Family Legacy

Family legacies can look like many different things. From treasured items to trust funds, family units leave behind what they deem valuable for future generations. They pass on the very best of what they have, along the way defining what they see as most important for living a good life.

For the Brennemans, legacy means shaping a community.

In the late nineties, Leland and Tanya Brenneman were coming back to the States having traveled the world as missionaries, and with two children in tow, they knew they’d want to settle near family. The Shenandoah Valley was home to Leland’s parents, so they looked for a place to land there and began to think about what they could do.

The idea was to serve others. After all, that’s what the idea always had been. Starting a business that would meet the needs of their town, use local vendors and tradespeople, and expand the ministry of their hearts seemed to be the answer to staying and thriving in Virginia. But what exactly would that look like?

The answer came in the form of an old assisted living building that was up for sale. This is where the Brennemans could serve Stuarts Draft in a profound way…by creating a beautiful new space for senior adults to live, receive the care they require, and be treated with an innate sense of Christian dignity. There were 20 acres adjacent to the facility and Leland and Tanya had an idea. So often, they had observed, that only one spouse in a couple truly required the care of an assisted living facility. Why not create a whole community where the healthy spouse could stay nearby on campus, see their loved one daily, and continue living life together?

In 1998, Stuarts Draft Retirement Community was founded and by 2000, the community began to expand. Assisted Living residents live at The Meadows, a full-service facility that provides everything from occasional to intensive medical care, while the Independent Living Apartments, the Villas, allow seniors a sense of freedom without the concerns of upkeep or maintaining a home. The facility serves 200 residents at full capacity, but the property is “landlocked”. So while there was plenty of room for the current population at SDRC, there was no more room to grow.

Tanya and Leland’s son David remembers growing up in the halls and on the property of Stuarts Draft Retirement Community. “I would mow, weed, plant flowers…” he recalls of his childhood. “I
decorated wheelchairs for the 4th of July parades. There was heavy family inclusion.” That hands-on experience gave David something priceless…the sense that he had hundreds of grandparents and a passion for caring for them.

David had been part of the family business from the very beginning but then, in 2020, as Executive Director of SDRC, he saw more opportunity for growth and ultimately, ministry.

A new way for the family to serve was on the horizon.