Slices of Life

The best way to get a feel for life at Willamette View is to come for a visit. The next best way is to browse these stories about the people, programs and campus. Each slice highlights a different aspect of our unique culture and community.

An active dining event at Willamette view with a woman holding a glass of wine in the foreground
Four Ways Senior Living Is Like College – Or Better

Don’t be fooled by the age difference. Colleges and senior living communities have a lot in common. A culture of sharing meals? Check.Plenty of group activities for bonding with others over shared interests? Ditto.A connected campus that makes social isolation unlikely? You bet. By design, senior living communities like Willamette…

A Willamette View couple traveling in Giverny, France
To travel more after you retire, do this first

If you want to travel far and often in your post-working years, you need a living situation that serves as a launch pad, not a money trap. But where can you find that? The answer may surprise you: In a retirement community. Forget outdated stereotypes about being “put out to…

A group fitness class at Willamette View
Key to fitness after 60: Keep changing it up

Rachel Sandage knows what you’re thinking. She gets a similar reaction whenever she explains her job as Group Fitness Instructor at Willamette View, a senior living community south of downtown Portland. “So…Chair Yoga, right?” “At least you don’t have to work up a sweat.” Please. For one, fitness in this…

An art class were residents are drawing, painting and wood burning on wood panels
Willamette View Proves the Benefits of Creativity at Any Age

When it comes to art, Willamette View shows creativity can blossom at any time. Comfortably situated just south of Portland, Willamette View is a Life Plan Community (also known as a Continuing Care Retirement Community) that distinguishes itself with its active residents and engaged staff. It’s renowned for its diverse…

A grandchild pushing her grandmother down the driveway in a toy car
What if aging is the solution, not the problem?

By: Craig Van Valkenburg, Willamette View CEO Nearly all the messages we get about aging are negative: A 50th birthday card features a withered man in a walker and asserts that life is “all downhill from here.” Anti-aging products abound, promising to delay wrinkles and restore youth. Even healthier approaches…

A couple looking back at their house from the street
Downsizing can set you free – now get started

It’s a chore just to clean out a closet. What if you need to sort through a house full of belongings, while coping with the emotions that accompany any big life change? It’s enough to make you seek professional help. As a transition coordinator for Seniors on the Move (a…

Cliff is at a Habitat for Humanity construction site with a hard hat on
Residents and staff at Willamette View emphasize benefits of supporting local community causes

Many of those who call Portland’s Willamette View senior living community home embrace an active lifestyle with fitness classes, arts programs and interest groups on campus, in addition to countless opportunities to socialize at events and activities. But the campus is not the only place where residents and employees alike…

A group of Willamette View staff with a banner in front of them and a plaque signifying becoming a Blue Zone project
Blue Zones Project benefits Willamette View employees as well as residents

On top of teaching 24 fitness classes each week at Willamette View, Rachel Sandage has also had the opportunity to be a student on the Portland senior living community’s campus. One thing Sandage really enjoys is sitting side-by-side with residents and her fellow employees during yoga classes taught by a…