By Chris Barber
Contributing Writer

The Jenners Pond Retirement Community honored resident Rev. Jim Mundell and his late wife, Betty, by naming its renovated health center after them.

The members, staff and guests gathered in the center’s parking lot on Nov. 1 and applauded the support he and Betty made in bringing a new dimension to was what previously just called Preston and Simpson – nursing and assisted living centers.

The sprawling building is now named the Pastor Jim and Betty Mundell Health Center.

The Mundells were described as being the leading fundraisers that brought the center into a more welcoming and home-like atmosphere for those who reside there.

During the outdoor ceremony, executives and board members described how the efforts and contributions of the Mundells resulted in the building being more open to the outside. The atmosphere is also more family-like.

Simpson Board Chair Meredith Okenquist said she was particularly impressed with how the architecture had increased the size of the windows – among other things – so the residents had a greater connection to the environment and less of a feeling of being enclosed in a medical facility or separated from the other residents.

Mundell, who took the microphone at the conclusion, said he follows the belief that no season of life is “outside God’s providence.”

Also addressing the audience was State Rep. John Lawrence, R-13, of West Grove. He said that, in his years growing up in the southern Chester County, he could not have even imagined the growth that was about to take place in the area, including a shopping center that had a McDonald’s and a senior community like Jenners Pond.

Jim Mundell is the chaplain at Jenners Pond and the associate pastor at West Grove United Methodist Church.