Local New Market News
Though it seems like we were just telling you about the New Market summer concert series – think lawn chairs, grilling, and warm evenings – the seasons certainly have changed here in town! With Fall underway and Winter just around the corner, we’re now looking forward to celebrating the holidays in New Market.
One of the highlights of Christmastime here is the annual Tis the Season Holiday Celebration. Held on December 5, 2015, the event is great for visitors, families, and anyone looking for some festive cheer! In previous years, the Holiday Celebration has included great sales at local shops, a fun parade, and a tree-lighting ceremony at Town Hall.
For updates on this year’s plans as they’re announced, you can check www.newmarketvirginia.com, or follow the Town of New Market on Facebook. We hope you can make it out for what promises to be a wonderful community celebration.
Shenandoah Place News/Announcements
We are happy to welcome three new residents to Shenandoah Place: Jean, Mary, and Berkley.
Our owners and staff also are excited to witness the progress at our sister facility, Shenandoah Terrace, which is also located in New Market. As a specialized memory care community, our new facility will include a state-of-the-art multisensory-stimulation area for residents, as well as a patient-adapted kitchen. For more information or status updates, please visit www.shenterrace.com.
When you visit elderly loved ones this Thanksgiving, consider asking them to share stories about their generation. The website StoryCorps has great suggestions for starting the conversation, and even accepts recordings as part of their “Great Thanksgiving Listen!”
As Christmas and New Years approach, we wish you a blessed holiday. We hope your heart and home will be filled with all the joys of the season.
Resident Spotlight: Annie Snell
In our last newsletter, we introduced you to the wonderful
Anna Hildreth, who was born just five miles from New Market. At her suggestion, we’re featuring a resident from much further away, this time: Annie Snell was born and raised in Warrington, England, in the Northwestern county of Lancashire. With her Irish mother and Scottish father, she also spent a lot of time in Dublin, Ireland, where she especially enjoyed the historic
St. Stephen’s Green, a popular city park.
As a young woman in England, Annie found herself in an unusual situation: she simultaneously was engaged to two men, both of whom were named Jack! Juggling her fiancés was challenging, and became particularly difficult when she was hospitalized with appendicitis. During visiting hours, helpful nurses let her know whether blonde Jack or brunette Jack was on his way
so that she could put on the appropriate engagement ring. In another twist, Annie did not marry either of the Jacks. Instead, she fell head over heels for Stanley “Red” Snell, a red-haired American soldier stationed in Warrington.
Annie and Stanley met at a pub in town. He asked to walk her home that evening, and asked to marry her soon after; they wed within a couple of months of meeting. Her father approved of the match, as Stanley would bring donuts and firewood to the family home. Annie calls Stanley, who passed away at age 50, her “American Sweetheart” and “American Hero,” and fondly describes how they were “sweethearts until the day he died” of a hereditary lung issue.
After the war, Annie and Stanley sailed for the United States, where they settled in Fort Myers, Florida. Though she was sad to leave her family behind – the last time Annie saw her father was from the ship’s deck, where she waved goodbye to the sound of Auld Lang Syne – and surprised by Florida’s heat, Annie loved sharing her new life with Stanley. Her kind sister-in-law took her shopping for shorts, clothing so unfamiliar to Annie that she didn’t know whether to put on underwear with, or not (for the record: she wore them just in case)!
Local women were also friendly, and considered Annie something of a celebrity. As the first “war bride” in Fort Myers, she was the recipient of plenty of parties and wedding showers. The word “shower” led to some confusion for Annie, though, who was left in tears once after other women offered to give her one. Fortunately, Stanley was able to explain that they wanted to celebrate her, not bathe a “dirty” foreigner!
Annie enjoyed caring for her home, gardening, and playing bridge while Stanley worked as a district manager for Borden’s Dairy. She suffered two miscarriages, but went on to raise two sons. Annie was also able to spend some time with her mother, who considered moving to the United States after her own husband’s passing. Annie and her sister had both married American soldiers and settled in the country, but their mother ultimately decided that she was too old to relocate. When Stanley became sick, Annie cared for him in their home with the help of Hope Hospice, whose services she greatly appreciated. They helped her through a difficult period in her life.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading about Annie’s interesting life! We love having her here at
Shenandoah Place, and are glad we could share her story.
Activity Spotlight: Book Club
If you happen to pass the Shenandoah Place sunroom on a Monday morning, chances are good that you’ll hear lots of laughter. At 10 o’clock we hold our weekly book club meetings, a favorite of many residents. Our wonderful Melissa reads aloud for an hour, covering 6 or 7 chapters of crowd-pleasing novels.
The club kicked things off with The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion, by Fannie Flagg. Like Flagg’s popular Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café, the novel is a comic mystery with fun, interesting characters. It follows its main character, Sookie, from modern-day Alabama on a journey back through time to the 1940’s.
Our first Flagg novel was such a hit that we used another of her books for our second club pick! In Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven, we’re reading about Elner Shimfissle and her adventures discovering “What is life all about, anyway?” Can’t Wait is full of southern humor, which our listeners have enjoyed. Between the sunlight and the laughter, our book club really brightens Monday mornings in New Market!
Our House Physician: Dr. Nance Lovelace
At Shenandoah Place, we work as a team to provide excellent care for our residents. This month, we’d like to help you get to know an important member of our team: Dr. Nance Lovelace, our house physician. Dr. Lovelace came to New Market by way of southwestern Virginia, where she previously had a medical practice. She was drawn to our community, she recalls, while “looking for a place that felt comfortable and inviting, where I could practice for the rest of my professional career.” Dr. Lovelace’s favorite thing about the Valley is its “warm and friendly” people, who “welcome you as if you were family who moved away and now came back.”
For the past two years, Dr. Lovelace has made monthly visits to Shenandoah Place, where she loves working with the residents. She enjoys “seeing their smiles,” and knowing that she “can contribute a small part in keeping them healthy, happy, and as independent as their health allows.” When she’s not working, Dr. Lovelace enjoys working in and around her home, which she shares with her mother. She also likes small woodworking projects, decorating her home and office for the holidays, and the company of herthree little dogs. We’re lucky to have such a caring and professional woman on our Shenandoah Place team.
You may be gone from my sight, but you are never gone from my heart.
In Memory of Bill Swing and Corinne Slack