Kirby Pines Retirement Community | The Pinecone

ON THE PINECONE COVER Happy New Year Everyone!! What a terrific conclusion to 2025. I promise you 2026 will be bigger and better than ever! I like the term “transformational.” It fits what I have in store. To accomplish our lofty aspirations, we have to have the right Leadership Team. Today, I want to introduce our newest Leaders of The Health Care Center. Brooke Nelson joined us on December 1, 2025, as our new Director of Nursing. Brooke replaced Rhonda Nelson who spent the last 10 years as our Director of Nursing. Brooke graduated from University of Memphis with a Bachelor of Science from the School of Nursing. Brooke’s career path started at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital as a Nurse Manager, then to St. Francis as a Clinical Nurse manager. Brooke was Supervisor of Case management at Baptist Rehabilitation Hospital. Finding her passion for seniors, Brooke accepted the role of Director of Nursing at Brookdale Senior Living in Germantown. Brooke was subsequently promoted as she demonstrated exceptional leadership and teaching skills. She was then promoted to multi-facility responsibility across Tennessee. Most Recently, Brookewas withCiel Senior Living, overseeing clinical operations in Tennessee, Illinois, Wisconsin, Florida, New Jersey, Washington, and Oregon. We are truly grateful to have her clinical knowledge and expertise for the Team! With Anna Bradford’s departure after 19 ½ years, we had very big shoes to fill! Well folks, we have just the right person to fill those shoes! Welcoming Our New Health Care Team Deniece Caldwell joined our team December 10, 2025. Deniece (yes, spelled correctly) received her Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Management and Leadership from Bethal University and her MBA from Union University. Deniece began her career with Harber Laman, then Dyersburg Nursing and Rehabilitation, Charter Senior Living, then Humboldt Eldercare Services. Deniece has a strong reputation within the state of Tennessee Department of Health. In fact, Deniece is the first employee that came with a recommendation from one of our state surveyors. The surveyor sent Deniece to us saying “She is the only administrator that I know in Tennessee that has the knowledge and the energy to take what Anna has built and take it to the next level. “Need I say more?” Please join me in welcoming Deniece and Brooke to our Kirby Team! See you around campus!! Michael J. Brown, Jr. Executive Director, Kirby Pines at Kirby Pines We have wrapped up another year at Kirby Pines, full of good times and laughter, love loss and sorrow, friendships and changes. It’s wonderful to look back at everything that has transpired in 2025 with all of our amazing activities, fabulous new residents, incredible programs, meaningful celebrations and so many new relationships. Speaking of new relationships, our front cover features residents and best friends, Cheryl Wood and Gerry Beckley, fondly known throughout the community as "Salt and Pepper". In February of 2025, Gerry had been living at Kirby for eight months when she ran into Cheryl, who had just moved in. They started to chat, Cheryl asked Gerry if she was hungry and the new pals went out to eat. The rest is history. They simply make each other laugh and share a friendship that is like so many at Kirby Pines - Special. • 2 • The Pinecone | January 2026 The Kirby Pines Bllliard Club Celebrating the New Year at Kirby Pines! Our back cover highlights another group of great friends, the Kirby Pines Billiard Club. Members, Richard Cheek, Roy Thurmond, Jim Gordon, Jim Stanley and Peter Jones, pictured below, have been playing together since 2020. On December 17th, they played their 20,000 game. What a major accomplishment! Congratulations and here's to many more in the New Year! BOARD OF DIRECTORS Dr. James Latimer, Chairman Mr. Rudy Herzke, President Mr. Larry Braughton Mr. Jim Ethridge Ms. Linda Harrington Ms. Mary Ann Hodges Mr. Rusty Linkous Mr. Boyd Rhodes, Jr. RCA STAFF Charlie Trammell President, RCA Michélle Vincent Executive Vice President, RCA Tim Cox Senior Vice President of Finance, RCA Michael Kelly Vice President of Finance, RCA KIRBY PINES STAFF Michael Brown Executive Director, Kirby Pines Mike Abutineh, M.D. Medical Director Deniece Caldwell Healthcare Administrator Ann Marie Bishop Director of Accounting Harold Morris Director of Culinary Mike Rayder Director of Grounds & Landscaping Trudy Schenkenberger Director of Human Resources Chuck Neeley Director of Maintenance Brooke Nelson Director of Nursing Kayla Holland Director of Resident Programs This magazine is produced by RCA 6465 N. Quail Hollow Rd., Suite 400 Memphis, TN 38120, 901-794-2598 Electronic version of The Pinecone is available at www.kirbypines.com