Bankroll about-face

Guardian proposes $13,000-a-month plan to care for stricken man after discovering cache of savings

Lou Kilzer and Sue Lindsay, News Staff Writers

Published April 11, 2001 at midnight

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When his guardian found out Manny Boody had money, plans changed.

The retired Rocky Mountain News sports reporter had lived in a small, one-story home in Globeville since he and his mother moved to Denver in 1915 when he was a toddler.

No one knew he had a dime, certainly not the paramedics who arrived at his home on Sept. 3, 1995, after worried neighbors placed a call. The old man, they reported, was living in filth. He was dehydrated, malnourished, running a fever.

Four days later, after a stay at Denver General Hospital (now Denver Health Medical Center), Manny arrived at Provenant Senior Life Center very disoriented. He told doctors he was 95 years old, although he was actually 82. He didn't know who Bill Clinton was.

Manny Boody was a classic case of dementia, and a doctor determined he could not live on his own. He was sent to the Anam Chara Home, a non-profit group facility for the elderly where Manny's News pension and Social Security would cover much of the $2,100-a-month bill.

Manny's brother, Pete, himself aging and ill, petitioned Denver Probate Court to be named conservator and guardian. But Pete lived in Texas. So he arranged for Gordon Wolfe, a professional guardian and conservator, to be local co-petitioner.

MANUEL BOODY

Case history: Guardianship established after neighbors found him disoriented and ill alone in his home in September 1995.

Time spent as ward: Five months

Sample of expenses: More than $21,000 for five months of case management

Judge, jurisdiction: Magistrate Sandra Franklin, Denver Probate Court.

Personal history: University of Denver graduate; named to Colorado High School Sports Association Hall of Fame after career as writer at News and Post.

Family status: Preceeded in death by his wife, Esther. Brother Pete died in May 1998 after inheriting estate.

Probate court granted the petition, and Wolfe took over Manny's affairs on Oct. 5, 1995. Manny would stay at Anam Chara "for the foreseeable future,'' according to the petition.

Within two months, the conservator had found that Manny had socked away $331,000 in six bank accounts. He had $91,000 in stocks and bonds. His home, which was owned free and clear, was valued at $40,000. All totaled, the retired sports writer had nearly half a million dollars in assets, mostly in cash.

That's when plans changed.

Wolfe told the court he was considering returning Manny to his home. Probate law typically favors placing wards in the least restrictive environment possible. That would be Manny's home, Wolfe said.

A guardian ad litem assigned to the case said she had no problem with Wolfe's handling of it.

But others questioned the reasoning behind his plan.

The new amount Wolfe proposed spending from Manny's estate: $13,051 a month.

Manny's personal history is chronicled in the editorial archives of the Rocky Mountain News.

He was born Manuel Budisavljevich in southern Colorado in 1913. After he and his mother, Yelena, moved to Globeville, Manny attended North High School and eventually graduated from the University of Denver.

His career as a sportswriter at The Denver Post was interrupted by Pearl Harbor. But after a stint in the Army he returned to the Post, then joined the News in 1948.

He was a conscientious scribe who combed the paper looking for errors, said fellow staffer Gene Amole. When he found anything out of place, there was "hell to pay.''

Manny covered high school sports and moonlighted as a scout for the Brooklyn, later Los Angeles, Dodgers.

In 1962, he was elected president of the Denver Press Club, serving on the board with Amole, Dusty Saunders, Charles Roos and Denver Probate Judge David Brofman.

"Manny was the legend,'' said Bert Borgmann, assistant commissioner of the Colorado High School Sports Association, years later, when Manny was named to its Hall of Fame. "No one at the time knew more than Manuel.''

Devoted to his mother, Manny married Esther only after Yelena died when he was in his 50s.

His devotion then shifted to Esther, whose health declined rapidly in the 1990s.

"They were soul mates,'' said Anam Chara administrator Peggy Quinn in an interview. "His whole being held together until she died.''

That was in March 1995. Six months later, Manny Boody arrived at Anam Chara, incoherent and incapacitated.

Gordon Wolfe's announcement that he was considering moving Manny set off a storm of protest. Anam Chara's administrator, Manny's doctor and a court visitor all objected in court.

"Manny had severe dementia,'' Quinn later told the News. "He was the dearest, sweetest man. And it takes some learning and some education and some experience to deal with that care. He could never have been in his own home.''

Dave Garland, Manny's longtime doctor, agreed that Anam Chara was the place for Manny. "They seemed to do a very nice job,'' he said in a recent interview. "Manuel was on his feet pretty well in those days.''

He said he was appalled by the plan to relocate him.

"I kind of have it out for some of these people who look at somebody every two or three months and make a decision about what their lives should be like,'' he said later. "I just don't understand that sort of thing.''

A Wolfe employee dismissed Garland's complaints at the time, saying the doctor was "weird'' and "getting old.''

"My methods are weird because I care for people,'' Garland told the News.

The loudest alarm was raised by Dorie Furman, a nurse frequently appointed to be an official "court visitor'' to ensure that wards of probate court received proper care.

Furman wrote six pages of single-spaced typewritten notes to the probate judge expressing her reservations.

At Anam Chara, Manny had found "a very positive, warm, caring environment, with approximately eight to 10 residents,'' she wrote. "It is a house, with a family-like atmosphere and very watchful, doting caregivers.''

She said that when she questioned the amount it would cost Manny for home care she was told by a Wolfe employee "he had plenty of money to cover that.''

"I feel the decision as to whether or not he goes home should be made on where he will most likely have a sense of well-being,'' she said, "rather than just a financial decision.''

Wolfe will not comment on specific cases, saying that would violate confidentiality. But he defends his practices as being reasonable and similar to those of other professional guardians.

The court never decided the question of what should happen to Manny Boody. He died in his sleep at Anam Chara on March 5, 1996.

Wolfe and his employees billed Manny more than $21,000 in 1996 for case management and other services. Lawyers representing Wolfe billed the estate an additional $6,121.

Manny's brother, Pete, inherited the remaining assets and died two years later.

Except where otherwise indicated, the information in this story is based on court records. Contact Lou Kilzer at (303) 892-2644 or kilzerl@RockyMountainNews.com. Contact Sue Lindsay at (303) 892-5181 or lindsays@RockyMountainNews.com.

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