Burlington County Times

Burlington County Times
Wednesday, May 21, 2013
Seniors on the move
By Sally Friedman, Correspondent
After 52 years in one much-loved Moorestown home, the thought
of moving and leaving behind all those memories – and joyfullyacquired treasures – was certainly unsettling for Virginia Sheppard.
Widowed nine years ago, Sheppard and her late husband, William
Hamilton Sheppard, had actually planned a prudent downsizing
from their spacious four-bedroom home, but now she was facing
it alone.
“I was definitely nervous, and quite overwhelmed,” said the softspoken, amiable woman on a recent afternoon. “And yes, it was
difficult for so many reasons.”
But as she looked around at her new space, a one-bedroom apartment with terrace, at e Evergreens in Moorestown, just a few
miles from her former home, it was clear that Sheppard had made
the transition successfully.
And one of the primary reasons was her decision to get help in every step of her
move from Donna Willman, founder and president of Byron Homes, a Barrington-based
company, created in 1988, and dedicated to helping seniors get through the challenge of
preparing for a move, and settling into a new home as painlessly and trouble-free as is possible.
“Moving is right up there on the scale of traumatic experiences,” said Willman, “and for
seniors, it’s even more so.”
But it’s vastly different for Willman, the daughter of an architect.
Dennis Mc Donald
Virginia Sheppard (left)
discusses a family quilt that
hangs in the hallway of her
apartment in The Evergreens
in Moorestown. She moved
from her home of 52 years in
Moorestown.
She actually discovered her own passion for this work after making 15 moves herself.
“People are astonished when I say that I enjoy moving and then setting things in place,”
said Willman, who is a founder and active member of the trade organization, National
Association of Senior Move Managers.
e emotional and practical issues — how can I do this, what will I do with all of my
possessions — are often so intimidating that they can even keep seniors in homes they
really don’t need, and can’t handle, for too long.
e company steps in at the start, offering a free initial consultation, then, if hired, to do
intricate space planning, sorting, tending to every last detail of packing, and then setting
up the client, often in a single day, for a new life among his/her familiar, comforting things.
While all planning and organizing for moves and resettling is individually evaluated,
Byron’s services average $2,000 to $3,000 (excluding the move itself).
“e greatest fear is typically that people can’t take their most cherished things with them,
and also that they can’t part with their excesses. So one of our jobs is to help seniors through
that process, which can be painful, but often yields happy surprises,” she said.
Realizing that she could indeed fit her entire dining room set into her new home was one
of those triumphs. With painstaking measurements done by Byron Home,
Dennis Mc Donald
Virginia Sheppard (right)
talks with Donna Willman,
founder and president of
Byron Home, about the
pieces of furniture that made
the cut during her move to an
apartment in The Evergreens
in Moorestown.
she learned that this real and symbolic piece of her past would have a place in her
new home.
For Donna Willman, and for Kathy Jesiolowski, who served as the lead coordinator
for the Sheppard move last fall, the gratification was obvious on a recent revisit.
“My husband and I had actually talked about downsizing about 20 years ago, but
after I became a widow, the idea became more and more practical. Still, it all seemed
so overwhelming, especially because the house was so much a part of my life. We
bought it new, and 52 years is a long time to live in one house.”
So when her adult children, and a good friend at e Evergreens, encouraged her
to take the leap, Sheppard got more serious about making a change.
She had an initial free consultation with the Byron Home staff, and realized that
with the company’s help, she could get past her own anxieties. “ey measured
absolutely everything I wanted to bring, and the happy surprise was that nothing
I loved was left behind.”
ose painstaking measurements, then the sorting and ultimate packing, left
Sheppard not just free of anxiety. It also gave her the emotional support and practical help she needed to reimagine a new chapter of her life.
An avid quilter, she has her favorite pieces hanging in her new home, and is
surrounded by furniture she always has loved.
“I really felt like I had an interior decorator with Kathy’s help,” said Sheppard, who
even found all her accessories in their same spaces after the move, a feat accomplished by taking photos of the arrangement on every single shelf of every cabinet.
Dennis Mc Donald
The Evergreens resident Virginia
Sheppard shows off a family quilt.
Packing typically is done by a Byron team member on the day before a move, and
by the end of the actual moving day, every single piece is in place, and even the
client’s bed is made.
For Dale Duffin, who moved from Cinnaminson to Lumberton Leas in mid-April,
the decision to get help from Byron Homes, he said, was a good one. “I simply
could not have done it without them,” said the 90-year-old widower who had lived
in his former home for 31 years.
“I’m not young anymore,” said Duffin, a retired Campbell’s Soup executive who
was rattling around in a two-story, four-bedroom home.
“e kids nagged me, and when my wife passed away, it really was time to think
of downsizing.”
Only one week into his new space when he was interviewed, Duffin didn’t
mince words.
“I thought this would be a horrible experience, but it wasn’t at all,” he said. “Now
I can just sit back and enjoy my new home.”
309 Bridgeboro Rd. • Moorestown, NJ 08057 • (856) 439-2000