For Courtney Thurston and her two sons, working at Meadowood reflects their strong family bonds. Courtney is Director of Resident Care, and her sons Landon and Nolan work in Dining Services. Landon turns 18 on May 8, and Nolan is 15. Because Landon’s birthday sometimes falls on Mother’s Day, family gatherings they celebrate the day with an ice cream cake decorated with “Happy May babies and mudders.”
Landon has worked almost two years in the kitchen as a dishwasher, and Nolan has been a server in the Health Center for nearly one year. He splits his time between the Laurel House personal care residence and the Holly House skilled nursing facility. “I never thought he’d like it,” says mom Courtney, “but he loves it.”
She says that “it’s both their first jobs, other than like cutting neighbors’ grass, shoveling snow.” Boys’ neighborhood jobs, as she describes it. Nolan is a freshman and Landon a senior in high school. When asked if she thinks Landon’s experience at Meadowood will impact his career choice, Courtney responds, “I don’t think he wants to go into culinary,” but adds that he likes the event-related aspects of his job.
Both sons stop by their mom’s office to chat for 10 to 15 minutes before they start their shifts. “We have a very special relationship. We’re very tight,” she says with pride. “We call ourselves ‘The Magic Trio.’” Because Landon works in the back as a dishwasher, their paths rarely cross at work. “Once he’s in,” Courtney says, “I never see him come back out.” However, she says she sometimes sees Nolan in action; if not, she’ll get a full report the next day.
Her sons share common “sporty” interests — they both like video games and being active. But that’s where the similarities end. Mom Courtney says Landon is very introverted and Nolan, who takes after her, is very extroverted.
Courtney draws upon her extroverted personality in her role as Director of Resident Care, the medical suite for Meadowood. She explains this is where residents see their doctors and specialists.
She relates an anecdote that Nolan shared with her recently. A woman who lives on campus in independent housing has dinner every night with her husband, who resides in the Health Center. When Nolan went to clear their table, he noticed her dentures were on the plate in his hand. In a discreet manner, he said, “I think you forgot something.” All three of them had a good long laugh over that!
Susan Hughes has been working at Meadowood for 7 years and Chief of Staff for 1 year; her mother, Virginia (Ginny) and father, Thomas, have been Meadowood residents for 4½ years. Prior to her role at Meadowood, Susan worked for a private wealth management company, a preschool aide, and started her career in hospitality. She says the favorite part of her job, along with assisting residents, is assisting CEO and President Paul Nordeman. “Paul’s a great person to work for.”
When it comes to honoring mothers, Susan is worthy of a medal. For 12 years, she was a stay-at-home mom, looking after a total of seven children: her own three (Alex, Danielle and Meghan), along with her best friend’s three children and the daughter of another close friend.
“It was my privilege and honor to do that,” Susan says of motherhood, recalling many cherished moments. Her mother, affectionately called Doedoe by her grandchildren and all their friends, pitched in to help. Ginny says the nickname came from many years ago when they were at the shore and her older granddaughter was trying to get in the house through back door off the deck. “Door” became “doe” became “Doedoe.”
When son Alex was 6 months old, Susan’s husband, Keith, inquired about buying the house adjacent to his in-laws’ property. “You would live behind your mother-in-law?” Ginny asked him in amazement; he said yes. “I watched my grandchildren grow from infancy on up,” she adds. Today, mother and daughter live only 7 minutes apart, and the grandchildren are grown: Alex is 26, daughter Danielle is 23, and daughter Meghan is 19. The gratitude, love and appreciation shared among the generations is quite evident. In fact, Susan said that her son recently told her she better figure out when she’s retiring, because when he becomes a father, “My kids will be staying with you!”
Susan remembers one of her favorite Mother’s Day memories. “My father would make corsages for all the mothers to wear.” Ginny chimes in: “The men and the children would cook dinner. And we would just sit and do nothing. When the children were younger, they would pass hors d’oeuvres.”
Susan continues: “After dinner, my father said, ‘I have a surprise,’ and we all went bowling.” Susan still chuckles at the memory of watching her great aunt, who she says was probably 85 at the time, bowl in her pretty Mother’s Day dress.
Another Mother’s Day, the family went out to eat at a restaurant, and the waitress put all the children at the other end of the table from the mothers, promising to look after them during the meal. That waitress likely got a very good tip.
Mother Ginny and daughter Susan still prefer to stick close to one another. “I’m very blessed to have my mom and be able to see her every day,” Susan says.