FUN FACTS
In February of 1985 Ralph and Kamilla Way and Christine and Raymond Ayoub invited members of the Friends Meeting to gather and consider the possibility of creating a Quaker retirement community in State College, rather than helping aging relatives (or later themselves) move to such communities elsewhere.
Remarkably, after rapidly overcoming a number of obstacles, ground was broken on that project in 1987, and by 1988 residents were already moving into what was incorporated as Foxdale Village Quaker-Directed Continuing Care Retirement Community.
By the time Foxdale Village officially opened in 1990 it already had ninety residents living in its 148 cottages, organized into nine quadrangle neighborhoods. It also included a large Community Building and two floors of health facilities, providing assisted-living or nursing-care for residents.
In its nearly forty years over one thousand residents have called Foxdale their home.
In 2010 Foxdale added a three-story apartment building to its campus and expanded the two health-care floors to accommodate nearly fifty residents in each. A few years later a therapy pool was added to the facility.
Like the Friends School, Foxdale’s legal entity is its Board of Trustees, so neither is fiscally tied to the Friends Meeting. However, both Boards require a majority of their members to be Quakers, and both have tender ties to the meeting.
At present Foxdale Village is home to about 350 residents, with 250 of them in independent living in cottages or apartments, about fifty in assisted living (Darlington) and fifty in nursing care (Anthony). They are supported by a staff of about 225, including administration, health services, environmental services, and dining services.
To read more about Foxdale Village (chapter ten) click on this link to D. Douglas Miller: Quakers in Centre County, Pennsylvania.