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Paisley House puts on Valentine’s Day dinner
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Regina Graygo (left) and her grandson Joseph Paulenich attended Paisley House's Valentine's Day dinner at Tippecanoe Country Club on Feb. 12.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Members of the Boardman Orchestra perform at Paisley House's Valentine's Day dinner Feb. 12 at Tippecanoe Country Club.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Every attendee of Paisley House's Valentine's Day dinner at Tippecanoe Country Club on Feb. 12 received a gift mug.
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.A table was decorated according to the theme and awaited the guests at Paisley House's Valentine's Day dinner Feb. 12.
By TIM CLEVELAND
After a successful event at Tippecanoe Country Club last year, Paisley House executive director Jill Cox and her brother put their heads together to create another event for the residents of the assisted-care facility.
“My brother is Jerry Cox. He’s the superintendent of greens here at Tippecanoe,” she said. “In the fall, we got together to do an autumn drive around the course on the golf carts. Tippecanoe sponsored a dessert for us, so we decided to continue what we started in the fall. One of our residents joked and said, wouldn’t it be nice if we could have a steak dinner. They started talking about it here at Tippecanoe and one of their board members said, well we can do that. Let’s arrange it. We started talking about when would be the best time to do it. Obviously, February’s a down time at the country club, so we started arranging for Valentine’s Day thinking we would just bring our residents here. Tippecanoe was gracious to say, no have them bring a valentine with them.
“Every one of my residents here today, are bringing a valentine. Tippecanoe is sponsoring the event. They’re not charging us extra for it. I made the dessert (white cake with raspberry sauce) for the evening. The Boardman Orchestra is here to play for us. Tippecanoe wouldn’t accept a tip from us, we decided to put that money together and we’re giving it back to the Boardman Orchestra.”
Approximately 40 residents of Paisley House, their valentine’s, and Paisley House board members gathered to enjoy a meal of either strip steak of chicken francaise.
One of the attendees was Regina Graaygo, a Struthers native who has been a resident of Paisley House for about 18 months. She attended to dinner with her grandson, Joseph Paulenich.
“I’m looking forward to it,” said Graygo. “I think it would be very nice. I love going out to eat.”
While assisted living facilities have only really been common in the last 30 years or so, Paisley House was started in 1909, when a group of local women got together to start the facility in an effort to provide elderly women with a place to go.
“It was originally for women, however, over the years we have taken in men,” Jill Cox said. “We have openings for men now. We can have up to 24 residents. We do all three meals, housekeeping, laundry, even sew. Our aids help the residents with bathing and getting dressed.”
Cox added that the residents have to be able to feed themselves, and Paisley House does not accept wheelchair dependent residents because of difficulties for the building.
“I have a wonderful staff; I’ve only been there since July,” Cox said. “This is probably the most caring place I’ve ever seen. We’re $2,000 a month and that includes all of our services. Most assisted livings don’t even start at $2,000 and we want to keep it that way.”