By Jeff Ostroth
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE
It wasn’t as if Ruth Dolan didn’t ever see her brothers Chet and Lou Marion. But she lived in Vero Beach, Fla., and their homes were in Butler, N.J.
“We would always get up to New Jersey at least once and maybe more than that during a year,” says Ruth. In fact, when her husband was alive, they spent summers in Great Meadows, about an hour west of Butler. But most of the time, contact was more likely to take place through letters and phone calls.
That was before Chet and Lou moved to Cedar Crest almost four years ago, and before Ruth joined them there about two months later. Now, says Ruth, “we see each other every day.”
Resident Relatives
While no one has done a formal count of how many people at Cedar Crest have relatives who also live at Cedar Crest, “there are quite a number,” says Retirement Counselor Helen Waldrop. They include brothers and/or sisters, cousins, even parents and children.
“Sometimes, brothers or sisters come to me with the idea that they will move to Cedar Crest together,” says Helen. “Other times, I get people who already have relatives living here. They’ve seen what Cedar Crest means to them, and they decide they want the same thing for themselves.”
That shouldn’t be surprising, according to Cedar Crest Executive Director Chip Warner. Chip points to a 2004 resident satisfaction survey, in which 95.4 percent said they would recommend Cedar Crest to their relatives or friends.
Checking on Each Other
Chet and Lou moved to their respective Cedar Crest homes within days of each other. “Both of us were ready to give up the respon sibility of our houses,” says Lou, “and we wanted someone to do our cooking.”
Although they looked at other communities, he says Cedar Crest had what they wanted and also let them stay “closer to our roots” in Butler.