By TORY DENIS
Special to the Eagle Times

WINDSOR, Vt. — Cedar Hill Continuing Care Community has seen three decades of positive change and innovation in many forms, and three generations of owner Mary Louise Sayles’s family, since the facility was purchased in 1988.

This year, the award-winning Cedar Hill celebrates 30 years of serving the community with a complete continuum of care at the Village at Cedar Hill, Judith Brogren Memory Care Center and Cedar Hill Health Care Center, with a full activities calendar, up-to-date environmental practices, fresh and local home-made meals, and a variety of personalized options for residents.

The Vermont family-owned company was founded in 1988 by Mary Louise Sayles and Judith Brogren, who expanded and upgraded the former 31-bed Cedar Manor nursing Nursing Home, a Victorian mansion that was in poor condition, but with a large property that held much promise.

Mary Louise and Judith, both employed at Sullivan County Nursing Home in Unity, New Hampshire at the time, had much bigger plans for their new business. They sold all their belongings, moved into a mobile home on the property, and with the help of a Small Business Administration loan, they purchased the property and got to work. Over the years they added Cedar Hill Health Care Center, a 39-bed skilled nursing home and rehab center; completely renovated the original Victorian house, converting it to a Level- Three Residential Care Facility; and built and later expanded The Village at Cedar Hill, which includes the Memory Care Center, transforming the sprawling campus that sits on the property now.

Today, Cedar Hill is still owned by a dual-generation team, Sayles and her daughter, Community Executive Director Patricia Horn.

Mary Louise, Patricia, and Patricia’s older daughter Elena Preece, 17, gathered to talk about the Cedar Hill community recently.

Patricia and her older sister Maria Horn, the eldest of three, had been involved with Cedar Hill for many years, Mary Louise said.

“I felt it was very important for my daughters to know about the business,” said Sayles, who is the daughter of Italian Immigrants. “So that if anything happens to me,” she said, “they would understand the responsibility of having so many lives under your roof.”