Tucked away on Pickett Road, just minutes away from Duke's campus, is a haven for some of the most unexpected basketball fans.
At around 6:15 p.m. on a recent Wednesday, the gates of The Forest at Duke open to let out a busload of Blue Devil aficionados departing for Cameron Stadium. The passengers don't have their faces painted blue and white. They are not shouting obscene game cheers or remotely thinking about setting up a tent in front of Krzyzewskiville. But these 70-, 80- and 90-year-old Cameron Crazies have been looking forward to watching the basketball team collect another win the entire week.
The roots of this tradition began in 1994 when a group of Duke professors came together to plan a meaningful retirement home with daily communal activities for the elderly.
"They tried to work with the Duke Institute for Aging to develop a cutting edge retirement community," said Beth Corning, Forest at Duke director of marketing. The idea was to create "a university atmosphere where active seniors who want the benefit of a university atmosphere and resources of a hospital can live."
But what exactly is The Forest at Duke, and what purpose does it serve in the Duke community?
Some think of it as a glorified nursing home. For students of Professor Emeritus Robert Ballantyne's Psychology of Work class, who each year are taken to The Forest at Duke during their "Planning for Retirement" section, the residential complex is a case study. And plenty of retired University professors and notables from 31 states call it home.
One of the things The Forest at Duke provides for people who have achieved great success in their personal and professional lives is the opportunity to continue engaging themselves in learning and growing with the support of others like themselves.
"There is the opportunity for socialization," said Corning. "By themselves seniors get depressed because at home they're eating by themselves or cooking for Fred who can't hear anymore, and their nutrition suffers. Here, people are gaining weight, and becoming partners in the community."
Residents include those who have won a Pulitzer prize or published novels and textbooks. They may have written "The Healing Power of Qi" or "A History of the Modern World," all books available in the Residents in Print section of The Forest at Duke's library. They may have even previously been presidents of colleges, heads of departments, or admirals, or even dentists, physicians, and internationally renowned medical researchers.
The one thing they all share, however, is the desire for community during the remainder of their lives. To students who will ultimately move beyond Duke, it might seem an incredible commitment to stay in one place. But The Forest at Duke tenants have signed an agreement to reside here until death bids them part. For many, the sense of community helps them evade loneliness and depression from the loss of a loved one.
"You know these things are coming, and they're part of the continuum they're on," said Corning about the notion of death for the residents. "Most people really celebrate the wonderful memories and lament they won't have them around to share life with." The collective experiences of the group with death, she added, make them a "built-in support group."
Paul Bryan, former director of the Duke Wind Symphony and a resident at The Forest at Duke, advises the elderly to consider The Forest at Duke's community before they anticipate the need.
"If it's possible for you to come into a place like this, then go before you have to," said Bryan, who has lived in The Forest at Duke for two years with his wife Virginia Bryan, former academic dean of the natural sciences.
"Feeling good enough to be a part of the community, I have a couple things I do--I feel like I belong. My wife feels the same, but there are some other people who have some difficult physical problems, that one of these days might have real trouble. If they had been [here] sooner, they would have had a community they could reach out to."
A resident who recently passed away, a former lawyer, is a good example of why many believe it is unfortunate to arrive at the home only to pass away so soon. Affectionately remembered, Corning believes this woman could have contributed in an immense way to the intellectual atmosphere of the community. "She had been the first woman to practice law in the state of Georgia, and she practiced until she was 90," Corning said.
But for professor emeritus Paul Bryan and his wife Virginia, they have the chance to remain active and enjoy a community of remarkable people without the usual burdens of the final stretch of life.
"[Before The Forest at Duke] you begin to look around and say I can't live [in my current home] forever because somebody will have to take care of me," said Bryan. "One of the things most of us recognize is, if we don't move into a place, our children are going to have to take care of us and that's not fair for our children."
Their desire to avoid putting a burden on their children factored into their decision to come to The Forest at Duke. Bryan said he realized from personal experience how difficult it had been for his wife to take care of her parents.
"When they died, we had to help clean the place out. It had been up to us to take care of them five days a week. You love people, but it's nothing you would wish on somebody else," he said.
Bryan, who is 84, and his wife, who is 80, first heard about the intentions to build The Forest at Duke 15 years ago. Since attending an informational meeting about living there, they have come to treasure their part in The Forest at Duke community.
"We liked it, we put a thousand dollars down, and we waited for 10 years," he said. "When a place came open, they called us to let us know we could move in. We came and looked at it, and said now's the time, now's the place. So we moved next door to our long-time neighbor and friends."
He enjoys the company of his neighbor, who was once head of the German department, and plays duets with his neighbor's wife, a piano and organ player. When Bryan is not playing on his euphonium, he finds the time to meet new residents, attend concerts given by the Chamber Music Society, and those performances special to The Forest at Duke. It isn't rare for him to know or introduce the acts.
"Yesterday, there was a first-class pianist. Absolutely first class," he said. "And next there is a guy coming who was a former student of mine, who played in the Wind Symphony and went on to a career as a professional trombonist."
Among The Forest at Duke's many highlights, Bryan has only one complaint. "Sometimes, I lose track of what happens here, when I go over [to campus]." He falls out of the loop because he splits his time between The Forest at Duke and Duke's music library, for his continuing work in musicology.
Most residents, however, do not have many complaints, but rather only positive experiences at The Forest at Duke. Margaret Sanford, wife of former University president Terry Sanford, enjoys chatting with University students performing in The Forest at Duke choral concerts. Carol Oettinger, a nurse who worked for the Peace Corps in Fiji, especially looks forward to the exciting new ways in which the cafe has prepared the salmon. And Willie May Jones, who suffers from macular degeneration, lives happily in a well-lit apartment that lets in every ray of sunshine.
Residents like Bryan, Sanford, Oettinger and Jones can continue living a meaningful life primarily because of the security The Forest at Duke provides.
"You could literally move to The Forest at Duke, be blind, not able to drive and have everything you need here," said Corning. "You age in place. People can have the freedom to live their lives to the fullest."
Unfortunately, The Forest at Duke apartments and cottages are available on a very limited basis. Complemented by luxuries like an auditorium, bank, barber shop, aquatics and fitness center, wood refinishing shop, and pond stocked with fish, The Forest at Duke requires significant financial planning.
This financial foresight is extremely necessary for anyone who wishes to enjoy the security and provisions of such a residential complex. The problem for many of the Psychology of Work students touring the grounds, however, is that they have rarely expressed concern over retirement planning--these students who expect to earn salaries that dwarf most of their parents only a year after college do not think financing something like The Forest at Duke will be a problem.
Corning's advice to them is to realize the precariousness of life.
"Life doesn't come out the way you expect, so you have to plan for it... especially to live in a place like this. If I had dropped $10 a week into a bucket, instead of a meal at Wendy's, and put the money into a bank, I wouldn't be working right now," she said.
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