A medical tsunami struck Marian Martenasâs parents about 10 years ago. First, her father suffered a stroke, followed by her motherâs heart attack. Bob McKeegan would need 24-hour care for the rest of his life. Wife Barbara recovered and could live independently in the coupleâs Lancaster apartment. They just couldnât occupy the same space in any nursing home or retirement center the family investigated.
âIt shattered our hearts that they couldnât be together,â says Martenas, who talked with her three brothers and two sisters about a solution for the incredibly close older couple. Martenas, husband Wayne and son Michael invited the McKeegans to move into their four-bedroom Lititz farmhouse.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, residents of Landis Homes would line a roadway into the Lititz campus on Friday afternoons, cheering on the retirement communityâs workers with signs and noisemakers as they left or arrived for work.
When the campus resident council suggested a more permanent show of appreciation, Landis Homes residents donated over $10,000 toward a Garden of Gratitude, a new park on two-thirds of an acre featuring walkways, greenery and a gazebo offering views of surrounding farmland.
Not every retirement community has such a tangible symbol of gratitude, but many share the sentiment.
âThe pandemic has brought out an appreciation of how good we had it before and has been a reminder of how important community and family are,â says Jonathan Hollinger, CEO of Pleasant View Communities.
Norma Jean Huss, 91, of Willow Street, Pa., passed away Tuesday, April 27, 2021 at the Willow Valley Communities healthcare facility, after an illness.
Born in Missouri, Norma moved with her family at age five to the state of Washington. She grew up on her family s farm near Acme and graduated from Mount Baker High School in 1948.
As a young woman, Norma attended the secretarial school at Central Washington College. She secured gainful employment as a secretary in the Contracts division for Scraps and Disposals at Boeing Airplane Company. There, her most interesting assignment was to take notes for the meetings between Boeing executives and the Air Force to plan the disposal of the tooling for the discontinued legendary World War II era bomber, the B29 Superfortress.
Here are more than 2 dozen housing developments planned for central Pa.
Updated 6:31 AM;
Today 6:31 AM
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And construction plans for new housing in the midstate have been moving forward.
Earlier this year, a developer unveiled plans for Freedom Square in York County, one of the largest mixed-use developments in the midstate in recent year.
And a number of other mixed-use projects are currently under construction including Blue Ridge Village and Susquehanna Union Green.
In Harrisburg, a number of developers are converting older properties into housing.
And developers in the midstate are building a number of types of housing: senior living, townhomes, condominiums, affordable housing, apartments and single family homes.