Don Stone has been fixing and fiddling with things for as long as he can remember – from repairing broken lawnmowers to fixing furniture and even building houses, the RWC resident enjoys being handy.

At Rappahannock Westminster-Canterbury, there are plenty of projects to keep him busy in the hobby and woodworking shop.

“Residents move in and movers break furniture,” he said. “I do a lot of restoring and refurbishing chairs, dressers, tables, etc. A lady brought a lamp in the other day that needed a new socket, so I fixed that for her.”

Stone has become good friends with the other woodworking regulars – Bob Holley, Hans Muller, Sandy McKelway, David Todd and Dean Loudy. They don’t charge for their services, but residents who want to pay it forward are encouraged to donate to the RWC Foundation.

When it came time to move to RWC, McKelway was ready to leave his boat behind, but the thought of losing his beloved home woodworking shop made him sad. He was pleasantly surprised when he was invited to move his equipment into a designated space in RWC’s Life Enrichment Center, which is available to all residents.

Stone and his wife sold their home in Burgess on the Great Wicomico when they moved to RWC. However, their son still lives in a house across the road from that property where Stone maintains a woodworking shop with drill presses, band saws and more. However, he spends more time at the RWC shop

“RWC’s hobby shop with the woodworking equipment was definitely a draw,” he said. “But we were going live here regardless. My sister has lived at RWC for seven years.”

Stone says his most challenging projects are when glue comes loose on a piece of furniture and the screws are hidden and sometimes stripped out. He also recently worked on a big chest of drawers that suffered flood damage and he had to rebuild the whole piece.

He’s currently working on several chairs from the RWC pub and a chair from the second-floor game room.

As much as he loves the woodworking shop, he finds the RWC staff to be the biggest draw here.

“The man who runs this place is unbelievable,” he said. “When it snowed the other day, I was brushing snow off my car and the next thing you know, this man was helping me. It was a Saturday, and it was the CEO – Stuart Bunting. The staff takes good care of us and feeds us well. I wouldn’t live anywhere else.”

Watch a short video showcasing our residents talking about the woodworking shop and craft room.