Your Neighbor: Kathleen Ellis

Books surround Kathleen Ellis in the Sarasota Bay Club Library, where she volunteers on a weekly basis. Ellis moved two years ago to the Sarasota Bay Club with her husband, Elliot, to get more support. Elliot Ellis has Parkinson’s disease.

“I love the Sarasota Bay Club because I am not isolated here,” Ellis says. “It’s also great for people with mobility issues because they get a lot of exposure to the arts and they don’t feel just because they have a health issue they are isolated.”

The couple met in 1975 while working at Buffalo Children’s Hospital in Buffalo, N.Y. She was a pediatric nurse with a Ph.D. in epidemiology, and he was the chief of pediatrics. In the 1980s, the couple moved to Boston where they both worked at Boston Children’s Hospital.

In 2003 the couple moved to St. Petersburg when Elliot Ellis decided to build a house there. In 2011 they decided to move to Sarasota so they could live at Sarasota Bay Club and have access to all the support and amenities the facility provides.

Ellis is impressed with the helpful staff and community of the Sarasota Bay Club. Since moving to Sarasota, she has gotten involved in the classical music club, jewelry-design class and book club at Sarasota Bay Club and also the Sarasota Garden Club.

“I never had many hobbies; I was a workaholic,” Ellis says. “When you are a science major you don’t get to do much with the arts, and I am really enjoying it because it is a whole different world and you learn so much.”
— Yaryna Klimchak

Neighborhood: Sarasota Bay Club
NEIGHBOR FOR: Since 2011

IN HER OWN WORDS
“It’s as good as it can get. It’s the best place I have seen and I feel warm and welcome here.”
“It’s a community, not just a place to live, and the staff and everyone works for the good of the community. People really support each other.”