching up the drive. Yes they were, and take him home they did. Another time Sayre had a terrible motorcycle acident in which he drove the kick stand thru his thigh. He was never afraid of hard work though. In fact that's how he met his favorite friends of all time, The Schembari Brothers, John, Benny and Nelson. They were doing landscaping for Doc at the Florida house when Sayre pulled up in his car. The fellows were wrestling with a truck stuck in the mud. Sayre, dressed in a white Armani suit and Italian loafers (NEVER any socks), jumped right in to help and by the time the truck was unstuck Sayre was mud from head to foot!

He had a wonderful personality and drew people around him all of his life. He had an easy smile., devilishly handsome looks and a kind heart. He loved his family especially his cousins Sandy and Barney, loved listening to his Uncle Lester Levy's jokes and stories and tormenting his sister Jacoba (Diana). As he left his teen age years and honed his gift of persuasion he wrote for a time for an ad agency. Although never politically inclined he wrote the acceptance speech for a winning mayor of Golden Beach.

As he left his teenage years Sayre retained his love of music and Florida. He would get it into his head to call various old time musicians. He loved the blues and rock 'n roll. He spoke to Muddy Waters so often that Sayre could hear Muddy's wife call out "It's that white boy again". Especially Howlin' Wolf and Muddy were always happy to indulge him and they would talk for hours. He also became friends with John Marascalco somewhere over the years always hounding him for records or other memorabilia. John even sent him a copy of the first contract with Elvis. Sayre had a phony press pass and was able to get backstage and see Little Richard in his dressing room. He was so proud that Richard had exclaimed to him "How'd a white boy like you get to know so much about black music?". Sayre always loved Jerry Lee Lewis and wanted "Shake, Rattle and Roll" or "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On " played at his funeral.

Somewhere along the way Sayre developed a love for good food and wine. It's unknown where he learned to cook because he loved to tell the story about his mom... he ALWAYS called her "Mitzi"... and how she made spaghetti with ketchup as the sauce. But he was always coming home with Mitzi's split pea soup and flanken, and Aunt Franc's breads. One of his favorite restaurants early on was Dante's Copa Cabana. Later in the 80's was a little cafe in Ft. Lauderdale called "Sophia's" and an unlikely restauant in a Holiday Inn run by a one time cook on the Andrea Doria, Armando Das whom Sayre would keep in touch with long after the restaurant had closed. Some of his cooking knowledge may have come from a lady named Bea Brink who took Sayre under her wing when he worked summers in his father's restaurant Hickory Valley Farm.

When his folks gave up their home in Golden Beach in their later years they turned the Delaware Water Gap restaurant into a gourmet restaurant and called it "Sayre's". Here he met the woman he would spend the next 30+ years of his life with, Pennsylvania Primitive artist Nancy Schaffer Gussett and helped raise her 2 children. They would work late into the night developing recipes and writing menus and advertising for the newspapers. He was discouraged from cooking at home though. While he made delicious dinners served with the best wines and regaled his company with the stories of his families early years (yes, just like Doc- he loved to talk!), the dishes, pots and pans would be piling up. "Lamb" as he ALWAYS called Nancy used to tell him he dirties 3 pots just to boil a cup of water. At this time he also discovered Bossa Nova and Antonio Carlos Jobim was his favorite. He also discovered Frank Sinatra, Teddy Pendergrass, Manhatten Transfer and other music. He made some long lasting friends during this time as well. One of his favorites was a waiter, Gerry, but the best was Roy Sydnor, a retired insurance agent who could make a Rob Roy like no one else when he wasn't pitching in where ever he was needed. Others would come to the office door when they were in town including Northampton County D.A. Charles Spaziani who stayed in touch.

But, as in many ways, Sayre was ahead of his time. The gourmet restaurant was a difficult life. There were times of great fun but Doc and Jill were getting along in years. In the renovating and design of the restaurant Sayre had embraced his parents love of antiques, especially taking after his dad who was known as "buy a million Doc". After the restaurant fell victim to a local serial arsonist it was sold to another restauranteur and eventually became a bus station.

In the early 80's Lamb and Sayre started out as he used to say, "You, me and a cat named Dindi", on a trip to Fl to visit friend Benny. After significant car trouble and hours of heart wrenching kitty howls (it was Dindi's first trip) they returned home to be met with the news that the manager of the Hickory Valley Restaurant in Swiftwater, Vada Belle, had passed away. Sayre and Lamb took over the task of running that restaurant. Sayre enjoyed re-living his early days frying up ham and eggs in the pan and flipping home fries, pancakes and burgers. Over the years tourism in the Poconos had spiked and there was no longer a division in the seasons. The work was very hard, but very rewarding. Many politicos as well as world famous actors and actress would stop in on their way out of or into NYC. The walls were covered with photographs, letters and original art work from the like of Yul Brenner to Susan Anton and even Wolfman Jack from over the years.

Despite his 87 years, all were taken back when the call came New Year's Eve of 1985 that the ambulance was on it's way. Sayre and Lamb stayed at the hospital until finally at 3 a.m. New Year's Day 1986, Doc, life time friend of J. Edgar Hoover, Father Theodore Hesburgh, Alexander Fleming, Lord Moran, recipient of 6 Presidential Inaugural Ball Invitations and letters and photos from hundred's of distinguished citizens of the world was determined to have left this world.

Once again, Sayre, the unlikely, imperfect hero took on the enormous task of caring for his Mitzi and Aunt Franc in their final years. Franc's son, Barney, who by this time had become a holistic practicioner and changed his name to Brahmin, was given Doc's ancient and well used medical bag. At dinner, Sayre lovingly retoted, "sure, he gets dad's old bag and I get the two old bags! The two old bags in question, Aunt Franc and Mitzi, with their ribald English humor roared with laughter. Sayre and "the girls" as they came to be know, would drive around the Poconos scrounging for antiques. Sayre drove kept them busy to the point of distraction remodeling the old farmhouse.While Mitzie enjoyed country and primitive Sayre's taste as always went to the extravagant and he sought elaborate Victorian furnishings, stained glass, bronzes and gilt clocks. The higher polished something was, the better. Just as at one time he had dressed to the nine's, now he worked hard at dressing the old house.

As Mitzie battled recurrences of oral cancer and Aunt Franc became lost in the fog of dementia, Sayre's kind and gentle spirit shined through. He started to sell off cherished items, even his precious record collection garnished over the decades to help pay for his dear mother's surgeries. 9 in just the first 6 months of a two year illness. Sayre would taste test Aunt Franc's food to be sure she wasn't eating anything rancid especially when she fell in love with sea food salad. When a surgeon in the Poconos wanted to remove Aunt Franc's foot due to compliations from diabetes Sayre found the best doctor and drove her 90 miles each way 3 times a week for 3 months. She never lost so much as a toe. Sayre continued to care for the girls with pure devotion until Jill waged her final battle in 1994 at age 82 and even kept Aunt Franc at home until her children came a year later and took her away.

Sayre never was never able to recover from the deep melancholia that surrounded him after the loss of his family. By this time his good friend Rich Rosen had moved his business Wax Trax to Las Vegas and so his heart wasn't into pursuing records with any great interest. He continued to enjoy antiques. By this time the Poconos had gone from a bedroom community for NY, NJ and Philly to a boom-town where taxes, the neighborhood and powers that be had become distasteful. When Sayre and Lamb became victims of a relentless criminal the justice system was unable to protect anyone from and their resources ran out they followed the advice of life long frind Willie Burch who Said, "Don't let them take your memories from you", they took not much more than their memories and moved to a quiet little town outside of Scranton, Pa. where Sayre dabbled in antiques, took care of the fur babies and spent his time enjoying sports. He was always a huge Miami Dolphins fan, once even driving to the airport joining the throngs welcoming home the winning super bowl champions. Like his father he always carried a 7 of hearts playing card in his wallet for good luck. His worst fear was that he would suffer a long drawn out passing like he witnessed happen to some of his family. While not overly religious he held God close in his heart often praying for those who never knew. God had to have been listening. Sayre died at home in January 2013 of an acute heart attack.

And as Doc was once quoted in a 1984 Pocono Record article, "This is the way things happen".