Bill and Karen began going to the Tom Taylor Family YMCA in 2010 after Karen, a nurse practitioner on the Key Peninsula, kept hearing her patients talk about the Y. What started as enjoyable exercise routines, the Y and the community of members and staff quickly became a place of stability when their circumstances changed drastically. In 2014, Karen was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and in the next three years, they lost two of their children in separate incidents.
Through grief, uncertainty, and change, the Y became a place of refuge.
“It was an awful time in our lives,” Bill shares. “The Y saved us. It kept us going. That place is a lifesaver. They gave us a lot of solace, and it was a great place to go where we could be ourselves. It was just a wonderful place.”
Karen found belonging and healthy exercise in a Pilates class, where she was met with patience and kindness as her memory began to deteriorate. Bill explains that the classes and the people were key to retaining some kind of stability. The Y had become more than a gym for them: it became their community. The couple attended lunches at the Y and went to Tacoma Rainiers baseball games with Y staff.
“I can’t emphasize how important it was to us,” Bill explains. “I don’t know what would have happened to us. Not just the exercise, but the people. The people are welcoming and non-judgmental. They’re just like being with family.”
The impact has been lasting, and Bill is paying it forward.
In 2022, the couple moved from Gig Harbor to a care facility in Indiana to help with Karen’s health. Despite moving halfway across the country, they still make a significant annual donation to the Tom Taylor Family YMCA. The Y is even part of their will.
“I can’t think of anything better to support than the Y,” Bill says. “Wherever you are in life, whatever you’re going through, there’s something there for you. I guarantee it.”