Janice and Leo Crosby: 309 East

Continuing our series "Getting to Know Our Neighbors," we want to introduce you to Janice and Leo Crosby. They became owners of their Esplanade condo in 2015 after looking at several other condos in Boston and Cambridge. They moved from their home in Sudbury where they had lived for 35 years. Janice joked that “finally the mulch did it” when she was reminded how much work owning the house and the garden took! They love the location and have felt that “Cambridge has a better feel than Boston…. more of a neighborhood and a wonderful ‘walking around’ atmosphere… and a better view from here!”  Leo has fond memories of Cambridge and remembers stopping in the 1970’s at the Mallet Pub at the corner of Third and Charles to “meet buddies after work.” This is the location of the present-day Desfina Greek restaurant. They both remember that in the 1980’s the area began to change with the opening of Genzyme offices in Kendall Square and has evolved to what it is today.

Leo grew up in Pawtucket RI and received his undergraduate degree at the University of Rhode Island. (He and his family still own and rent out their family home that his father bought for $4,000.00 in 1942!) He then joined the Air Force for four years and, when he completed his service, began a career in software design and its application to manufacturing. “Things were so different then; not even floppy discs and memory on these very large machines was, at best, 8K!” Leo first worked at Honeywell and from there to Digital Equipment (DEC) Compaq and, then, he retired from Hewlett Packard. These moves were the result of company mergers and acquisitions and Leo’s career grew along with his skills and positions.

Janice grew up in New Jersey—in a family of one girl (Janice) and five brothers! Her career has been in health care in several roles. She arrived in Boston after getting her nursing degree in Pittsburgh at Duquesne University and worked as the head nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital in the post-cardiac surgery unit for 12 years. After that, she got her MBA and initially worked for The  Kendall Company, a medical device company, that evolved through various acquisitions into Covidien, where she was the VP of Marketing. She was then recruited to join the MGH CIMIT research group as Director of Business Development. CIMIT, the Center for the Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, whose mission was to “to foster collaboration among clinicians, technologists, and entrepreneurs to accelerate innovation and catalyze implementation of innovative health care technologies.” (https://www.massgeneral.org/research/cimit/about)  Janice enjoyed her work at CIMIT which was exciting and challenging, “involving new thinking-- encouraging clinicians and engineers to work together.”

When Janice moved to the Boston area, she arrived with several nurses and teachers from Pittsburgh. This group of friends initially shared housing in Brighton and often had parties; Janice and Leo first met at one of these gatherings. Eventually they bought their house in Sudbury and enjoyed their 35 years there. They both relish retirement, keeping active, and traveling frequently. They have been to all seven continents, taken many cruises, and are “now filling in the blanks” of the places they’ve missed. This fall they will travel to Italy with two other couples—to areas that they have not visited before. And, later this year, they are traveling with Janice’s brother and his wife on a cruise from Cape Town to Dubai; they will return just before Christmas. Next year they hope to go to Greenland and Iceland. They love and take advantage of what’s available in Boston and Cambridge—the Boston Speaker Series, Red Sox games, and the many restaurants in the area. Recently they tried and enjoyed Jody Adams’ La Padrona in the new Raffles Hotel; it was “delicious and pricey!” Leo also travels to Foxwoods to play both “blackjack and craps.” They enjoy walking over the Longfellow Bridge and dining at Toscano on Charles Street.  Janice and Leo also have a house on the Cape where their friends and their large extended family (17 nieces and nephews!) join them for weekends and holidays. Thanksgiving is especially full of good food and family!  In fact, Janice has been thinking about organizing a progressive dinner among Esplanade neighbors—sharing food preparation and hosting responsibilities makes it fun and a good way to get to know each other better!

Janice and Leo love living at the Esplanade and they are particularly pleased with the growing number of social events, the ListServ and the Newsletter-- which wasn’t there when they first arrived. They are an active, interesting, friendly couple who set an example for great retirement living. When you see them, say “hi.”

--Jane Hilburt-Davis