When a nation celebrates 250 years, history is often told through defining events, famous figures and major milestones. But America’s story also lives in quieter places, in family traditions, immigration journeys, military service, lifelong love stories and memories passed from one generation to the next.
Marquis Health Consulting Services is helping preserve those stories through Home, anew: 250 Voices of Belonging and Community, Celebrating Our Nation’s 250th Year. Created by the Marquis Life Enrichment team, the commemorative book brings together 252 stories and reflections from residents, family members and team members across the senior living communities Marquis supports.
“For the 250th Independence Day, we wanted to do something to honor not only the country and the nation, but all of the residents in our different communities,” said Victoria Dubesky, Regional Director of Life Enrichment at Marquis Health Consulting Services, who spearheaded the project.
Contributors were invited to reflect on one meaningful question: What do home, belonging and community mean to you? Their answers reveal an intimate portrait of America, one shaped by resilience, sacrifice, family, love, loss and connection.
The Stories Behind the History
Among the contributors are Anna and Emerson Lucus, residents of Cambridge Enhanced Senior Living in Moorestown, New Jersey. Emerson served in the Air Force as an air traffic controller at Tokyo International Airport. When he returned home, he reconnected with Anna, beginning a love story that would span more than seven decades.
They married one year and one day after their first date. Today, at ages 93 and 97, Anna and Emerson have been married for 73 years. Their contribution preserves not only the milestones of their life together but also the smaller details that made their relationship their own—including how Emerson won over Anna’s father by gratefully eating everything placed before him.
Fellow Cambridge resident Raymond Lavanture shared memories of his marriage to Mary, whom he married in 1955 after writing to her father to ask for her hand. Their marriage lasted 69 years, until Mary’s death two years ago. Looking back, Lavanture described a life marked by love, family and gratitude, a life in which he always seemed to find “the sunny side of this world.”
At Oxford Enhanced Senior Living in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, Marie O’Brien wrote about Pysanky, the intricate Ukrainian tradition of decorating eggs with wax and colorful dyes. What began as a family tradition has now been passed to her son, demonstrating how culture and belonging travel across generations.
Another Oxford resident, Rose Marie Hibbs, shared the story of her Italian immigrant grandparents and their young son, Dominic, who died after becoming ill. Hibbs still keeps Dominic’s crucifix close, holding a tangible piece of her family’s history as she prays for the safety of her own children.
Even the book’s cover tells a resident’s story. Self-taught artist and Oxford resident Paula Pennie won a contest to create the cover illustration. Her image of a grandmother reading to her grandchildren on a front porch brings together the ideas of home, legacy and storytelling that run throughout the collection.
“As you turn the page, each story is a very unique and individualized story about what somebody’s journey looked like,” Dubesky said in a 6-ABC feature about the project.
Creating a Legacy in Print
The stories in Home, anew span childhood homes, careers, military service, caregiving, immigration, marriage, heartbreak and second chances. Together, they remind readers that the people sitting beside us at lunch or passing us in a hallway may have lived through extraordinary chapters we have never taken the time to ask about.
“We came across so many people who had these amazing stories,” Dubesky said. “My hope in bringing this book to life is that each of these stories leaves a lasting legacy in print.”
That legacy matters, particularly when someone moves into senior living. A new address can bring a significant shift in identity, but it does not diminish the life that came before it. Storytelling creates a bridge between those earlier chapters and the new relationships, experiences and sense of belonging still being formed.
“Storytelling is such a powerful modality,” Dubesky said. “Every story deserves to be celebrated.”
The Story of Senior Living
That belief is also at the heart of I Love Senior Living, a movement dedicated to changing perceptions of senior living by sharing the authentic experiences of residents, families, caregivers and professionals.
Too often, conversations about aging focus primarily on needs, challenges or limitations. Projects like Home, anew offer a fuller picture. They show older adults as artists, veterans, immigrants, parents, spouses, tradition-keepers, mentors and storytellers. They remind us that senior living is not where someone’s story ends. It is a place where stories can be discovered, honored and carried forward.
Home, anew also provides a meaningful example for other senior living communities. Storytelling can begin with something as simple as a question:
- What does home mean to you?
- Which family tradition should never be forgotten?
- Who changed the direction of your life?
- What do you hope the next generation remembers?
The answers can become a written reflection, a recorded conversation, a social media post, a community display—or even a book.
Through I Love Senior Living, communities are encouraged to create more opportunities for residents, families and team members to tell these stories and help reshape the way the public sees aging and senior living. Visit iloveseniorliving.com for resources and ideas, and share your community’s stories using #iloveseniorliving.
As America reflects on 250 years, Home, anew offers an important reminder: Our national story is ultimately made up of individual lives. When we take the time to listen, preserve and share them, we strengthen the sense of connection that makes a community, and a country, feel like home.
Copies of Home, anew are available for purchase through Marquis Health Consulting Services by emailing [email protected]. Proceeds support Marquis’ American Heart Association CycleNation fundraising efforts.