By Setarreh Massihzadegan
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

As children growing up in Quincy, Mass., Annette Sexton and Vincent Poirier fought as much as most siblings.

“I’m surprised he still speaks to me,” Sexton quips.

But after years of living apart and seeing each other infrequently, the two have closed the gap between them by both choosing to call Linden Ponds home.

Like sister, like brother
Not long after Sexton and her husband moved to Linden Ponds four years ago, Poirier came to visit and liked what he saw.

“It’s extraordinary how active people are here,” says Poirier, a retired priest who says Mass on weekends at a nearby parish. He moved to Linden Ponds shortly after his visit to the community, where he now occasionally delivers Mass.

Since Sexton moved she has become involved in Linden Ponds’ television station, TV6, and she has joined Linden Ponds’ Board of Directors. She says of the people in the community: “They’re on the go constantly; there’s something to do every day . . . there’s very little you can’t learn here.”

Sharing family and space
Like others with family members living at Linden Ponds, Sexton and Poirier made the choice to move because it was a lifestyle they enjoyed, and having one another in close proximity was a bonus. Even so, the siblings live in separate buildings and do their own things.

“People don’t have to worry that [their sibling] is going to be at [their] door,” Sexton says. “There are enough activities to keep them interested.”

Space was never a problem for sisters Jeanne Gerardi and Alice Constantino, who for most of their adult lives lived in houses so close that their backyards met. Just a couple months after Gerardi moved to Linden Ponds, Constantino and her husband moved into the same building.

“I can just hop on the elevator, and we have dinner together every evening,” Gerardi says.

While as the younger sister Gerardi says she was often “bratty” to her older sister, today the two cherish their time together.