Finding the Right Place to Retire

These retirees slipped right into the culture of Virginia’s Blue Ridge because it was important to them to find the right way to do it.

Caryl Connolly has attacked retirement with the enthusiastic energy of middle school recess and the creativity of a second-grade art class. She’s 81.

Therry, 72, and Wally, 75, Nielsen-Steinhardt are equally gung-ho about making their golden years the equivalent of taking Fort Knox to the grocery store. Rich, baby.

These elderly new-ish Roanokers moved to the Star City because it appeared to be a retirement haven—and for them, it has been.

Connolly is a New Jersey native who has spent her entire life in an almost hyper-active state. She still teaches yoga, hikes and hangs out with various friends who share her interests, including culture. 

She was a construction project manager and interior designer for the Veterans Administration before retiring 25 years ago. She hung around the New York City metro area until 9/11 made that virtually impossible for her (“I could see the smoke from my front porch”). She escaped to Roanoke in 2003 and immediately found it welcoming. “My sister lives here,” she says, and from the beginning, “I’ve loved it.”

She points to the cultural opportunities, the yoga classes, the mountains and her Unitarian Universalist church (“which is so diverse and it makes connections easy”) as lures for people like her.

“I volunteer quite a bit,” she says, and that allows her to continually expand her circle of friends, which, in turn, offers even more social opportunities. A lot of the volunteering has to do with groups, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, opportunities have shrunk. “I miss that,” she says.

She is one of the Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway, has worked for a mission group providing books for children, as well as the Roanoke marathon, volunteered at her daughter-in-law’s New Freedom Farm (which offers help for veterans) and is a blood donor. “I’m available for whatever comes up,” she says. She even worked for Habitat for Humanity for a few years (fitting just right with her background) until it became a smidge too much.

She suggests that if you’re not as outgoing and healthy as she is, the church is always a great place to make connections—regardless of what your church is—and both the local library and the YMCA are equally good. Mostly, she says, “Pick something and do it.” 

Volunteering is just one great option for people as they age, and the opportunities in the Roanoke Valley are legion. You can get involved with organizations as diverse as Habitat for Humanity and the Jefferson Center (a music venue), Mill Mountain Theatre, the Taubman Museum of Art or even the RVSPCA or the Salvation Army or Rescue Mission.

Hiking these mountains has a great deal of appeal for those in shape or those wanting to get there. There are dozens of trails in Virginia’s Blue Ridge and many within an hour of Roanoke, with quite a few featuring waterfalls as the climax to the hike.

The Nielsen-Steinhards moved to Roanoke from New Hampshire five years ago when Wally finally retired. Therry had been retired since she was 44 because of a health issue. “We wanted a small city that wasn’t too hot, too cold or flat,” says Wally. Therry grew up in Hollins and one of her best friends is retired Hollins English teacher Amanda Cockrell. “Instead of looking at 10,000 different cities, we came down here, looked around and made the decision to move here,” says Wally.

She is a former technical writer, and he is a retired software engineer. They enthusiastically attacked retirement, says Therry. “We adjusted in no time at all,” she says. “Grandin Village [where they live] is a great place to retire to. One of the most helpful decisions was finding a church.” They settled on Second Presbyterian, which is a few blocks from their house. They found Grandin Village full of the things they like: a movie theater, good places to eat and walkability. They are opera buffs and found “the quality of Opera Roanoke is astonishing.” They can—and do—hop on a train and catch the opera in Washington and New York.

Wally was an artist before the couple moved to Roanoke and she became one, taking classes after the move. Each has an art studio in the home.

“What you must realize about retirement,” Therry says, “is that you finally have time for all those things you didn’t have time for when you were working. I’d always heard that people are often busier in retirement than before it. That’s true for us.”

Wally suggests that “you need to be flexible in retirement. Change your plans. If it doesn’t work, find something else.” There’s plenty out there.

That “plenty” could include ballroom or contra dancing, senior center activities (Virginia’s Blue Ridge has several locality-sponsored senior centers and many more at its churches). Foster Grandparents programs are of particular appeal to those grieving the nest being empty.

Connolly points to the many Roanoke Valley festivals as having special appeal to seniors as spectators or participants. Those would include Festival in the Park, the Chili Festival, the Balloon Festival, the Highland Games and Local Colors, celebrating diversity, and even an annual downtown Jazz Festival.

Regardless of your interest, there’s an outlet, irrespective of your age.