Mary and her husband came to Harvest Hill 15 years ago, having lived in the Upper Valley for over five decades. The community offered the services and amenities they were looking for in the place they had called home for so long.

Originally from Somersworth, New Hampshire, Mary graduated from the MacIntosh Business College in nearby Dover with a secretarial degree and worked as a secretary in the human resources department for the Internal Revenue Service. After she and her husband got married in 1963, they moved to Worcester, Massachusetts where she worked for another IRS office until they started a family.

Mary is actively involved with her church and has served on several committees over the years. She is part of a group that makes mission quilts for the underserved and has personally sewed 50 backpacks every year that are filled with school supplies donated by the congregation and shipped to children in some of the poorest nations around the world.

Mary has always liked to travel and every September she and daughter Judy go to Maine to volunteer for the annual New England Parkinson’s Ride, which raises money for the Michael J. Fox Parkinson’s Research Foundation. They staff one of the rest stops for bicyclists participating in the ride.

Right after moving to Harvest Hill Mary became involved with the resident newsletter and served as the editor for 12 years. She enjoyed working on the computer and overseeing article assignments, layout and design. Mary has since handed off her newsletter editorial duties to someone else but still contributes by attending community events and taking photos for it.

Mary enjoys being involved in community life. She is the president of the Residents’ Association and is currently serving the last of a 3-year term on the APD Lifecare Board of Trustees. She also oversees the Trading Post, a community swap shop of sorts where residents can trade items and she donates unwanted items to local area thrift stores every couple of months.

When she is not volunteering in the community Mary is a regular for exercise class four days a week and Scattergories on Sundays. To relax she enjoys quilting, listening to music and reading. Her favorite genres are thrillers and mysteries but says she has “too many favorite authors to list.”

“What I like best about living at Harvest Hill is the food and activities. No shopping, cooking or cleanup and with all the activities you can stay as busy as you want to be,” Mary says.

Lois Clarke has been a resident of Harvest Hill for the past 14 years. Originally from Great Britain, she grew up with a brother, Bill, and sister, Margaret in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. She moved to Canada where she met her husband Malcolm and they lived in Massachusetts, then Pennsylvania, before settling down at Harvest Hill to be closer to their daughter in New London, New Hampshire.

For 11 of her 14 years at Harvest Hill, Lois spent considerable time and effort interviewing fellow residents for the in-house newsletter, Hillwinds. She has since retired from writing, feeling like it was time for someone else to carry on.

“Eleven years was a long time doing Hillwinds,” Lois says. “I loved it, but it was tiring having a job with consistent deadlines. I would sometimes do as many as five interviews a week and they generally took up my whole afternoon.”

She also spent considerable time gardening, growing flowers on her patio and found it very rewarding but is now content to admire the efforts of other resident gardeners while she takes it easy. She enjoys playing a weekly game of Scattergories with fellow residents on Sundays then finds it “a real treat” to retire to her apartment to watch movies. She enjoys a wide variety of films and television series and viewing them in the comfort of her home.

Lois typically starts her days with breakfast and carrying on a childhood family tradition of reading.

“My family always read at breakfast and lunch,” Lois says. “Never at dinner, though. That time was reserved for conversation.”

She and her friend of the past 13 years, Nancy, regularly meet every evening in the dining room, sometimes joined by another long-time friend and residents they invite to join them for great food and good conversation.

“There is no reason to eat alone here,” Lois says. “If someone asks to join your table and you have an empty seat, the answer is always yes.”

Lois says it doesn’t feel like she has lived at Harvest Hill for the past 14 years and means that as a compliment. She stayed so busy that she hardly noticed the time passing. She feels fortunate to live in such a comfortable community with a lovely apartment that overlooks the gazebo and courtyard next to a huge maple tree, being able to relax, play Scrabble on her computer and read as much as she likes. As the phrase goes, “Life is good.”

Carl came to Harvest Hill a retired magistrate after a long and illustrious career in the Navy where he served around the world and was a part of historical events that helped shape the United States.

Born and raised in Norristown, Pennsylvania, after graduating from high school Carl moved to Rhode Island where he earned a history degree from Brown University. He was a member of the Navy ROTC program and after graduation served four years in the Mediterranean and Caribbean and as the junior engineer in charge of the engine room on a ship that was part of the naval blockade during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Carl married his wife Nancy in Massachusetts before being transferred to California and serving aboard the U.S.S. Ticonderoga in Southeast Asia at the start of the Vietnam War. When he was released from active duty they journeyed to Pennsylvania where he earned his juris doctorate from the Dickinson School of Law and moved to Rhode Island to practice corporate law.

Carl decided to rejoin the Navy in the Judge Advocate General’s Corp which took him to Norway, New London, Florida, Washington D.C., Scotland and Italy. In his second career with the Navy, he served as a staff lawyer, a lower court military judge and coordinated U.S. military activities with the Italian Ministry of Justice. In his last year of active-duty Carl served as a special assistant to the general counsel of the CIA.

“I had a great time with it,” Carl says of his long and unique Navy career.

After retiring from the Navy, Carl and Nancy stayed in Virginia where he was a state magistrate until 2000. They spent three years exploring new places to call home before settling on Orford, New Hampshire where they lived for over 20 years. Carl served as the town Treasurer for nine years, was a library trustee and a member of the Conservation Commission.

Carl is new to Harvest Hill, having moved from another senior living community for the bigger apartments, numerous walking trails, great food and wonderful staff.

“I see a smile everywhere and they can’t do enough for you,” Carl says of the Harvest Hill team. “They all know my name and are happy to help you with whatever you need.”

Carl stays busy walking the beautiful, wooded trails surrounding the Harvest Hill community, attending the group Brainteaser game, concerts, and the book read-aloud group. Besides the great location where he can walk to his primary care doctor’s office and the abundance of fun outings and activities, Carl says another reason he loves it at Harvest Hill is the food.

“It’s all so good and I really enjoy it,” he says.

Patricia “Pat” Renshaw has lived all over the United States, raised four sons, and worked in three distinctly different careers. She moved into Harvest Hill three years ago and couldn’t be happier with her decision.

“Harvest Hill is such a friendly, warm and receptive place. I felt very comfortable coming here,” Pat says.

Pat spent her childhood years going to school in NYC during the week, while her weekends, summers and holiday breaks were spent on the family farm in upstate New York. She moved with her mother to Jacksonville, Illinois to finish high school then earned a degree in psychology from Antioch College in Ohio. After a year studying human development in graduate school at the University of Chicago, she became a counselor for psychotic children. It was rewarding but extremely demanding work.

Looking for a fresh start, Pat began her second career in Chicago as a research director for an advertising agency. She met her husband at a square dance and after getting married, they lived all over the United States due to his career, in Long Island New York, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Los Angeles, California, and Washington D.C., just to name a few. Along the way they had four sons and decided to settle down in Albany, New York to finish raising them.  During this time, she served on the Guilderland school board for 12 years.

When her oldest children were in high school Pat knew it was time for a new career and returned to school to earn an MBA. She then spent 20 years in the New York state Office of Mental Health as a systems designer and analyst.

After retiring she and her husband moved to Hanover, New Hampshire to be near their son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren. When she was ready for a change, Pat toured all the area senior living communities. The friendly welcoming environment and the fact her daughter-in-law’s father was so happy as a resident convinced her Harvest Hill was the right place for her.

“Harvest Hill has such an outgoing and friendly staff that are always available and willing to help you with anything,” Pat says.

Pat has a wide circle of friends that she met through various community activities. She enjoys going to the exercise classes, being in the book club and volunteers in the library. In the summer she plays Bocce ball and takes in the many musical performances the community hosts. Pat is a regular in the dining room, especially to enjoy breakfast and lunch with friends, but also appreciates the option to order take-out for dinner and a relaxing evening in.  

We’ve introduced Ray before, but in this recent video interview you can hear from him directly about his move to Harvest Hill. Enjoy!

Watch the Video Interview

After moving to Harvest Hill in July, independent living resident Gretchen Fairweather has only good things to say about it, from the community’s staff to the interesting residents, activity choices and delicious food, to her comfortable apartment.

“It’s a very friendly, warm environment, and there’s always a lot going on,” said Gretchen, 78. “The staff is terrific, and the food is unbelievable. I couldn’t get over it! I’ve made some good friends, and my apartment is the perfect size for me.”

According to Gretchen, she actually set her mind on moving to Harvest Hill years ago. Working in Lebanon, her daily drive by Mascoma Street took her past a large building site, which she assumed was an addition to Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital.

“I’d just drive by it and wonder what it was,” she said. “It got bigger and prettier, and then one day I just drove into the driveway and found out it was going to be a retirement community. I decided right then and there that’s where I was going to live when the time came.”

Born in Rochester, New York, Gretchen grew up in Pennsylvania and attended The University of Vermont. She started her career at a Philadelphia publishing house, and later worked at Woman’s Day Magazine in New York City. It was there she met her husband, then a student at Columbia University.

After her husband secured a job teaching at the University of Connecticut, Gretchen took a job at the Willimantic Chronicle as a newspaper reporter. She spent her later career as a station manager for radio stations in Connecticut and New Hampshire and supported her husband and their two children while he attended medical school.

“I loved the people and the personalities I encountered working in radio! You get one announcer who wants to be the next Wolfman Jack, another who wants to be the next bigshot news reporter,” said Gretchen. “It was a lot of fun and I made a lot of friends.”

After she retired from radio, she and her family opened a bed and breakfast in West Hartford, Vermont for six years. She went on to spend a lot of her time volunteering: as a trail guide at a local natural museum, in the cancer center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and at David’s House, a residence for families of children being treated there.

“It’s been a good life,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of wonderful experiences, and I have no regrets.”

Now, at Harvest Hill, Gretchen loves to remain active and involved, just as she always has. She loves that there is always something going on, whether it’s movies, van trips, live entertainment, lectures, classes, clubs or something else. She currently belongs to a book club, attends three exercise classes a week, and likes taking advantage of the nearby hiking and biking trails.

Most of all, though, Gretchen appreciates those parts of the community you can’t see from the outside: the people who work there. They’re the ones who make Harvest Hill truly special, she said.

“The staff here are just wonderful, from the nurses to the cleaning crew, to the maintenance men, to the people who work in the office,” said Gretchen. “And I think every resident here would say the exact same thing.”