The Front Porch Podcast – Episode 1: Discovering Jean

Anna Hall: Welcome to The Front Porch Podcast. Join us as we uncover the extraordinary stories of people who are part of Front Porch Communities and Services, young professionals just starting their journeys, lifelong learners pursuing new passions and seasoned storytellers sharing the wisdom they’ve gained along the way.

Together, we’ll explore how purpose and community shape us with stories that will inspire you to discover your own unique contribution. Views expressed by guests on this podcast are the opinion of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Front Porch Communities and Services. Please see our show notes for more details.

Hi. My name is Anna Hall. I’m the chief culture and community officer at Front Porch Communities and Services. I started working in senior living and it feels weird to say working because it’s never felt like work a day in my life. When I volunteered at an assisted living community in Boston, where I lived, this was my early 20s. I went there because I had been through some hard times in my own life, that I needed to go out and be around people and maybe contribute and not think about myself.

And it turns out that when I walked into this community, I was met with laughter and love and acceptance. Authenticity of people much older than me, much wiser than me. And I felt for the first time in my life, like I could belong there.

The volunteer work was so meaningful to me that I applied for a job, and eventually I made my way into the memory care neighborhood where I became the program director there. One of the residents was named Evi. Evi was a teacher, and she was, and I want to say, is because she still lives with me in my heart and my soul every day. Evi is a teacher, a poet. Her love of learning and her desire to be connected and curious every day inspired me and showed me a way of living that had never been apparent to me before.

Evi was living with mid-stage Alzheimer’s disease when I met her. She never knew my name, but she knew me and my soul, and I knew her and her soul. And this is one of many stories and people that I’ve experienced in my time in senior living.

I’ve also worked in all levels of care and had experiences with older adults who have profoundly changed my life. I think of them as my purpose guides. They inspired me to learn more about purpose because I saw people who were going through really hard things, yet they were so motivated to get out of bed every day and to keep going.

And I wanted to learn what that was all about, because it seemed to be the core of what matters in life. So through my work in the senior living space, I also became a certified life coach and a purpose guide. My work in purpose for both team members and humans of all ages and stages in life led me to an opportunity to work at Front Porch to continue building the incredible culture that we have here.

And I have been so deeply inspired by the people that I’ve met here, most of all by the relationships that are formed by the inter-generational, multi-generational relationships that organically are sparked through living in community. What’s going on in our world right now can be or feel very isolating to people. It can make people want to withdraw or hold back. But when in fact, what we need now more than ever is to feel that we can belong and to feel that there’s a place for us, and to feel that we can contribute because we know that humans need each other. We are not built to be isolated beings. We do not survive that way. And so to share the stories of community, but also to ask the question, what is community? How do you build community? What does community mean to each of us and how does it impact or transform our life?

That’s the question for this podcast. And we can’t wait to share the stories and to learn together what community means and about the power of purpose and meaning in community. So welcome to Front Porch and welcome to our podcast.

Our guest today is Jean Owen, born in Lincoln, Nebraska. Jean grew up in Pasadena, California, as did her husband, David. After graduating from UCLA, Jean worked for the Pasadena Unified School District and in the Christian Education Department at Pasadena Presbyterian Church while raising her two children. An active volunteer, Jean is proudest of her work with the Kidspace Children’s Museum and the Adopt-a-School program, which paired businesses including Villa Gardens with Pasadena Public Schools. After her husband died in 2017, Jean moved to Villa Gardens, where she has continued to be deeply involved in the life of the community. Jean, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today.

Jean Owen: It’s my pleasure.

Anna Hall: So, I’m excited to talk with you because you’re an incredible community builder. And I want to hear your story of how you have become this person that you are today.

So it started in Pasadena. I know you weren’t born there, but you grew up there. You’ve been very involved in the community. Can you tell us about that?

Jean Owen: Well, I went all through public school in Pasadena. I went to Berkeley for three years, and then I married my husband, David Owen, who was from Pasadena, and finished, graduated from UCLA. Spent two years teaching in Pasadena Unified School District and then the rest of my career in teaching was in substituting.

I was in a singing group that the Junior League sponsored, and we sang in all the elementary schools. So I had a knowledge which set me up for the last ten years of my work life, which was coordinating the Adopt-a-School program for Pasadena Unified Schools.

And, what was is fun about that was I set up an adoption between Villa Gardens and Jefferson Elementary and I don’t know the year, but long time ago, way before I ever thought I’d be here, to do tutoring. And it was a very successful program. I had two others with seniors and elementary students, both all three of which changed attitudes, both of seniors and children. And that was really exciting.

Anna Hall: What drew you to becoming a teacher? Because obviously, you found the right career.

Jean Owen: Thank you. Well, I found it, but it was hard work, And I got out of it. when my children were through high school. All I ever wanted to do was to get married, and I knew. Right. I knew very early who I wanted to marry. My brother’s best friend.

Ann Hall: Oh. What was it about him, Jean?

Jean Owen: He’s the only one that would come visit my brother, ask how I was, and stay to listen. There were a group of five guys, and they were all wonderful, but David Owen was the one that I that I fell for early. It was the best choice and the happiest. Moving to Villa was the second best choice I ever made for myself after the choice to marry David Owen.

So teaching was something I could do as a substitute. I didn’t have to pay the rent, but when the time came to that, I could branch out is when the Junior League of Pasadena opened a project called Kidspace. I was the first hire to set up the museum, to set up the office, to set up the touring schedule, to, to set up the volunteer schedule, and get the museum started.

Anna Hall: What was your favorite part of that project?

Jean Owen: My favorite part was that it succeeded. And look at it now. And when we opened in the Rosemont Pavilion, which is where they built floats, we opened 72 maybe. I’m not sure the year, but we had to get out of there for the floats in October. The director at that point and I went to the city to ask about the Fannie Morrison Horticultural Center. And it was empty. It was a great big space. and we thought, that’s a possibility for our museum. And the city said, thanks, but no thanks. We want to turn that over to an organization that we can depend on to do well. And that has proved itself. Well, guess what? I don’t know how many years later, the museum moved in to the Fannie Morrison Horticultural Center because it had indeed proved itself. And that is a perfect space for a children’s museum to grow and change, which only an outside space can do.

Anna Hall: Beautiful. So you made these incredible contributions to the Pasadena community. What is it that precipitated your move to Villa Gardens. This big change that you said was one of the best of your life.

Jean Owen: My father died when I was 15, and my mother had remarried. So when she died very unexpectedly, I became his caretaker. So to speak. But it was the busiest time of my life. I was I just turned 40 and my children were busy in school. And so dealing with him and making sure he had the care that he insisted on, I realized and said to my husband, you know, David, we have to take care of ourselves when the time comes.

And, we were young at that point, but who knew where our children were going to be? I started looking at materials about aging and about moving to community. What would we look for? We had a big two story craftsman on the corner, and we traded houses with the house in the back because they needed a bigger house and we wanted to be on one level.

And after my husband died, I was still very happy there. When I had studied, they said, move before, you have to, and you’ll know when. So all of a sudden, I, I said to myself, this is it. I, I need to move. I’m ready to move.

Anna Hall: How much did your experience as a caregiver influence this… this forward thinking and planning mindset that you have?

Jean Owen: Oh, it was everything. My parents didn’t live that long. My dad died at 66, and, of course, and we were still in our family home. I was 15, my mother died at 77, and she was still living in her home, my family home, and David’s parents were the same. But I had visited with my mother places where people had moved. And that was not a pleasant experience 40 years ago or 50 years.

Anna Hall: It’s changed a lot.

Jean Owen: Absolutely.

Jean Owen: And I think a lot of my generation, as I did, remembered the unpleasantness of some of the places we went to visit friends.

Anna Hall: They used to feel very very institutional. Not like not like a place that you could think of as home.

Jean Owen: No, not like it is now. And the fact that Villa does everything, when I moved in to remind me this was my new home. And because one of the criteria for me was four levels of care, available, was it because I knew, I’m here for the duration. And my children who are live out of the area know that I’m okay here.

Anna Hall: So, so I just want to tell our audience what that means when you say four levels of care. So it means that you can move in independent then there’s services that are available. If you start to need more help with personal care or upkeep of your apartment. And then there’s memory care services that are available for people who do develop dementia or something that causes dementia, like Alzheimer’s disease or Lewy body or frontotemporal.

So that’s those services are available. And then there’s also skilled nursing that’s more acute care, post-acute from the hospital. But they have doctors and nurses available to help. So that gives you a sense of comfort and security.

Jean Owen: It’s the full spectrum of life.

Anna Hall: Yes.

Jean Owen: As you need it. You don’t have to use it all but it’s there if you need it.

Anna Hall: So, Jean, you moved into Villa Gardens and your interest in community building didn’t stop. It grew. In fact, you moved into a leadership role that was a little bit out of your comfort zone.

Jean Owen: Well, I think you’re referring to my, self awakening. I guess when I was asked up here to be the resident president. It was so out of left field, I just had never even thought about it. I hadn’t wondered about it. I and it just blew my mind.

I was elected resident president at Villa because I was Jean B. Owen. And I realized that I am now one of one. And I think I’ve always thought of myself as one of 2 or 1 of three because I was married my whole life. I married at 20. So I was David’s wife, and then I was Sally Love’s daughter, and I was Jack’s sister. And, so I was always somebody’s somebody. Up here, I was just me. So it was just Jean. And I realized that that’s who was elected president. And it was a, a real, awakening for me to realize that, I, I was, could do this by myself on my own. So that was a kind of a turning point.

And it also came at a time when, Jane Fonda had a Ted talk in which she talked about the third part of her life. And I thought, that’s what I’m experiencing, is a third phase of my life. And it it’s wonderful. It’s a good time to be who I am. At 88 and learning how to age, I hope, in a positive way. And Villa is an incredible place to, to age. I attribute my growth to what I’ve been encouraged to do at Villa .

Anna Hall: I don’t even know where to start. But let’s start with awakening. This phase of your life where you have awakened in a way, to your true most core self. Is that an accurate description?

Jean Owen: That sounds like I’m completed, and I’m not. I haven’t gotten there.

Anna Hall: I love it.

Jean Owen: But I’m learning. I’m learning and I’m watching. I’m doing the best I can in an area that none of us have been in before.

Anna Hall: So, Jean, let’s talk about Familiar Touch, the movie that was filmed at Villa Gardens. You were involved in it, and I’d love to read a description of the movie for people who haven’t seen it yet. And I hope that they do. It’s incredible.

Familiar Touch is a sensitive coming of old age film that follows an older woman’s transition into assisted living  as she navigates her relationship with herself, her caregivers, and her family amidst her shifting memories and desires.

So, Jean, tell us the story about why Shaun Rushforth, the executive director, came to you as a president of the Resident Council to get permission to film.

Jean Owen: Sarah approached Shaun, our ED and he told her no four times. I know one of the things he was adamant about was, Sarah, is that you are coming into our home. These are residents who live here and do their life here, and you have to adjust to them.

And he finally said, okay, but you have to talk to the residents. And so he introduced me to her as the resident president. And as I said she had me at hello. I just thought, this is going to be such fun.

Anna Hall: What did Sarah say to you that drew you in? That made you think, Yes, this is an important story to tell.

Jean Owen: The experience that I meant great deal to me was her talking about her grandmother and the family realizing that she had dementia and she’d always been a very active, intelligent woman with words. And she said, suddenly our family was talking about her in the past tense.

Anna Hall: And she’s still here.

Jean Owen: And she was right there.

That really touched me. So she then offered us classes in all aspects of filming. And not only did she have her top people, but they were willing to work with us and come to find out, they’d all been vetted. They all wanted to work with seniors. And that’s a special. That’s special. It’s a special art, I think.

So that’s how this whole filming thing came up. And for Sarah to ask me and Sara Lippincott to do the casting, because we knew the residents they needed background. And that’s what we got to do.

Anna Hall: I saw you in the film too. I think you weren’t only behind the scenes. You’re on screen too.

Jean Owen (in Familiar Touch clip):

Who’s ready to go on a date?

Well, what about 20 dates?

Who’s ready to fall in love?

Jean Owen: If you want to get a laugh, talk about, you know, speed dating in a retirement community. But it has happened, and it is done.

Anna Hall: And people do fall in love in senior living communities all the time.

Jean Owen: Absolutely.

Anna Hall: I hear about it all the time.

Jean Owen: You watch it happen. I’ve seen it happen.

I had no idea of the impact of what we were doing, I just knew it was fun.

Sarah put together the environment, the people and the actors to create this incredible film. And I, I don’t think it would be the film, it is if it hadn’t been shot in a retirement community with existing residents

Anna Hall: And residents giving a lot of input about how things really happen and how do we make this realistic. And I think it was everything that the executive director, Shaun Rushfourth at Villa Gardens, left the decision about filming up to residents. That was a good decision right?

Jean Owen: Absolutely, He tried his best. And then got to the point, got to the crux of the matter, and we said yes.

Anna Hall: And look what that yes is leading to. So many, so many conversations in our society about what it means to age, what it means to live with dementia. What is the impact of community on family and friends? There’s so much richness that really speaks to all of the different aspects of the human experience, which is a little bit messy, somewhat complicated, and beautiful all at the same time.

Some of the reaction that we naturally have as humans is to be afraid when we see someone developing mild cognitive impairment or early stages of cognitive change related to dementia, which, by the way, is not a normal part of aging. Do you think there’s an element of fear? That oh my goodness, that could be me.

Jean Owens: Sure, I mean, it’s a common comment at the dining room table when somebody can’t think of a word, they automatically draw Alzheimer’s or dementia. There’s my Alzheimer’s or there’s my whatever. It’s a flip kind of comment. I’m not sure that’s what they think for sure. But the reality is that that’s a term for forgetting.

Anna Hall: Yes.

Jean Owen: Dr. Michael Harrington has spoken up here a couple of times and I’m in have been in studies on aging with him for almost 20 years. And what I found helpful when he was spoke up here recently, he said, you know, as you age, you are going to change but it may not be, the seriousness of, dementia or Alzheimer’s. But that’s what we tend to term it because, you can’t I don’t think you can have a little bit of Alzheimer’s or a little bit of dementia. I think once you’re on that track, that’s where you stay. 

Anna Hall: That is a progressive disease that will change somebody over time until the end of their life. Whereas other things like hearing changes, vision changes. I always like to say increases in wisdom and crystallized intelligence are some of the other normal changes that happen with living, otherwise known as aging.

Jean Owen: Right. Right. Yes, exactly. And that’s what I’m trying to do. And what I’m trying to understand in others. We’re all surrounded by others who are losing words, who have to wait to, to for the name of the street or the person or the country or whatever to come back. And I think when I first came,  my tendency was to fill in those words, what I knew they were wanting. And I’m trying not to do that anymore because, I’m not sure I want people to fill in my words when I’m having trouble. so, I prefer just to wait and, let it come, and it will. And if it doesn’t, that’s okay.

Anna Hall: How beautiful, Jean, that your move to Villa Gardens has helped you learn more about who you are. And I’m going to say step into your power fully as Jean Owen, the human.

Jean Owen: You don’t move to a retirement community to die. You move to a retirement community to live your fullest. I have more choices in my life living at Villa than I did living alone in my home. But moving to community. I have a chance to be alone, which I’m learning I really like. Or being in community with people.

Anna Hall: And there’s a big difference between choosing to be alone as you desire and being lonely, which is detrimental to health and wellness.

Jean Owen: Big choice. Big difference.

Anna Hall: Yes. Yes

So who is Jean Owen continuing to be these days?

Jean Owen: The best she can be. And she’s finding out. tThe film has just been a real, big deal for me. And I, I’m looking forward to Boston.

Anna Hall: The film is going to be shown at the National Leading Age Conference, which was. Yes. It’s a huge event in our industry.

Jean Owen: I have been invited by Front Porch to be there.

Anna Hall: Excellent.

Jean Owen: And that’s another validation of Jean Owen. And, I, you know, I can’t ask for any more.

Anna Hall: I have a feeling that’s what’s next for you is something that you might not anticipate, but your openness to what the universe has to offer is pretty exciting.

Jean Owen: Thank you.

Anna Hall: Thank you for being such an incredible community builder your entire life. And as you continue to build community and teach us about the real story of aging and some of the fears that come along with it, the hard changes, the beautiful changes, this honest conversation. Jean, I think, is going to help a lot of people. Thank you.

Jean Owen: Thank you. You can’t ask for anything more than that.

Anna Hall: You’ve been listening to The Front Porch Podcast. I’m your host, Anna Hall. Our theme music was composed by Geoven Snaer and Diane Kay Enrique. Carmen Elena Mitchell is our producer and editor. Our recording engineer is Jeff Gall. Villa Garden tech support provided by Berenice Torres. Special thanks to Laura Darling for production and marketing support.  And to Joseph Escobar for our show art design.  The Front Porch Podcast is a production of Front Porch communities and Services. If you enjoyed today’s conversation, please share it with a friend and help others find us by subscribing and leaving a review.

We’ll be back soon with more stories from the fascinating folk who live and work at Front Porch. Until then, stay connected and inspired.