Shirley Solberg: “We're all supporting each other.”
Shirley Solberg had a problem. Her two-story condo in Beavercreek didn’t have a bathroom on the first floor and the steps were getting too much for her. At 72, Shirley knew she had to find new housing but she had searched for two years without any luck.
“I looked at a lot of other places,” Shirley said. “The rents were a lot more and the apartments were smaller.”
One day Shirley was driving past some new construction in Xenia. She had heard it was senior housing, so she stopped by the “building shack” and asked the construction manager about the new facility. He told her to call Sr. Joyce Langhals, Executive Director of St. Mary Development Corporation Senior Housing. Shirley became one of the first residents in SMDC’s Wright Place.
“I don't know what I would have done if it wasn't for Sr. Joyce,” Shirley said.
At first Shirley didn’t know how she would adjust to living in an apartment. “I never thought I'd like an apartment,” she said, “but these aren't apartments – this is living!”
Like many residents in SMDC’s senior housing, Shirley continues to work to help make ends meet. “If you don't use it, you lose it, so I'm using it,” she said with a laugh. On days when she isn’t working, she walks the halls to check on neighbors.
“In the condo, everybody worked during the day,” Shirley said. “Here, if somebody doesn’t see you for a while, they’ll knock on your door to see if you’re alright.”
Last April, when Shirley had open-heart surgery, she received lots of cards and visitors stopping in to see how she was. “You’d never get that living in a house,” she said.
Usually the atmosphere at Wright Place is upbeat and energetic. But “last week we lost two people who were very close to us,” Shirley said. Even in grief, the Wright Place community finds solace in each other. “You can talk to somebody and cry on someone's shoulder,” Shirley said. “There’s a lot of hugging and loving each other. We’re just like family here.”
Shirley Solberg enjoys the view of nature from her balcony. She often sees hummingbirds and deer.
We work toward the day when
all residents of southwest Ohio -- especially the economically disadvantaged -- have a decent, affordable
place to live and become part of a thriving community.
