Sun City: Life After Life

Ongoing, Photos shot 2009-2024
Velta Larson and Gene Limbacher pose between round dances at Social Hall No. 1 during a square dance and round dance night in Sun City, Arizona. The dancing pair are not married but have been dancing together for 16 years.
An aerial view of Sun City, Arizona. The city was cotton fields when developer Del Webb bought it and transformed it into a paradise for retirees in 1959.
The Sun City Poms, aged 61-78, perform for a routine for a crowd in Talisman Hall. The start of their routine includes an announcement that one is “never too old to perform and expand your horizons.”
Robert Johnson rides in his golf cart while his dogs Jewel and Buster, both rescues, walk with him in Sun City, Arizona. Robert has lived in Sun City for 14 years. He and his wife Jessie moved to Sun City from Minnesota because they wanted to live somewhere where there is something going on when the sun goes down. His wife is very involved and does yoga, acrylic painting, water colors and more.
Members of the Sun City Aqua Suns, a synchronized swim team, walk a red carpet at the Lakeview Recreation Center before a performance at the Holiday Around the World celebration in Sun City, Arizona
Curtis Hay, 87, plays pool at one of the rec centers with a 96-year-old a couple times a week and “as a matter of fact I won all the games today, but one,” he said. He has lived in Sun City with his wife for 20 years now and said it has everything. He sits in his golf cart in his Sun City driveway.
Purple Woods, 78, poses for a portrait in her yard in Sun City, Arizona October 4, 2020.

Purple is a self-proclaimed “jack of all trades and an absolute master of nothing except dance.”

Before the pandemic shut all the dancing clubs down, Purple was dancing four nights a week. And now she hasn’t gotten to dance since St. Patrick’s Day.

“That’s the reason I came down here [to Sun City]. In fact, in ’05 when I had cancer, I said, Lord, I don’t mind if I go through all this chemotherapy but if I can’t dance after, I don’t wanna live.”

“It’s like I was born to dance. My mom was a piano player and I bet you when she was playing the piano, I was kicking in there. I was born dancing.”

Purple has neuropathy in her feet now, but she says she has no trouble on the dance floor.

“I’m very upset that I can’t be dancing. I miss it tremendously.” She tries to keep busy right now by catching up on organizing and paperwork and pruning her yard.

“I was on one of the bushes in the corner. It is purple sage and I was working on that bush. And I always have music going and there was a cat on that wall over there. And I said, I wanna get up and dance to that. After the music stopped playing, I bowed to the cat and said, thank you so much for being my audience.”

“It’s been difficult, but I take it out when I’m pruning the trees.”
Kevin Nicastro, right, 63, and his husband Steve Meoli, 66, in their home in Sun City, Arizona.
The couple bought their Sun City home in 2009 but didn’t move from Cape Cod to Sun City until 2017. “The weather is a big contributing factor for me, just being sunny and warm. And I love the fact that we are in a community where we could have everything we possibly need within a 20 mile radius.”
The previous weekend the pair went to Sun City’s Senior Prom and were one of two gay couples there. They are happy for the newer LGBT Club of Sun City because it’s “a great community within the community” Kevin said.
“It’s nice to have a support system. It’s once a month. Everybody is in the same boat, it’s a really nice feeling,” Steve said. They celebrate their 15 year anniversary this year.
Friends gather balloons to pass out at the memorial service for Sun City resident Monte Haag, who moved to Sun City in 2000 and lived there for 10 years. He died in a crash flying an ultralight plane outside of Sun City.
Elva McKittrick, 109, is the oldest resident of Sun City, Arizona. She has lived at Royal Oaks Assisted Living in Sun City for the past 26 years. She eats ice cream with her lunch and dinner every day.
Peggy Parsons, 79, is vice president of the Sun City Poms, a cheerleading squad in Sun City, Arizona, seen October 5, 2020.
Various club members await their chance to join the Sun City Parade in Sun City, Arizona, which was part of the city’s 50th anniversary year.
Members of the Sun City Aqua Suns, a synchronized swim team made up of retirees, wait for their cue for a holiday reindeer routine in the pool Lakeview Recreation Center. Their performance was a part of the Holiday Around the World celebration in Sun City, Arizona
Flappers shimmy at the Sun City Senior Prom at Sundial Auditorium in Sun City, Arizona March 6, 2020. The theme was The Roaring Twenties and the flyer said “The Roaring 2020’s that is!”
I met Larry at his cousin’s funeral December 11, 2010. Monte, 70, had died crashing an ultralight plane that he had just learned to fly. (The crash site was located by the giant plume of dust and smoke that billowed out of the desert sand into the sky.) I was sitting on the ground on the tennis court Monte had played at every day in Sun City, with my camera aimed upwards, just moments before all the mourners sang in unison and released colorful balloons into the sky. Larry bent over and said, “Hi, who are you and who are you taking photos for?” I told him TIME Magazine and he was impressed. It was my third trip back, and TIME had commissioned my return. Larry still tells every single person he introduces me to this story about my working for TIME at his cousin’s funeral. It makes me blush every time, but I love that he tells it because it feels like one of those proud dad moves. Last visit last year, Larry’s Jeannie told me about discovering she had a brain tumor — by watching an episode of Dr. Oz, believe it or not. The longer I’m away, the more anxious I become that something might have happened to them, and then, luckily, in their next email I find that they are fine and hope I will visit soon.
Jeannie always has cookies or brownies for me when I visit and we shared cookies and mango in their backyard in Sun City this weekend. Larry asked Jeannie if they should show me the new shirts they had made and I interrupted and said yes! So they went in and changed tops and came back out and unveiled this sweetness. Larry and Jeannie started dating (if you can call it that) when they were in second grade, in 1950.
Mugs line a shelf in one of the men’s woodworking clubs in Sun City, Arizona October 25, 2017.
A welcome into the couples dance class in Sun City
The front yard at 9415 Hidden Valley Circle in Sun City, Arizona offers a friendly reminder.
Lucille Rogers, 85, and Linda Haugland, 63, stand in duck costumes to promote a Duck Race for charity outside of the Lakeview Recreation Center
Chairs line a wall in Social Hall No. 1 in Sun City, Arizona. Anything from aerobics to square dancing take place in this room.
Jeannie Klein picks tangerines from a neighbor’s tree to make fresh juice
Seen at the 4th Annual Spring Fling Car Show hosted by the Vintage Vehicles of Sun City, a restoration and social club, at the Sun Bowl Amphitheater in Sun City, Arizona March 7, 2020.
Bill Pearson, 62, with his standard poodle Phoenix outside of his home in Sun City, Arizona. His mother also lives in Sun City, so he is a second-generation Sun Citian, which is very common. “I saw it and I said this is how and where I want to grow old,” Bill said about his first visit to Sun City with his wife Lori.
The Belles and Beaus dance club wait for their turn to join the parade in the Bell Recreation Center lot before the Sun City Parade in Sun City, Arizona. 2010 marked the 50th anniversary of Sun City, the first planned retirement city in the United States.
The Sun City Poms rehearse in a recreation hall for an upcoming holiday performance in nearby Glendale, Arizona. The cheerleading squad members range from 57 to 81 years old.
Over 96 players compete at the Gil Sephan Arizona Mixed Rinks Lawn Bowling tournament at Bell Recreation Center in Sun City, Arizona. Competitors are not only local, the tournament had players from Canada, the West Coast and Florida. January and February is big lawn bowling tournament season in Sun City.
Members of the choir of the Fountain of Life Lutheran Church rehearse before church in Sun City, Arizona.
The Aqua Suns are a group of synchronized swimmers in Sun City, Arizona.
Dozens of Sun City residents fill Norma and Mo Lavoie’s Cameo Drive home for a Friday night party.
10445 Meade Drive, Sun City, Arizona
Cheri and Dave Best don peanut butter and jelly couples costumes for the NextGen Halloween party at the Sundial Recreation Center October 25, 2017. The couple who have been married for 49 years have lived in Sun City for just two years.
Jane Freeman, 90, is a resident in Heritage Palmeras, a luxurious apartment complex for the older residents in Sun City, Arizona. Mrs. Freeman has lived in Sun City for 40 years. Her complex provides meals in a dining area with waiters, housekeeping twice a week, an arts and crafts facility, a computer lab, a happy hour every Friday, as well as a gym, that she uses three times a week.
Mrs. Freeman has been instrumental in recording the history of Sun City. She saved hundreds of photos from being thrown away and cowrote Jubilee at the 25th Anniversary of Sun City in 1985.
John and Carla Dykema, dressed as Battle of the Sexes tennis players Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King for the 2017 NextGen Halloween party.
Sun City’s Viewpoint Lake (which is manmade) is the home to two sister swans.
A woman stretches during a yoga class in the Sundial Recreation Center.
Nicola, 52, and Greg Hazen, 59, dressed as a zombie bride and groom dance at the NextGen Halloween party. The pair moved from Wisonsin 18 months prior and were celebrating their 3 year wedding anniversary that night.
A parked RV outside of a Sun City home.
People play pool in the Bell Recreation Center as a bowling tournament goes on in the next room .
Julie Stanek and John Gurin keep warm in their car before leaving for home after the Holiday Around the World Celebration in Sun City, Az at the Lakeview Recreation Center.
John’s claim to fame is he got eight holes in one at Sun City’s Sundial mini golf course five years ago. They met years ago at a dance in Chicago. They’ve lived in Sun City for 13 years.
Members of the Pickleball Club play on the newly covered courts at Marinette Recreation Center in Sun City.
Larry Cuppy, 75, at a garage sale on West Peoria Avenue in Sun City. He lived in Sun City for 18 years and moved just outside the city’s border 2 years ago into a trailer. “I wouldn’t trade it for nothing, I really love it here,” he said.
Recently blessed uncooperative cats become entertainment for the congregation of the All Saints of the Desert Episcopal Church as they make their way back to their pew with their owners during the annual blessing of the animals.
The Sun City Poms Sun City Poms cheerleaders Barbara Grandinetti, 79, Geri Braddock, 71, Tommie Sebring, 82, Sally Davis, 66, and Carolyn Sargent, 73, pose for a portrait at the Sundial Auditorium in Sun City, Arizona January 16, 2019.
Sun City Pom Geri Braddock, 71
Sun City Pom Sally Davis, 66
Sun City Pom Barbara Grandinetti, 79
Sun City Pom Carolyn Sargent, 73
Sun City Pom Tommie Sebring, 82
A photo from the 1960s seen at the Sun City Museum in Sun City, Arizona.
Jim, 66, and his husband Howard, 68, have been a couple for 42 years this September. They moved to Sun City 10 years ago.
Golf cart parking outside of the Sun Bowl, Sun City’s open-air amphitheater, before a free concert by a Fleetwood Mac tribute band.
Sun Citians gather at the Sun Bowl, Sun City’s open-air amphitheater, before a free concert by a Fleetwood Mac tribute band.
Dawn and Lisa moved to Sun City two years ago. “I wouldn’t live anywhere else, I really wouldn’t. Would you?” Dawn asked Lisa. “No,” Lisa replied.
Lisa and Dawn have been a couple for two decades now and they raised two children together. Lisa was one of the handful of residents who helped start the LGBT Club in Sun City two years ago. Within one year the club had almost 200 members.
“It was awesome to see 90-year-olds dancing at the Christmas dance.
It’s really kind of awe-inspiring. We are from a generation where we couldn’t really be out. I’m from the military so I really couldn’t be out. We are from a generation where we couldn’t tell our family,” Dawn said.
“Throughout all of our time together, we haven’t had many gay friends, and now we have all gay friends,” Dawn said.
Dianne Karr, 70, with her new puppy Buttercup (aka “Baby Butt”) in her driveway during an impromptu yard sale in front of her house in Sun City. She moved to Sun City a year ago and her mother who is 90 lives directly next door.
It’s Coming Soon.
The first annual Howl-O-Ween Dog Costume Parade at the Duffeeland Dog Park in Sun City.
Swimmers and sunbathers reflect in the Lakeview Pottery Club display case.
Clothing for sale on a tennis court during a bazaar at the Holiday Around the World Celebration in Sun City, Az at the Lakeview Recreation Center.
An antique car parked outside of a Sun City home.
A black swan on the manmade Viewpoint Lake
Theresa Gottardo shops in WalGreens with her dog Snoopy in tow.
Theresa, who is originally from northern Italy and moved to Sun City from New York City said she doesn’t miss her former homes at all. Sun City “is quiet, not too expensive,” she said. “I enjoy the tranquility. I really enjoy every moment.”
The newly-crowned Sun City 2020 Senior Prom King
John Stewart, 84, and his wife Dora, 80, pose for portraits at their home Sun City, Arizona October 7, 2020. Sun City is an active retirement city in Arizona.

The pair, who are originally from Scotland, have lived in Sun City for 23 years now. Dora does ceramics, John plays pool, and they both are winners of national lawn bowling tournaments. They are in the lawn bowling hall of fame, John said. “I think we are the only couple” in the hall of fame, John said. “Alive,” Dora said.
“Alive,” John said.

Sun City boasts the best lawn bowling greens in the country, according to John. When they lived in Ohio they would have to drive 340 miles to Milwaukee for tournaments and now in Sun City they drive a mile and a half.

The pandemic has shut down lawn bowling from happening in Sun City since March and though she loves the sport, “It didn’t really bother me because safety has to come first,” Dora said.
“We are very blessed, we feel very fortunate,” she said. “Older people have kept to themselves. We normally have company but we can’t now.”

“Tell her why you like to play,” Dora urged John.
“I like to win,” John said.
John Stewart, 84, has lived in Sun City for 23 years now. He and his wife are both winners of national lawn bowling tournaments. They are in the lawn bowling hall of fame, John said. “I think we are the only couple” in the hall of fame, John said. “Alive,” Dora said.
“Alive,” John said.
A security guard picks up a flag knocked over by the wind during swim relays for the Arizona Senior Olympics take place at the Bell Recreation Center pool in Sun City, Arizona
Golf carts commonly roam Sun City streets alongside cars.
Members of the NextGen Club dance to a DJ in Halloween costumes at the Sundial Recreation Center in Sun City, Arizona October 25, 2017. The NextGen club is one of hundreds of clubs in Sun City and is a social club where the group gathers for happy hour and games.
Jolene Wolzen and her date at The Sun City Senior Prom at Sundial Auditorium in Sun City, Arizona March 6, 2020. The theme was The Roaring Twenties.
Lyn Baker raises the American flag outside of her father’s home at 9626 Glen Oaks Circle in Sun City, Arizona. Lyn’s mother passed-away in December and Lyn moved in with her father to keep him company.
Swim Relays for the Arizona Senior Olympics take place at the Bell Recreation Center pool in Sun City, Arizona.
Karen Haag and her uncle Dick Erickson talk on the couch at Larry and Jeannie Klein’s baked potato party following the annual lit boat parade.
A poker game inside of the Sundial Men’s Club in Sun City, Arizona,
A second-hand store in Sun City is full of recliners.
Photos of Elva McKittrick taken over 100 years ago. Elva McKittrick, 109, is the oldest resident of Sun City, Arizona.
Jean and Ade are both 90 years old and got married at 20 and have been married for 70 years. “I never thought we’d live this long,” Jean said.
We talked on the couch and then Jean led me through the house to show me beautiful old family photos at my request (including their wedding photo and her photo as homecoming queen). She also told me 3 years ago she had a stroke and died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. I asked what she remembered from that time while her heart was not beating: “It was beautiful. All I remember was I was on a long walk and it was so beautiful, so don’t be afraid to go.”
The pair also have beautiful professional portraits on display in their living room that were taken to be displayed at their funeral services because they want it to be easy for their children when they pass, and when you’re 90 that’s something you think about pretty matter of factly.
Some members of the acclaimed Sun City Poms, a cheerleading squad, have been meeting in member’s backyard to hula hoop together since the pandemic has prevented them from their regular practices. Eight members of the Poms hula hoop in Sherri Sharp’s backyard in the morning in Sun City, Arizona October 7, 2020.
Anne Brown Rigg calls during a round dance as couples pass by during a night of round and square dancing in a social hall in Sun City, Arizona December 8, 2009. Because there are less men available, some women often pair up to dance together.
Lori and Louise have lived in Sun City for three years and have been a couple since 1985. Lori had been visiting family in Sun City for 20 years and always said she couldn’t wait to get old enough to finally move there (to live in Sun City as a resident, each property has have a resident who is 55 or older). I asked what they thought about Sun City finally having its own LGBT Club. “I love the club’s existence number one,” Lori said. “That’s a huge shift to think that little old grey Sun City has a gay club. It offers an opportunity to socialize with family.” The club was chartered two years ago and the first day 110 people showed up to join. Louise said she saw a “gentleman grinning like an idiot and, y’know, I said to him ‘You’re happy!,’ I said. ‘Yes, I’m so happy,’ he said. ‘I’m 78 years old and this is the first time I’ve been in a room with gays!’ And he was grinning so big.”
A pandemic mask and sunglasses decorate a cactus in Sun City, Arizona October 6, 2020.
Halloween
Tangerines
Phil Rohrer jumps as he plays pickleball with the Sun City Pickleball Club
Tracy Schenck, 57, moved from Denver to Sun City, Arizona in May of 2019.

“I was 55 and in Denver and I said Lord, I don’t see myself 60 in this big city. I need a place I can work and build relationships, and die,” she said.
“Sun City transformed my vision and hope for my future. I’m encouraged by those I see and my surroundings. 55 is not the end, but the beginning of a new view and vision of life. A vision of what my life still can be.”

She floats in her friend Rocky’s pool October 7, 2020.
Purple Woods, 77, poses for a portrait at the Sun City Senior Prom at Sundial Auditorium in Sun City, Arizona March 6, 2020. The theme was The Roaring Twenties and the flyer said “The Roaring 2020’s that is!”
As she walked in the entrance completely drenched in purple from head to toe (even a pillow, water bottle and bag she carried were purple), I was enamored with her—her spirit, her energy, the way she moved, how she said her one regret was never jumping out of a plane with a parachute so she could feel what it was like to float so effortlessly and how she cannot wait to go to heaven to dance on the clouds there.
The Sun City Senior Prom at Sundial Auditorium in Sun City, Arizona March 6, 2020. The theme was The Roaring Twenties and the flyer said “The Roaring 2020’s that is!”

Photo by Kendrick Brinson
Barbara Speziale at the Sun City Senior Prom at Sundial Auditorium in Sun City, Arizona March 6, 2020.
Gordon Parlova and Debbie Webb dance at the annual Sun City Senior Prom at Sundial Auditorium in Sun City, Arizona March 6, 2020. The theme was The Roaring Twenties and the flyer said “The Roaring 2020’s that is!”
A sunbather naps next to Bell Recreation Center’s lap pool.
Loretta Chapman, 66, walks her two dogs Buster and Bubby in Sun City, Arizona October 1, 2020.
She walks her dogs with her golf cart four times a day.
October and December are excuses to decorate your yard and cacti with masks and santa hats in Sun City.
Cheryl Kurth and Irene Moore pose for a photo inside of the the annual Arts and Crafts Festival where 37 Sun City clubs sold their wares to more than 16,000 shoppers over three days in Sun City, Arizona.
As her husband Jerry Ida recovers from heart surgery in his bedroom next door, his wife tidies up the living room. Their home is covered with taxidermy animals Jerry hunted from Alaska to Russia to Montana to British Columbia.
Anita Paulson, 80, sketches a skull in the Palo Verde Art Club’s portrait drawing class. The instructor Bruce Cody brought in an actual human skull that had been found in the 1920s. Anita also practices yoga and tai chi in clubs in Sun City and moved to the retirement town in 1998. Her favorite part about Sun City is “all the opportunities,” she said.
Outside of Lakeview Recreation Center
Bell Shuffleboard Club, Sun City, Arizona
One of 14 tables full of Mahjong players in a room at Sundial. Residents of Sun City can meet for group games three times a week if they please.
Betty McCarthey, 73, doesn’t live in Sun City, but her boyfriend does. She was doing a three day yard sale when I drove past and stopped. She had a stroke and open heart surgery recently and had to move in with her daughter to recuperate, so she no longer had the space for her collection of 90 dolls (and dozens of stuffed Taz dolls) and she was set on selling each of them. She told me she doesn’t like redheads but liked me, with a wink.
Items for sale in an estate sale in a home in Sun City, Arizona.
Attendees leave the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum’s Jubilee Gala IV, which includes a dinner and a live performance.
Pre-Paid Funeral Plans
Inside of Jeannie and Larry Klein’s Sun City home.
Sun City
Jerry Zwack, 62, created a motorized couch that he now drives around Sun City because his wife jokingly called him a “couch potato” who needed to get out of the house. He said his odometer now reads more than 3,000 miles. He poses with his one-of-a-kind transportation outside of the Sun Bowl Amphitheater in Sun City, Arizona.
Under the jacaranda tree at Sundial Recreation Center
Two of the 31 softball teams in Sun City play on the fields near the Sun Bowl in Sun City, Arizona December 3, 2013. While the rules are slightly amended to protect the aging players (no sliding), the games are intense for the 55-92 year old players.
One of the 31 softball teams warms up before a game in Sun City, Arizona December 3, 2013. Sun City, Arizona was the first age-restricted city of retirees when it opened in 1960.
Golf carts parked outside of Bell Recreation Center, just one of the seven recreation centers in Sun City.
The Sun City Poms Marching Unit practices for an upcoming parade in a parking lot outside of a recreation center in Sun City, Arizona.
The 4th Annual Spring Fling Car Show hosted by the Vintage Vehicles of Sun City, a restoration and social club, at the Sun Bowl Amphitheater in Sun City, Arizona March 7, 2020.
Larry Klein’s pick-up truck has a Sun City vanity plate. He and his wife Jeannie split their time between Iowa and Sun City.
The empty Sun Bowl in Sun City, October 3, 2020. Due the the pandemic, they’ve had to reschedule the entire winter concert series and cancel all fall shows at the Sun Bowl.
Seen in the hallway of Fairway Recreation Center.
A palm tree shadow at the Bell Recreation Center in Sun City
Theresa Cirino, Director of Events & Entertainment in Sun City, poses for a photo at the Sun City Senior Prom at Sundial Auditorium in Sun City, Arizona March 6, 2020.
Marilyn, 76, and John Richling, 73, pose for photos at their home in Sun City, Arizona October 6, 2020. Sun City is an active retirement city in Arizona.

2020 is Marilyn’s fourteenth year as president of the Sun City Squares, a square and round dancing club with more than 60 members in Sun City. Before the pandemic shut the club down, they would meet for a 2 hour dance on Tuesday nights, a dance on Thursday nights in Sun City West, and dance lessons on Fridays.

The last dance was in March.

“We danced up until we couldn’t dance anymore. And we haven’t been able to dance since then because we are a contact sport,” Marilyn explained.

“Square dancing is a contact sport–You depend on meeting of hands. That not only keeps people in rhythm but also tells them the next move by pushing,” John said.

The regular dances and church are where John and Marilyn did most of their socializing, but they haven’t been able to do either for months. John has Atrial fibrillation and Marilyn has had two recent operations so it isn’t safe for them to see others during the pandemic.

“To me, it was my only outlet that I had, other than church and family. Church shut down. Square dancing shut down. It was stay at home and do nothing,” Marilyn said.

Both Marilyn and John dance together, in fact, they met while on a dance floor 35 years ago.
“I just went through a divorce and I knew that at dance lessons there’s usually a shortage of men,” John smirked, “and then Marilyn showed up and asked if I needed a partner for the night.” The rest was history.

“We were dancing 5 days a week,” she said.

“It was just perfect,” he said.
Marilyn, 76, and John Richling, 73
Jerry Ida’s Sun City bedroom has trophies from his many hunting trips around the world
Sun City
Balloons are released by family and friends, including his youngest sister Janis Schewe (center, blonde), at the memorial service for Sun City resident Monte Haag, who moved to Sun City in 2000 and died in a crash flying an ultralight plane outside of Sun City.
Jim Heinrich is the choir director at Fountain of Life Lutheran Church in Sun City, Arizona. He also teaches photography at Dysart High School in El Mirage, Arizona.
Herme Sherry, Ms. Senior Arizona 2004, walks outside of the Sundial Recreation Center following the Sun City Parade in Sun City, Arizona.
A woman steps out of the Saturday night Classic Rock Dance Club at Fairway Recreation Center in Sun City

Ongoing, Photos shot 2009-2024
Velta Larson and Gene Limbacher pose between round dances at Social Hall No. 1 during a square dance and round dance night in Sun City, Arizona. The dancing pair are not married but have been dancing together for 16 years.
An aerial view of Sun City, Arizona. The city was cotton fields when developer Del Webb bought it and transformed it into a paradise for retirees in 1959.
The Sun City Poms, aged 61-78, perform for a routine for a crowd in Talisman Hall. The start of their routine includes an announcement that one is “never too old to perform and expand your horizons.”
Robert Johnson rides in his golf cart while his dogs Jewel and Buster, both rescues, walk with him in Sun City, Arizona. Robert has lived in Sun City for 14 years. He and his wife Jessie moved to Sun City from Minnesota because they wanted to live somewhere where there is something going on when the sun goes down. His wife is very involved and does yoga, acrylic painting, water colors and more.
Members of the Sun City Aqua Suns, a synchronized swim team, walk a red carpet at the Lakeview Recreation Center before a performance at the Holiday Around the World celebration in Sun City, Arizona
Curtis Hay, 87, plays pool at one of the rec centers with a 96-year-old a couple times a week and “as a matter of fact I won all the games today, but one,” he said. He has lived in Sun City with his wife for 20 years now and said it has everything. He sits in his golf cart in his Sun City driveway.
Purple Woods, 78, poses for a portrait in her yard in Sun City, Arizona October 4, 2020.

Purple is a self-proclaimed “jack of all trades and an absolute master of nothing except dance.”

Before the pandemic shut all the dancing clubs down, Purple was dancing four nights a week. And now she hasn’t gotten to dance since St. Patrick’s Day.

“That’s the reason I came down here [to Sun City]. In fact, in ’05 when I had cancer, I said, Lord, I don’t mind if I go through all this chemotherapy but if I can’t dance after, I don’t wanna live.”

“It’s like I was born to dance. My mom was a piano player and I bet you when she was playing the piano, I was kicking in there. I was born dancing.”

Purple has neuropathy in her feet now, but she says she has no trouble on the dance floor.

“I’m very upset that I can’t be dancing. I miss it tremendously.” She tries to keep busy right now by catching up on organizing and paperwork and pruning her yard.

“I was on one of the bushes in the corner. It is purple sage and I was working on that bush. And I always have music going and there was a cat on that wall over there. And I said, I wanna get up and dance to that. After the music stopped playing, I bowed to the cat and said, thank you so much for being my audience.”

“It’s been difficult, but I take it out when I’m pruning the trees.”
Kevin Nicastro, right, 63, and his husband Steve Meoli, 66, in their home in Sun City, Arizona.
The couple bought their Sun City home in 2009 but didn’t move from Cape Cod to Sun City until 2017. “The weather is a big contributing factor for me, just being sunny and warm. And I love the fact that we are in a community where we could have everything we possibly need within a 20 mile radius.”
The previous weekend the pair went to Sun City’s Senior Prom and were one of two gay couples there. They are happy for the newer LGBT Club of Sun City because it’s “a great community within the community” Kevin said.
“It’s nice to have a support system. It’s once a month. Everybody is in the same boat, it’s a really nice feeling,” Steve said. They celebrate their 15 year anniversary this year.
Friends gather balloons to pass out at the memorial service for Sun City resident Monte Haag, who moved to Sun City in 2000 and lived there for 10 years. He died in a crash flying an ultralight plane outside of Sun City.
Elva McKittrick, 109, is the oldest resident of Sun City, Arizona. She has lived at Royal Oaks Assisted Living in Sun City for the past 26 years. She eats ice cream with her lunch and dinner every day.
Peggy Parsons, 79, is vice president of the Sun City Poms, a cheerleading squad in Sun City, Arizona, seen October 5, 2020.
Various club members await their chance to join the Sun City Parade in Sun City, Arizona, which was part of the city’s 50th anniversary year.
Members of the Sun City Aqua Suns, a synchronized swim team made up of retirees, wait for their cue for a holiday reindeer routine in the pool Lakeview Recreation Center. Their performance was a part of the Holiday Around the World celebration in Sun City, Arizona
Flappers shimmy at the Sun City Senior Prom at Sundial Auditorium in Sun City, Arizona March 6, 2020. The theme was The Roaring Twenties and the flyer said “The Roaring 2020’s that is!”
I met Larry at his cousin’s funeral December 11, 2010. Monte, 70, had died crashing an ultralight plane that he had just learned to fly. (The crash site was located by the giant plume of dust and smoke that billowed out of the desert sand into the sky.) I was sitting on the ground on the tennis court Monte had played at every day in Sun City, with my camera aimed upwards, just moments before all the mourners sang in unison and released colorful balloons into the sky. Larry bent over and said, “Hi, who are you and who are you taking photos for?” I told him TIME Magazine and he was impressed. It was my third trip back, and TIME had commissioned my return. Larry still tells every single person he introduces me to this story about my working for TIME at his cousin’s funeral. It makes me blush every time, but I love that he tells it because it feels like one of those proud dad moves. Last visit last year, Larry’s Jeannie told me about discovering she had a brain tumor — by watching an episode of Dr. Oz, believe it or not. The longer I’m away, the more anxious I become that something might have happened to them, and then, luckily, in their next email I find that they are fine and hope I will visit soon.
Jeannie always has cookies or brownies for me when I visit and we shared cookies and mango in their backyard in Sun City this weekend. Larry asked Jeannie if they should show me the new shirts they had made and I interrupted and said yes! So they went in and changed tops and came back out and unveiled this sweetness. Larry and Jeannie started dating (if you can call it that) when they were in second grade, in 1950.
Mugs line a shelf in one of the men’s woodworking clubs in Sun City, Arizona October 25, 2017.
A welcome into the couples dance class in Sun City
The front yard at 9415 Hidden Valley Circle in Sun City, Arizona offers a friendly reminder.
Lucille Rogers, 85, and Linda Haugland, 63, stand in duck costumes to promote a Duck Race for charity outside of the Lakeview Recreation Center
Chairs line a wall in Social Hall No. 1 in Sun City, Arizona. Anything from aerobics to square dancing take place in this room.
Jeannie Klein picks tangerines from a neighbor’s tree to make fresh juice
Seen at the 4th Annual Spring Fling Car Show hosted by the Vintage Vehicles of Sun City, a restoration and social club, at the Sun Bowl Amphitheater in Sun City, Arizona March 7, 2020.
Bill Pearson, 62, with his standard poodle Phoenix outside of his home in Sun City, Arizona. His mother also lives in Sun City, so he is a second-generation Sun Citian, which is very common. “I saw it and I said this is how and where I want to grow old,” Bill said about his first visit to Sun City with his wife Lori.
The Belles and Beaus dance club wait for their turn to join the parade in the Bell Recreation Center lot before the Sun City Parade in Sun City, Arizona. 2010 marked the 50th anniversary of Sun City, the first planned retirement city in the United States.
The Sun City Poms rehearse in a recreation hall for an upcoming holiday performance in nearby Glendale, Arizona. The cheerleading squad members range from 57 to 81 years old.
Over 96 players compete at the Gil Sephan Arizona Mixed Rinks Lawn Bowling tournament at Bell Recreation Center in Sun City, Arizona. Competitors are not only local, the tournament had players from Canada, the West Coast and Florida. January and February is big lawn bowling tournament season in Sun City.
Members of the choir of the Fountain of Life Lutheran Church rehearse before church in Sun City, Arizona.
The Aqua Suns are a group of synchronized swimmers in Sun City, Arizona.
Dozens of Sun City residents fill Norma and Mo Lavoie’s Cameo Drive home for a Friday night party.
10445 Meade Drive, Sun City, Arizona
Cheri and Dave Best don peanut butter and jelly couples costumes for the NextGen Halloween party at the Sundial Recreation Center October 25, 2017. The couple who have been married for 49 years have lived in Sun City for just two years.
Jane Freeman, 90, is a resident in Heritage Palmeras, a luxurious apartment complex for the older residents in Sun City, Arizona. Mrs. Freeman has lived in Sun City for 40 years. Her complex provides meals in a dining area with waiters, housekeeping twice a week, an arts and crafts facility, a computer lab, a happy hour every Friday, as well as a gym, that she uses three times a week.
Mrs. Freeman has been instrumental in recording the history of Sun City. She saved hundreds of photos from being thrown away and cowrote Jubilee at the 25th Anniversary of Sun City in 1985.
John and Carla Dykema, dressed as Battle of the Sexes tennis players Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King for the 2017 NextGen Halloween party.
Sun City’s Viewpoint Lake (which is manmade) is the home to two sister swans.
A woman stretches during a yoga class in the Sundial Recreation Center.
Nicola, 52, and Greg Hazen, 59, dressed as a zombie bride and groom dance at the NextGen Halloween party. The pair moved from Wisonsin 18 months prior and were celebrating their 3 year wedding anniversary that night.
A parked RV outside of a Sun City home.
People play pool in the Bell Recreation Center as a bowling tournament goes on in the next room .
Julie Stanek and John Gurin keep warm in their car before leaving for home after the Holiday Around the World Celebration in Sun City, Az at the Lakeview Recreation Center.
John’s claim to fame is he got eight holes in one at Sun City’s Sundial mini golf course five years ago. They met years ago at a dance in Chicago. They’ve lived in Sun City for 13 years.
Members of the Pickleball Club play on the newly covered courts at Marinette Recreation Center in Sun City.
Larry Cuppy, 75, at a garage sale on West Peoria Avenue in Sun City. He lived in Sun City for 18 years and moved just outside the city’s border 2 years ago into a trailer. “I wouldn’t trade it for nothing, I really love it here,” he said.
Recently blessed uncooperative cats become entertainment for the congregation of the All Saints of the Desert Episcopal Church as they make their way back to their pew with their owners during the annual blessing of the animals.
The Sun City Poms Sun City Poms cheerleaders Barbara Grandinetti, 79, Geri Braddock, 71, Tommie Sebring, 82, Sally Davis, 66, and Carolyn Sargent, 73, pose for a portrait at the Sundial Auditorium in Sun City, Arizona January 16, 2019.
Sun City Pom Geri Braddock, 71
Sun City Pom Sally Davis, 66
Sun City Pom Barbara Grandinetti, 79
Sun City Pom Carolyn Sargent, 73
Sun City Pom Tommie Sebring, 82
A photo from the 1960s seen at the Sun City Museum in Sun City, Arizona.
Jim, 66, and his husband Howard, 68, have been a couple for 42 years this September. They moved to Sun City 10 years ago.
Golf cart parking outside of the Sun Bowl, Sun City’s open-air amphitheater, before a free concert by a Fleetwood Mac tribute band.
Sun Citians gather at the Sun Bowl, Sun City’s open-air amphitheater, before a free concert by a Fleetwood Mac tribute band.
Dawn and Lisa moved to Sun City two years ago. “I wouldn’t live anywhere else, I really wouldn’t. Would you?” Dawn asked Lisa. “No,” Lisa replied.
Lisa and Dawn have been a couple for two decades now and they raised two children together. Lisa was one of the handful of residents who helped start the LGBT Club in Sun City two years ago. Within one year the club had almost 200 members.
“It was awesome to see 90-year-olds dancing at the Christmas dance.
It’s really kind of awe-inspiring. We are from a generation where we couldn’t really be out. I’m from the military so I really couldn’t be out. We are from a generation where we couldn’t tell our family,” Dawn said.
“Throughout all of our time together, we haven’t had many gay friends, and now we have all gay friends,” Dawn said.
Dianne Karr, 70, with her new puppy Buttercup (aka “Baby Butt”) in her driveway during an impromptu yard sale in front of her house in Sun City. She moved to Sun City a year ago and her mother who is 90 lives directly next door.
It’s Coming Soon.
The first annual Howl-O-Ween Dog Costume Parade at the Duffeeland Dog Park in Sun City.
Swimmers and sunbathers reflect in the Lakeview Pottery Club display case.
Clothing for sale on a tennis court during a bazaar at the Holiday Around the World Celebration in Sun City, Az at the Lakeview Recreation Center.
An antique car parked outside of a Sun City home.
A black swan on the manmade Viewpoint Lake
Theresa Gottardo shops in WalGreens with her dog Snoopy in tow.
Theresa, who is originally from northern Italy and moved to Sun City from New York City said she doesn’t miss her former homes at all. Sun City “is quiet, not too expensive,” she said. “I enjoy the tranquility. I really enjoy every moment.”
The newly-crowned Sun City 2020 Senior Prom King
John Stewart, 84, and his wife Dora, 80, pose for portraits at their home Sun City, Arizona October 7, 2020. Sun City is an active retirement city in Arizona.

The pair, who are originally from Scotland, have lived in Sun City for 23 years now. Dora does ceramics, John plays pool, and they both are winners of national lawn bowling tournaments. They are in the lawn bowling hall of fame, John said. “I think we are the only couple” in the hall of fame, John said. “Alive,” Dora said.
“Alive,” John said.

Sun City boasts the best lawn bowling greens in the country, according to John. When they lived in Ohio they would have to drive 340 miles to Milwaukee for tournaments and now in Sun City they drive a mile and a half.

The pandemic has shut down lawn bowling from happening in Sun City since March and though she loves the sport, “It didn’t really bother me because safety has to come first,” Dora said.
“We are very blessed, we feel very fortunate,” she said. “Older people have kept to themselves. We normally have company but we can’t now.”

“Tell her why you like to play,” Dora urged John.
“I like to win,” John said.
John Stewart, 84, has lived in Sun City for 23 years now. He and his wife are both winners of national lawn bowling tournaments. They are in the lawn bowling hall of fame, John said. “I think we are the only couple” in the hall of fame, John said. “Alive,” Dora said.
“Alive,” John said.
A security guard picks up a flag knocked over by the wind during swim relays for the Arizona Senior Olympics take place at the Bell Recreation Center pool in Sun City, Arizona
Golf carts commonly roam Sun City streets alongside cars.
Members of the NextGen Club dance to a DJ in Halloween costumes at the Sundial Recreation Center in Sun City, Arizona October 25, 2017. The NextGen club is one of hundreds of clubs in Sun City and is a social club where the group gathers for happy hour and games.
Jolene Wolzen and her date at The Sun City Senior Prom at Sundial Auditorium in Sun City, Arizona March 6, 2020. The theme was The Roaring Twenties.
Lyn Baker raises the American flag outside of her father’s home at 9626 Glen Oaks Circle in Sun City, Arizona. Lyn’s mother passed-away in December and Lyn moved in with her father to keep him company.
Swim Relays for the Arizona Senior Olympics take place at the Bell Recreation Center pool in Sun City, Arizona.
Karen Haag and her uncle Dick Erickson talk on the couch at Larry and Jeannie Klein’s baked potato party following the annual lit boat parade.
A poker game inside of the Sundial Men’s Club in Sun City, Arizona,
A second-hand store in Sun City is full of recliners.
Photos of Elva McKittrick taken over 100 years ago. Elva McKittrick, 109, is the oldest resident of Sun City, Arizona.
Jean and Ade are both 90 years old and got married at 20 and have been married for 70 years. “I never thought we’d live this long,” Jean said.
We talked on the couch and then Jean led me through the house to show me beautiful old family photos at my request (including their wedding photo and her photo as homecoming queen). She also told me 3 years ago she had a stroke and died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. I asked what she remembered from that time while her heart was not beating: “It was beautiful. All I remember was I was on a long walk and it was so beautiful, so don’t be afraid to go.”
The pair also have beautiful professional portraits on display in their living room that were taken to be displayed at their funeral services because they want it to be easy for their children when they pass, and when you’re 90 that’s something you think about pretty matter of factly.
Some members of the acclaimed Sun City Poms, a cheerleading squad, have been meeting in member’s backyard to hula hoop together since the pandemic has prevented them from their regular practices. Eight members of the Poms hula hoop in Sherri Sharp’s backyard in the morning in Sun City, Arizona October 7, 2020.
Anne Brown Rigg calls during a round dance as couples pass by during a night of round and square dancing in a social hall in Sun City, Arizona December 8, 2009. Because there are less men available, some women often pair up to dance together.
Lori and Louise have lived in Sun City for three years and have been a couple since 1985. Lori had been visiting family in Sun City for 20 years and always said she couldn’t wait to get old enough to finally move there (to live in Sun City as a resident, each property has have a resident who is 55 or older). I asked what they thought about Sun City finally having its own LGBT Club. “I love the club’s existence number one,” Lori said. “That’s a huge shift to think that little old grey Sun City has a gay club. It offers an opportunity to socialize with family.” The club was chartered two years ago and the first day 110 people showed up to join. Louise said she saw a “gentleman grinning like an idiot and, y’know, I said to him ‘You’re happy!,’ I said. ‘Yes, I’m so happy,’ he said. ‘I’m 78 years old and this is the first time I’ve been in a room with gays!’ And he was grinning so big.”
A pandemic mask and sunglasses decorate a cactus in Sun City, Arizona October 6, 2020.
Halloween
Tangerines
Phil Rohrer jumps as he plays pickleball with the Sun City Pickleball Club
Tracy Schenck, 57, moved from Denver to Sun City, Arizona in May of 2019.

“I was 55 and in Denver and I said Lord, I don’t see myself 60 in this big city. I need a place I can work and build relationships, and die,” she said.
“Sun City transformed my vision and hope for my future. I’m encouraged by those I see and my surroundings. 55 is not the end, but the beginning of a new view and vision of life. A vision of what my life still can be.”

She floats in her friend Rocky’s pool October 7, 2020.
Purple Woods, 77, poses for a portrait at the Sun City Senior Prom at Sundial Auditorium in Sun City, Arizona March 6, 2020. The theme was The Roaring Twenties and the flyer said “The Roaring 2020’s that is!”
As she walked in the entrance completely drenched in purple from head to toe (even a pillow, water bottle and bag she carried were purple), I was enamored with her—her spirit, her energy, the way she moved, how she said her one regret was never jumping out of a plane with a parachute so she could feel what it was like to float so effortlessly and how she cannot wait to go to heaven to dance on the clouds there.
The Sun City Senior Prom at Sundial Auditorium in Sun City, Arizona March 6, 2020. The theme was The Roaring Twenties and the flyer said “The Roaring 2020’s that is!”

Photo by Kendrick Brinson
Barbara Speziale at the Sun City Senior Prom at Sundial Auditorium in Sun City, Arizona March 6, 2020.
Gordon Parlova and Debbie Webb dance at the annual Sun City Senior Prom at Sundial Auditorium in Sun City, Arizona March 6, 2020. The theme was The Roaring Twenties and the flyer said “The Roaring 2020’s that is!”
A sunbather naps next to Bell Recreation Center’s lap pool.
Loretta Chapman, 66, walks her two dogs Buster and Bubby in Sun City, Arizona October 1, 2020.
She walks her dogs with her golf cart four times a day.
October and December are excuses to decorate your yard and cacti with masks and santa hats in Sun City.
Cheryl Kurth and Irene Moore pose for a photo inside of the the annual Arts and Crafts Festival where 37 Sun City clubs sold their wares to more than 16,000 shoppers over three days in Sun City, Arizona.
As her husband Jerry Ida recovers from heart surgery in his bedroom next door, his wife tidies up the living room. Their home is covered with taxidermy animals Jerry hunted from Alaska to Russia to Montana to British Columbia.
Anita Paulson, 80, sketches a skull in the Palo Verde Art Club’s portrait drawing class. The instructor Bruce Cody brought in an actual human skull that had been found in the 1920s. Anita also practices yoga and tai chi in clubs in Sun City and moved to the retirement town in 1998. Her favorite part about Sun City is “all the opportunities,” she said.
Outside of Lakeview Recreation Center
Bell Shuffleboard Club, Sun City, Arizona
One of 14 tables full of Mahjong players in a room at Sundial. Residents of Sun City can meet for group games three times a week if they please.
Betty McCarthey, 73, doesn’t live in Sun City, but her boyfriend does. She was doing a three day yard sale when I drove past and stopped. She had a stroke and open heart surgery recently and had to move in with her daughter to recuperate, so she no longer had the space for her collection of 90 dolls (and dozens of stuffed Taz dolls) and she was set on selling each of them. She told me she doesn’t like redheads but liked me, with a wink.
Items for sale in an estate sale in a home in Sun City, Arizona.
Attendees leave the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum’s Jubilee Gala IV, which includes a dinner and a live performance.
Pre-Paid Funeral Plans
Inside of Jeannie and Larry Klein’s Sun City home.
Sun City
Jerry Zwack, 62, created a motorized couch that he now drives around Sun City because his wife jokingly called him a “couch potato” who needed to get out of the house. He said his odometer now reads more than 3,000 miles. He poses with his one-of-a-kind transportation outside of the Sun Bowl Amphitheater in Sun City, Arizona.
Under the jacaranda tree at Sundial Recreation Center
Two of the 31 softball teams in Sun City play on the fields near the Sun Bowl in Sun City, Arizona December 3, 2013. While the rules are slightly amended to protect the aging players (no sliding), the games are intense for the 55-92 year old players.
One of the 31 softball teams warms up before a game in Sun City, Arizona December 3, 2013. Sun City, Arizona was the first age-restricted city of retirees when it opened in 1960.
Golf carts parked outside of Bell Recreation Center, just one of the seven recreation centers in Sun City.
The Sun City Poms Marching Unit practices for an upcoming parade in a parking lot outside of a recreation center in Sun City, Arizona.
The 4th Annual Spring Fling Car Show hosted by the Vintage Vehicles of Sun City, a restoration and social club, at the Sun Bowl Amphitheater in Sun City, Arizona March 7, 2020.
Larry Klein’s pick-up truck has a Sun City vanity plate. He and his wife Jeannie split their time between Iowa and Sun City.
The empty Sun Bowl in Sun City, October 3, 2020. Due the the pandemic, they’ve had to reschedule the entire winter concert series and cancel all fall shows at the Sun Bowl.
Seen in the hallway of Fairway Recreation Center.
A palm tree shadow at the Bell Recreation Center in Sun City
Theresa Cirino, Director of Events & Entertainment in Sun City, poses for a photo at the Sun City Senior Prom at Sundial Auditorium in Sun City, Arizona March 6, 2020.
Marilyn, 76, and John Richling, 73, pose for photos at their home in Sun City, Arizona October 6, 2020. Sun City is an active retirement city in Arizona.

2020 is Marilyn’s fourteenth year as president of the Sun City Squares, a square and round dancing club with more than 60 members in Sun City. Before the pandemic shut the club down, they would meet for a 2 hour dance on Tuesday nights, a dance on Thursday nights in Sun City West, and dance lessons on Fridays.

The last dance was in March.

“We danced up until we couldn’t dance anymore. And we haven’t been able to dance since then because we are a contact sport,” Marilyn explained.

“Square dancing is a contact sport–You depend on meeting of hands. That not only keeps people in rhythm but also tells them the next move by pushing,” John said.

The regular dances and church are where John and Marilyn did most of their socializing, but they haven’t been able to do either for months. John has Atrial fibrillation and Marilyn has had two recent operations so it isn’t safe for them to see others during the pandemic.

“To me, it was my only outlet that I had, other than church and family. Church shut down. Square dancing shut down. It was stay at home and do nothing,” Marilyn said.

Both Marilyn and John dance together, in fact, they met while on a dance floor 35 years ago.
“I just went through a divorce and I knew that at dance lessons there’s usually a shortage of men,” John smirked, “and then Marilyn showed up and asked if I needed a partner for the night.” The rest was history.

“We were dancing 5 days a week,” she said.

“It was just perfect,” he said.
Marilyn, 76, and John Richling, 73
Jerry Ida’s Sun City bedroom has trophies from his many hunting trips around the world
Sun City
Balloons are released by family and friends, including his youngest sister Janis Schewe (center, blonde), at the memorial service for Sun City resident Monte Haag, who moved to Sun City in 2000 and died in a crash flying an ultralight plane outside of Sun City.
Jim Heinrich is the choir director at Fountain of Life Lutheran Church in Sun City, Arizona. He also teaches photography at Dysart High School in El Mirage, Arizona.
Herme Sherry, Ms. Senior Arizona 2004, walks outside of the Sundial Recreation Center following the Sun City Parade in Sun City, Arizona.
A woman steps out of the Saturday night Classic Rock Dance Club at Fairway Recreation Center in Sun City

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