Goodbye to a patient and friend

Goodbye to a patient and friend

By Marilee Griffin
Photo by Jesse S. Jones

Photo by Jesse S. Jones

The department of speech, language and hearing sciences was saddened to lose one of its favorite patients in December. Doris Mary Gomez was 105 when she passed away and had been a patient of Debra Shimon, Au.D., for 10 years — since first being fitted for a hearing aid in 2002.

Gomez was born in Trinidad in 1907 and moved to New York In 1975. She is survived by five children, nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Recently, when visiting the auditory clinic for a checkup, Gomez shared her secret for a long life: “Have lovely children — and laugh.” She paused, then added, “And a glass of wine.”