ClareOaks SENIOR LIVING Hunches pay off for a Clare Oaks pioneer Christine Hall is good at the long game. When she worked in the reservations department for United Airlines in the 1970s, she and her late husband Bill traveled at the drop of a hat. The job's perks included free air travel from Chicago and half-price deals on hotels and cars: "We would take off for San Francisco for a weekend to have dinner in San Francisco. "But then we realized if we ever wanted to buy a house, we had to stop that," recalls the longtime resident of Clare Oaks, the continuing care retirement community in Bartlett, where she lives with her rescue dog Yoda. (Just look at his ears!) The Halls did buy a house in Carol Stream, where they raised their daughter Maggie who now lives in Wheaton. As another example of wise foresight, Christine, who realized she needed more than a high-school diploma, enrolled at College of DuPage in her mid-40s to earn an associate's degree. But the Halls had not talked seriously about the distant future when Bill died at the age of 55. "It left me out there wondering, 'What do I do now?" says Christine. She tried home owning on her own, and then a duplex in what was billed as an "active adult" community. "Except there was nothing 'active' about it!" she points out. The Chicago native's strong voice and energetic diction make her sound younger than her 72 years; she credits her two decades as an aide in the Learning Center, the modern-day library, at Stratford Middle School in Bloomingdale. 1 project well because I had to get middle-school kids' attention," she laughs. And in the library, of all places! Clare Oaks resident Christine Hall with Yoda determine her own fate. "I believe very strongly in the continuing care concept." she says. "I want to make my own life decisions, raiher than have someone else make them for me." On one occasion, though, all the advance planning in the world wouldn't have helped. In 1972, using her airline connection, Christine and her husband hopped over to Hawaii for a winter weekend getaway. "And then Nixon decided to go to China," she says, referring to the historic and unanticipated meeting with Mao Zedong. Nixon's itinerary included a short layover in Oahu the day Christine and Bill arrived, and the influx of his retinue forced a change in the Halls' hotel reservation. "So there we were, less than a year into our marriage, and we found ourselves in twin beds." Christine's search for a more suitable lifestyle is a prime example of her ability to visualize and achieve a long-term goal. In 2006 she noticed ads for Clare Oaks and visited the construction site. "This was just as they started building," she marvels. "There was notihing there except the elevator shafts." But Christine had a good feeling; she was among the first 50 future residents to make an entrance fee deposit, and she saw the complex take shape from the start. "I would drive over after school, park my car, and watch them build the structure. Every two weeks or so there would be another floor; I took hundreds of pictures." She moved in soon after Clare Oaks opened in 2008. About Clare Oaks Since 2008, Clare Oaks provides independent living apartments and cottages as well as a continuum of care for nearly 300 residents on its 41-acre campus. Lifestyle and healthcare programs include independent living, assisted living, memory support, short- term rehabilitation and long-term care. Clare Oaks boasts an overall five-star rating, the highest for skilled nursing and short-term rehab, as well as a rare five-star rating in all categories-health inspection, quality measures and staffing-from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In both 2018/19 and 2019/20, US News & World Report awarded Clare Oaks a high performance ranking for Short-Term Stay Rehab. Christine considers this the best decision of her life, a valuation she conveys to prospective buyers as a volunteer with Clare Oaks' residents' marketing group. Her pride reflects her social interactions but also her wish to For more information about Clare Oaks, 825 Carillon Drive, Bartlett, Ill., call 630.372.1983 or visit ClareOaks.org. ClareOaks SENIOR LIVING Hunches pay off for a Clare Oaks pioneer Christine Hall is good at the long game. When she worked in the reservations department for United Airlines in the 1970s, she and her late husband Bill traveled at the drop of a hat. The job's perks included free air travel from Chicago and half-price deals on hotels and cars: "We would take off for San Francisco for a weekend to have dinner in San Francisco. "But then we realized if we ever wanted to buy a house, we had to stop that," recalls the longtime resident of Clare Oaks, the continuing care retirement community in Bartlett, where she lives with her rescue dog Yoda. (Just look at his ears!) The Halls did buy a house in Carol Stream, where they raised their daughter Maggie who now lives in Wheaton. As another example of wise foresight, Christine, who realized she needed more than a high-school diploma, enrolled at College of DuPage in her mid-40s to earn an associate's degree. But the Halls had not talked seriously about the distant future when Bill died at the age of 55. "It left me out there wondering, 'What do I do now?" says Christine. She tried home owning on her own, and then a duplex in what was billed as an "active adult" community. "Except there was nothing 'active' about it!" she points out. The Chicago native's strong voice and energetic diction make her sound younger than her 72 years; she credits her two decades as an aide in the Learning Center, the modern-day library, at Stratford Middle School in Bloomingdale. 1 project well because I had to get middle-school kids' attention," she laughs. And in the library, of all places! Clare Oaks resident Christine Hall with Yoda determine her own fate. "I believe very strongly in the continuing care concept." she says. "I want to make my own life decisions, raiher than have someone else make them for me." On one occasion, though, all the advance planning in the world wouldn't have helped. In 1972, using her airline connection, Christine and her husband hopped over to Hawaii for a winter weekend getaway. "And then Nixon decided to go to China," she says, referring to the historic and unanticipated meeting with Mao Zedong. Nixon's itinerary included a short layover in Oahu the day Christine and Bill arrived, and the influx of his retinue forced a change in the Halls' hotel reservation. "So there we were, less than a year into our marriage, and we found ourselves in twin beds." Christine's search for a more suitable lifestyle is a prime example of her ability to visualize and achieve a long-term goal. In 2006 she noticed ads for Clare Oaks and visited the construction site. "This was just as they started building," she marvels. "There was notihing there except the elevator shafts." But Christine had a good feeling; she was among the first 50 future residents to make an entrance fee deposit, and she saw the complex take shape from the start. "I would drive over after school, park my car, and watch them build the structure. Every two weeks or so there would be another floor; I took hundreds of pictures." She moved in soon after Clare Oaks opened in 2008. About Clare Oaks Since 2008, Clare Oaks provides independent living apartments and cottages as well as a continuum of care for nearly 300 residents on its 41-acre campus. Lifestyle and healthcare programs include independent living, assisted living, memory support, short- term rehabilitation and long-term care. Clare Oaks boasts an overall five-star rating, the highest for skilled nursing and short-term rehab, as well as a rare five-star rating in all categories-health inspection, quality measures and staffing-from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In both 2018/19 and 2019/20, US News & World Report awarded Clare Oaks a high performance ranking for Short-Term Stay Rehab. Christine considers this the best decision of her life, a valuation she conveys to prospective buyers as a volunteer with Clare Oaks' residents' marketing group. Her pride reflects her social interactions but also her wish to For more information about Clare Oaks, 825 Carillon Drive, Bartlett, Ill., call 630.372.1983 or visit ClareOaks.org.