07-07-2025
A Scramble for a Woman, 77, Who Lost Her ‘Forever' Apartment
When Patricia Brennecke found out she had to leave the apartment in Oakland she'd lived in for eight years — a funky, light-filled place where she felt not just at ease but embraced, like a member of the landlord's extended family — the moment felt seismic.
'I thought: I have to figure out a place to go and die,' said Ms. Brennecke, 77, though she's still spry and lucid, and her family tends toward longevity. 'I'm not saying it's going to happen tomorrow, but I'm already losing friends pretty regularly. But these are questions you ask as you get older: What will happen to me? Who will take care of me?'
Originally from the East Coast, she went to California for college and stayed on to teach ESL. She only returned to Boston later, when she landed a position at M.I.T.
'But I hated Boston,' she said with a wry smile, 'though my extended family still lives there.'
Never married and without children, she always knew she'd have to map out her later years on her own terms. After retiring, she began exploring different options: living abroad in Paris and a town in Mexico, where she had built vibrant communities of friends, and even scoping out senior living communities.
'But I got so depressed,' she said, recalling her visits to those facilities.
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