Grace Barr

Grace Barrs isn’t a woman who likes to just sit around. If she’s not taking a walk or riding out with friends to visit local parks and gardens, she’s showing visitors around her home, Commonwealth Assisted Living at Hampton.

Grace’s daughter, Joan, jokes that her mother’s middle name is “Go.”  Grace, 95, agrees that she likes to be busy. At Hampton, she makes her own bed each day and does her own laundry. Because she likes to stay active, Grace says one of the things she appreciates about Hampton’s community is that she can choose her own activities.

“It’s nice and quiet. I can get up and walk inside and out,” she said.

Grace has slowed down a little in her 90’s. At 85, she decided to give up driving, just as her father had done at that age. Before that, she was often out the door early in the morning, taking drives with her favorite dog and visiting local sites. While living with her daughter, Grace spent many hours tending roses in the back yard. Joan said she often had trouble convincing her mother to take a rest from her labors there.

Hard work is something Grace knows well. The daughter of a military father, Grace travelled and lived a number of places in her youth. She married a military man herself, and had two children. When she lost her husband early in their marriage, Grace became a self-sufficient single parent. She worked as a cafeteria manager at Fort Eustis and other locations, sewed clothes for her family and was an inspired cook.

“She has the perseverance to keep on going,” Joan said of her mother’s work ethic  and outlook on life. It’s a characteristic still present in Grace.

Joan chose Commonwealth Assisted Living at Hampton after looking at several other facilities. What she liked right away was the “family, comfy and cozy” atmosphere.

“For some reason, when I walked in the door, I could imagine her sitting  in the foyer,” said Joan.

Since December 2010, both Grace and her daughter have come to appreciate a host of other things about Hampton.  The staff is small enough that they have a personal connection to each resident, and flexible enough to take each family’s preferences seriously. That same staff was key to helping Grace’s family make the transition from caring for her at home to assisted living.

Friendly and down-to-earth residents also make Hampton a nice place to be, Grace said. She feels comfortable with the “good, clean living” in her new home.

“It took me some time to settle to the fact that I was here. Now I wouldn’t want to move anywhere else,” Grace said.