Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Retirement living: Lee Ann Wolfe.

Search for senior living led women to research

Retirement living's come a long way

By Shelley P. Ash

Why move to Florida if you're planning to retire? California has it all--good weather, myriad recreation, quality health care, shopping, entertainment, great people, and oceans, mountains and desert. For all these reasons and many more, Monte Sereno resident Lee Ann Wolfe is convinced that the Golden State is the place to retire.

"The retirement communities of today are very unlike what they were 25 years ago," says Wolfe, who with Almaden Valley resident Sally Ravel wrote The Best Retirement Residences in California and the West ($14.95 paperback).

"They have come a long way," especially in California, whose retirement communities now feature a wide range of services and comfortable yet sophisticated architecture, Wolfe says.

In general, Wolfe says, people who have lived in California want to stay and enjoy being retired here, and there's no reason why they can't. There is something for seniors of all ages and health statuses--from planned adult communities and independent retirement living to assisted living and life care. Retirees can choose from mobile homes, apartments and rooms, as well as condominiums, cottages and houses. Recreation runs the gamut: golf, tennis, swimming, bicycling, cards, crafts, bingo--you name it.

Wolfe, Ravel, their husbands and four assistants personally visited each of the almost 400 retirement communities in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico that they describe in the reference. (They visited many more but excluded from the book any community that they themselves wouldn't live in.) According to Wolfe, theirs is the only such comprehensive resource available aside from one that Rand McNally publishes with a cursory scan of facilities across the U.S.

Wolfe and Ravel became experts on the subject when, 10 years ago, their aging parents began to have health problems and needed to change their living arrangements. With the Wolfe and Ravel children grown and in college, both households were relatively empty, so inviting their respective parents/in-laws to come live with them was the initial idea.

Both sets of grandparents, after further thought, began to feel as most do: that moving in meant a loss of independence, self-sufficiency and pride. Besides, Wolfe, an interior designer, and Ravel, a speech therapist, were busy with their careers and/or traveling with their husbands. Loneliness on the part of the grandparents was a concern.

The longtime friends, who raised their kids together in the South Bay, embarked on a new journey to find retirement housing for their parents. While many facilities were quite acceptable, there were also many that practiced income discrimination, had long waiting lists, looked like institutions or lacked social programs.

"This was a tremendous ordeal," Wolfe recalled, because there was no single source of information, such as an agency, that could give them important details about the internal goings-on of all these communities.

Wolfe and Ravel kept copious notes on what they observed as well as the comments of retirees, and armed with this information founded the Retirement Living Advisory in 1988. They began fielding calls from people who themselves wished to retire in the West or had parents who wanted to. The women made suggestions as to which communities to visit based on criteria such as age, income, medical needs, recreation preferences, desired geographic location and lifestyle.

In 1990, thanks to the encouragement of their friends and clients, Wolfe and Ravel published their first guide, focusing on Northern California. Then in 1992 they did more research and published a second book, for Southern California. Their latest edition, which includes six West Coast states, has just been published and is available in bookstores, through www.Amazon.com or by calling 800/688-7566.

Wolfe and Ravel's best advice to everyone: "Don't wait until you're 90 to make this type of decision. Do it when you're 70 or 75, when you can make the move and build new friendships."

"No parent wants to burden his or her children with the task of making this decision," Wolfe says. "Do your homework early, even if you're a couple of years away from retiring. Choosing a place to retire beforehand is the greatest gift that you can give to your children."

Wolfe and Ravel have made videos of some retirement communities. For more information, call the Retirement Living Advisory at 395-0548.

[ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ]