Parkview Home celebrates 50 years of service

October 28, 2015 | Web First
Joanna Reesor-McDowell | Special to Canadian Mennonite
Stouffville, Ont.
George Reesor, front row right, a local historian and Parkview Home board member in the 1980s, spoke at the 50th anniversary celebration and observed: ‘The Parkview of today could not have been conceived or planned in its entirety back in the 1960s. Rather, each added project has been built upon vision, experience and expertise gained from earlier endeavours.’ His wife Anna is seated beside him. (Parkview Home photo)

The Parkview auditorium was filled on Sept. 27, 2015, as residents, past and present board members, and community supporters gathered to celebrate 50 years of service to the community by Parkview Home. Established jointly by people from local Mennonite, Brethren in Christ and Missionary churches in 1965, it has provided a caring Christian environment for elderly members of the community for a half-century.

The late Joe Nighswander, a former administrator, wrote in the Home’s history book, published in 1995, that there were sustained discussions in the early 1960s about the theological basis for such a home: “There came to most people a gradual realization that to set up a facility and to employ others to provide the necessary care, services and accommodation, was an expression of the desire to care for family members, rather than an abdication of such filial responsibility.”

During the ’80s and ’90s, the Parkview board expanded services to include seniors housing on a seven-hectare site called Parkview Village, a short distance away from Parkview Home. Prompted by new standards introduced in 1998 by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care, a new 128-bed facility was built on one corner of the same campus, and Parkview Home relocated there in 2006.

George Reesor, a local historian and board member in the 1980s, spoke at the anniversary celebration and observed: “The Parkview of today could not have been conceived or planned in its entirety back in the 1960s. Rather, each added project has been built upon vision, experience and expertise gained from earlier endeavours.” 

Harvey Sider, a retired missionary and bishop in the Brethren in Christ Church, now lives with his wife Erma at Parkview Village. He led in a devotional at the celebration and shared that the original vision to show Christian love and compassion is still experienced at Parkview in countless ways. He also observed that, in order to provide the range of services that Parkview has today, partnerships and cooperation with governments and other agencies has been essential.

Part of the anniversary program included singing hymns of praise, as the room was filled with joyful song by those in attendance expressing their gratitude for all the ways that God has provided the people and resources needed to meet the challenges over 50 years of service.

George Reesor, front row right, a local historian and Parkview Home board member in the 1980s, spoke at the 50th anniversary celebration and observed: ‘The Parkview of today could not have been conceived or planned in its entirety back in the 1960s. Rather, each added project has been built upon vision, experience and expertise gained from earlier endeavours.’ His wife Anna is seated beside him. (Parkview Home photo)

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