Why Did You Decide to Come to PVE?
Living outside Davis, it seemed logical to attend functions at University Retirement Community, a CCRC in Davis. By making a deposit, you could use their physical fitness equipment and attend water aerobics classes. We often heard complaints as we became acquainted with the class participants and slowly concluded that URC was not a good fit even though we loved the water aerobics teacher and class members. I also had a hang-up about walking down a darkly paneled hall to an apartment. There were just a handful of cottages, all occupied. Who knew when one of those might become available?
Meanwhile, an invitation arrived by mail to visit Paradise Valley Estates, including a chance to see the lovely Christmas decorations. We met folks at PVE who were former Davis residents. We had put our name in a drawing for an iPad when we registered for the visit, and during the visit the group took so much time looking around that the drawing was postponed a day. I was upstairs at home when my husband answered the phone. Later, I asked who called, and he replied, “Oh, it was PVE. You’ve won the iPad!” I was amazed, thrilled and eager to claim my prize.
We planned a return trip, including dinner, lunch and even attending a water aerobics class, and we were duly impressed. We commented how friendly everyone was: residents, employees and management. Over and over, we asked what folks would change about living there and consistently the reply was “nothing.”
It took a full year for us to decide this was the right move for us. We did a little more exploring and used others’ searches to add to our information. Actually, that was the easy part. The disposal of our house and downsizing for the move was much more challenging. We were able to sell our property to our daughter and her husband, so it was still the family home for special events and holidays. How lucky is that? After tapping everyone we could to give away goods we no longer needed and countless trips to the thrift store, we were finally able to leave.
Our departure was quite difficult because we had an extensive garden, orchard, two barns to empty and needed to say goodbye to the animals. We had lived there as homesteaders for 38 years with a lot of history. Sharon Dominic, in the marketing department of PVE, made our transition much easier. She evaluated our housing needs and found a perfect unit for us. While unloading some goods into our new garage, a man stopped his car and offered to help us. Later we learned it was the CEO of PVE, Jim Mertz! The contrast was profound. While visiting in URC, we had ridden in the elevator with their CEO, who neither recognized us nor spoke to us. I think we made a pretty wise move and a really good decision!
