People of the Rocky Hill Cohousing Community

People of Rocky Hill

David Entin

My name is David Entin. My wife Dorothy and I were among the first to move into Rocky Hill Cohousing in 2005. I am a retired community college administrator, though my first career was in anti-poverty and civil rights work. We planned this as our retirement home, but contributed to the inter-generational aspect of Rocky Hill when our daughter, granddaughter, and son-in-law moved here in 2008. We especially appreciate the many supportive and sharing activities of our community.

Douglas Renick

My wife Carol and I moved into Rocky Hill Co-housing in May of 2005. We had moved to western MA the year before from Belmont, MA, a Boston suburb. I worked at Harvard for 17 years in the Department of Human Resources managing a Center for Training and Organization Development. After Harvard I worked for a small management consulting firm, Systems Theory Management, which focused on Total Quality Management in small to mid-size manufacturing firms. Finally I worked for the State Board of Education reviewing charter schools when their charters came up for renewal.

Since moving to western MA I have mostly been a peace and justice activist. I directed the American Friends Service Committee office for a couple of years. At Rocky Hill I serve on a Process Committee and the Sustainability and Environment Committee. I love living in a beautiful community with folks I know well who are trying to leave the world a better place for their having lived here.

Karen Lombard, David & Liam Case

Our family joined Rocky Hill in June 2016 when we moved here from the Boston area. We had experienced the great benefits of community in our Unitarian Universalist church in Cambridge where we met each other and found close friends - so decided to explore co-housing after our decision to move to the Valley. We thought that joining cohousing would really jumpstart the process of finding community for us, given that this can take some time in adulthood – and would provide our only child, Liam (born in 2006), with an instant kid community as well.

We participate in many committees and events including the plow team, the garden, the sustainability and environment committee, community retreats and the chicken co-op. We love being close both to Northampton and to family members living in the area, while still enjoying the benefits of living among trees and trails. David is an information technology instructor at Worcester’s Technical Vocational High School; Karen directs The Nature Conservancy’s land management program in Massachusetts, and Liam attends Northampton public schools.

Adele Franks

Adele retired from a career in public health to lovely Western Massachusetts to join the developing Rocky Hill Cohousing community in 2003 and has loved it here ever since. The community provides both friendship and opportunities for personal growth (ah, the challenge of consensus decision making for an independent-minded person), and the area offers lovely farms and forests, fresh local food, educational and artistic offerings, and like-minded civic and political organizations.

For Adele, retirement brings the freedom to devote her time to climate activism. Considering it a sacred responsibility to leave a livable world for future generations, she has become an ardent advocate for better energy policy at the state level.

In her spare time, she loves to walk, swim, cook and read. Though she reads and thinks a lot about quilt making, she less often finds the time to sew. She considers herself lucky to have enjoyed so many varied chapters in this lifetime and now the challenge of aging gracefully.

Gary Felder

Gary teaches physics at Smith College, and does computer simulations of the universe just after the big bang. He loves to talk about physics and cosmology. He's also an avid game player, and is particularly fond of chess, bridge, and frisbee golf.

Jennifer Ladd

I recently moved to Rocky Hill and am enjoying it very much. I so appreciate the way neighbors help one another as best they can from car rides, to lending clothing or equipment, to helping move furniture.

I believe we will be dealing with a variety of societal and climate challenges in the years ahead and I appreciate building sustainable, resilient community - here and in the greater Northampton and Connecticut River Valley area.

When I am not at co-housing I am leading a workshop about classism/racism, helping people fundraise or give money, facilitating groups, hiking, singing or being with family and friends.

Dorothy Riehm

A Sonnet for Rocky Hill

Most of my life I've lived in the city

with barely a nod to neighbors next door.

At Rocky Hill now, I've joined a committee,

and I'm learning what neighborhood's really for.

Here people are eager to lend you a hand,

everyone's welcome, the young and the old.

Here kindness is made the law of the land

and even shy people come in from the cold.

Here you will find no building of fences

as we keep trying, again and again,

to make all decisions by means of consensus,

to love every neighbor the best that we can.

If we've not changed the world, we'll do it soon,

here, where children play and mountain laurel bloom.

Richard Getler

We moved to Rocky Hill in February 2017 and I am thrilled to be living among so many wonderful and inspiring people. I got to know our neighbors quickly by joining the Rocky Hill Men's Group, the Aging Gracefully group, Dinner by Sixes, Community Meetings, Friday night documentary movies, and by walking around the neighborhood and chatting with friendly people.

My passions are professional and fine art photography, and playing competitive tennis. Luckily I get to do both in abundance!

Janet Getler

My interests and occupations have been in visual arts and psychology, working mainly in art therapy; but my “real” work involves a lot more drawing and writing (in my new attic room).

Rocky Hill