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Residents and visitors praise Hudson retirement community
By Jim Mackinnon
Beacon Journal business writer
Published on Monday, Jan 12, 2009
HUDSON: Many people may look at Laurel Lake Retirement Community in Hudson as, well, a retirement village with a population of nearly 500.
Then there is resident Gen Klyce, who moved into the life-care facility about two years ago from Dayton, who has a slightly different take.
''It's like living on a cruise boat,'' said Klyce, who is 85. ''There's everything there. You don't have to go out. They have very interesting programs.''
One of those programs on Sunday celebrated Laurel Lake's 20th anniversary of the facility opening on its 150-acre campus.
Some 50 residents plus staff sang Happy Birthday shortly after 11:30 a.m. in the lobby at the kickoff of what will be a yearlong celebration. The date commemorated the moving-in on Jan. 11, 1989, of the community's first resident, Harry Rider, a retired engineer who invented and designed fire detection and sprinkler systems still used nationwide.
Laurel Lake, which took about two years to build at a cost of $50 million, was the brainchild of Cleveland businessman Richard Eastburn. The nonprofit community is a place where retirees can live independently but also move into assisted living or skilled care units if need be.
The continuing care retirement community concept works well and helps keeps couples together and people near their friends, said Kathryn Chadwick Koke, Laurel Lake's marketing director. The place is a member of the nonprofit Catholic Healthcare Partners health system but is nondenominational and open to all.
''It's like a little town,'' she said. Most of the residents, about 300, live in the private, independent units that include apartment and villa styles that range from 500 square feet to nearly 3,000 square feet.
Residents can be as active as they want to be, Koke said.
The campus off Boston Mills Road has different restaurant-style eating areas, a library, private banking, fitness club and exercise programs, computer and business centers, woodworking shop, hiking trails, small golf course, laundry facilities, chapel and more, including health-care services and 24-hour security.
Betsy MacLeod is a frequent visitor to Laurel Lake to see her mother, Nina Forshay, who has been disabled since a severe stroke five years ago. The Laurel Lake staff has been able to get her mother out and about, including going to a baseball game last summer, she said.
''It's been fabulous,'' MacLeod said. ''We've had a great experience.''
Carson Kent, 85, a former Cleveland Heights resident, said he and his wife have seen many changes for the better in the 17 years they have been at Laurel Lake, including new buildings going up.
''We made the choice [to move to Laurel Lake] as a gift to our children,'' Kent said. ''You don't have to worry about anything.''
Frank Fisher, an 87-year-old retired Cleveland banker, moved to an independent living unit at Laurel Lake in 2002 with his wife.
''We lived most recently in Florida, for 15 years,'' he said. But the couple decided to move back to Ohio to be closer to their children and grandchildren.
''We're here for life,'' Fisher said. ''We like it very much. We never regretted moving here. It's as nice a place as I've ever could have hoped to live at this time of life.''
Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com.
HUDSON: Many people may look at Laurel Lake Retirement Community in Hudson as, well, a retirement village with a population of nearly 500.
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