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A Turning Point Towards Growth and Purpose

When I look back at the last several years, I see two major turning points that have shaped my life.

The first was in March 2018. After forty years in Houston and two years after my wife’s passing, I moved to Highland Park in Los Angeles. Aside from a childhood friend in Claremont and a Navy buddy in Ventura, I knew no one in Southern California. I felt like a stranger in a new city, unsure of what life would look like going forward.

The second turning point came in January 2019, when I learned about Pasadena Village. By February, I had joined—and that decision sent my life in a completely new direction. What started as a simple search for community quickly grew into something deeper. The Village filled my days with friends, activities, and, most importantly, purpose.

The Village itself has also experienced turning points, and the one in 2020 was decisive. The founding grant that Episcopal Community Services gave us to start the Village would be phased out over two years. At the time, the Village was a community of about 130–140 people, supported by a volunteer board of 18 members. Faced with a real threat to its survival, the board created a smaller working group—the Sustainability Task Force (STF). Its job was to study the situation and recommend a path forward.

The STF’s conclusion was clear: if the Village was to survive, it had to grow beyond its current size and reach more of the larger community. But growth required change. The STF recommended a new structure in which teams of members would carry out the work of the Village—but under the operational direction of a newly hired Executive Director who was selected to bring more marketing and outreach experience. This kept the spirit of being member-driven and member-run, while also providing the professional oversight necessary for sustainability.

That change marked a real break from the past. From 2012 to 2020, the Village had been more of an informal gathering of friends and neighbors. Activities were organized, but structure was minimal, and most decisions rested with a small circle of leaders. It was meaningful, but it wasn’t sustainable. The 2020 crisis forced the Village to evolve into something bigger and stronger—an organization with structure, outreach, and a renewed sense of purpose.

And here is where the idea of transcendent purpose comes in. For centuries, beginning with Aristotle, philosophers have pointed to transcendent purpose as essential to a whole life. Today, research confirms that such purpose has measurable impacts on health, well-being, and even longevity. The Village’s transformation after 2020 made that purpose central—not just for me personally, but for the organization itself.

As members, we are no longer just participating in social activities. We are part of something larger: shaping a sustainable community that serves both ourselves and the wider world around us. That shift—from simply enjoying the Village to helping build and sustain it—has given us, collectively, a transcendent purpose.

For me, this isn’t just philosophy. I can feel it in my own life. The Village has provided me not only with friends and support but with meaning, agency, and direction. It is not just a club or a network—it is a purpose-driven community. And that has changed my life.