VILLAGE MEMBER STORIES
Meet Ed and May Dowlin, Dover
Ed and May moved to Dover, NH five years ago.
[May] “We owned a home in Pine Grove, PA (near Harrisburg). We sold it in 2015. We only had three weeks to get out of the house, so we put everything in storage and became homeless for a year.”
[Ed] “We took that year to go traveling! We flew to Europe and used Amsterdam as our base. Then we spent one month in Spain. After that we went on a safari. Our next adventure was on a Viking cruise that went to Istanbul. When we got to Istanbul we were told to get out of Turkey because there had been a terrorist attack on some tourists. We flew to Athens and northern Greece to join a tour of places that Alexander the Great ruled. When we flew back to Boston we went to Dover and found a place to live.”
[May] "This is not the first time we have done silly things like this.”
What did you do prior to retirement?
[Ed] “In 1959, I returned to Denver from the army and got into a company that made secondary drive systems for airplanes. I had degrees in Business Administration and Personnel Services. I clashed with the Mafia-based management at that time. I finally quit but could not find another job. May had been named Westminster (CO) City Librarian by then and kept us afloat while I searched without success for another position.
[May] “Despite my objections, Ed enrolled in the graduate school to get his degree to become a librarian.”
[Ed] ”I had the mistaken idea that we could run a library together, but we found out that libraries were not looking to hire a couple. So, I finally retired again in 2003.”
How do you view retirement?
Retirement for May and Ed just opened time for more adventures and travel.
[Ed] “I promised May that I would take her traveling if she would marry me. This was not easy to do while raising two children, so we waited until we retired. In 2003, we became serious about going overseas and took a ‘tramp’ freighter trip for 90 days across the Pacific visiting islands and small ports. Loading and unloading cargo from the ship gave us time to explore many places. Each place we stopped there was an agent who took care of us. We kept a log on the internet telling everyone about our adventures.
Retirement and living in an apartment makes it possible to winter in Costa del Sol in Spain and take longer trips abroad. We are not afraid to travel. I recount an experience I had while sitting in my car in the driveway one day. Suddenly a car hit my car in the driveway three times, and I broke my ankle. I tell people that sometimes it is not safe to be home!”
[May] ”We are looking forward to another Viking trip in 2022 called 'in the Wake of the Vikings.' It will be our first visit to Iceland and Greenland. Three years ago, we toured along the Great Silk Road from Europe to China.”
When home in Dover, Ed spends time on the computer, plays bridge at the Senior Center where he takes a Spanish class. May, a gardner who no longer has a garden to tend, loves to read.
What aspects of being a Village member do you find most helpful or enjoyable?
[Ed] “When our friend suggested that we look into Seacoast Village, we recognized that this would be an opportunity to volunteer and receive assistance as we aged in place. We don’t want to go to a place where we would sit and look at four walls and wait for someone to visit us. We do something every day.”
[May] “We are very independent, both in our travel and living routines. Seacoast Village seemed to offer the best opportunity to be involved and still remain independent.”
If you were to encourage a friend to become a Village member, what would you tell them?
[May] “When we first learned about Seacoast Village, we did not realize it was social too. We love that!”
[Ed] “I would tell then to look at their goals in life. Do you want to stay connected? Do they want to volunteer their services? I would ask where they expect their life to go. We feel that that Seacoast Village will allow us to remain independent for many years, but also to remain involved and connected with others. We expect that value of what Seacoast Village has to offer is determined by what you as an individual make of it.”
[May] When we first learned about Seacoast Village, we did realize it was social too. We love that!"
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