Making My Move


When my husband of 58 years passed away in April of 2009, I knew exactly what I was going to do. We had visited a friend from high school in Dallas, Texas, who lived in a lovely CCRC (“Continuing Care Retirement Community”). I couldn’t forget it, and immediately set about getting my Dunwoody house ready to sell so I, too, could make this kind of a move for the rest of my life.

Research, Sale and Move

A year later, I was ready to make my move. My son, who lives in Atlanta, and I set about making the rounds of CCRCs (they are now called Life Plan Communities). We went to about six different properties before we landed at Lenbrook, and there I knew I had found just the right place for me. I found an apartment I liked and put my house on the market. It wasn’t a great time for real estate, but I had a wonderful cluster home and 24 hours after putting out a “For Sale” sign, I had a contract on my house. Luckily the apartment I had fallen in love with was ready to go and I moved to Lenbrook on August 1, 2010.

Good Advice

Someone along the way told me that the secret to a successful move was for me to open the door of my apartment and get to know the residents of Lenbrook and learn about everything the community has to offer. In the 7+ years since I came here, I’ve done exactly that and have:

* Gone to water aerobics and regular aerobics
* Sung with the Lenbrook Singers since their inception
* Performed in various ways at the Newcomers’ parties
* Given a book review
* Been Co-Chair of the Friday afternoon Duplicate Bridge Club
* Served as Secretary of the Resident Association for 5+ years
* Played in both Duplicate Bridge groups
* Been a Hall Ambassador for the 5th floor in the Brookhaven Building
* Served as a member of the Housekeeping Committee and
* Served as a member of the Scholarship Committee

In other words, I have kept myself BUSY.

Savoring the Time

Now that I’m not so busy keeping and maintaining a house on my own, I have time to savor the moments — past and present. I am extremely proud of my family: My son retired from Trammell Crow as VP of Finance and does consulting work. His wife is President of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.  My oldest child is Dean of the School of Liberal Arts at the University of Nevada in Reno. My youngest child is retired after 31 years with IBM and sadly recently lost her husband to cancer.

Life has its ups and downs, but it is definitely still “good!”

Gerre Moddelmog met and married her lifetime love, Al Moddelmog, in 1951 when they were19 and attending the University of Kansas. She worked at KU to help put Al through college and returned to college in 1975. Early on they lived in Atlanta where Al worked for Avon Products and Gerre was active in the Atlanta Junior League and worked at the Atlanta Speech School. Later, they transferred to Avon’s headquarters in New York for a time and returned to Atlanta for Al to serve as Avon’s Atlanta General Manager. That’s when Gerre started the Girls Softball League at Murphey Candler Park and recruited 275 girls the first year. She served as its director and credits Murphey Candler’s Little League President for providing invaluable assistance.