REEDLEY – After more than 18 years of welcoming new residents into the community and building a home for people in the final stages of their lives, Sierra View Homes CEO and Executive Director Ro Linscheid is stepping into retirement.
Not quite ready to say a final farewell, the staff at Sierra View Homes Retirement Community in Reedley organized a retirement party April 30 celebrating Linscheid’s upcoming adventures — both in retirement and in a planned trip around Europe. Dozens of Sierra View Homes residents and staff members joined together to wish Linscheid well in her next chapter.
“This is not only for me, but this is for Sierra View,” Linscheid said in her parting remarks. “You are all people who love Sierra View and care deeply for Sierra View, and I really appreciate this today.”
Linscheid thanked the staff, who she said she has incredible respect for and are “awesome.”
“You are the ones that make this place ‘in the company of friends,’” Linscheid said. “Your caring attitude, your showing up day after day, sometimes on days when it’s really, really hard, … you show up, you put a smile on your face — and thank you, thank you, thank you for that.”
Taking on the CEO position was a humbling experience, Linscheid said. As people progress through their careers, they often think that if they can get to that CEO level, they’ve reached the top, Linscheid said.
“But when you reach the top, you suddenly realize that there’s a whole lot of people relying on you, and so I again say thank you to the staff who’ve made this job — I won’t say easy, but very doable,” Linscheid said.
Linscheid became executive director and CEO in 2020, taking over from former CEO Vito Genna. Prior to that, she was the associate executive director for six years and got her start at Sierra View in September 2007 in an admissions and marketing role.
From teaching to serving others
Although Linscheid spent most of her career working in the retirement community/assisted living sector — she spent more than 10 years at what is now Palm Village before moving to Sierra View — she initially planned on teaching music.
Linscheid, who grew up in South Dakota, received her bachelor’s degree in music education from a university in Kansas. It was there that she met her husband, Jerry Linscheid, a Reedleyite, and the two moved back to the Central Valley to start their family.
Teaching positions were difficult to come by at the time, and a job opening for an activities director at Pleasant View Manor in 1993 eventually led Linscheid to her decades-long career serving others in care facilities.
Sierra View Homes residents, staff and members of the board of directors honored that career at Linscheid’s retirement party. Linscheid was treated to a rendition of her favorite song, got to sing a little herself, and received gifts that will help remind her of her time at Sierra View.
A few things that stick out to her the most from that time, she said, will be the building of the senior apartments at Sierra View called The Terraces — which she filled within 13 months — and the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, Linscheid said she and her staff were in the office seven days a week, trying to keep the community going while keeping the virus out.
Even through tough times, however, Linscheid said long-time Sierra View Homes residents have stuck around. She believes that’s thanks to the organization’s motto, “in the company of friends,” and the way staff take that to heart.
As she departs her position, Linscheid said she hopes that people feel safe, secure and know that Sierra View Homes is a good place to be.
