After Gene's retirement from Warren County Brenton Bank in 1986 we invested in our own motorhome to take leisurely trips to places of interest in distant states, to visit family and friends and to escape some cold Iowa winters. Many people invade warm weather states like Florida, Texas, Arizona & California from November to March and are affectionately called "Snowbirds". We felt comfortable visiting family or friends in distant states because we could park in their driveway and stay in our own bedroom and invite them to a meal in our dining room instead of imposing on their hospitality.
Our first winter trip in 1987 was to Texas because Eleanor had relatives, Aunt Alma and Bob and Jaunita Schmidt in Lubbock and Lib and Carl Hester in Simonton that we hadn't seen often. We combined stops there with camping at Lake Travis and traveling south to Mission and South Padre Island where Vinton friends, Milt & Marge Smith and Paul & Hazel Shain were wintering. We drove the motorhome on to the sand beach, searched for shells, dug for clams and relaxed with popcorn from the microwave on board!. Continue reading"Winter Escapes Motorhoming as Snowbirds"/>a
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HOW A VISION BECAME THE VILLAGE
The story begins in the 1970’s during our monthly trips to visit mothers in Gladbrook and Grinnell, Iowa. Gene’s mother died in 1984, age 90 after living in The Mayflower Home in Grinnell, a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) for 6 years. Eleanor’s mother died in 1986, age 86 after living alone in her own home in Gladbrook for 20 years. This imposed a heavy load of telephoning and errand running for Eleanor’s sister and friends who lived nearby and the employment of several home service agencies and other individuals to meet her daily needs. Our conversations always ended with the question: What will we do when that time in our lives arrives?
One beautiful spring morning in 1983 while walking to work with retirement less than 10 years away the “VISION” was clear and Eleanor agreed, so we decided to seek answers to the questions WHY, WHAT, WHEN and WHERE for building a CCRC in Indianola, Iowa. Not wanting to re-invent the wheel, we managed to visit over 30 retirement facilities over the next 3 years, especially those located in smaller cities with college connections. Continue reading "DO NOT RETIRE FROM . . . RETIRE TO . . . /a>
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