CHARLESTON, W.Va. - When Edgewood Summit opened its doors on April 15, 1995, Peggy Hitchman and her husband, Bill, were among the first residents to move in at the new retirement community.
Peggy still lives there today. She is proud that she lives independently at the age of 96, but has the peace of mind of knowing help is right around the corner if she needs it.
"I don't understand people who are not ready to leave their home," she said. "You don't leave your home when you come here. Home is where your heart is, and you take it with you."
Edgewood Summit is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Diane Gouhin, executive director of Edgewood Summit, said residents celebrated the milestone recently with a magic-themed party, complete with live music and the same magician who entertained seniors at the community's first anniversary party in 1996.
What makes Edgewood "magical" every day, Gouhin said, is the approximately 80 full-time employees who ensure every resident is happy and healthy. Gouhin said residents gain a whole new family when they move to Edgewood Summit.
"We really build a lot of relationships with the residents who live here, their families and our staff," Gouhin said. "It's that special relationship between all of us who are here, we're like a second family to each other. They adopt all of us, they adopt our children and our families, and we do the same with them, and it ends up being a second family to everyone. I don't think people expect that when they first move in."
Gouhin said Edgewood Summit is a place any senior can call home - from those who can live independently to those who need one-on-one care. She said many people have the misconception that becoming an Edgewood resident takes away the ability to live independently, but residents find they are given the exact level of assistance they want or need.
"We provide the full continuum of care now," Gouhin said. "We opened our third expansion two years ago, and that was nursing home care and rehabilitation, and memory care support. It's almost like a village, in a way, where you have support if you need it but not if you don't. I think what sets Edgewood Summit apart from other retirement communities."
Edgewood faced many hurdles before it even opened its doors. Edgewood Summit Inc. was established as a nonprofit organization in 1990 after Thomas Newton Jr. and other leaders in the Kanawha Valley realized there was an exodus of seniors moving to other states in their retirement years. There was no retirement community in West Virginia at the time.
The Arthur B. Hodges Center, located on Morris Street until its closure in 2004, contributed $1.5 million in equity to begin the development of the new retirement community. Edgewood Summit Inc. acquired 89 acres of land near Cato Park and got approval from both the city of Charleston and the U.S. Department of the Interior to move forward with construction.
A group of residents in the Edgewood neighborhood filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in 1992 asking a federal judge to stop the retirement community from being built, alleging that inadequate environmental impact studies were conducted. Residents worried the community would increase traffic and sewer and water runoff. The lawsuit worried many prospective Edgewood Summit residents who had already placed down payments on apartments.
U.S. District Judge Robert Staker in Huntington ruled in July 1993 that there would be "no significant impact" from the new retirement community, allowing construction to go forward. Ground was broken on the $16 million facility on Nov. 3, 1993.
Hitchman said she and her husband traveled abroad while waiting for Edgewood Summit to open, and continued to travel even after they moved into the community in 1995.
She said the staff make Edgewood special because they go out of their way to make sure residents are cared for. As an example, she said Edgewood staff replaced her refrigerator within 30 minutes after she discovered it broken one Sunday morning.
"Can you imagine what it would have been like on the outside on a Sunday morning?" Hitchman said. "It would have been Monday before you would have gotten anyone to talk to you!"
Peggy Hitchman served in the Navy as a disbursing officer during World War II and moved to South Carolina about two years after returning home. She was a librarian for about eight years, then at the age of 50 decided to go back to school and become a nurse.
When Bill Hitchman retired, the couple moved to Virginia, but when they realized they wouldn't be able to take care of their five acres of property as they aged, they decided to move back to their hometown of Charleston, where they'd met as kindergartners at Glenwood Elementary School.
"My husband and I traveled abroad for years and we were active on the council," Peggy Hitchman said. "He was treasurer and I was on the grounds committee. There was always something going on."
Gouhin said residents have access to social events and programming on a daily basis, including yoga and art classes, guest speakers and group trips. She said many residents dabble in activities for the first time once they're in the community; in fact, so many residents become artists, Edgewood Summit holds art shows for residents to show off their artwork.
Many residents even learn computer skills and stay in touch with family and friends on the Internet. Tablet computers such as iPads are popular Christmas gifts, Gouhin said.
"They're on Facebook, they're Skyping with their kids," Gouhin said. "We provide access to Wi-Fi and we provide computer workstations, and many of them will learn on our system and end up buying their own."
Gouhin said the senior care industry is closely watching for the "Silver Tsunami," the time when Baby Boomers begin seeking residence in retirement communities en masse. Some already have arrived at Edgewood, Gouhin said, and elder care will likely transform in the coming decades to meet their specific needs.
"The Baby Boomers have really transformed every generation they've gone through with their preferences and expectations, and I fully expect they will end up transforming the way we look at seniors and what we do as well," Gouhin said.
Though Bill Hitchman has died, Peggy still smiles as she talks about the memories she and her husband of more than six decades shared. Gouhin has been the executive director at Edgewood Summit since it opened, and has learned the history and stories of the Hitchmans and hundreds of other residents and couples that have come through Edgewood Summit.
Just listening to those stories, Gouhin said, is one of the best parts of the job.
"It's wonderful to work with seniors because they are so full of history and richness, and they have time in their lives at that point to sit and tell you their stories," Gouhin said. "They're the most interesting people you'll ever meet. If you have an opportunity to connect with a senior, whether it's in your neighborhood or church or whatever, I would encourage everybody to do that because it's a legacy that needs to be carried on. And if you learn their story, you can carry on their legacy."
Reach Marcus Constantino at marcus.c@dailymailwv.com, 304-348-1796 or follow @amtino on Twitter.