Finding connection—and family
If you wanted to find long-lost relatives, you could spend countless hours on genealogy websites or send a DNA sample off for testing. Or you could strike up a casual conversation while signing up for a class at Simpson Meadows. That’s how Alice Casner and Alice Smurthwaite learned they were distant cousins.
More in common than coincidence
When Alice Smurthwaite enrolled in a balance class, she signed her name “Alice C. Smurthwaite.” Nearby, Alice Casner asked her about the middle initial, as hers also is “C.” They noted that they shared “Cooper” as a maiden name. The more they talked, they discovered that the coincidence didn’t end there. Their grandfathers, both of whom grew up in Chester County, were brothers—so the two Alices are distant cousins.
Different lives, same destination.
Alice Cooper Smurthwaite was born in 1929 in Columbus, Georgia. She lived in Alabama and Mississippi before moving to Pennsylvania at age 15. In 1950 she married Bill Smurthwaite, and they had two sons and two daughters. The family lived in Malvern, where Alice was a secretary at Charlestown Elementary School for 27 years.
A West Chester native, Alice Cooper Casner was born in 1936. She worked in an office for the County of Chester. Married to an aerospace engineer, she lived in many different places. The couple raised three boys and a girl.
Alice Casner moved to Simpson Meadows in 2017. Alice Smurthwaite joined the community in 2018.
Friends and family
Today, the two cousins get together regularly for lunch and laughter. The latter, they both agree, is key to aging well, as is the ability to go with the flow. They have nine grandchildren between them. They like the atmosphere at Simpson Meadows, where “the residents are really nice and everyone looks out for each other.” The community’s size makes it easy to make friends and feel like family or—as in their case—to find family!
Call us today at 610-269-8400 or submit the form below to see for yourself why Alice, Alice, and other relatives choose Simpson Meadows for retirement living.