As members of the Methodist Church, Sue Taylor and her husband, David, were involved in Simpson Meadows when the community first started. “My husband was on the panel for the community because of his experience in heating and electric,” she says. She was asked to participate to provide the women’s perspective. They were among the first 50 residents in the community. She is one of five of those original residents still living in the community.
“We moved in when they were still working on the building,” Sue notes. “I like my apartment. It has sun exposure in the morning. We chose what we wanted when we first moved in, and I have stayed there ever since.”
She’s lived everywhere
An only child, Sue was born in Chicago, where her father was stationed with the Navy. “I was a Navy brat and moved all over with my dad until I was 18,” she says. “I really enjoyed traveling with my dad. We went to eight states—Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, Illinois and California.” They were in the Virgin Islands when World War II broke out. After the war, her father was stationed at the Naval Hospital in Philadelphia. She had always been musically inclined, so she studied voice and piano at what was then the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music, which eventually became part of the University of the Arts.
She met her first husband, Harry, at church. They were together 25 years and had two boys and a girl, who now live nearby in Coatesville and West Chester. She was with her second husband, David, for 24 years when they moved to Simpson Meadows. “My husband died weeks after we moved in, but I never regretted it for one minute,” she says of the decision. She has five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren and one on the way.
She knows everyone
Sue made a future Simpson Meadows connection when she worked in Finance at the Norcross Card Company in West Chester. “Hank Hiddleson and I worked together there, and now they are my next-door neighbors,” she explains. If she doesn’t open her shades by 10 a.m., the Hiddlesons or other neighbors come to check on her. If they are running out, they ask her if she needs anything.
“We have been very fortunate to have so many nice people here,” she observes. “It is a smaller place, and we do get to know each other, and we are family. We are so caring. You can ask me—I know everyone here.”
After she moved to Simpson Meadows, she started working at Boscov’s in Exton, and stayed there for 20 years. She also worked at Bring and Buy Thrift Shop in West Chester.
Now that she is no longer taking care of retail customers, she is able to relax and be taken care of. “We have had very good care here, and I have stayed very active, and that is why I’ve stayed here,” says Sue, who takes exercise classes and does yoga, along with reading, doing puzzles and playing card games. “We have a wonderful therapy group that I have worked with, and all of that is why I think I have been around for 92 years.”
Call us today at 610-269-8400 or submit the form below to see for yourself why Sue Taylor and other seniors choose Simpson Meadows for retirement living.