Homeland Resident Art Wiand: Focused on family

Art Wiand grew up in a family-oriented atmosphere, which is why he felt at home the first time he set foot in Homeland.

“It’s one big happy family,” he said. “The majority of us socialize a lot.”

Art is a central Pennsylvania native who grew up around Sunbury and Northumberland. He is the eldest of six children.

Growing up, Art’s father worked various jobs including feeding the coal furnace at a Sunbury furniture and cabinet company. Sometimes, Art and one of his brothers would bicycle 30 miles on dirt roads to help work on their aunt and uncle’s farm. He also helped at the farm of one of his teachers.

“It was all hand work at that time,” he said. “They didn’t have tractors. Maybe the big farms had tractors, but not the little farms.”

When Art was 18, his father died in an accident. Art, who graduated from high school in 1950, wasn’t drafted due to the policy of not taking the eldest sons of families without a breadwinner.

Two of Art’s brothers served during the Korean War, but the Army deferred Art’s service. He entered the Army after the war ended, serving as a tank commander and then driving a cargo truck known as a “deuce and a half.” After two years in the military, he also served one year in the Army Reserve.

While in the service, Art corresponded with a woman named Connie, but she got mad at him for reasons he can’t remember. Connie gave Art’s address to her best friend, Janet, and the two fell in love.

Art and Janet married in 1957 and moved to Green Street in Harrisburg, just a few blocks from Homeland Center. In those days, stores and banks were all around, so he could walk across the street for a loaf of bread.

“It was peaceful,” Art said. “You could leave your car door unlocked.”

Art spent most of his career as a draftsman for Gannett Fleming, utilizing a skill he learned in high school. He and Janet raised four kids, eventually moving to Middletown, where they lived for 54 years. Janet worked as a teacher’s aide when the kids were young and served as an executive assistant for the American Red Cross when they were older.

Though it all, there was family. The children were involved in band and sports. There were family reunions and visits. As Art and Janet’s siblings married, the in-laws became brothers and sisters, too.

Art joined the Homeland family in March 2024. Life at Homeland hasn’t slowed him down. He visits family every week. He attends Wednesday Bible study and Sunday services at his home church in Middletown. His pastor is “a lot of fun,” he said. “She knows the Bible, and she’s a good teacher.”

With Art around, she sometimes has to keep her flock in line. Art and the pastor’s mother enjoy sitting together and chit-chatting. One day, the pastor had to stop her speaking to admonish, “Will you two children please be quiet?”

After Art’s wife died in 2017, he stayed in their home until it was time to find a retirement community for his safety and health

“He deserved to have a more enjoyable life,” said his daughter, Becky.

Together, Art and his children researched all the possibilities. He knew immediately that Homeland was the right place. It was near the first house that he and Janet shared, “so maybe it brought back some memories,” he said.

He made friends quickly, and the staff is taking good care of him. In his bright and roomy personal care suite, he passes the time doing jigsaw puzzles.

“I try to get involved with everything,” Art said. “We have movies. A couple of us go down to the main gathering room and sit there and talk.”

It’s all part of his active, sociable life. He recently visited his three great-grandchildren in Nashville. This fall, he plans to visit his son’s family in Oregon.

“As long as I can go,” he said, “I’m going.”