The WORMS Worldview

When mired too deeply in a repetitive daily routine, it’s easy to overlook architectural and natural beauty near your own backyard. The interstate highway system has boosted travel efficiency, but it carries the cost of discouraging motorists to diverge from everyday routes and explore communities in greater detail. Consider Ralph Waldo Emerson’s noted quote: “I have traveled a good deal in Concord; and everywhere, in shops, and offices, and fields, the inhabitants have appeared … to be doing penance in a thousand remarkable ways.” When you become intimately acquainted with a neighborhood, community, or city, getting to know people as unique individuals rather than a monolithic “other,” you’re more apt to empathize with their lives and challenges.

Three retired longtime city employees – Larry Annett, Gerald Checco, and Steven Schuckman – wholeheartedly embraced the concept of traveling a good deal within the Queen City by walking an average of 10 miles weekly in all but the most inclement winter weather.  A mid-90s heatwave is no deterrent to the trio, as our dutiful photographer who accompanied them can attest. The walks rekindle their appreciation for Cincinnati’s public spaces, help keep them fit to better enjoy retirement, and, perhaps most important, spending several hours together weekly has been vital to strengthening friendships – a fraught challenge in the post COVID-19 and a chronic obstacle for men.

Photographer Joe Simon and I accompanied the trio on separate August walks. They have adopted the group moniker of the Walking Older Retired Men’s Society, or WORMS. The high temperature on the day of my 10+-mile walk was 77 degrees, however Joe’s high temp of the day was 96. I hereby pledge my utmost respect for Joe’s professionalism and perseverance.

In 1973, Annett, 73,  moved immediately from earning a bachelor’s degree in geography from Wittenberg University into a career as a Cincinnati city employee. He worked for 15 years in the city’s planning department, staffing such roles as cartographer, database manager, and conducting environmental assessments and producing reports for the director’s office and planning commission. In 1988, he migrated to the Parks Department, where he supervised customer service  and served as an assistant to the director’s office. As an assistant, he worked in a variety of roles supporting the Director’s work agenda and administrative staff throughout the Department. He retired as a city employee in 2004.

Checco, 66, took an unconventional route to working for the city. He was born in Bangui in the Central African Republican to parents of French and Tunisian heritage, and spent his youth split between living in France and the Antilles island of Guadeloupe. He returned to France and earned degrees in mathematics, engineering, and public administration before assuming a post as a consulting engineer for the Saudi royal family.

In 1984, Gerald and his family moved to Cincinnati, and he enrolled in UC’s graduate program, where he earned a master’s degree in structural engineering. Seven years later, he was hired by the Cincinnati Park Board, and became its superintendent of operations in 1999. He subsequently advanced into roles as the city’s Director of Public Works and Metropolitan Sewer District before retiring in 2018.

Gerald wholeheartedly embraced his post-work life and manifested his passion for journeys on foot by embarking upon a 500-mile hike through the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain, reflecting on his travels by authoring the book The Tao of My Camino.

Schuckman, 75, a New York native, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in urban planning and architecture, respectively, from Washington University in St. Louis, and began his career with Cincinnati’s planning department in 1979. In 1990, he became a manager at the Cincinnati Park Board, and ascended to the role of superintendent of planning and design, which he held until his 2021 retirement.

When the trio gathered for Schuckman’s retirement party, the aftermath of COVID-19 and the isolation it caused inspired them to connect again on biweekly walks.

“I thought the walks were a great opportunity to learn more about the city, reconnect with old friends, and get regular exercise,” Annett said.

“Walking is an inherently social activity that brings people together, and it provides an opportunity to discover new neighborhoods,” Checco said.

Schuckman said that he’s gained a greater appreciation for the city’s ongoing transformation by immersing himself in the community, such as the revitalization of commercial districts, expansion and renovation of the city’s renowned park system, and continuously evolving housing stock.

The WORMS begin journeys around 8 a.m. at Diggs Park at the intersection of Clifton and Ludlow Avenues. Schuckman devises the routes. “When Larry and I tried to plan one, it didn’t go well,” Checco quipped. Schuckman has planned nearly 100 routes over the past three years to highlight an array of architectural, community and cultural landmarks. Everyone has preferences: Gerald loves the Purple People Bridge and anything that highlight’s the river’s standing as a core to Cincinnati’s identity. Larry has enjoyed the architecture and the opportunity to learn more about Northern Kentucky. Steven enjoys unearthing hidden stairways and pedestrian pathways, as well as visiting new areas of town and architectural marvels, such as the Basilica in Covington.

Joe SimonStairs and pedestrian walkways are among Schuckman’s favorite finds on WORMS walks.

Joining them, the walk first followed concrete paths through Burnet Woods, which, with deeply wooded trails and a lake stocked with fish, provides a refreshingly rustic oasis amid the city’s noise and hustle. Given the group’s longtime professional and personal devotion to the park system, it wasn’t surprising that Cincinnati’s greenspace became a focal point of the trek – traversing Inwood Park, Hopkins Park, and Smale Park accentuated the rolling hills and panoramic views befitting a city with seven hills.

Having lived in this area for more than 80% of my life, I thought I knew our fair city well. My WORMS walk proved otherwise. Some of my favorite observations included:

• An introduction to the Walker Street Conservancy, a community-based nonprofit whose commitment to surrounding greenspaces yielded a lush, meticulously curated hillside that adds distinct character to the neighborhood.
• The Flatiron Building at the intersection of Sycamore and Dorchester. Flatiron architecture is a well-known feature of New York, but it was a joy to see such a handsome, visually striking building atop Mt. Auburn with an attractive coffeehouse inside. 
• Cincinnati is venerated for its murals, but WORMS introduced me to many murals and ghost signs that I’d not previously seen. Some new favorites dot the perimeter of Ziegler Park and its state-of-the-art pool, providing a healthy enclave of community amid downtown commerce.

Every walk includes a respite at a nonchain coffeehouse or café. To date, Checco said they have visited 76 coffee shops in Ohio and Kentucky.

“We think that visiting a coffee shop owned by someone from our community reflects the local spirit of our walk,” he said.

The walk culminated with a visit to Smale Park and the riverfront. A chance encounter underscored the serendipity that occurs when you venture out with an open mind. At Smale, the group encountered Robert Fleming, an Army veteran and retired Columbus city employee who was bicycling across the Ohio to Erie Trail from Columbus to Cincinnati. He had endured knee and hip replacements and had embraced his bike as a tool for rehabilitation and independence. His goal for next summer was to ride across the north half of that trail to Cleveland. If you can’t be inspired by meeting such an individual, frankly, you’re uninspirable.

Walking tours are popular ventures for many communities looking to introduce residents and tourists to both popular and unheralded neighborhood destinations. When asked if there was any possibility of expanding the group or possibly making tours a commercial venture, Schuckman flatly stated, “No.”

“We enjoy our time together,” Checco said. “The hassles of setting up that kind of venture is a pain. We want to keep it simple.”


Want to follow a WORMS urban route with beautiful parks, architectural landmarks, and a local café? Here's the walk they shared from July 15, 2024:
Gerald Checco

Find out more about the Flatiron Building renovation. Read the Soapbox story “Flatiron Café signals new promises for future Mt Auburn business district."