Where Do Sigma Xians Retire?

In the September eNewsletters for Emeritus and Life Members, and in Vol. 1, Issue 2 of Emeritus Member News and Life Member News we published a request for advice from Emeritus member Helen Simpson Vishniac (1945). She asked her fellow Sigma Xians on which retirement communities offered more than just trips to the mall and Bingo:

"I may not be alone in having a question not addressed by [the Emeritus] newsletter. I have managed to remain active despite some health problems but the time will come when I need a retirement village type place rather than a condo in a town, which my friends have increasingly left and I have no family. One daughter-in-law suggested looking at places in her neighborhood on the perfectly correct assumption that I would want to live near family - her suggestion was a place where they play Bingo and go on trips to the mall. DUH. Where do really, really, retired Sigma Xians go? They sure as hell don't play Bingo!"

The response from members was overwhelming, and the advice given ranged from excellent to brilliant. One of the key points that arose from many of the replies was that the quandary on where to retire, after leading an active and fulfilling life enmeshed in research science or engineering, is of real concern to many members. Where are those "retirement communities that are more like college than like kindergarten?" one member asked.

With that in mind, we made a compilation of all the information sent into an advisory sheet for Sigma Xians who may be pondering exactly the same question as Helen.

Please click here for your copy. We anticipate that this paper will be updated as new advice comes to hand, thus please feel free to e-mail us with your experiences (development@sigmaxi.org), and we’ll let everyone know when an updated version is available.