Carlton Senior Living Pleasant Hill Archives

Carlton Senior Living Blog | September 22, 2020

"There’s a Bit of Daredevil Inside! The 20th & 21st Century Life of Bobbie Rose" by Harriett Burt

It is an interesting coincidence that Barbara Sharp ‘Bobbie’ Rose was born in San Francisco on June 21, 1918, right in the middle of the Spanish Flu pandemic, the last deadly worldwide health assault before the Covid-19 pandemic we are now experiencing. Bobbie’s mother was in labor for three days. It took her five months in the hospital and one month with relatives to recover, at least partially, from a serious infection. It was not totally cleared until sulfa drugs were developed in the late 1930s. Another problem in this most difficult birth was that the umbilical cord was wrapped around Bobbie’s neck. To keep the baby alive during the birt …

Carlton Senior Living | August 23, 2020

"Life Isn’t Always Easy, But It Can Be Fulfilling: Bill Rainford's Story" by Harriett Burt

Life Isn’t Always Easy, But It Can Be Fulfilling: Bill Rainford’s Story Carlton is not the first place Bill Rainford has lived in the neighborhood dominated by Taylor Boulevard, Pleasant Hill Road and Alhambra Avenue. A few years ago he owned a condo on Ridgeview Court, which is located near Carlton. But he has also resided in an impressive number of other neighborhoods across the country and overseas for much of his life before ending up twice, so to speak, in Pleasant Hill. Rainford is the name of a village in the northwest of England formerly famous as a producer of clay pipes. His paternal grandfather grew up there leaving in the 1890s to …

Carlton Senior Living | August 10, 2020

Carlton's Virtual Career Conference

Join us for our Virtual Career Conference via Zoom Monday, August 24th 1PM – 2PM This event is completely virtual and will be presented through Zoom. Space is limited, email Ashley Melendez at amelendez@carltonseniorliving.com to RSVP. We’re hiring for a variety of positions to provide services to our Assisted Living, Memory Care and Independent Living residents at our Downtown Pleasant Hill, Pleasant Hill, Poet’s Corner and Concord communities. View available positions and apply online at CarltonSeniorLiving.com/Careers Share this event via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1583742881784175/ If you have any questions, please email As …

Carlton Senior Living | July 19, 2020

“You Don’t Meet General MacArthur But I’d See Him…” by Harriett Burt

Japan at the end of WWII Is Just One Part of Blanche Perry’s Active Life When Blanche Perry moved to Carlton Pleasant Hill-Martinez from Carlton Concord last December, she already had friends here. But along with her belongings, she also brought her life story with her. One of the most interesting chapters covers February 1950 to February 1952 which she spent in Occupied Japan as the wife of an Army Air Force rear gunner assigned to the crew of the two airplanes used by five-star General Douglas MacArthur, head of the U.S. occupation of Japan at the end of World War II. When asked if she ever met the aloof General of the Armies, the answer is …

Carlton Senior Living | June 28, 2020

"At Home in the World of Animals and of People" by Harriett Burt

“There’s nothing more daunting than taking a blood sample from a lion,” Carlton Senior Living Pleasant Hill-Martinez resident and retired veterinarian Denny Bohlke observes. He ought to know because his Yakima office was close enough to a retired circus animal ranch to hear them roaring and to make a ‘home visit’ from time to time. Oh, by the way, how do you take the sample? From its tail, he says. Denny was born in 1931 and grew up on a 12-acre farm near Yakima. His dad was a fruit inspector in Washington’s largest fruit growing area. It was the beginning of the Great Depression so keeping the wolf from the door meant everybody in the family …

Resident Spotlights | May 24, 2020

Resident Spotlight - Donna Rolls

Meet Donna Rolls, Carlton Senior Living’s spotlight resident – Donna de Saint Croix Rolls was born on August 6, 1931 in Arlington, Massachusetts to Frances and Donald Wood. She was named Donna after her father and her unique middle name had been passed down through her mother’s family for four generations. Naturally, when Donna gave birth to her own daughter, Allison, she also passed on the middle name. Donna was raised Unitarian Universalist, a religion which traces its roots back nearly 450 years to 16th Century Transylvania. Her mother took care of the home and family while her father was a self-employed gold and silver smith. Due to the n …

Carlton Senior Living | May 3, 2020

"His Life ‘Began’ with a Bike Ride to the New York World’s Fair" by Harriett Burt

Ed Vining moved into Carlton Senior Living Pleasant Hill-Martinez a few months ago from the Muir Oaks section of Martinez. He was born in North Carolina in 1925 shortly before his family moved to Montgomery, West Virginia. His father was a teacher and his mother was a housewife. He had two sisters. Ed is certain of one thing: “my life didn’t start until I was 14” when the 1939-40 World’s Fair opened in New York. He wanted to see it, but his family wasn’t able to go. Ed around 1946 It was 1940 before he started the trip. How did he get there? “I rode my bike,” he replied. What??? Montgomery is nearly 500 miles from New York City! “Were your p …

Carlton Senior Living Blog | April 28, 2020

Carlton Residents Show Appreciation for our Essential Associates

The outpouring of support from residents, families and our communities at large is truly humbling and heartening. Bill Edwards from Carlton Senior Living Sacramento and Harriett Burt from Carlton Senior Living Pleasant Hill and their expressions of appreciation are fantastic examples of the fellowship that can only be felt within a community. We’re in this together and we feel the love, so, thank YOU!

Carlton Senior Living | April 19, 2020

"Finding Love in the Midst of War" by Hariett Burt

Many of us at Carlton Senior Living Pleasant Hill-Martinez know Connie Malone but only a few remember her husband, Mike, who lived here from 2008 until his death in 2010. Connie is a first-generation American born of an Italian couple who immigrated to the United States around 1919 to build a better life. Mike, the son of an Indiana Presbyterian minister’s family, decided to sign up for a two-year enlistment in the Marine Corps in October 1941 so he could get the draft out of the way before resuming college to become a lawyer. Just two months later, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor radically changed Mike’s plan. By August 1942, he was an i …

Carlton Senior Living | March 6, 2020

"Lucy Hanson Remembers..." by Resident, Harriett Burt

This article detailing a specific time period in the life of Lucy Hanson, a resident of Carlton Senior Living Pleasant Hill was written by fellow resident and Martinez News-Gazette writer, Harriett Burt. At one point in her life, an Arab fortune teller in French Algeria told teenage Lucienne ‘Lucy’ Hanson, “I see you in uniform. I see water very, very far away….” No matter how skeptical one might be about fortune tellers, this turned out to be a true vision. Lucy wore a U.S. Army uniform from 1945 until 1947 when she crossed the Atlantic as the bride of an American army officer with a baby on the way. Born in Aix-les-Baines, France in 1925, L …

Carlton Senior Living | February 24, 2020

Resident Spotlight - Jacque Andrews

Meet Carlton Senior Living spotlight resident, Jacque Andrews — Jacque was born on October 22, 1931, in Topeka, Kansas to parents Ralph and Ann Pantier and was the second of two daughters. Jacque’s older sister, Barbara, was more beautiful and social and she felt like she grew up in her older sister’s shadow. After junior high, the Pantier family moved to Manhattan, Kansas and Jacque graduated from high school there in 1949. Jacque went on to attend Kansas State University where a stroke of fate and an error in her class schedule would lead to meeting her future husband. During her junior year of college, Jacque had intended to become a home …

Carlton Senior Living Downtown Pleasant Hill | February 9, 2020

Taking Senior Fitness to the Next Level with Live 2 B Healthy

We LOVE the fact that we get to share some very exciting news with you! Our Carlton Senior Living Downtown Pleasant Hill community (shown below) participated in the “Most Fit Live 2 B Healthy Community” national contest in January and ranked in the top 3 most fit communities nationwide. And with almost a 70% increase in participation, we ranked #1 in the challenge with 44 new participants joining our communities’ program. We congratulate all four of our Carlton Senior Living communities who participated in the challenge; our Carlton Senior Living Pleasant Hill, Carlton Senior Living Concord and Carlton Senior Living Sacramento communities who …

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