CANTON – William Eustis was born in Chicago, grew up in Hammond and is now residing at United Helpers Independent Senior Living in Canton.
In between Chicago and Canton though there
were plenty of other stops along the way including “downstate,” where he began
his teaching career and four other states, where he and his wife, Frances spent
time during retirement.
“We spent time in Colorado, Montana,
Washington and Arizona,” he said, adding that his wife passed away in 2018.
A few years after she passed, Mr. Eustis
returned home to Northern New York, where he has spent the past several years
living along the St. Lawrence between Ogdensburg and Morristown.
“I started losing all of my friends and I
don’t really have any family around here,” he said. “All I’ve got left is two
children and neither of them live in the area.” His daughter resides in Cape
Cod, while his son lives in Waterloo, Ill. William Eustis enjoys a book in the library.
Mr. Eustis then began looking for a place
where he could settle down, make some new friends and enjoy the remaining years
of his retirement without having to worry about maintaining a home and its
surrounding property.
When asked if he knew anyone who lived in the
building prior to moving to Independent Senior Living in September, he said the
answer that is not as simple as it may seem.
Community
Housing Manager Jennifer Dean invited him to the building’s annual summer
picnic and it was there that he discovered Janet Stitt also lived there.
“She
used to babysit our children,” he said. “It’s just one of those crazy things. I
didn’t know she lived here until I saw her at the picnic this past summer.”
Mr.
Eustis has lived in the building for nearly six months now, moving in shortly
after the picnic, and he said he is very much enjoying everything Independent
Senior Living has to offer.
“The
people are all very friendly, including the staff and other members and the
food is fantastic,” he said. “That’s just what I needed.”
Mr.
Eustis also enjoys many of the building’s scheduled activities, which earlier
this year included a visit from Ogdensburg-native, turned Hollywood actor Mark
Valley.
“I
didn’t know Mark personally, but his dad and I taught together at Ogdensburg
Free Academy,” he said.
He
is also a regular visitor to the in-house library, where he enjoys searching
for his next read.
If
you would like to schedule a tour of United Helpers Independent Senior Living,
please reach out to Mrs. Dean at (315) 379-1428 or via email at jadean@unitedhelpers.org. A virtual
tour is also available at www.unitedhelpers.org.
