Donna D. Simpson has been the Life Enrichment Coordinator for LaurelHurst for the past four years. She transitioned from a career in education to the Activities profession seven years ago. Music has been an important part of Donna’s life and she has enjoyed being a part of many performance groups in Spartanburg such as the The Repertory Co., Little Theatre and the Symphony Chorus. Her membership in the Music Club of Spartanburg goes back 27 years. For the past five years, Donna has served as organist/choir master at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Spartanburg. Among the parties, trips, outings and special events at LaurelHurst, Donna includes lots of music on the monthly calendar. The newly formed LaurelHurst Chorale has had two performances and is looking forward to future opportunities. Donna’s goal is to reflect the past and present interests of all the residents on the monthly social events calendar and make sure everyone is involved in something.
Executive
Director — Freddie Jones
I arrived at LaurelHurst/LaurelWoods on May 5, 2003, to assume the position
of Executive Director and am licensed in North Carolina and South Carolina
as an administrator and am certified in Health Information Management.
I have 24 years’ experience in the retirement living profession and
prior to that was in hospital administration. This past year I served
as chairperson for the first Polk County Alzheimer’s Memory Fund
Drive. I am currently on the advisory committee of the Health Information
Management program at Greenville Technical College. Each day is a blessing
that I spend with my team members and residents. Many of the staff and
I have been together previously and work well as a team. Daily I learn
form our residents. I live at Lake Bowen, which is in South Carolina but
is only 15 minutes from our community. Cocoa and Tater Tot, who have been
“employed” at LaurelWoods and LaurelHurst since they were eight
weeks old (“the boys” as our residents refer to them) provide
pet therapy on a regular basis. My hobbies include dancing, motorcycle
riding and driving my Mustang convertible. I attend Lake Bowen Baptist
Church where I am the Welcome Center Coordinator. I have three daughters,
four granddaughters and two grandsons. My mother has been a resident of
LaurelWoods for almost five years.
