Al Watters

The year 1997 was a mixed year.  We had three deaths in the family, but Abbie graduated with her MBA , went to work in Dallas and our youngest was married. While living in Abilene, we were spending every other weekend in Dallas.  The task of caring for two elderly family members also fell on our shoulders. For over 35 years Abbie had followed me, and I realized it was time to follow her. I retired for the second time and followed her to Dallas. The question then became, “Will Dallas be our final home?”

2008 saw the end of parental responsibility. Serious heat extremes began to take over eight months a year. We began discussions about our next move and began ruling out areas of the world. We had seen the retirement communities offered by the military and those around San Antonio: too military oriented and rank-conscious. The islands and coastal areas were out because Abbie didn’t like the sand getting in her shoes. The Northeast, New England, as well as north central US were too cold in the winter and this was the kind of weather we had escaped in our youth. Yet, we wanted some place with four seasons. Europe and Australia were too extreme, even though we had lived almost nine years in Europe and we were used to that type of weather. Well, how about the Pacific Northwest?  We had visited there once in the summer and enjoyed it.  But how could we choose among Tacoma, Vancouver, or Medford since we knew no one nor anything about the area.

One evening we saw an ad for “A Place for Mom.” A call and pleasant conversation soon had the organizations sending us a list of 100 retirement communities between Bellingham WA and Medford OR that might meet our requirements, along with the advantages and disadvantages of the two states. Those communities without a web site were ruled out, and were quickly followed by those that didn’t return our calls for information. In the meantime, we had narrowed the field to a place with a military base within driving distance for food and medical treatment. The other requirement was that it be a non-profit community with continual care to the grave. Eventually, our list was down to 22 communities though not all were CCRC or non-profit communities.

In June 2009, we began a month’s visit to all but one of the facilities (in Seattle). We contacted each community representative to schedule a place to stay at the community or a time to visit. We arrived in Seattle, rented our car, and began the search. We were not prepared for the reception and the beauty of our first stop: Franke Tobey Jones. Michelle arranged for one of the guest suites, breakfast at FTJ the next morning, the tour and sales pitch, a spin through downtown Tacoma, and then lunch back at the Bistro.  Then it was off to the next stop, Patriot’s Landing, for the night and next morning tour, and then to Lacey as we worked our way to Vancouver, Portland, then to Medford. We then began working our way back  north to Bellingham. On the way, we wrangled a “second” visit to FTJ for the night.

In some communities, we took a look, said “Thank you very much,” and fled. We walked into the reception area of one community and were greeted with “Do you have the cookies?” We left, called later to make an excuse, and breathed a sigh of relief. In all honesty, the visit to FTJ spoiled us. We found ourselves comparing the other communities to FTJ and found that the majority couldn’t compare. We returned home and wrote the necessary check to hold a spot here. Three years later, with the house sold, we moved to this community and have been well pleased (but still learning about Tacoma.)

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