Retirement Home

A Cherry Hill developer wanting to build a retirement home on Kresson Road can expect a fight from Barclay Farm residents who oppose business encroachment in their Cherry Hill neighborhood. About 40 Barclay Area Civic Association members met Tuesday to discuss strategy for defeating the proposal for a three-story building at Kresson and Pearlcroft Roads. Because the 2.5 acres are zoned for residential use, builders Edward and Lee Rudow must win the township Zoning Board's approval for commerical use on the land.

Alvetta Bailey's baking may be one reason Haddonfield Home's open house is so successful each year. Make that a big reason. No, make that a very big reason, said Brenden Garozzo, director of the assisted-living facility in Haddonfield. The home's long-standing tradition - a holiday gift to the community - always features Bailey's Christmas cookies, apple cake, gingerbread houses, yule logs, sweet-potato pie, pumpkin bread, and other culinary delights of the season. This year's open house is scheduled for today.

Whether you're moving, remodeling or staying put, planning a retirement home is an opportunity to create a personal environment that takes into account your future accessibility, safety and financial needs. And, experts say, there is no reason to forget style. Accessibility concerns - whether because of aging or physical limitations - are part of Valarie Costanzo's practice as a real estate agent for Prudential Fox & Roach in Rittenhouse Square and Haddonfield. Costanzo, 57, began concentrating on the accessibility niche after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis two years ago. She began helping MS Society clients in search of affordable handicapped-modified housing.

When Gladys White turned 72, she could not afford a decent apartment and had little hope of living the next few years among friends. All that changed when she became a resident at Kearsley, a 223-year-old retirement community in the Wynnefield section of Philadelphia. White lives in a pleasant apartment, receives good care and goes shopping and enjoys other activities with her numerous new friends. Today, at 75, she cannot imagine what life would be like outside her new home. "Kearsley has been a lifesaver," she said.

Buying into a retirement community could be the biggest investment of your life, overshadowing even the purchase of your first house. Experts in and out of the industry suggested the following items to consider when planning for retirement living: BE A SKEPTIC. Understand that promotional material is just that. Brochures and pamphlets are designed to promote the retirement community and stress its best aspects. VISIT THE COMMUNITY. Spend a day or two looking around. Talk with the residents.

Studies have indicated that most older people prefer to live independently in their own homes as long as possible, counting on loved ones and community-based services for occasional needs. When that is no longer possible, however, choosing a retirement community becomes one of the most important decisions seniors can make. To help sort out the maze of options, ACTS Retirement Life Communities Inc., a nonprofit organization in West Point, Pa., has compiled the following list of tips for people contemplating a move: Consider the community setting.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The kitchen features a hutch with lovely antique blue-and-white plates. One bathroom has a walk-in shower. And lounge chairs surround a good-sized shaded pool in the back. So what makes this seven-bedroom property different from other large homes nearby? It's South Florida's first gay retirement home. Tom Duffy, a retired catering business owner, converted what once was a small Wilton Manors assisted-living facility to create his dream: Secret Garden, an independent living center where gay men can be themselves as they age. "I want it to be like a family, more like a commune, I guess," said Duffy, 61, who lives on the property and has been interviewing prospective residents in recent weeks.

Residents of the Barclay Farms section are expected to show up in force tomorrow to quash a proposed retirement home in their residential Cherry Hill neighborhood. Members of the Barclay area civic association have argued that the proposed location - on a 2.5-acre parcel on Kresson Road across from the James Johnson School - is a bad spot for a retirement home. At tomorrow's Zoning Board meeting, neighbors plan to ask the board to turn down the developer's request for a special variance allowing the home on a property zoned residential.

A plan for a retirement home in West Chester has been transformed into a proposal for 55 condominiums because the developer says the new project would make more money. "The financial climate has changed," said Paul Robino, chairman for Frank Robino Associates of Wilmington, testifying before the Zoning Hearing Board Monday night. Robino asked permission to build 10 units on the first floor of the former Denney-Reyburn Building, which is commercially zoned. He also requested the freedom to decide the size of all the units in the building, at 30 W. Barnard St., and to be exempt from having to landscape the parking lot. The board has 45 days to vote on his application, which was opposed by all but a few of the residents at the meeting.

Robert Ryan was just looking for a little direction from the Plymouth Planning Commission in his efforts to build a single-family home where he and his wife could grow old together. What he got from the commission Thursday night was an on-the-spot positive recommendation of his plans to the Township Council. Ryan, who is about to retire, owns a 3.79-acre parcel of land at 208 Township Line Rd., next to Valley Green Estates. He inherited the land when his father died. At the front of the property is a single-family home where his daughter and son-in-law reside.

VATICAN CITY - Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI came home to the Vatican on Thursday for the first time since he resigned Feb. 28, beginning an unprecedented era for the Catholic Church of having a retired pontiff living alongside a reigning one. Pope Francis welcomed Benedict outside his new retirement home - a converted monastery on the edge of the Vatican gardens - and the two immediately went into the adjoining chapel to pray together, the Vatican said....

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The kitchen features a hutch with lovely antique blue-and-white plates. One bathroom has a walk-in shower. And lounge chairs surround a good-sized shaded pool in the back. So what makes this seven-bedroom property different from other large homes nearby? It's South Florida's first gay retirement home. Tom Duffy, a retired catering business owner, converted what once was a small Wilton Manors assisted-living facility to create his dream: Secret Garden, an independent living center where gay men can be themselves as they age. "I want it to be like a family, more like a commune, I guess," said Duffy, 61, who lives on the property and has been interviewing prospective residents in recent weeks.

YOU HAD TO STEP pretty quickly to keep up with Charlene Rubin Menkin. She set a brisk pace despite having limited use of her limbs from a childhood bout with polio. But whether being helped along with a cane or, later, with a motorized scooter, Charlene wasn't about to restrict herself in any way. She taught high school, traveled extensively and was the life of any party. "When she would come into any room, people just flocked to her," said her daughter-in-law, Darlynne Menkin.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Relatives of an 87-year-old woman who died after a nurse at her retirement home refused a 911 dispatcher's pleas to perform CPR expressed satisfaction with the care she received, saying her wishes were to die naturally. Meanwhile, the company that owns the facility now says its worker failed to follow proper procedures. Lorraine Bayless' death last week at Glendale Gardens, a Bakersfield independent living facility, prompted outrage after a seven-minute recording of the 911 call was released.

EULA M. COUSINS was the star of the show last September when a crowd of well-wishers descended on her at a Roxborough retirement home. There was a letter from President Obama and his wife, Michelle. U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah and his wife, news-anchor Renee Chenault-Fattah, were among the celebs who dropped by. After all, making it to 110 is an amazing accomplishment, and particularly making it to 110 and looking as great as she did at that birthday celebration in her beige skirt and sweater, her face unwrinkled, a saucy carnation in her hair.

TORONTO - At least Dustin Hoffman is honest when asked why it took him so long to make his directing debut. "I don't know," Hoffman said. The 75-year-old Hoffman went behind the camera for "Quartet," starring Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins as aging British opera divas at a retirement home for musicians who put aside past differences for a reunion concert. "Quartet," which premiered at last September's Toronto International Film Festival, opened in a handful of theaters Jan. 11 and expands to wider release Friday.

Larry L. King, 83, a writer and playwright whose magazine article about a campaign to close down a popular bordello became a hit Tony Award-nominated musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and a movie, died Thursday. His wife, Barbara Blaine, said Mr. King died at a Washington retirement home after battling emphysema. Mr. King wrote two musicals, five plays, 14 books, a few screenplays, and hundreds of magazine articles, for which he won an O. Henry Award in 2001. His books include None But a Blockhead about the act of writing, and a children's book, called Because of Lozo Brown , about the fears children have of meeting others.

John Richard Mynar, 82, a retired vice president of Keebler Foods and a leader of youth groups in Philadelphia's Somerton section, died Tuesday, Dec. 11, at Elkins Crest retirement home in Elkins Park. Mr. Mynar was a vice president with Keebler from 1977 until he retired in 1995, said his son Jack. He started with the company in 1966 as a salesman. He was on the board of the Somerton Youth Organization for many years. The organization, which serves about 4,000 young people from the Somerton section of Northeast Philadelphia, offers sports and other activities.

Kuwait appoints a new cabinet Kuwait formed a new cabinet Thursday, its 10th since February 2006, amid tensions between the opposition, which held a majority in the dissolved parliament, and the government. Hani Hussain was reappointed as oil minister and Nayef al-Hajraf was named minister of finance in the 14-member cabinet. The posts of defense, interior and foreign affairs were unchanged and held by members of the ruling al-Sabah family. The new government includes one woman, U.S.-educated Rola Dashti, who was appointed state minister for planning and development.

Monday morning at the back end of Reading Terminal Market, Rick Nichols pinballed through a crowd of admirers, accepting and delivering hugs, kisses, and handshakes while an old-timey band oompahed and strummed. Nichols, who retired in 2011 after 33 years at The Inquirer, was being honored for his loyalty and love for the market, which he once helped save from nearly certain death. Behind him, brown curtains covered a yet-to-be revealed exhibit — a collection of photographs and text chronicling the market's 120-year history.