By Tom Mackie
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE
When George Wyllie and his wife Rita first moved to Ann’s Choice, they looked forward to enjoying the fruits of the community’s maintenancefree lifestyle.
“It was such a relief to not have to worry about maintaining a home,” said George. “We could get up each day and spend the whole day doing whatever we wanted. It’s been such a refreshing lifestyle.”
A talented craftsman, George spent much of his time creating all sorts of things in Ann’s Choice’s expansive creative arts studio and woodshop.
“I like to paint and keep myself busy with projects,” said George, “One of them is building models.”
George saw a huge model train set in the lobby put together by fellow resident Al Bradley and thought it would be fun to create a model of one of his new favorite places—Ann’s Choice’s Village Clubhouse.
“We spend so much time here, going to the convenience store, getting a haircut, the Fitness Center and the restaurants, I wanted to do a very detailed rendering of the Village Clubhouse,” he said.
Residents and Staff Get Involved
Like all great works, there is usually more than one person responsible for creating it.
“Meeting people at Ann’s Choice is so easy,” says George. “One couple we became fast friends with was Richard and Ethel Grochowski. Richard is an incredibly talented resident who knows computer graphics and photography. He helped me immensely. In fact, I consider us equal co-creators.”
Using his own software and Ann’s Choice computer lab, Richard took the architectural drawings of the Village Clubhouse and created color graphics of the outside and interior of the building.
An Epic Project and a Crowning Achievement
In addition to Richard’s invaluable assistance, Ann’s Choice staff also was instrumental in helping out. When Executive Director Joe LoCascio heard about the model he immediately asked George if he could see it.