A Full-Circle Welcome How Life Brought Two Families Together Again— Just When They Needed It Most
When Life Enrichment Coordinator Kristen Recchia met new resident Pat Krauss, neither could have imagined the connection they shared. A chance conversation revealed that decades earlier, their families had lived in the same home in England, worked for the same company, and even shared a meal together when Kristen was a child. Now, all these years later, that same spirit of welcome has come full circle at Cedarhurst of Yorkville—proof that at Cedarhurst, every move-in is more than a transition; it’s a return to belonging. The Moment Everything Clicked Kristen remembers thinking she might bond with Pat over their shared connection to Connecticut. But the conversation with Pat’s son, Paul, and daughter-in-law, Stella, headed in a different direction. Stella mentioned that Pat had lived in England. Kristen—an American who had spent several years in England during childhood—asked
casually where they lived. When Paul responded, “Weybridge,” Kristen’s eyebrows lifted. When he added, “on Round Oak Drive, in a house named Pengwern,” Kristen froze. “I honestly thought I misheard him,” she recalls. “I said, I lived in a house named Pengwern. Paul asked my father’s name, and when I said to him, “Larry Erickson,’ he replied, your father bought that house from my father.” Kristen still remembers the shock: “All the emotions hit me at once. What are the odds? Our lives had crossed decades ago, and there we were, sitting together in Yorkville, Illinois.” Paul describes the moment as “minute-by- minute disbelief” as each new connection surfaced. “First England, then Weybridge, then the street, then the house… it was surreal. Then adding in that we were all born in Greenville, Pennsylvania? The coincidences just kept stacking.” A Welcome Never Forgotten Kristen immediately phoned her parents, Larry and Kate Erickson, to share the discovery.
Her mother didn’t hesitate—she remembered Pat instantly.
“When we first arrived in Weybridge, Pat took me and the girls out for pizza,” Kate says. “It meant so much at the time. We were brand new to the country. No social media. No easy way to connect. Expat families really had to rely on one another.” For Pat, that gesture was simply part of what expat families did—help each other navigate unfamiliar places and new beginnings. As Paul explains, “We are Chicago Bridge and Iron (CBI) children. One big family. Your friends become your family.”
RON, PAUL AND PAT KRAUSS
CEDARHURST SENIOR LIVING | WINTER FLOURISH 2026 12
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