When you work at the same place for more than a quarter century, it becomes a second home, with those you work with forming a second family.
When Regina Lawler goes to work on Friday, January 17th, it will be her final day as managing director of the Country Cottage in Russellville.
When the Cottage opened its doors on March 1, 1999, Lawler was part of the original staff, hired as a homemaker on the floor. A few years later, Lawler was promoted to residential services coordinator and eventually hired as managing director for the 27-room assisted living facility.
But the 72-year-old Lawler recently decided it was time for her to turn over the reins to Kim Homer, who will succeed Lawler as managing director once her certification is complete.
“I’m getting older and decided it’s just time to stay home,” Lawler said Friday. “I have a cousin who moved to Ft. Morgan, so I’m sure we’ll go down there some.”
A retirement reception for Lawler will be held Friday, January 17th at 2 p.m., at the Country Cottage, 900 N. Jackson Ave. The public is invited.
Lawler and her husband Perry have lived in the Oak Hill subdivision for 52 years. They have one son, who will turn 50 this year. Lawler was raised in the Mount Hebron community.
Lawler is the last of the original employees who started with the Country Cottage in Russellville in 1999. But she’s worked with Anita Howard for 13 years, Kim Boyles 12 years and Homer 12 years. And she considers each employee, as well as her residents, family.
“We have a really good group of ladies living here, and two fine men,” Lawler said. “And you definitely get attached to the residents. You grow closer with some but I love all of them, as well as the people I’m blessed to work with every day.”
While Lawler’s passion for the Cottage residents has never changed, plenty of other things have during her 25-year tenure.
“The paperwork is still the same but now it’s all done on the computer through the ALIs program. The girls have a table to use to mark off what they’ve done each day. So it’s changed a little in how we do it, but not that much,” Lawler said.
Through her 25 years, Lawler, her staff and residents, have endured severe weather events as well as the global COVID-19 pandemic.
“There have been times we’ve stayed here and slept on blow up mattresses, and of course COVID was a difficult time for our residents and their families,” Lawler said.
Those difficulties aside, Lawler knows her life will be vastly different after January 17th when she says goodbye to her ‘second home.’
“When I finally sit down and think about it and it finally soaks in, that’s when it will probably hit me,” Lawler said. “It will be strange not getting up and going to (the Cottage) every day, but I think I’ll enjoy staying home, especially in the winter when it gets cold. But I’ll definitely miss it.”
And after 25 years, there’s no doubt the Country Cottage employees and residents will miss Lawler as well.
