 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| Retirement |
|
here are almost 200,000 people over age 50 who will relocate to the Carolinas during the next calendar year.
Wondering why, we asked a few families about the motivations that brought them here for retirement and just how things are going in their new Carolina lives.
Cary, N.C.
Bob and Mercy Pastor left Cuba 45 years ago, when she was 26 and expecting their first child. He was 28 and wanted to resume his studies at the University of Miami. After graduation, he got a job with Celanese Corporation, and later, the InterAmerican Development Bank.
The couple raised two daughters and lived in Charlotte, Manhattan and Northern Virginia. Now that they have retired and downsized, they’ve chosen Carolina Preserve, a Del Webb community for those 55 and better, in Cary, North Carolina.
They are close enough to their five grandchildren to take an active part in their lives, and they are enjoying a surprising array of cultural events that rival the larger cities they’ve lived in before.
“My husband loves opera, and we are trying to support the growth of opera in Raleigh,” she explained.
They enjoy classical music, and are members of the NC Museum of Arts and the North Carolina Ballet, as well as attending performances by the North Carolina Symphony.
Bob Pastor was instrumental in organizing a Dominoes Club in the Preserve – playing Cuban-style, which is different from the children’s game.
Although he broke a vertebrae during their move and has been recently restricted as he recovers, the couple had already begun to join in the social activities, such as Ladies Breakfast group, and the men’s counterpart group, the Good fellows Breakfast. They’ve also joined a dinner club.
“We’re living in a lovely, three-bedroom home that accommodates the grandchildren,” she explained, adding how much they loved the community. “They will have to carry me out of this home and community.”
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
t 81 years young, Patricia Vennik wants to be closer to her son and daughter-in-law, who live in Cary, N.C.
“I moved to Virginia Beach in 1940 with my parents, and I’ve lived in the area ever since,” she explained. Now, it’s more important to be near family, and after looking at a number of communities, she’s chosen SearStone, a vibrant, not-for-profit neighborhood in Cary for those 62 and better.
“I realize it’s a big adjustment, but the area offers so much and I am looking forward to that,” she said. “Last year, I fractured my hip getting out of the swimming pool, but I recovered so well because I was in such good condition.” That’s one reason the Winston Clubhouse, with its Aquatic Centre and Health and Fitness Club holds such appeal for her to continue to exercise and stay healthy.
“I like to exercise and work out,” she explained. “I enjoy music and community groups and I will have lots of options there as well.”
|
|
|
Linda and Tom Cash have a plan. They live in the town of Wake Forest, just north of Raleigh, but they’ve purchased property at San Rio Ocean and River Club in Shallotte, North Carolina.
In about six years, the children will have launched, and they’ll be downsizing a bit to a home near the Brunswick County beaches, “prettiest beaches in the state,” says Mr. Cash.
Why San Rio? They knew the community planners from their years living at Wakefield Plantation in Raleigh, and they both have the utmost regard for their abilities and experience. “We became very familiar with L.M. Sandler and Sons (parent company of Wakefield Development) and like how they plan and build communities,” Mrs. Cash explained.
Originally from Orlando, the couple enjoys a resort atmosphere. “We own two weeks at the Aruba Surf Club, on Palm Beach, Aruba, which is a fantastic Marriott resort. The San Rio planners have created a community that reminds us of that Caribbean feel with the tiki bar, lazy river, and amenities all designed around the water. We realized that at San Rio, we can live that lifestyle every day.”
|
|
|
Bob and Marge Kitterman toured the United States and thought about where to live.
“After ‘retirement,’ Bob and I spent ten years living in a motor home and traveling around the country building houses for Habitat for Humanity,” said Mrs. Kitterman from her home at Four Seasons at Gold Hill in Fort Mill, South Carolina. “During that time, we were searching for the perfect retirement town, and we realized we had already found it near Charlotte.”
The couple is from Indiana, but spent their working years in Charlotte and Greensboro. With two of their three children in Charlotte, and their extensive research completed, the next step became finding the right community for their lifestyle.
“We heard about Four Seasons and fell in love with the concept of over-55 adult retirement living,” she said, noting that although they didn’t want to return to downtown Charlotte, they did want to be near the culture and activities. Plus, their children are close enough to enjoy the community pool.
Activities keep them busy, including a walking club and cards group. Mr. Kitterman has already become the treasurer of Habitat for Humanity in York County.
“In our retirement community, probably three-fourths of us are here to be close to our children,” she explained. “The other positive factors are the weather, nearby airport, and opportunity to get to know the neighborhood.” Four Seasons has everything they want.
|
|
|
When Sharon and Mel Sokol of Tom’s River, New Jersey, first decided to retire, they had Florida first on their minds. That lasted about 18 months, and today, five years later, the Sokols are happily nested in Sun City Hilton Head, the 4,300-acre Del Webb “active adult community” located just off Interstate 95 near South Carolina’s most southern coastal islands.
“We got fed up with the bumper-to-bumper trips to the supermarket and the constant humidity of central Florida,” says Mrs. Sokol, who today is an active member of Sun City’s U.S.T.A. tennis squad when she’s not taking classes at the community’s fitness center.
“The Carolinas suit us fine,” she added. “Sure it can get warm in the summer, but it’s great weather the rest of the year.”
The Sokols are among a large number of retiring people from the Northeast and Midwest who are eschewing Florida for the Carolinas. Some find their way here on the first try, while others take a circuitous route, getting off the freeways, touring small towns, staying in B&Bs.
|
|
|
Recently, the Carolinas have been winning out over other choices. Retirees appreciate the weather – mild, but with four distinct seasons – the lack of congestion, and the easy transportation to visit friends and relatives. They also fall in love with the topography: the coastal areas, rolling hills and the postcard-like Blue Ridge Mountains.
While Florida and Arizona still top the list for individual states netting more retirement migrants, North Carolina ranks third and South Carolina sixth, according to Dr. Charles Longino, Jr., a Wake Forest University professor and leading authority on retirement migration.
The pool of retirees who actually migrate from the community where they ended their full-time working years has historically been relatively small, just five percent of the total over-55 population. However, surveys of the boomer generation, as they now approach retirement, indicate a doubling of that percentage.
Del Webb got a major jump on the coming boomer surge by establishing its first eastern beachhead near South Carolina’s coastal islands in 1994. Now a division of Pulte Homes, Del Webb’s Sun City Hilton Head success is based on the region’s appeal to Americans in the Northeast and Midwest tundra belt. Today there are about 3,000 homes completed at Sun City Hilton Head, with plenty of room for 10 years of careful growth.
Most experts agree that
boomers will demand even
more varied recreational
activities than their
predecessors. In
addition, there’s
definitely a more
youthful face of
retirement emerging in
Carolina communities as
“early retirement” and
“golden parachutes”
become the norm in
corporate and
governmental America.
For many, retirement
offers a new beginning,
with decades of active
living ahead.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Katherine O. Pettit has worked as a
writer, magazine editor, printer and public relations consultant. The Columbia
resident has published more than 250 articles in magazines and newspapers
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
