Boleslaw (BZ) Zenczak

I have lived in the Tacoma area since 1976. I knew of Franke Tobey Jones only as “that place up on the hill” that we would see when heading to the Vashon ferry terminal to visit the family cabin.  At that time, there were only two buildings: Tobey Jones and Lillian Pratt.

I have had some family members live here at FTJ. A second cousin to my wife’s grandmother came to Lillian Pratt from Olympia after she retired from working for the State of Washington. 

She eventually had to move to the old Health Care section. 

I have a close affinity for the place because my in-laws lived here also. My wife’s parents were living in Portland (which is where Ann, my wife, grew up) and they decided that they wanted to move closer to their daughter.  At first, they were in a condo in Lakewood, but when my father-in-law’s health started to decline, they moved to FTJ in 2008. Ann’s mom was here for eight years and Ann’s dad for five years. I even slept a couple of nights in the Healthcare building with my father-in-law when he was there and Ann also did with her mom, so we both know the place well.

In 1993, my friend, Tom Hackleman (he was a stockbroker), was the FTJ Board treasurer and asked me to come onto the Board. Other friends of mine—Patty McNeal and Roy Kimball—were about to join the Board. So, I said, “Tom, I’ll help you out.”  And I am still here after more than 30 years.

During my time on the Board, the biggest change was that the Board decided that FTJ needed to be a non-profit that was professionally run as a business.  One of the main challenges was that the Head Nurse served as the Executive Director, but she had no business background, so the Board ran the day-to-day operations. Not only was the Board voting on whether to accept residents, but it was also voting on whether FTJ should purchase six reams of paper!

In about 1995 or 1996 the Board decided that it was time to hire an executive with a business background, and that’s when Ed Mawe came to FTJ as the new Executive Director (later to be changed to CEO/President). He was responsible for hiring Judy Dunn in 1997. He also reorganized the FTJ “org chart” and created a positive financial plan in terms of the operation budget. Ed was a strong leader which is what we needed to get ready for the upcoming new century. 

Not everyone on the Board agreed that big changes needed to take place, and there were some very emotional Board meetings where tough decisions had to be made.  In the end, a majority of the Board members agreed that changes needed to be made.  This was a huge turning point for FTJ because without these changes, FTJ may not still be here today.  At the time we did not know it was so important, but looking back you can see the impact of this shift. 

Though I currently serve as Chair of the Finance Committee, I did not start out on that Committee.  Over the years I became fascinated by how FTJ was run financially, and have also been more involved emotionally with FTJ, so have taken a greater interest in the financial aspects of running this organization.  And, when I became Board Chair in 2008, it became clear to me that the most important thing for FTJ was to be at the forefront of providing services to its residents and to also understand how to pay for those services.  You cannot (or should not) do one without the other. That has always been the challenge.

In 2007 Ed wanted FTJ to be involved in a project located in downtown Tacoma, a new 12-15 story building that was in the planning stages.  Multicare was going to be on one floor and then FTJ would manage the floors above with health care and assisted living. There were several people on the Board who really thought that it did not make sense (including me), so a market study was commissioned, and after seeing the results the Board voted “no” on the project.  Several months later Ed Mawe left for another professional opportunity.  That’s when Judy Dunn was asked, for the first time, to serve as the Interim CEO.

As an Architect, I could not help but get involved in the campus developments starting in the early 2000’s and moving forward to the present.  I helped redesign the Garden Apartments, the current Care Center and the Bristol View Apartments, making them much more resident friendly in so many ways.

I think the biggest challenge for FTJ, both in the past and now, is just constantly trying to figure out how to do two things: economically provide leading-edge services to residents while, at the same time, remain a stand-alone facility.

I’ve have been associated with FTJ for about 30% of the time that FTJ has existed. That is a long time and who knows…I might end up living here someday! (As told to Claire Griffin)

Back to Stories