Meet Eldergreen

Ken and Kathy

Ken managed a botanical garden of native plants for thirty-five years. Now he works part time as an environmental educator and volunteers as hike leader in regional natural areas and writes a weekly Flora column in the local Carrboro CITIZEN.

Kathy spent 20 years as a self-employed real estate appraiser; for 10 of those years she was also a ceramic artist. In 1996, combining her passion for art and the environment she returned to school to study environmental design, receiving an MLA in 2001. She includes Ken in a landscape consulting practice, focusing on environmental design and native plants.

Kathy had been thinking about cohousing for a long time she met Dene Peterson in 2003 and learned about Elderspirit, an elder cohousing community emphasizing aging-in-community. Now inspired to act, she and Ken began meeting with others to form what is now Eldergreen Community.

Chris

Chris was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She settled in NC in 1970, where she got her degree from NCCU in drama. This prepared her to be a city bus driver in Chapel Hill - a job she stayed at for 28 years. She retired in 2002 and spends her time with her children, grandchildren, and her adopted dog. Her interests include being outside, watching movies, eating, drinking, playing with friends, and getting involved in cohousing.

Tish

A midwesterner, Tish has lived in many parts of the USA during her adult life, and travelled Europe with back pack and youth hostels in her early 20's. She thoroughly enjoyed her career as university music professor and orchestra conductor before retiring in 2000. Her interests include designing and building houses, doing stained glass, playing keyboard in jazz bands, reading, word puzzles, and swimming.

Lib

Lib is a Native North Carolinian, energetic grandmother, educator, mediator, former social worker, and manager of refugee resettlement in a local non-profit. She has a persistent interest in peace making, earth justice, advocating for clean air and clean water while she dreams of living in community. Whether using a macro lens, story-telling, or searching for another children's book that teaches non-violence, she has a keen interest in multi-cultural living, learning, and listening.. She still likes designing workshops, too.

Ellie and Desmond

Ellie and Desmond are planning to relocate to the Chapel Hill area after 1½ years absence. They married in Durham in 1994 and helped each other raise their kids. Desmond discovered his life passion in the early 1960s while working for the University of Washington at its Arctic research facility in Point Barrow Alaska – he had just graduated from Penn State and his assignment was to assist in establishing one of the first carbon dioxide (CO2) monitoring stations on the planet. The assignment sparked a life-long interest in climatology. Desmond pursued his passion in various academic settings (for 20 years) and more recently as an air quality specialist with the Environmental Protection Agency in Research Triangle Park, NC. Desmond hopes to share his interest in climatology with the community.

Ellie is a psychologist who has worked in a variety of settings over the last 30 years. She has specialized in working with young children and families who are dealing with autism and other severe developmental disabilities. As she’s gotten older, she has become more interested in helping older adults identify their goals and make plans to reach them in their later years. Previously Desmond and Ellie lived in Elderspirit Cohousing in Virginia. For a variety of reasons, they feel they want to live in the Triangle area and are excited about being part of the Eldergreen Cohousing community in Carrboro – like many older adults, they yearn for mutual support and friendship during this time in their lives.