Since then, many of his longtime friends and associates have worried that the political widower was too frail - he's shaky on his feet - and too isolated to stay in his townhouse. Lainy LeBow-Sachs, an aide since Schaefer's City Hall days, started pushing for Charlestown. He resisted, but after that early March fall, LeBow-Sachs decided to follow her old boss' advice: "Do It Now!" She called the movers, only to have Schaefer send them away.
So LeBow-Sachs made sure Schaefer would be out of the house Thursday when she tried again. She took him to lunch and afterward got in the Lincoln with Schaefer and his driver, whom LeBow-Sachs had clued in to the plan.
"Poor Ross," said LeBow-Sachs of the driver. "He was sweating and shaking. I told [Schaefer] what he was doing, and he said, `No, no, no.'"
Schaefer reacted angrily.
"She tricked me," he said. "Sure, I was mad. How would you like to come home and there was nothing but bare walls?"
But by yesterday afternoon, when he agreed to be interviewed in his new apartment, Schaefer said he was resigned to the decision, even if he hadn't yet jumped into the Charlestown social swirl. He was still in his blue-and-white striped pajamas at 4 p.m., though he said he intended to get dressed and go downstairs for dinner.
"I walked in, and it was home," he said, surrounded by furniture and knickknacks - he's big on lighthouses - that were in place for his arrival. "I thought I'd hate it. That was a long time ago."
John Erickson, CEO of the retirement chain that includes Charlestown, was there to greet Schaefer at his sixth-floor apartment, which has a view of the Baltimore skyline. When Schaefer had dinner Thursday night at Charlestown's Atrium restaurant, nearly 100 residents stood and applauded, said Erickson spokesman Mel Tansill.
If Schaefer seems at peace with the decision, the same cannot be said for all of his friends and associates. Schaefer's will-he, won't-he move has been the subject of political gossip for months, and this week's surprise resolution did not sit well with some.
"Her subterfuge has served to make him look incompetent and incapable of making decisions for himself," said former spokesman Mike Golden, referring to LeBow-Sachs. "I think it's highly insulting. It's clearly something he did not want to do."
Several others, however, expressed relief.
"I think Don needs to be with people," said former Gov. Marvin Mandel. "And this will give him the opportunity."
Said Nelson Sabatini, Schaefer's longtime friend and former health secretary: "I knew he was moving, wasn't moving, was moving, wasn't moving." Perhaps Schaefer put up a fight, Sabatini suggested, because he likes to fight.
"One of the beautiful things about Schaefer is he was a contrarian, and he was at his best when he was disagreeing with someone," said Sabatini, who predicted the move will be a good one. "It will be filled with people who will line up every day to come and pay respects to him. So he will have an audience."
Kevin Eckert, dean of the Erickson School of Aging, Management and Policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, said the elderly can lead fuller lives in that type of setting.
"There really are opportunities for expansion and growth, making new friends, expanding one's social network," he said. "He might become the mayor of Charlestown."
laura.vozzella@baltsun.com
