Old but not isolated

As the first baby boomers near retirement age, questions beyond the financial loom for a graying America: What happens to the elderly when they are put out to distant pasture? How to put community in retirement community? Westminster Towers reaches out to church and school to show a better way | Jamie Dean

ROCK HILL, S.C.— On a cold December morning in this small South Carolina town, Nell Carrier is waiting on company. Carrier, 86, is a resident of Westminster Towers, a retirement community developed by Westminster Presbyterian Church (PCA). The church sits just across the parking lot from the Towers, along with the congregation's K-12 Westminster Catawba Christian School.

At 10:30 a.m. sharp, 15 4-year-olds in bulky coats and brightly colored gloves march single-file past the 10-foot Christmas tree in the Towers' main lobby. The pre-kindergarten class from the Westminster church school gathers here once a week in a cozy living room in the Towers' assisted living wing to listen to residents read stories. With the holidays upon them, they sit Indian-style at the foot of Carrier's rocking chair while she reads Mrs. Wishy Washy's Christmas and holds the pictures high for the children to see.