The woman who put a face on elder abuse
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Before the nightmare began, Amelia Lewis de Gremli had led a rich, exhilarating life.
The former actress had received a marvelous education. She had been a Rhodes Scholarship finalist. She had directed theaters and taught drama all over the world. And she had saved for her retirement and owned her home in Nevada.
In 1986, however, when de Gremli was 66, she suffered a crippling stroke and became the vulnerable victim of outrageous exploitation. Seven years later Oregon authorities found her -- ill, lonely, unable to walk or speak -- in a Bend foster care facility where she had been secreted by a married couple who had drained her assets.
Barely able to scratch her name on a piece of paper, de Gremli managed to draw attention to her plight by scrawling the word "help" on a postcard. Then she got an aide at the care facility to address it to a Nevada friend who didn't know what had become of de Gremli, and that touched off a remarkable chain of events.
De Gremli, who died Friday in Bend at the age of 88, left a legacy far greater than her colorful career on the stage. Her heroic plea for help caused ripples that ended up changing Oregon law and heightening awareness of a quiet crime known today as elder abuse.
Some victims suffer a physical form of this evil, but de Gremli's abuse was financial. It began soon after her stroke when a friend's grown son and his wife, who had been having money problems, offered to move into her home and look after her.
Soon they had her power of attorney. Then they moved her to the Bend area, not telling any of her friends where she'd been taken.
Abridged
Read the full-text at OregonLive
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