In late October of 1973 my husband, Danny, was told
by his doctor that he had to leave Michigan for Arizona -- for his
health -- as the doctor could not guarantee that Dan would live through
the cold weather that was due to arrive. When we arrived home and spoke
with our family, they said it was for the best. We decided to pack and
bought a new car to drive to Arizona. We arrived in Phoenix the first
week of November. The weather was amazing. Warm, sunny days and cool
perfect nights. We stayed in a motel downtown for 3 weeks. During this
time we decided to look for a place where we could spend our retirement
years, so we put more than a thousand miles driving throughout
Scottsdale, Tucson, Sedona, Flagstaff, Prescott, Payson, etc.
After the third week, we were discouraged and tired
out. We checked out of the motel in Phoenix, and stopped to cash a
personal check at Arizona National Bank, before we headed west to
California. The banker called our Michigan bank, and confirmed that we
were good for the thousand dollars we requested. He had already heard
from us how disappointed we were in not finding a home.
He suggested that we take Grand Avenue northwest,
and we would find a place called Sun City. Perhaps we could find a home
there. We knew nothing of Sun City, and when we reached Kings Inn, we
found it and all other motels filled to capacity, because the snowbirds
were all in town! We decided to have our lunch at Kings Inn, before we
started driving any further west. At the next table was a wonderful
couple who overheard us talking about how disappointed we were in not
finding a place to stay.
They apologized for eavesdropping, introduced themselves, took us under
wing, showed us around the entire community, and called out of town
friends who had a home in Phase 2 near Del Webb Blvd for rent. It was
furnished except for a bedroom set. By nightfall, we had purchased a
bedroom set and were setting up house. Later, we purchased our own home
in Phase 3, a Wilmington model. We loved it, as it reminded us of the
home we had left back in Michigan (minus the basement!).
Living in Sun City for the next 35 years were the
best years -- for both of us. Dan loved the “Mens’ Club,” playing
billiards, and going to the movies. I volunteered for many years,
teaching jewelry making, at Bell and at Sundial. I had to purchase
supplies from a dealer in Scottsdale, so once each week I would drive
across town on Bell Road, to the dealer’s shop in Scottsdale, to buy
beads, findings, clasps, crimps, and stringing materials. Those visits
led to a real job at Sun City Silvercraft, in the Greenway Terrace
Shopping Center, after my supplier decided to open up a shop for all the
women who wanted to create jewelry on the west side of town! I ran that
shop for 16 years. Even now when I attend concerts or walk at Bell’s
walking pool, I run into someone who remembers me from those early days
in the 1970’s.
Little did we know that a chance meeting with Sun
City “ambassadors” that day at Kings Inn would not only alter our lives,
but the lives of our children as well. When this hospitable couple took
us to Lakeview, and we saw the waterfall, the ducks and the recreation
center, we knew we had found our Shangri-La. I lost my Danny in 2000,
but when our adult children retired, they found the same excitement as
we had here, and they moved only 2 miles away from me.
-- Rae G., Sun City resident since 1973 - present
