 Home | Recent News | Arkansas City | Easier Summer Vacation Planning | 03 Aug 2007 Planning summer vacation easier for those who chose retirement community living
Imagine, taking a “worry-free” vacation: the kind where you can close the door and walk away, confident that all will be well while you are gone. Mail and newspapers will be held for you and you can go off and enjoy your get away.
For residents of Presbyterian Manor of Arkansas City, it is the “no worry” dream come true and allows them the freedom to enjoy what they are doing on their spring and summer vacations.
Mickey and Bob McClure, former educators who are two-year residents of the Manor, took their annual spring trip to visit their daughter, Clair Hoey, their grandchildren and great grandchildren in the Orlando, Fla., area. While there, they caught up with family and visited the sites. Along the way, they stopped in Slidell, La., to visit yet another grandchild. In their 80s, they drive on that trip.
“We don’t mind the drive,” says Mickey McClure. “We used to have a motor home, and “we put 125,000 miles on that before we sold it.” The couple traveled to all parts of the country during that time. Historic sites and battlefields were among their favorite destinations.
Living in a retirement community and taking trips is much easier, she stresses. “If we had a home, we’d have to get somebody to come in and take care of things like mail, newspapers, and to check on the house.” At this point in their lives, say the active seniors, “We don’t know whom we could count on to do that for us.”
Across the hall from them, sisters Joy Garrett, 79, and Norma Wilson, 77, relative newcomers to the Manor, are plotting their travel plans. Trips to Texas and Colorado are currently on the agenda. The siblings, both of whom still own their own cars, are sorting out whether someone will come to get them for the Texas trip or whether “We’ll just get in the car and go.”
Robert St. George, 85, is looking forward to his annual trek to Wells, Maine, in August to visit his brother, Joseph Edward St. George, who is going to turn 80 this year. “I’ll be there a couple of weeks,” he says.
An active living resident, St. George keeps himself occupied writing poetry, reading and playing the organ in his apartment. He also likes to sing.
Born in Massachusetts and having worked for Kansas Gas and Electric in Wichita for almost two decades, he lived in Arkansas City and then moved into the Manor a couple of years ago. A chipper, positive man, he takes the time to check how “you are feeling” when he engages in conversation – while he himself deals with cancer in his life, refusing to let it keep him down.
The Manor helps make travel a “no headache” situation, too. Aside from holding mail for its residents, “We check on their apartment or patio home while they are out,” explains Abby Dickey, marketing coordinator. “All residents have to do is check in with our front desk to give us notice that they are going to be gone and the length of their absence.”
Residents tend to coordinate with their friends and neighbors in the Manor to help look after their plants, she adds. “ If there are pets involved, we’ll help with finding people to walk and take care of them while they are gone,” Dickey adds.
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