Retirement Living - period ended 2.1.2007

Retirement/Membership Decline//34 seniors suddenly left without a home in North Plainfield/Bridgewater Courier News/Bridgewater/NJ/USA/31-Jan-07//McCutchen Executive Director Lori Reading said the announcement Thursday was met with shock and devastation by both residents and employees of the Quaker-sponsored facility, which has been providing private care for elderly residents since 1951. ...

Retirement/War/Protest/Mensalvas, Irene/At 103, city native still fights for peace/Fort Wayne Journal Gazette/Fort Wayne/IN/USA/18-Jan-07/BaltSun/Raging Grannies has a network of “granny gaggles” around the United States and internationally. It’s not unusual to find a nonagenarian at a weekly anti-war demonstration at Walter Reed Army Medical Center near Washington, Murphy said.

Yet it’s rare to find a protester who is quite as deep into the winter years as Mensalvas.

“As a Quaker community, (many Friends House residents) are politically active and stand up for what they believe. But a lot of them, once they reach a certain age, find it more difficult,” said Mary Cozad, the resident director at the retirement community. “Irene is unique.”

Mensalvas, the oldest resident in Friends House’s independent-living quarters, has wavy white-gray hair, a no-nonsense air and a tinkling laugh that sometimes starts with pursed lips and a long “oooh!” ...

Concord Monitor/Concord/NH/USA