A native Philadelphian who raised her family in Upper Darby, Mimi Carter didn’t know a lot of other residents when she and her Boston Terrier moved to Simpson Meadows in Downingtown in May 2022. But that changed quickly.
“The people are nice and friendly,” she says. “When I first came, a woman on the Resident Council introduced herself and told me that there is a chat circle at 7 every evening. That’s how I got to know people.”
She had known about the Simpson organization because her mother had lived at Simpson House in Philadelphia. “When I came to visit Simpson Meadows, it smelled good here,” she recalls.
“My son was with me when I visited, and he liked it. That helped my decision.”It also helped that on that first visit, she saw a resident in the hallway with her dog, and knew Oreo would be at home. Keep smiling Mimi was born in the Overbrook section of Philadelphia and went to West Catholic before earning a bachelor’s degree in nursing at Villanova. During her freshman year, she met Daniel Joseph in the cafeteria one day. He gave her a card from his dentist that said “Keep smiling.” He had one in his wallet as well. “It was our thing,” she says. “I have things that say ‘Smile’ on them to this day.” But she and Dan didn’t start dating right away. “He had my phone number, and when he got out of the Army, he called. He asked for ‘Miriam,’ but no one calls me that, so I said no one was home,” Mimi relates. She asked him to call back tomorrow. “Then he said who he was—so I answered when he called the next day.” The rest, as they say, is history. Mimi and Dan had four boys and a girl, 10 grandchildren and a great-grandchild. Today, the family is scattered: Florida, New Jersey, Pittsburgh and South Philadelphia. Near and far Mimi worked as a nurse at Lankenau Hospital and the Visiting Nurses Society. Then she went to work with Aventis Behring in pharmacovigilance—tracking drug reactions and preparing adverse event reports for submission to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the German medical authorities. Her boss was based in Marburg, Germany. “I got to travel to Europe for meetings and bring my husband. It was great,” she says. In addition to Germany, the couple visited France, Italy, Hawaii, Ireland and Portugal. France was her favorite. She continued to work for the same company until she was 72. Today she can relax and enjoy spending time with her dog, and her new neighbors, at Simpson Meadows. Call us today at 610-269-8400 or submit the form below to see for yourself why Mimi Carter and other seniors choose Simpson Meadows for retirement living.