Simply stated, the Mid-Shore has one of the most extraordinarily large and diverse senior communities in the United States. In addition to its native population of people over 50 years old, the Eastern Shore has become one of the most sought out retirement communities for Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. residents, all of whom have been attracted to the local beauty of the Chesapeake and its extraordinarily diverse cultural opportunities.
Kent County News June 1978
To match this remarkably unique constituency, The Chestertown Spy and Talbot Spy, the Mid-Shore’s non-profit, educational online newspapers, has launched a unique portal we call Senior Nation that is dedicated to this important Shore demographic. With the support and partnership from Heron Point at Chestertown, Londonderry on the Tred Avon, Shore Regional Health, Upper Shore Aging, Talbot County Senior Center, and a dozen other stakeholders focused on those Mid-Shore senior issues, we plan to expand our primary mission of being a major educational conduit for this unique demographic.
Since the Spy began in 2009, we have always been interested in senior life. While this may reflect our readership, since, over 70% of the Spy’s 250,000 readers that come to our online newspapers every year, are over 50 years old, I have been acutely aware of Mid-Shore aging issues since working with Upper Shore Aging in the late 1970s to run their Meals on Wheels program. From those early years, when I was twenty-two years old, in learning of the particular hardships that come with aging in rural communities, that interest has expanded, since reaching the age of sixty, to lifelong learning, cultural programming, caring for aging parents, and new models of aging-in-place practices.
I am also pleased to announce that William C. Rolle, Jr. (Bill) has agreed to serve as editor of Senior Nation. Before his retirement to the Mid-Shore in the early 1990s, Bill spent his career running a highly successful marketing firm in Washington, D.C. and now serves on the Talbot Hospice, Londonderry on the Tred Avon, the Easton Airport Boards, and serves on the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Executive Committee. Rolle graduated from Georgetown University with a master in communications from American University. He also has taught branding at Georgetown and courses on advertising and marketing at Washington College.
Through the use of original content articles, reader-provided columns, features on services, and a public forum and comment, The Spy intends to move beyond a bulletin board format to provide a comprehensive overview of being older on the Mid-Shore for a new generation of senior citizens.
Dave Wheelan
Executive Editor
John Leek says
Bill,
There is a story waiting to be discovered and written about PickleBall here in Kent Co and several other venues around the Eastern Shore.
As a fun way to get exercise and be part of a very social group of active seniors, Pickle ball has become the fastest growing sport in the country. No kidding.
You will find a dozen or more pickleball players at the Kent Co Rec Center in Worton every Monday and Thursday noon to 2pm. We’ll be happy to talk about why we love the game.
Regards,