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Lucille Swanson is owner and administrator of the Greystone Retirement Home in Portland, Connecticut. Also known as Residential Care Homes, facilities such as Greystone are a long-term care option for elderly and disabled persons who have reached the time in their lives when they should no longer be living alone. Such facilities are, in essence, a home away from home.
The Greystone Retirement Home facility is located in a spacious Victorian Italianate home equipped with two wings to accommodate fifty residents. Lucille, a Registered Nurse, purchased Greystone from her parents in 1972, and she has been the full-time administrator of the Home since 1985.
In 1993, Greystone was recognized as the National Residential Care Facility of the Year by the National Association of Residential Care Facilities (NARCF).
Lucille has three daughters: Luel, 27 (recently returned from a Peace Corps tour in Sri Lanka), Bergette, 24, and Sarah, 21, who are currently attending college.
MBR: Lucille, tell us something of the history of Greystone,
Swanson: Greystone was founded in 1953 by my mother and father, Lucy and Baldwin Amato. Actually, they had bought this home to fulfill my mother's dream of opening an orphanage. My father, however, resisted the idea of an orphanage because he thought my mother would become too attached to the children.
When a lad from the state came to inspect the home, she happened to comment, " What we really need are homes for the elderly." That's how my parents became involved in the retirement home business.
MBR: What had your parents done before opening the Home?
Swanson: My father had owned a taxi business in Middletown, called Pard's Taxi Cab--Pard was my father's nickname--which was located near Doolittle's Funeral Home. My parents had also owned two luncheonettes in Middletown. But they had grown tired of the restaurant business and were looking for other opportunities.
MBR: Were your parents Middletown natives?
Swanson: My father had immigrated from Italy. Mother lived in Middletown and was employed as a student nurse at Connecticut Valley Hospital. They met on a blind date, through my father's taxi business.
MBR: So you've grown up in the business,
Swanson: Oh, yes. This was our family home. I Can remember sharing the dinner table with the residents, watching...