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Centennial Celebration Continues

By Christine Hall

Our First Home – The Danaher HouseAdd New Post

Franke Tobey Jones didn’t actually start at our present location.  This is where we began…

On February 15, 1922, the Tacoma Old People’s Home was incorporated, wrote by-laws and proceeded to elect from the community men and women who were interested in this good cause.  Mrs. Virginia Mason, the woman with the vision and leading spirit of this movement, was unanimously elected President of “Restholme.” Their dream was to establish a community in which retired people could live in pleasant surroundings with all the comforts of Home, but without the burdens of Home ownership.

“After a few months of planning and growing courage we grew bold enough to lease the 22-room Danaher residence at 424 North D Street for three years and prepare to open our doors for a Home of rest to those who are ongoing and waiting.  We started with only the necessary funds from our chapter (Chapter C of the P.E.O. – Philanthropic Educational Organization) to pay the costs of incorporating stationery and the basics.  Then, as is always the case, when a good work is begun, a friend came from this direction and another from that, the circle growing wider and wider, for it became quite apparent that Restholme had touched a popular chord and thus the furnishing of our house grew day by day in every way better and better.  And our faith grew bigger and stronger, some even visualizing a beautiful Home built on spacious grounds to come at the termination of our three year’s lease.”  (Mrs. Virginia Mason)

Mrs. Miller, P.E.O. Chairperson, conceived the idea of forming Restholme Circles, each with a membership of twenty women, all working toward one goal – a big annual bazaar to raise funds for Restholme.  Circles from all over Tacoma joined in the effort to raise funds to furnish and equip the Restholme.  Women solicited goods from local merchants, sewed, baked and ran bazaars for Restholme.  Some Circles made children’s clothing which was sold, others specialized in needlework of all kinds, even mending.

The record informs us – In November 1922, in a large residence at 424 North D Street, the Restholme opened.  “Twenty-two rooms, for men and women, were filled at once with those who were eager to enter and abide with us.  IT HAS BEEN DONE.  Our merchants were liberal, the community was generous…so now we have a comfortable and a beautiful Home, filled with a satisfied and happy family.  Our credit is good, bills are paid promptly.  This is a very live organization and work keeps pace with faith.”

To view the Franke Tobey Jones Time Line, 1924 Look Back Book and several resident and team member stories, click here.