Dene (Geraldene) Peterson is 79 years of wisdom, wit and energy as she expounds on what appears to be her favorite subject: Cohousing communities for elders and how she started one of the first in the country. She speaks to about 35 or so eager listeners in St. Joan’s Hospitality Hall.

Peterson, who now calls herself a Funding Development Coach, in a flash of inspiration a few years ago, went to her congregation of Franciscans with her vision of a community made up of elders devoted to mutual support and late life spirituality. They bought her idea. All she had to do was find the money and the site for such a project. Which, of course, she did.

Just listening to her speak, this comes as no surprise. Her brown eyes sparkle as she speaks, her hands punctuate her words, and you know without a doubt she is coming from a place inside herself that is tied to experience, her own. You see, she believes that late life is the perfect time to “grow the soul,” to recover our true selves and prepare for a “good,” a really good, death. This essential task, according to her, can only be done in community. Without community “we become like fish out of water,” she asserts.

How the community lives together is what really counts, she says. For that reason, her founding community, ElderSpirit in Abingdon, Virginia, includes things that matter for vital aging. Things like self determination, emphasis on nutrition, exercise and relationships with chances to feel productive and giving, and importantly, home health care to help people die at home. It is made up of smaller homes with larger common space. Parking space is on either end of the campus to encourage more walking and for the safety of its inhabitants. The large common house includes laundry facilities, a kitchen and dining hall, intentionally designed to bring people together on a regular basis.

In this community, there are by-laws, agreed upon by the inhabitants, one of which is to commit to at least 4 hours a week to work for the common good. That could include belonging to the landscape committee, or the care community that watches out for its more fragile members and attends to their needs. Intellectual activity exercises the brain, Peterson says. To that end, the local college offers classes for older adults, and the community sponsors its own book groups. These and other groups are made up of about 6 persons each, no larger, so as to get to know one another better.

She describes how one pod which she joined, decided as a group to lose weight by going on the South Beach diet together. They took turns preparing special meals, and although she didn’t reveal how many pounds were lost, she did say the experiment socially was a great success.

Before Peterson spoke, Bolton Anthony, told of his involvement as an activist, founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Second Journey. This is an organization whose mission is “to create a new vision of aging along with new models of community for the second half of life while creating a just and sustainable world now and for future generations.“

He described the current model of aging as the Socio-Medical one. That is, aging as dysfunction. Or as the Consumer model, plainly put, a return to childhood where everything is provided for its clients. A more authentic model, he believes is spelled out in a book by John Rowe and Robert Kahn called Successful Aging. They describe successful aging as a fulfillment of the heart’s desire; (1) to rediscover ourselves, (2) to live more simply, (3) to reconnect with nature and (4) to live in community. This happens, Bolton says, when older persons “. . .come together to share the rhythms of daily life and pursue some noble end.” He recommends Sue Monk Kidd’s book, When The Heart Waits, and reads from several of Mary Oliver’s poems including one called The Journey.

Kathy Shea, writing in an issue of The Good Life, sketches the cohousing trend in these words:

“Since its introduction to the U.S. in the 1980s, the cohousing movement has gained significant ground, especially along the East and West coasts. More recently, cohousing has caught the eye of older adults who are less than satisfied with traditional senior housing options. Like intergenerational cohousing, elder cohousing is a response to changing times. Families are smaller, children are less likely to settle near their aging parents, and women who traditionally cared for older relatives are now working. Increasing numbers of older people are seeking a way to "age in community," asking for what our ancestors have enjoyed: the opportunity to age surrounded by people who know and love them.”

For those interested in newly forming Cohousing groups and sites currently in development in the Twin Cities, see http://CohousingAdvocates.com. Other Cohousing communities are listed at the community directory of the National Cohousing Association, www.cohousing.org. Visit Elderspirit's website at http://www.elderspirit.net/.

Jo Welch-Youngren worked with Harvey Egan in the early days of St. Joan of Arc. At that time she, Cy and Joan Speltz, Nancy Anderson, Darlene Arbuckle, Ferry Deslauriers, and John McGowan made up the staff. We all pitched in and did everything that needed doing and had a ball every day. Jo’s first husband, Jack Welch, was buried from St. Joan’s in 1980. Later she married Dave Youngren, moved to New Mexico, then returned to her roots. Now she and Dave sit on the left side center at the 9:00 o’clock Mass on Sundays and love every minute of it. Jo can be reached at joandave@ties2.net.