Ageless Generation: Walls going up, and mission refreshed
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, March 25, 2026
By Michael Smith
Robert Frost is famous for saying, “Good fences make good neighbors.” And inside a large building, the walls are like fences that define spaces, give a sense of ownership, and make activities possible, secure, and enjoyable.
Our purchase of the former JCPenney building gave us a 25,000 square foot “blank slate” to write the future of Shipley Center on, and things are really moving along! When you want to have various enjoyable activities at various volume levels, lots of well-placed walls and doors can be a true blessing. When we were seeking input from our stakeholders, one of our members hand-drew her ideal floor plan for us with noise zones color-coded, red for “loud”, yellow for “medium” and green for “quiet” areas of the building. We have incorporated her excellent concept and many ideas from others into what we are building for you to enjoy.
As we get closer to the big move to our new location later this year, we are renewing our energy and commitment to what we do. One way we have done that recently is to refine and restate our purpose into a clearer and more succinct mission statement for Shipley Center.
Some mission statements are short and really get to the point. I spent my teen years in Loma Linda California, home of Loma Linda University Medical Center. Their mission statement was just four words, “To Make Man Whole.” Coca-Cola’s used to be just three words, “Refresh the World.” And one of Apple’s taglines is just two words, “Think Different.”
Since I started here at Shipley (then, Sequim Senior Center) 21 years ago, we’ve had only two mission statements. The first one was good but, at 47 words, it was not snappy, was more of an essay, and was just plain too long. The second one, that we’ve had since 2013’s renaming of the Center in honor of benefactor Leo Shipley, was better. It was shorter, about half as long at 24 words, but not short enough for most people to memorize. It told what we did, yes, but we felt we could do even better.
Board director Linda Strohm headed up an ad hoc committee that included Renee Millar, board president; Margaret Cox, board secretary; Reba Renner, program director; and yours truly. We tossed around various ideas and ran them by local branding and communication consultant Laurel Black, who helped us “wordsmith” it. The final version was then presented and approved unanimously by the board of directors on March 11.
At just 12 words, our new mission statement not only gives us a new way to say what we do, but it also ties in very nicely with the tagline in our logo: Friendship * Recreation * Education. The new mission statement (drumroll, please) for Shipley Center is: “Helping adults thrive through social, health and fitness activities and lifelong learning.”
Social activities are a way to find friendship, the first word in our tagline. Health and fitness refer to recreation, the second word, and lifelong learning is all about education, our final tagline item.
The word “thrive” was thought to have special meaning for this season of our lives and so it was brought into the mission statement. After all, who doesn’t want to thrive in every way possible?
So, as we announced this to our members, we said, “When people ask you ‘What does Shipley Center do?’ you can start by sharing these 12 words, and then elaborate, of course, about why you love Shipley Center.”
Thank you, as always, for your support – together we thrive!
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Michael Smith serves as the executive director of Shipley Center.
