Sarah McCrady, 84, Keeps Active at Her New Home – Highgrove at Tates Creek

Despite a recent hip injury, 84-year-old Sarah McCrady has no trouble making the rounds at Highgrove at Tates Creek as she escorts a visitor around the plush new retirement community in Lexington.

Although Mrs. McCrady moved to Highgrove only six months ago, she already knows all the staff and residents and has a smile and big hello for everyone she meets.

This recent walk reveals all you need to know about Mrs. McCrady – she’s always in motion and she has yet to meet a stranger.

“She’s nice to everyone, very polite,” says Lisa Stamper, Highgrove’s Memory Care Director who formerly helped coordinate social activities. “She has good energy and walks every day. She even walks her neighbor’s dog.”

Before her hip surgery last year, Mrs. McCrady lived alone in Lexington – her husband Charles passed away in 2002. The hip injury was the reason for moving to Highgrove, and her quality of life has improved since.

“Mom is a very personable, social person,” said her son, Charlie, who lives in Lexington. “She was voted the friendliest girl in high school. She really enjoys all the social activities at Highgrove.

“At home, she spent a lot of time by herself. But at Highgrove she is around people all day long.”
Which is handy because she loves to talk and is an engaging storyteller. Listen to how she and her husband got married.

It’s 1951 at Calhoun High School, which sat about 20 miles south of Owensboro. (The school no longer exists.) Sarah is a 17-year-old high school senior and Charles is three years older.

They are sitting side by side in the gym watching Calhoun take on an Owensboro basketball team that features future UK star Cliff Hagan.

“During the game, Charles turned to me and asked me to marry him and right at that time, we scored so I cheered and said yea! Then I turned to Charles and said yes.”

When Charles said he wanted to get married, he meant right now. The plan was to drive that weekend with two other couples to Rossville, Ga., get hitched. Sarah wouldn’t agree until Charles asked her parents for permission.

He got it and after that weekend, they were Mr. and Mrs. Charles McCrady.

They started a family right away. Ginny and Charlie were born a year apart. Charles, a high school dropout, quickly built a career as a successful salesman and executive and moved the family to Erlanger, Ky.

Mrs. McCrady joined the workforce when her children hit junior high, taking a job with IRS as a key-punch operator. Three years later, she moved to her brother-in-law’s law firm where she worked for 11 years.

In 1995, Charles retired and the couple moved to Lakeside Park, outside of Cincinnati. They also owned a home in Los Angeles where they visited often because Ginny worked as a nurse with her husband, a doctor, in Southern California where they still live.

Ginny’s daughter Melissa has given Mrs. McCrady two of her four great grandchildren.

Charlie and his wife Rosemary raised two children and are grandparents to two more. Elizabeth, 7, and Joshua, 5, live in Lexington and love to visit Grandma.

“They call Highgrove ‘Grandma’s hotel,’” Mrs. McCrady said.

You can see why. Highgrove features a bustling lobby on the same floor as an elegant dining room with a double-height ceiling and skylights. The main floor also features a game room with a pool table, a kitchen, library, fitness room, salon, spa, chapel and movie theater with roomy recliners.

Independent and assisted living are offered in 89 apartments, including a memory care section.
Transportation is provided for doctor visits, and shopping and dining outings. No wonder Mrs. McCrady thrives at her new home.

“The whole staff, they couldn’t be any nicer,” she said. “Everything they do here is first class. I’m happy and have made a lot of friends. I get to walk outside when the weather is good. I am very satisfied.”