Nancy Shelor
Jim & Kathy Webster Dick & Shirley
Carmella Loprino
“To me, Butterfield has always been a wonderful place because of the staff,” Linda said. “Every time I came from Florida to visit, I was so impressed with the kind and caring staff. Some like (Senior Director of Resident Services) Patricia Poertner and (Director of Programs and Events) Riki Stamps are still here. That says a lot about the quality of the care.”
Nancy Shelor Longevity Matters Nancy Shelor was also impressed with the longevity of BTV staff when she was researching retirement communities for her mother, Carmella Loprino. The first question she always asked was how long their longest employee had been there. “When I asked at the Village, they told me the longest employee had been there 20 years, and that many of the original employees were still there,” Nancy said. “That told me Butterfield was a good employer and that employees like working there.” Nancy and her late husband Lyle arranged for her to fly from her home in Naperville, Ill., to Northwest Arkansas for a three-day stay in the guest suite at Butterfield to see if she’d like living there permanently. At the end of the three days when Nancy arrived to pick up her mom, Carmella announced she was returning to Naperville to pack her bags and sell her house. “Mom moved to Butterfield in 2006 and she absolutely loved it,” Nancy said. “Lyle and I came to help her unpack and hang pictures, and she said,
Johanson Bill Webster ‘Uh, bye, I’ve got a party to go to.’ Mom really preferred being with people her own age. She made friends, and played cards and went to the entertainment – she was on the go.”
After Carmella’s death in 2011, Nancy and Lyle reflected on how happy and well-cared she had been at BTV. They, too, joined the Carriage Club and moved to BTV in September 2017. Soon after, however, Lyle was diagnosed with cancer. He died in October 2018. “It was a blessing Lyle and I came here when we did,” Nancy said. “He was very happy that I was here. He knew I would be taken care of here. Butterfield is truly a blessing. I couldn’t ask for a better place.”
Jim & Kathy Webster A God-Driven Plan Jim and Kathy Webster moved to the Village in July 2020. Like Linda Pinkerton and Nancy Shelor, they also had parents who lived at BTV. Kathy’s parents, Dick and Shirley Johanson, lived at BTV twice – the first time in 1988 while Dick was recovering from bypass surgery, and later in 1995. In 2009, Jim relocated his father, Bill Webster, to Butterfield from Albuquerque, N.M. so he would have better quality of life. “Kathy and I experienced a lot with Butterfield before we were residents, primarily with family members living here,” Jim said. “Between Dick and Shirley and my father, we experienced resident life in independent living, the Heath Care Center BUTTERFIELD LIFE
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