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| Gerry and Willy Penner relax at their home on the Kidron Bethel Village campus. PHOTO by Wendy Nugent of The Newton Kansan |
The couple faced a familiar scenario: They were longtime residents of a community where they had raised their family. Their children had grown up and moved away.
“We enjoyed Cimarron,” said Willy. “We lived there 43 years. We didn’t leave because we didn’t like it.”
They wanted to live somewhere that was more centrally located and closer to a major airport. That makes it easier for their children and grandchildren who live in Arizona and Texas to visit. Their youngest son lives in Wichita and they also have family in Newton.
Another consideration was having a long-term plan for the future, a decision they could make for themselves.
“We wanted a place where we could get medical care,” said Gerry. “We didn’t quite want to move to Wichita. We looked around. We actually considered going to Phoenix.
“We liked the atmosphere around here. When we came to Kidron Bethel, we were impressed with the services they provided. We could move on if our health deteriorates.”
Newton came to mind for other reasons, too, including many of those cited recently by U.S. News & World Report when it named the city one of the nation’s best places to retire: appealing climate, interesting history and great recreational opportunities. The couple enjoys walking and bicycling.
“We’re real anxious for the Sand Creek project to be finished, to see what they’re going to do there,” said Gerry.
When grandpa and grandma move, it impacts an entire family. Willy and Gerry included their family along the way and they have been supportive.
“We wrote them a letter and told them we were shopping around,” Willy said. “We told them we were pretty close to making a decision. We were positioning ourselves to be close to them.”
Gerry said her granddaughter shed some tears during their last Thanksgiving family gathering in Cimarron. She has since visited her grandparents in their new home.
“When she came out and was riding bicycles with grandpa, she was all smiles,” she said.
The couple says they aren’t surprised at how much they’ve enjoyed their new home during their first year in Newton. They chose a 2,000-square-foot townhome with a two-car garage in Campus Woods Estates.
Apart from a bonus room over the garage, they live on one level, which includes a “safe room” for severe weather shelter. The garage doubles as a workspace for Willy.
“I can indulge in a hobby like woodworking,” he said.
“There’s so many things out here,” said Gerry, citing water exercise facilities available at Kidron Bethel. “We just haven’t gotten started yet.”
They look forward to watching more homes go up around them.
“Maybe we had done enough research to anticipate what it would be like,” said Gerry. “People have told us ‘you’re too young to move to a nursing home.’”
Such comments come from people who are not familiar with today’s retirement community options, said Willy. They discovered downsizing wasn’t all that hard. And they are enjoying being in a neighborhood conducive to their active lifestyle.
