Living facility celebrates 75th

Ask Red Keen what he likes about living in Jensen's Wymberly and you'll get a one-word answer: "fishing."

Others, such as Estelle and Maurice Hedstron, who will be moving to Wymberly from their Trenton home in August, picked Wymberly because it is a gated community that offers them safety.

Both Keen and the Hedstrons were at the 75th anniversary celebration Wednesday for Jensen's Residential Communities. It was an opportunity for many of the residents to gather and to meet company officials while enjoying a barbecue lunch and cake.

Resident Charles Smith summed up his thoughts in a prayer before lunch:

"We thank you for people like Mr. Jenson who had a vision and who could actualize that vision - one which we enjoy today," Smith said.

A manufactured housing community for people 55 and older, Wymberly is one of 27 residential communities owned and managed by the company. Now in its third generation, the family-owned business operates properties along the east coast from New Hampshire to Georgia.

A recent study by the University of Georgia's Housing and Demographics Research Center lists the Martinez community as one of six housing successes in the state. It also was recently named the community of the year by the Georgia Manufactured Housing Association.

Located on Columbia Road near Belair Road, Wymberly - which was built in 1971 - was purchased by Connecticut-based Jensen's in 1979. It has 182 manufactured houses and room for about 85 more, said Raymond Finocchio, the director of marketing and one of the company officials who was at the celebration.

"This is an active adult community for those 55 and older looking for lifestyle change," Finocchio said. "It is low maintenance, and our residents enjoy the comradery of other people their own age. We don't sell houses, we sell a lifestyle."