Meet Our Residents: Dene McIntosh

On the morning of our interview, Dene McIntosh had taken five phone calls before 10am. 

“I’m alone, but not lonely!” she told me with a grin. Friends and family within our community and from afar check in with her regularly. 

Dene and her late husband, Joe, moved to Plantation Village from next door at Porters Neck Country Club seven years ago. They were active members of the Porter’s Neck community for more than twenty years. They researched CCRCs across the country. They considered moving closer to their children and ultimately decided to “stay home” at PV. They wanted to remain near water and among an active community where they could stay involved with one of their lives’ greatest passions: tennis. 

Dene and Joe met on the tennis court decades ago. Dene received a 4.0 rating in the National Tennis Rating Program, which uses a scale of 1.5 (beginner) to 7.0 (touring pro).  

While Dene has hung up her racket, she maintains an active lifestyle and walks our 3-miles of paved trails and out at local parks regularly with friends. 

She’s active as the Chairperson of the Plantation Village Memorial Fund, a member of the PV “First Team”, a dining committee area representative, a Hospitality representative and she volunteers in our library. She also attends regular church services and remains active in her PNCC book club. 

“I wish we’d moved here 5 years earlier,” she says. Dene compares life at PV to the resort-style life you’d find on a cruise ship. For her, the people who make up our community make the difference. 

Sure, you’ll find communities with excellent dining, exercise classes and other amenities but she says the kindness and helpfulness exuded by PV staff and associates is unparalleled.

Maintenance-free living is more than she ever expected. She told me once she put in a work order to have her refrigerator’s water filter replaced. She thought it’d get taken care of within a few days and was shocked when she opened the door 5 minutes later to an associate with a water filter in his hand.. She says her children don’t worry about her, because they know she lives in a community where she’s taken care of.   You’ll often find her in the Village Market, picking up some freshly made cookies to enjoy! When Dene lost her husband Joe four years ago, being at Plantation Village made all the difference. 

She may be alone, but she’s never lonely for the support she has among friends, family and fellow widows and widowers who lean on each other. She’s embraced life’s changes by making new friends, staying connected to her lifelong ones and finding new passions. 

Anna Cook is Marketing Coordinator at Plantation Village, a non-profit continuing care retirement community that offers independent living on a 56-acre campus in Porters Neck, minutes from downtown Wilmington and area beaches.