Staying sharp by staying active
When Anne Adams moved to Jenner’s Pond in November 2022, she noticed that the in-house Morrie’s Pub was closed on Saturday nights. Recognizing that Saturday can be a lonely night for single people, she volunteered to tend bar to make sure it stayed open. The volunteer gig is just one of the irons that she keeps in the fire. She also runs a catering business and works part-time doing bookkeeping for a law firm—not to mention the activities she does for fun. After all, she believes that staying busy and keeping your mind busy are the keys to aging well.
“I tell people that, since going back to work, I have found that I am clearer—my mind is clearer—because I have had to learn a new bookkeeping program,” Anne says.
“Coming here, meeting people and engaging in work and social life and physical activity has kept my mind alive,” Ann says,
Often on the move. Always learning.
Anne was born in New Jersey, but spent most of her life in northern Delaware, after her father, a chemical engineer, left Johnson & Johnson to work at DuPont. Her mother had a doctorate in biochemistry. Their family walks in Kennett Square and Beaver Valley gave her an appreciation of nature and animals. She also loved their visits to the beach at Rehoboth and the museums in Philadelphia.
She recalls a visit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to see items from Versailles. “I was in tears that Marie Antoinette wasn’t there. My dad made it feel so alive that I was shocked when she wasn’t there.”
Anne studied business administration at Temple, and then started a career in retail, working for Bamberger’s. As operations manager, she visited all the stores and spent a lot of time commuting in New Jersey. It was long hours and physically demanding. She left to work at the Encore shop in Kennett Square, a consignment store that supports the Chester County Hospital. She worked at Encore for five years and lived in Kennett Square for a decade. Then it was time to try something different.
“I have a low threshold of boredom,” Ann says. “Once I master something, I move on.” She took paralegal classes at the University of Delaware and worked at the Chester County District Attorney’s office. After the death of her parents, she returned to Delaware on 1993 and worked as an events coordinator/fundraiser for several non-profits. At 58, she pivoted again, when the company she was working for closed its doors.
“It was difficult, because employers think you want to make a lot of money at that age, but I really just wanted a job,” she says. So she created one. She started ALA Carte, a catering company that she still runs today. Named after her initials, the company caters private dinner and cocktail parties in clients’ homes, for groups large and small. Clients from 25 years ago still reach out for her services.
Still having fun.
After looking at several places, she liked the size and feel of Jenner’s Pond. “It didn’t feel like a big city with 12-story buildings,” she says. “The campus is absolutely spectacular. The cost was affordable, but the community was upscale. I was very impressed when I was first shown my apartment—and they helped facilitate my move.”
These days, Anne works in the woodshop several times a week. She took a wood-lathing class and enjoys creating things. She is also active in the community’s Rail Riders pool club. She is one of only two women who play in the league. She also walks—outside if the weather’s nice and at the YMCA when the weather doesn’t cooperate. And on Saturday nights, you can find her behind the bar at Morrie’s, so that anyone who’s looking for a friendly face has somewhere to go.
“If serving is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you,” she says. “Service to your fellow human beings, the Earth and service to the animals on it. The true beauty of life is not how happy you are, but how happy others are because of you.”
Call us today at 610-869-6800 or submit the form below to see for yourself why Anne Adams and other seniors choose Jenner’s Pond for retirement living.