Resident Kitty Deaven: Loving life at Homeland
Is Kitty Deaven enjoying her time at Homeland?
“Oh, yes,” she said. “Yes, yes, yes, yes.”
Kitty loves everything about Homeland, and so do her daughters.
“It’s given us peace of mind not to worry about her,” said her eldest daughter, Judy Deaven, of Susquehanna Township.
Kitty came to Homeland on Memorial Day weekend this year and has settled comfortably into her bright suite overlooking one of Homeland’s picturesque courtyards. The décor is straight from the home she lived in for 74 years, with family photos and ceramics on the built-in shelves, a painting of a country church on the wall, and cow figurines lining the windowsill.
The cows recall Kitty’s time growing up on a farm near the village of Linglestown, in Lower Paxton Township. She was one of six children raised by a loving aunt and uncle and attended a one-room schoolhouse through fifth grade.
At a soda fountain off the Linglestown square, Kitty met Harold Deaven. He helped run the family farm, and his hardworking mother sold homegrown vegetables and homemade cottage cheese in her own downtown Harrisburg produce stand.
Harold was also a music lover who taught himself to play the clarinet, saxophone, and piano. They would go to Hershey Park Ballroom on their dates to see big-name acts such as singer Vaughn Monroe.
“It was so full that you couldn’t dance,” Kitty recalls.
Harold served in the U.S. Army, driving a coal truck in Japan and sending love letters home to Kitty. The two married in 1950 and built a house in Lower Paxton, raising two daughters, Judy and Renee.
In addition to tending the family farm, which included cattle, chickens, and turkeys, Harold worked full-time at the Olmsted Air Force Base. Kitty was active in the PTA and served as a Brownie troop leader.
Harold died in 2014, and Kitty stayed in the home they built until this year. Homeland was always Kitty’s choice for a continuing care community because her beloved uncle had lived here in the 1980s.
Kitty never forgot the attentive care her uncle received, and her daughter, Renee Edgett, said Homeland was the family’s first choice.
“It was always Homeland,” Renee said. “I don’t think there’s been a day that she’s been here that she’s sorry. She doesn’t even ask us what’s going on at home. She likes it here.”
Homeland staff helped the family apply and sort through finances. During a tour, President and CEO Barry Ramper II walked up and introduced himself.
Kitty chose the personal care suite adjacent to where her uncle had lived. After moving in, Kitty learned that her neighbor on the other side was a classmate from that one-room schoolhouse.
At Homeland, Kitty doesn’t miss a beat. She loves the food and the people, stays busy taking craft classes, and attends music sessions played by visiting guitarists and a harpist. Kitty said that the Homeland salon styled her hair so perfectly that she didn’t need a perm.
Kitty has four grandchildren. After a visit, one granddaughter contacted her mom, Judy.
“Don’t worry about Grammy,” Judy texted her mother. “She’s really happy. She’s different than I’ve seen her in the last several years. None of us have to worry about her.”
