Wind Crest	UPDATED: Wednesday, December 17, 2008
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It’s friendship city

Posted on Tuesday, December 02, 2008

By Laurie Whittier
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Peggy Berlow appreciates interior design; Jan Sieck couldn’t care less. Berlow loves to cook; Sieck prefers to dine out. Still, the two clicked when they met at Wind Crest.

"We laugh a lot, we both love dogs, we both enjoy bridge, and we walk together every morning," Sieck says. "People here call us the Bobbsey Twins."

They met the day after Berlow moved to Wind Crest. "Jan was on the Welcome Committee and volunteered to call on me. She knocked on my door, asked if I’d like to go have dinner, and we hit it off from there," recalls Berlow.

While they enjoy each other’s company, Berlow and Sieck may also be doing their health a favor. After studying 3,000 older Americans for 13 years, Harvard researchers reported in 1999 that social activities, including games, were as important to survival as regular exercise.

People who develop friendships at Wind Crest aren’t trying to reap any health benefits, although that is a nice perk. They’re just doing what comes naturally in a community where social opportunities abound and activities wait around every corner.

Eating meeting
The Fireside Restaurant in Wind Crest’s Town Center Clubhouse is what turned four widowers into one tight quartet that has eaten together almost every night since August 2007. Don Drommond, Bob Westmacott, Ed Anuszewski, and Dick Campbell met as they milled about the lounge outside the restaurant.

"We were all retired, all single, all veterans, and we bonded very quickly," says Westmacott. "One thing that surprised me is how you find things in common with others the instant you come in here."

Over time, they’ve come

to be known as the "Table 13 Gang," says Drommond. And though they might sound tough, they’re just four really nice guys who enjoy one another’s company and even help each other out now and then.

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Friendly environment
Tess Hartmann and Leslie Kranich also met over dinner in the Fireside, which is practically inevitable given the restaurant’s large, round tables that invite friendly conversation. It didn’t take long for them to realize they were both from the East Coast, and they’ve been close ever since.

"We sit around, chew the rag, and talk about activities we’d like to do that week," Kranich says. "We play dominoes and Rummikub, and we take the shuttle to Blackhawk once a month. We go see the Friday night movies in the Fireside Lounge too."

A fateful introduction
Friendships can form anywhere at Wind Crest—from the restaurant to the pool to yoga class. Bobbi Rosack and Clarence Burton met long before the community even opened.

"We were introduced by the marketing staff at the welcome center during an open house," Rosack says. "Somehow we just knew from the start that we were going to be very close friends."

Today, they attend many events together and talk on the phone—sometimes just to say good night.

"One evening after talking with him, I hung up the phone and dozed off without putting the phone back on the charger," recalls Rosack. "A while later, I woke up, saw the phone, and put it back on the charger—having no idea that I had hit the redial button.

"Thinking nothing of it, I went back to sleep. The next thing I know, security comes banging on my door. Here I am in baby-doll pajamas asking them what in the world they’re doing, and they tell me that I called Clarence and didn’t say anything."

It wasn’t until the next day that they figured out what had happened, and to this day, they laugh hysterically when they tell the story.

Just as all these people have discovered lasting friendships, others are bound to follow suit, says Westmacott.

"There’s a world of friends here that you haven’t even met yet," he says. "All you’ve got to do is say hello to somebody, and you’ve got an instant friend."