Grinnell College and the Mayflower

In Grinnell, there’s a place where people come from all over to form a diverse, vibrant community. It’s a place where people are excited to learn. They fill classrooms and auditoriums, ready to discover something new and learn from expert faculty. They gather for concerts and performances, writing groups, exercise classes, and more. They join their friends for restaurant-caliber meals in a beautiful dining room.

Grinnell College? Well, yes, the College is all those things.

But in this case, we’re describing the Mayflower, a thriving Grinnell retirement community that is enriched by its remarkably strong connections with Grinnell College, and which enriches the campus community in its own special ways.

Engaged In Living

The Mayflower community is home to so many former alumni, faculty, and staff, it almost seems like an extension of campus. The relationship between the College, the Mayflower, and the town benefits all three and creates a vibrant, enriching environment, says Mayflower Executive Director and Administrator Kellie McGriff.

“Grinnell College really plays an important part,” she says. “Our residents desire and embrace being lifelong learners.”

People come to the Mayflower to live and to engage in the community at the level they desire, McGriff says.

The Mayflower offers many ways to live a meaningful life. Residents can create a life that’s as active or as relaxed as they want it to be. Regular events and activities include the Lyceum (lectures, concerts, and entertainment), the Forum (discussions of issues and current events), and shuttle bus transportation to shopping and dining in town, basketball games, and other events on campus.

McGriff says the emphasis on living is an important one. “We need to engage them in life, and we need to help them on their journey.”

Retired faculty, staff, and alumni also often remain highly engaged on campus. Some still pursue scholarly interests or play informal mentorship roles. Some enjoy attending lectures, concerts, and socializing at events. Others discover a bit of “rock star” glory, when current students realize they are in the presence of a campus legend whom they’ve read about or their parents or an older sibling revered.

A Shared History

From the Mayflower’s beginnings in the early 1950s, it has had many shared connections with the College. Officially, both institutions were affiliated with the Congregational Church — an affiliation that for the College waned over time and finally ended during the presidency of George Drake ’56.

Retired Professor of History Dan Kaiser (a Mayflower resident) taught at Grinnell College for 30 years. Since retirement, he’s taken an interest in local history. Kaiser says that Congregational leader Royal Montgomery founded the Mayflower to provide a retirement option for Congregational pastors and missionaries. Today, people of all faiths (including many UCC clergy) call the Mayflower home.

Although no formal relationship exists between the College and the Mayflower, there are many informal ties. It has become a favorite retirement choice for many Grinnellians — even college presidents.

In some respects, Kaiser says, the College and the Mayflower serve as bookends of the Grinnell experience. “One of the things I think is interesting is College alums who go somewhere else and then choose to come back here,” he says.

When Grinnellians begin to think about where to retire, they often compare the available options to Grinnell, Kaiser says. “They’re familiar with the town, familiar with the College, they know all the college advantages of going to lectures and going to concerts and all that,” he says. “And economically, I think it makes a difference for them, too.”

The Boomerangers

What brings Grinnell alumni back to Grinnell for retirement, after living elsewhere for years? “Grinnell was my springboard,” says Becky Reetz Neal ’65, MD. She graduated from Grinnell with a degree in psychology and later earned a master’s in social work from Smith College. She then went to work at Boston University Medical Center as a social worker in psychiatry.

After 13 years, she decided to make a change. “My life kind of came together once I planned to go to medical school,” Neal says. She became a psychiatrist and practiced for decades in New England.

What led her back to Iowa for retirement? “It was only after much thought that I ended up here in Iowa,” Neal says. “My roots were here.”

And the Mayflower was here, too.

“The Mayflower is a kind of special place,” she says. “It has a sense of community that you don’t always get in other places — and the stimulation of being in a college town.”

She’s active, but careful to pick and choose among the available opportunities. “There’s a great deal of latitude and opportunity, and there’s no pressure, really,” she says. “There are some people like me that are still trying to figure out what they want to do and where they fit in. … I’m trying to figure out how to find a balance.”

For instance, Neal is a member of the Grinnell College Alumni Council. She also is part of the Mental Health Consortium in the town of Grinnell, which she calls “very rewarding.”

Truth be told, Neal says, she misses her work as a psychiatrist. “I’m sort of having to reinvent myself and think about how I can use my experience in a positive and productive way.”

She adds, “I think life is what you make it. But I find that most things that I’m really enjoying are the growth experiences.”

For Love of Grinnell

Kaiser believes that a special College-Mayflower connection exists for alumni who graduated in the 1950s and ’60s. “I think the folk in George Drake’s era — there was a kind of cluster of them who were associated with the College,” Kaiser says. “They attended the College, became officers of the College, and then ended up at Mayflower.”

For Drake and his wife, Sue Ratcliff Drake ’58, moving to the Mayflower community in Grinnell was another stage in a meaningful life — a life that evolved and continued even as the challenges they faced together accumulated, says daughter Melanie Drake ’92.

George Drake, who died in 2022, embodied the ideals of Grinnell College — lifelong learning, service, and contributing to the common good. When his tenure as president was over, Drake returned to teaching at the College. He continued to teach as long as he could, well into his 80s.

Drake also frequently taught in Grinnell’s popular “Bucket Courses” series — and when he was teaching, the room was usually full to overflowing.

‘Everything You Want to Learn Before You Kick the Bucket’

It’s 10 a.m. on a rainy, chilly April day. But you’d never know it inside the Drake Community Library, where a crowd has gathered for a Bucket Course. Grinnell Professor of Anthropology Maria Tapias is teaching a crowd of mostly retired people, many of them Mayflower residents.

During class, no one is sneaking a look at their phone or whispering to their neighbor. They respond to questions, and when Tapias asks them to draw a picture of themselves experiencing an emotion, they focus on the task.

It’s a Grinnell class, not so different from the classes going on a few blocks away on campus.

The Bucket Courses (the brainchild of the late Joanne Bunge ’56) are a project of the Community Education Collaborative (CEC). A committee representing many community organizations manages the program. Recently, the College has begun collaborating with the committee to support their work by providing assistance with logistics and planning efforts, says Sarah Smith, Grinnell College director of outreach programming and events.

The motto of the Bucket Courses is “Everything you want to learn before you kick the bucket.” The courses are free, and anyone can attend. Many are taught by Grinnell faculty volunteers, and the course topics run the gamut from history to current events to graphic storytelling.

Committee chair Judy Hunter, who is the retired director of the Grinnell College Writing Lab and a Mayflower resident, says the Bucket Courses bring people together for learning and fellowship.

“This is a social occasion,” Hunter says. “You learn a lot, and there are cookies!”

Life Goes On

A few blocks away on the Grinnell campus, there are even more lifelong learning opportunities. Many Mayflower residents choose to audit classes at the College. Kaiser remembers when, as a young faculty member, one of his classes attracted a Grinnell alum with plenty to say. And she wasn’t afraid to speak out in class.

The class met at 8:30 a.m., which meant that many of the students were half asleep, Kaiser remembers. But this alum showed up bright and early and ready to go.

“Well, in one way, it scared the life out of me,” Kaiser says. “She was dynamite. … She had a loud, sharp voice, and those kids had to wake up or else.”

But it got him thinking about the connections across generations and their importance. “The thing that to me makes sense, in my experience, anyway, is the way in which these lives intersect on the campus or other places.”

Connections That Span Generations

The benefits of the close College-Mayflower connections flow both ways. Students get involved at the Mayflower for many reasons — a desire to give back to the community, a chance to have more multi-generational friendships (or even honorary grandparents), or an opportunity to get experience that helps them discern or prepare for career-related interests.

Evelyn Dziekan ’24 helps coordinate some of the student volunteers who visit the Mayflower on weekends. They chat with the residents and engage in fun activities, like pumpkin decorating and board games. Dziekan says she appreciates the opportunity to spend time with people from another generation. “My grandma used to live with us,” she says. “It is something that is very meaningful to me.”

It’s also an escape from the stresses of student life. “Going to the Mayflower — it’s kind of like I can take an hour break and just enjoy something,” Dziekan says.

Sometimes her student volunteers are a bit nervous. What if we don’t have anything to talk about? What if they don’t like me? Usually, those fears dissipate within a few minutes, Dziekan says. “They usually end up coming out of it super happy and wanting to come back.”

The residents enjoy it, too, says Mayflower Director of Community Life Leslie Jaworski. “They genuinely appreciate meeting students, finding out where they’re from, what they’re studying, having helping hands with an activity (such as rock painting), and simply the time spent together.”

Jaworski adds, “Grinnell College student volunteers often bring the outside world into our facilities and enrich the lives of our residents. We are so grateful!”

Nicky Midlash ’22 qualified as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) at the Mayflower while he was a Grinnell student. He’s now studying to become a physician assistant. “I learned so much from the residents,” he says. “The time I spent working at the Mayflower granted me the chance to hear many of their stories. Their kindness and grace rubbed off on me, and I am honored that they allowed us students to join in taking care of them.”

Having a Blast

In the end, everyone wants to feel like a part of something — to feel connected to others. That’s as true for Grinnell College students as it is for Mayflower residents.

“The assisted living section over here is full of Grinnell people, faculty for the most part, and having a blast,” says Gerry Adams, retired Grinnell College registrar. He and his wife, Sara Adams, a retired staff member in admission, have lived at the Mayflower for about 10 years.

“I don’t even know what a snow shovel looks like anymore,” Gerry jokes.

Sara adds, “We didn’t know that we were going to love it this much.”

 

Originally published in the Summer 2024 issue of The Grinnell Magazine.