We are celebrating National Assisted Living Week! Our team at The Hamilton Assisted Living will provide plenty of “Joyful Moments” for our Residents. A few residents wanted to share their experiences about what is like to move into and live at The Hamilton, which is located in York County, Virginia.

The Hamilton offers 40 private apartments with kitchenettes. The dining room provides breakfast, lunch and dinner service, and the activity director makes sure the social calendar is always full. A nursing team is available 24/7 to provide peace of mind and assist our Residents.

The Cheerleader

Carolyn Carter just recently started to call The Hamilton home. She has been a Resident since late June.

“It’s super. Everything has been so what I needed. To be with all the nice people and always do something, it’s what I like,” she says.

The former high school cheerleading coach can be found at all of The Hamilton’s events and activities.

“I like to busy, and I like to be around people a lot. I’m a nonstop person,” she says with a chuckle. She keeps her fellow Residents laughing as well.

The socialization aspect of an assisted living center was important to her when she moved.

“The Hamilton is wonderful. This is just what I needed. … I don’t like to stay in my room watching TV. I can do that at night,” she says.

The Martinsville native has a son who lives in Williamsburg and a daughter in Alabama. She has four grandchildren.

“My son is super. He’s always been so good to me,” she says. She lived with her daughter before coming to The Hamilton, saying, “I’m a Virginia girl.”

Feeling safe also was a priority. She says she feels that way at The Hamilton. The attentive staff also make her feel comfortable in her new home.

Comfortable in her home

Eva Roithmeyer starting residing at The Hamilton in May.

“I wanted an assisted living near my children (after my husband died),” she said.

She lives closest to her oldest son, who is an engineer at NASA Langley in Hampton. He and his family live in York County after moving to the area from Houston.

Eva is originally from Mexico. She was working as bilingual secretary for an American company there when she met her husband, who traveled frequently to the country, through a friend of a friend.

He was a marine biologist for NOAA, and they moved from Morehead City, N.C., to Mississippi and Colorado. She has four children and seven grandchildren, who range in age from 7 to 33.

“I’m very happy with the place and people. … I like my apartment,” she says. “I like most of the activities.”

Eva often can be found in the second-floor activity room playing Mexican train dominoes with friends.

“I had a good life and I’m happy to be here: here in the world and here in this room,” she says with a smile.

The Army veteran

Alfred Richeson is still adjusting to living at The Hamilton.

“I’d prefer to not be sick, like everyone in this room,” he says.

A man of the world, the Army veteran served in Vietnam as a member of the 82nd Airborne. After retiring from the Army in 1980, he spent 20 years working for IBM.

He was first assigned to Germany, and has lived all over the world thanks to his careers, including in Hong Kong, Toyoko, New York and Washington, D.C.

The West Point graduate is originally from Colorado and moved “to get as far away from Colorado as I could.”

He has two sons, one of whom lives in North Carolina, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren with another “on the way.”

Call our home your home

Learn more about our community and schedule a tour by visiting vahs.com/thehamilton or call 757-933-2621 for information on services, rates and availability. Our website has floor plans and details about our community.

We are celebrating National Assisted Living Week! Our team at The Huntington Assisted Living will provide plenty of “Joyful Moments” for our Residents. A few residents wanted to share their experiences about what is like to move into and live at The Huntington, which is located in Newport News, Virginia. Its “yard” is the Mariners’ Museum Park.

The Huntington offers 32 private apartments with kitchenettes. The dining room provides breakfast, lunch and dinner service, and the activity director makes sure the social calendar is always full. A nursing team is available 24/7 to provide peace of mind and assist our Residents.

Loving life

Karen Waldfogel moved into The Huntington about two years ago. She recovered from an injury at The Newport Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, which is next door, and it became clear she needed more care than her support team at home could provide.

“I wanted to go home, but I can’t. I like it here,” she says.

She says the Huntington team is excellent, caring and considerate. The food “is coming along” and is usually tasty. She really likes the lasagna and pizza.

“(Activity Director) April is good to us, she always finds something fun for us to do,” she says. “If we didn’t have April, we wouldn’t know what to do.”

Karen enjoys the arts and crafts sessions with volunteers Martha and Jerry Dodson once a month.

She also has had a great experience with the VHS Rehabilitation therapists onsite.

“They’re just super,” she says. “I can get around pretty good now.”

The camaraderie with the fellow Huntington residents is genuine.

“I’ve made a lot of friends here,” she says, including her best friend who resides at The Newport.

Family life

Karen moved here with her family in 1965 when her father was transferred to NASA Langley in Hampton from Houston. He worked on the Galileo program, which explored Jupiter and its moons. He previously worked for Boeing and the family bounced from their native home of Lansing, Michigan, to various places including Seattle, California and Alabama.

“He was an amazing man,” she says. He passed away last year. She has a brother who lives with their 91-year-old mother nearby. Her mother was a nurse and she has two brothers and two sisters.

“My mom picks me up to go to church on Saturdays,” she says, when community rates of COVID-19 are lower. They attend Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Karen has a daughter and three grandsons. She had a son who has passed away.

A room of one’s own

Marjorie Barnes was admitted after an injury for skilled rehabilitation at The Newport Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in 2018. She moved into the attached Huntington to continue her rehab.

While she has been debating moving back to her home with her daughter, she loves her privacy and living space at The Huntington.

“Gotta hang on to something that’s mine,” she says of not being ready to sell her house to her daughter yet. She adds, “I just want my kids to live their lives.”

She enjoys her friends at The Huntington and the food. “I love the soup,” she says.

“I’ve been in Newport News for quite a while now,” she says. She and her husband moved to the area when he was transferred by the Army to Fort Eustis. He spent most of his career there, save for about two years the family moved to the base in the Azores.

“It was really nice,” she says. Most of her children – there were five kids – were school age while in the Azores. “The children really enjoyed it.”

She has several grandchildren – “too many to remember.”

“All of my children are so nice to me,” she says.

Call our home your home

Learn more about our community and schedule a tour by visiting vahs.com/thehuntington or call 757-933-2621 for information on services, rates and availability. Our website has floor plans and details about our community.